Musical Heritage Society is kaput

[Larry Kart]

A post on rec.music.classical.recordings

"I heard that MHS has ceased to exist as of today. The sale of the

assets to Passionato by the Nissim family is now complete.

"MHS was started as a small, NYC-based operation by a Dr Naida, who
had good musical sense but no business sense. He quickly sold the
business to Al Nissim, who was involved in the direct marketing of
wigs, among other things, and who felt it would be neat to own a music
company. Most of us who became members of MHS did so during the time
the Nissims owned the business. MHS saw it's first real success when
they marketed the Palliard recording of the Pachelbel Canon, basically
putting that piece on the map in America. The family's fortunes were
made on the strength of offering that LP as a loss leader to gain new
members, who then received LP after LP of unordered "negative option"
LPs that kept showing up in the mail. Enough were kept and enough
invoices were paid to make for a tidy business.

"They stayed in business for many years, operating as a family owned
record club that had the classical ground to themselves until BMG
decided to really go after the classical market in the early 90s. That
caused them real angst as BMG's aggressive pricing structure wreaked
havoc on the high CD prices MHS was charging its members. MHS had to
follow suit, and the business got a lot more complicated. Eventually,
MHS started offering more finished goods and a greater variety of
product, looking to sell multiple CDs to a smaller customer base,
rather than a single CD to millions.

"Between the pressure brought by BMG, the evolution of the internet and
the fatiguing of the club model with the public, MHS's fate was
sealed. After Al Nissim passed away, the sons looked to sell off the
business while it was still worth something, and they did sell to
James Glicker and his Passionato group. MHS continued to do
fulfillment out of their warehouse for about a year, and the MHS name
was kept active to transition former MHS members into Passionato's
online business.

"While Passionato still offers a "Record of the month," members must
actively order it, rather than it being shipped to them through
negative option, which was the hallmark of the record clubs (MHS, RCA
and Columbia House)."

Bring us your fond memories and complaints (if any).

[Chuck Nessa]

Bunches of "half-truths" in that story.

[7/4]

My Dad bought stuff from them for years, I still have the vinyl in my collection.

Oakhurst is a dinky little town between Long Branch and Asbury Park. New Jersey is full of tiny towns I've never heard of, even though I've lived here all my life.

[Peter Friedman]

No mention of the jazz section of the MHS?

I have both classical and jazz MHS CDs.