And His Mother Called Him Bill

[Lazaro Vega]

Wanted to offer our listeners Duke Ellington's "And His Mother Called Him Bill" as a fall membership premium in honor of Strayhorn's centennial, and it is unavailable from RCA/Legacy or whatever conglomerate controls the RCA catalog now. Or at least that's what the minions there told me.

[jazztrain]

That's one album that should always be available!

It looks like Amazon has it available in mp3 format, but that shouldn't really count.

[JSngry]

Proposition - owners of any such material be given the option to make the recordings and associated peripherals such as liner notes and cover art available through the Library Of Congress in perpetuity in exchange for a tax write off in the amount of a scientifically calculated formula to be determined by lawyers, accountants, Las Vegas call girls, and random rural sheriffs. This would be against projected sales for the next 100 years. Publishers could make a similar deal, because then we're talking about REAL money.

Of course, it's a plan that needs some work (don't we all?), but there is no excuse for something like this ever being unavailable at/trough legitimate channels because the "numbers" don't "add up".

Fuck it - I pay taxes, taht's where I want part of my taxes to be spent. Voice of one the people, etc. Don't "end" fraud, waste, and abuse, just redirect it into something I can feel good about. That's the American way.

[sonnymax]

It looks like Amazon has it available in mp3 format, but that shouldn't really count.

But it does count. The music is available to download or stream at various major sites through the legal distributor. What people here and elsewhere are bemoaning is that it's not readily obtainable in the particular medium they prefer. How is this any different from the complaints that arose when the availability of vinyl began to decline in the late 80's/early 90's as compact discs gained popularity? I would love for such music to be offered in every media with the best sound possible at a reasonable price. These days, it's easy to download the music and burn a physical copy that sounds identical to the source, something that's not been possible before. For sure, there are some obscure titles that are seemingly unavailable in any form. I think something along the lines of what Jim proposed might be undertaken to guarantee that such music isn't lost forever. But I'm guessing that there are more titles available in one form or another than ever before. I just wish some folks would loosen their grip a little on their music delivery system of yore so they don't miss out on what's being offered right now.

Edited June 11, 2015 by sonnymax

[JSngry]

But Lazaro wants to offer the album as a premium/incentive to his station's subscribers. How is that supposed to work? "For your pledge of $X we'll send you a link to an Amazon download"?

You know what I got the first time I subscribed to KERA=FM? Freaking Super Chief, that's what. Freaking amazing. And it was a "promotional copy". But hell, that's what it was used for, for promotion.

Maybe entities should be allowed to preload their Amazon account for predesignated items, but that hardly seems like a "gft".

For my personal collection, hey, I don't care, I'll take anything. But as a gift? The only links I want to get will have casing on them.

[mjzee]

Amazon allows you to gift MP3s. See: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201482710&qid=1434035136&sr=1-1 The MP3 of the Ellington album is available here, in a legit edition: http://www.amazon.com/His-Mother-Called-Him-Bill/dp/B001BIOL2S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434035272&sr=8-1&keywords=duke+ellington+and+his+mother+called+him+bill

[mjzee]

Another possibility is to contact one of the Amazon Resellers who have the title, and see if they'll sell multiple copies to you at a discount, or even handle the fulfillment themselves. I see Beaches Entertainment has it, though we don't know how many copies they have in stock. As a plus, they're also located in Michigan.

[erwbol]

Another possibility is to contact one of the Amazon Resellers who have the title, and see if they'll sell multiple copies to you at a discount, or even handle the fulfillment themselves. I see Beaches Entertainment has it, though we don't know how many copies they have in stock. As a plus, they're also located in Michigan.

Put the item in your cart. Beaches has only 2 in stock.

[Ted O'Reilly]

I wonder how many copies ARE needed for the premium....

Might it be possible to go to the rights holder and request a custom order? Years back, a local Toronto radio station had a very good retail sideline of releasing compilation LPs of the sort of Dinner Music they featured. All were from the catalogue of Columbia Records, who custom-manufactured for the station. The broadcaster selected the music much as they would programme for their listeners.

[Lazaro Vega]

I'm thinking for that title at least 30 and possibly 70. Given that many of the people in our audience are also older, the download idea would just baffle them. And I'm not really keen on the MP3 sound, especially for older recordings. No, 2 isn't going to cut it. Back in the day, when these were in stock at the label, they'd offer them to radio at a price around $6.50. We offer them for $75 as a means of supporting the station (some of the music premiums we offer have been given to us, but those are not going to be Ellington or Goodman records). And then we'd see how the audience responds. Happy to say we'll be offering the new Uptown Billie Holiday set as our on air premium tomorrow morning from 7 to 10 and I'm confident, given it's her centennial, too, we'll move some.

[mjzee]

If you're interested in Goodman, there's an excellent 3-cd compilation from Sony that you can get from Amazon Resellers for $1.59 plus shipping. Maybe they'd give you a break on the shipping for a bulk purchase.