Hey Kids, Have You Heard The News? MOSAIC's IN TROUBLE!!!

[erwbol]

1 hour ago, OliverM said:

There is also a japanese edition of In The World which seems still available.

Thanks for the tip. 

[Rooster_Ties]

1 hour ago, erwbol said:

Thanks for the tip. 

I have an extra copy of that Japanese "In The World" on CD too (which I don't need, cuz I bought the whole box), if anybody needs to go that route. Mini-LP, w/ obi!

Edited May 6, 2017 by Rooster_Ties

[miles65]

1 hour ago, Clunky said:

The JPJ is such a recent set too you'd have thought there would be plenty of buyers yet interested in it.

And at $102 an affordable set.

[king ubu]

1 hour ago, erwbol said:

Thanks for the tip. 

Fabulous album. And I guess the highlight of he set to me.

Got that edition too, not sure I've not already passed it on though.

[Dan Gould]

13 hours ago, BFrank said:

J.A.W. posted this on the Hoffman forum today: "Just heard back from Scott in another matter and he told me they've been swamped with orders - finally a more positive note"

I have to wonder how getting swamped with orders changes the fundamentals of the company.  Maybe enough to continue on and fulfill some of the future projects but it seems to me they are only maximizing immediate revenue, but if they pass the immediate crisis, revenue still won't match expenditures in coming months.

The only way I can see them continuing as a going concern is if they attract capital from a label or a sugar daddy jazz lover.

[Scott Dolan]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

I have to wonder how getting swamped with orders changes the fundamentals of the company.  Maybe enough to continue on and fulfill some of the future projects but it seems to me they are only maximizing immediate revenue, but if they pass the immediate crisis, revenue still won't match expenditures in coming months.

The only way I can see them continuing as a going concern is if they attract capital from a label or a sugar daddy jazz lover.

I agree. There's no way this is a long-term fix, but it does buy them a little more time to look at all of the options available to them to remain viable. Who knows? They may just sell out their stock, cancel any orders they cannot fulfill, and call it good. 

I just think it's really cool that we pulled together as a community to show our appreciation, which I'm sure isn't lost on them. 

[trane123]

About ten years ago, as I was ordering my 100^th big box from Mosaic, I just happened to note on the order form that this was indeed my 100^th set.  The day after the set arrived I received a card from Mosaic that included a nice note from Michael C. thanking me for being such a loyal customer along with a $100 Mosaic gift card.

 

I mean, how cool is that?

[romualdo]

Wow!! looks like I've been lucky - for the last 4-5 years I've bought all of the Mosaics (that I wanted) as they were released & mainly from Jazz Messengers (great service IMHO). That free shipping over 60 euros is the clincher - makes them much more affordable here in Australia. Have over 100 sets now (been picking them up since the early 90s). Nothing I really need.

Quite a few of the sets turn up here for sale second hand & there doesn't appear to be a big demand for them - I've picked them up for very reasonable/good prices. My latest score  (last week) was one of my holy grails ie The Basie Roulette Studio Recordings 10CD in mint condition - I never picked it up at the time (didn't have the finances). That was sitting at Birdland Records in Sydney for quite a few months (deceased estate) & they kept dropping the price with no takers - I'd forgotten about it & when I looked again last week the price had been dropped significantly so I pounced. Currently I'm negotiating a price for the Bechet, Hodes & DeFranco sets (all vinyl) with a shop here in Brisbane.

Really hope Mosaic can find a wealthy benefactor or crowdfunding could be an option - they've been a large part of my life for the last quarter of a century.

Edited May 7, 2017 by romualdo

[JSngry]

5 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

I agree. There's no way this is a long-term fix, but it does buy them a little more time to look at all of the options available to them to remain viable. Who knows? They may just sell out their stock, cancel any orders they cannot fulfill, and call it good. 

I just think it's really cool that we pulled together as a community to show our appreciation, which I'm sure isn't lost on them. 

A slightly better case scenario is that they sell out their stock on a Last Call basis, no more reprint/restocks of anything going forth and go forward with whatever few occasional projects they're able to muster with whatever advance funding they can get together. Maybe crowd source like Artist Share or something.

That might require Crazy Fool Level Of Dedication, and maybe everybody's getting too old for that (especially the crowd sourcing part, that' SO un-Old School, , but otoh, part of Crazy Fool Level Of Dedication is never being too old for it, even when you really should be.

Either way, they really did raise the bar and kept it high for far longer than anybody had a right to expect. Hopefully the brand/concept can move forward with a nest-gen business model, but if not, hey. well done!

[David Ayers]

Mosaic stopped distributing their catalogue years ago. I wonder if that made a difference or was already a sign of the times. 

[sidewinder]

They dropped down to one catalogue per year back in the late 2000s.

[David Ayers]

I haven't had anything from them for years. 

[sidewinder]

11 hours ago, romualdo said:

The Basie Roulette Studio Recordings 10CD in mint condition - I never picked it up at the time (didn't have the finances). That was sitting at Birdland Records in Sydney for quite a few months (deceased estate) & they kept dropping the price with no takers - I'd forgotten about it & when I looked again last week the price had been dropped significantly so I pounced. 

Well done - saw that one a few weeks ago too. Was tempted but the shipping and taxes would have made it prohibitive.

[mikeweil]

5 hours ago, David Ayers said:

Mosaic stopped distributing their catalogue years ago. I wonder if that made a difference or was already a sign of the times. 

A sign of the times? Yes, as far as the raise of shipping costs, for international orders in particular, over the last years, is concerned. Printing of paperwork also became more expensive (Jonathan Horwich once remarked here on the forum that it was the foldout cardboard sleeves that were killing). I used to receive a catalogue twice a year from an Austrian publisher who asked us to switch to e-mail instead to help them save on costs; another in Berlin used to print and ship an almanach once a year (on a lifetime basis!) but now apologized for sending a pdf file via e-mail due to some unexpected events that forces them to reduce costs. 

As far as I can it is the separation of manufacturing, distribution, and publishing that increases costs, too. A label without their own pressing and printing plant saves on storage, but depend on others to keep their catalogue available, and smaller numbers of a product require almost the same costs for recording, mastering, research, printing and pressing as a larger quantity. Just like a single, unique handmade chair is more expensive than one from IKEA. Remember the Weis brothers and Fantasy? They had their own pressing plant, which was a great advantage. Until .....

And, I hate to say that, there are enthusiastic supporters of Mosaic as well as choosy connoisseurs who do not like the design etc. 

As long as the call for profit dominates, it will be that way. If it can be balanced, quality product can survive. In the case of Mosaic, quality is the research, the essays, the remastering - which you do not get with any of the cheapo box sets. It's always cheaper to take an LP master from the shelf and make a replica reissue than do all the discographical research and search for the best sounding source. 

And only listeners with decent hi-fi equipment and ears care for sound. We are and always were a minority, that's a fact. The solidarity with Mosaic certainly helps, but the times-they-are-a-changing, I'm afraid.

Edited May 7, 2017 by mikeweil

[Scott Dolan]

Physical items simply aren't necessary any more. Books, magazines, newspapers, catalogs are much more rare in physical form these days. Hell, our local Barnes & Noble recently went under. Most people with newspaper subscriptions read them on their tablets or phones these days. I even read a story some time back about university libraries cutting back on physical stock so theycan create more space for computer stations. 

So Mosaic discontinuing their catalog makes perfect sense, and I seriously doubt it hurt their sales in any significant way. 

[David Ayers]

I'm wondering how they reach customers? I don't even get the emails, though I still have a customer account. In any case I don't want spam from them or anybody else. Physical product, physical catalogue? Have to reach customers somehow. Is it enough to just sit there with a website? I can see that worked with some loyal customers but can that really be enough?

[miles65]

1 hour ago, David Ayers said:

I'm wondering how they reach customers? I don't even get the emails, though I still have a customer account. In any case I don't want spam from them or anybody else. Physical product, physical catalogue? Have to reach customers somehow. Is it enough to just sit there with a website? I can see that worked with some loyal customers but can that really be enough?

I don't know if it is enough to attract new costomers but they have a Facebook page. With 2.000.000.000 others...

[Niko]

3 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

Physical items simply aren't necessary any more. Books, magazines, newspapers, catalogs are much more rare in physical form these days. Hell, our local Barnes & Noble recently went under. Most people with newspaper subscriptions read them on their tablets or phones these days. I even read a story some time back about university libraries cutting back on physical stock so they can create more space for computer stations. 

So Mosaic discontinuing their catalog makes perfect sense, and I seriously doubt it hurt their sales in any significant way. 

Don't think it's that simple... magazines, newspapers, catalogs, encyclopedias...  are going under but in general, physical books are doing pretty well for the moment - what's changed is their distribution which has migrated from physical stores to amazon... Regarding the university libraries: Print copies of scientific journals are hardly used nowadays and they do take up space. Text books are a different story... I do see students use "computer stations" but I would not expect that to be a long-run phenomenon either... What most students need are desks, electricity, wifi and access to the relevant databases...

as an aside: I doubt that the Joe Castro boxset was a profitable enterprise overall, but one thing they did very well was replace the need for a fancy booklet by a very nice website which (I guess) was still cheaper, takes care of some of the advertising and allows to include many original documents, photographs and extensive, unobstrusive footnotes

https://www.joecastrojazz.com/chapter1

 

Edited May 7, 2017 by Niko

[Hot Ptah]

I think that the kind of people who still buy physical boxsets are the same kind of people who still respond to receiving a physical catalog in the mail. I think that Mosaic may have made a mistake there.

What I think would save Mosaic is having jazz lovers order a set every month, or every few months, as a regular thing. The reminder of receiving a catalog can be helpful.

i think that the Mosaic catalog could be much less elaborate than it was. It was a catalog among catalogs, on a level of quality with the box sets. It could be more of a pamphlet and still work to remind people to order.

[soulpope]

23 hours ago, erwbol said:

Thanks for the tip. 

Still available as indiviadual release too ....

[Ed S]

1 hour ago, Hot Ptah said:

I think that the kind of people who still buy physical boxsets are the same kind of people who still respond to receiving a physical catalog in the mail. I think that Mosaic may have made a mistake there.

What I think would save Mosaic is having jazz lovers order a set every month, or every few months, as a regular thing. The reminder of receiving a catalog can be helpful.

i think that the Mosaic catalog could be much less elaborate than it was. It was a catalog among catalogs, on a level of quality with the box sets. It could be more of a pamphlet and still work to remind people to order.

I used to look forward to receiving the catalog, even though I'm very much an online customer.  I think that an annual catalog is a good way to keep buyers interested, or perhaps a post card mailing with the latest set highlighted as well as some recent sets and the Running Low sets.  I once wrote Michael Cuscuna and said his catalogs make for the best bathroom reading material there is.  Throw that catalog in the bathroom and let it work its magic. 

I'd also be interested in a subscription service that might give subscribers free shipping or some other advantage.  Not opposed to crowd funding sort of things either.  I regularly support the Organissimo crowd funding and would do the same for Mosaic.  Some Mosaic stuff like beer coozies and glasses, highball glasses, t shirts, coasters, would be cool rewards.

 

 

 

[ghost of miles]

Scott told me a couple of weeks ago that some of their longtime customers don't have a computer. I'm sure that's an ever-shrinking part of their consumer base, but yet another wrinkle to the set of challenges that they've faced in recent years. Still, I certainly understand why eliminating the print catalogue was one of the steps they took in recent years to try to stay economically viable.

[AllenLowe]

interesting about the catalog and emails; I am a very irregular purchaser of Mosaics, but I do buy stuff from them; yet I've never gotten a group email or any kind of appeal or informational message from them (though I should mention that Scott Wenzel is a great guy and very responsive on a personal level). Even my crappy business model says that if you buy anything from me, or even just send me a query, you get on my mailing list, which costs me nothing to do (and of course if you request, I will remove you - maybe)........

Edited May 7, 2017 by AllenLowe

[Scott Dolan]

2 hours ago, Hot Ptah said:

I think that the kind of people who still buy physical boxsets are the same kind of people who still respond to receiving a physical catalog in the mail. I think that Mosaic may have made a mistake there.

What I think would save Mosaic is having jazz lovers order a set every month, or every few months, as a regular thing. The reminder of receiving a catalog can be helpful.

i think that the Mosaic catalog could be much less elaborate than it was. It was a catalog among catalogs, on a level of quality with the box sets. It could be more of a pamphlet and still work to remind people to order.

Or better yet, how about a simple newsletter? It would cost far less to print and distribute. That's potentially the best compromise between marketing and economic viability, IMO. Because I agree with ghost of miles that it was a necessity, rather than a mistake, to discontinue the catalog.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Scott Dolan

[medjuck]

1 hour ago, AllenLowe said:

interesting about the catalog and emails; I am a very irregular purchaser of Mosaics, but I do buy stuff from them; yet I've never gotten a group email or any kind of appeal or informational message from them (though I should mention that Scott Wenzel is a great guy and very responsive on a personal level). Even my crappy business model says that if you buy anything from me, or even just send me a query, you get on my mailing list, which costs me nothing to do (and of course if you request, I will remove you - maybe)........

Huh?  I get a couple of e-mails a week.  Don 't you get The Sunday Gazette?