Blue Note - How Did They Stay Afloat When Other Jazz Labels Folded?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I was thinking about how Fantasy managed to stay in business because of CCR, and all these other labels (Prestige, Riverside, etc.) went under, and everything then became part of OJC.

What did Blue Note do differently that allowed them to stay in business? Obviously, there was very high artistic quality, but there's no direct correlation between artistic merit and sales.

Is there a simple answer, or were several factors involved?

I think the popularity of their artists (i.e. Hancock, Turrentine, especially Silver) was their best investment. Those records sold well years ago and are still selling.

Same for Prestige. Despite what we all say about Concord ripping through the old Fantasy catalogue, a hell of a lot is still available - I just counted sixteen Gene Ammons CDs on their site; nine by Mose Allison; and at least two dozen by Jaws. And even Ernestine Allen's one album for TruSound is still in the catalogue. If it's still there nine years after Concord bought the company, you can be sure there's enough sales in it for Concord. Same for Mildred Anderson, the one of her two Bluesville albums featuring Jaws.

MG

[kh1958]

The sixties? The 24000 series began in 1972, was there anything of note before then?

Well yeah, but Bobbi Humphrey was not Jackie McLean, and Donald Byrd wasn't Donald Byrd...and George Butler sure as hell wasn't Alfred Lion, or even Duke Pearson. And the whole "Reissue Series" & LT issues were more or less stealth operations, very much Cuscuna & Co. trying to get away with as much as they could while they could.

They (all of them) kept the "Blue Note" name alive, and a large-ish portion of the catalog stayed in print because they made a lot of really good records in the first place, more than a few of them iconic that people kept wanting to hear. And with artists like Horace & Herbie & many others, the mega-hits justified keeping the lesser selling items in print, because enough people were curious enough then to say, oh, this Song For My Father thing is really badass, let's see what this Horace-Scope album's all about, etc., or what this new one, You Gotta Take A Little Love, this looks groovy!But as the later CD reissue programs would prove, what stayed in print all those years was not nearly as much as was issued and then went OOP. Even the big names didn't have their entire catalog continuously in print.

So, they make good records that sold well, they build brand recognition, and people wanted to buy the brand when they decided it was time to sell it.

As far as how they stayed in business up until then, hey - they were good businessmen, Lion & Wolff were. They knew their market, how to play to it, and they also knew what might not sell but would still want/need to be heard. They weren't in the business to get rich, but they weren't in it to lose money either, if you know what I mean. Just good business people with exceptionally good taste.

I see the moderator replaced a better and more thorough message. Bummer. I came here to praise the original message.

Not sure what you mean?

Prestige 7339 is a 2 LP Gildo Mahones set; Prestige 7341-7344 are all double LP reissue sets.

[JSngry]

Wow, I knew about the Wardell Memorial album, but didn't realize that it was part of a series ("mini" or otherwise)! Vaguely remember the one with Rouse but...maybe not. Found the Gildo on a blog within the last year, but the others are definitely new to me!

Looks like Fantasy redid the art (no pun intnended) on this one to make it new-ish, while still keeping the old catalog number. That's an economical way to change!

[Chuck Nessa]

The 2 AT dates were coupled, hence Rouse. These were issued around 1970. Really too early to be a trend.

Edited December 8, 2013 by Chuck Nessa