Jazz

Poly-Rythmo said:
Not sure what you paid for Nubya, but this Yussef Dayes is double what I paid (both the album and total price with shipping). Hers was a pretty decent £25 for a double album. Just to defend her a little. Anyway, at these prices I'm out. Unless it's my favourite album of the year there's no way I'm paying this much...
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Yeah maybe I was a little harsh there, it was actually more reasonable than I remembered. Just had another look as I was sure something irked me at the time and it was the fact that she charged something like £7 for the signed version. As a comparison, when Muriel Grossmann announced her new album she said to add a note to the order and she would sign it, no extra charge was even mentioned. Its little things like that (charging for such minor things) which makes me worry about the way the industry is heading.
 
Selaws said:
Yeah maybe I was a little harsh there, it was actually more reasonable than I remembered. Just had another look as I was sure something irked me at the time and it was the fact that she charged something like £7 for the signed version. As a comparison, when Muriel Grossmann announced her new album she said to add a note to the order and she would sign it, no extra charge was even mentioned. Its little things like that (charging for such minor things) which makes me worry about the way the industry is heading.
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You only started worrying about which way the industry is heading recently??:)
 
RHANDMJ said:
You only started worrying about which way the industry is heading recently??:)
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More so lately I think, especially as its leaking into the UK jazz scene which is one that I tend to be interested in.

Moses Boyd's first lp cost me £23.99 new (the fancy 2lp 'Dinked' version on grey vinyl, numbered and limited to 500, with fancy silver inners and a massive flag), his latest is £50 for non-limited 2lp coloured vinyl (although the cover is lenticular, I don't think that warrants the jump in price though).

Nubya Garcia's first lp cost me £14.99 new (although this was a standard 1lp pressing) and her latest was £32.99 for the signed copy (of the 2lp limited coloured set) or £24.99 for the non-signed, quite a big bump for a signature (although I shouldnt really complain as I was one of the schmuck's that bought it!!).

I'm not saying that this is something that everyone is doing (Binker and Moses' new 2lp coloured set was a reasonable £25) but if the sales figures are healthy I can't see why others won't bump the price up as well.
 
Selaws said:
Its little things like that (charging for such minor things) which makes me worry about the way the industry is heading.
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You mean artists struggling to earn a living making art is somehow a bad thing? Can’t imagine it’s easy surviving on your music income, much less playing jazz. Don’t hate on an artist trying to hustle for some extra money.
 
bother said:
You mean artists struggling to earn a living making art is somehow a bad thing? Can’t imagine it’s easy surviving on your music income, much less playing jazz. Don’t hate on an artist trying to hustle for some extra money.
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No hate here, like I said I actually bought the album. My point is that it's getting to the point where records are no longer becoming an affordable/justifiable option to listen to music, as the latest £50 record from Yussef Dayes shows. Like most here I buy a lot of records but if they were £50 a time my spending would drastically drop and overall musicians would get a lot less of my money (ie some records might warrant £50 from me, but not a lot).

With the £7 signature example, I felt like I was getting much less of a deal (and in fact spent the rest of the day feeling guilty that I paid it) when compared to those which thrown in a signature for free, which very much feels like a cherry on top and certainly makes me feel more open to buying music from that artist in the future.

The music industry has never been constantly safe or lucrative for the majority of musicians, but I would argue that its the fault of the labels if musicians feel like they need to add extra bits on top at high prices to earn comfortable money.
 
bother said:
You mean artists struggling to earn a living making art is somehow a bad thing? Can’t imagine it’s easy surviving on your music income, much less playing jazz. Don’t hate on an artist trying to hustle for some extra money.
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I heard something on the radio the other day about a musician who was selling albums but still couldn't afford her rent as the income from Spotify etc is so little.

Combined with no live gigs for most of the year, musicians (among many others) have had a hard time.

I'd have been happy with paying an extra £7 for a Nubya signature on her album. Actually Shabaka charged more (his signed album was around £50). I did actually pay for this and later regretted it, although later got refunded because it was never sent out.

If more artists adopt vmp's pricing then regrettably I'll be streaming their albums instead (ie Yussef). I do think Nubya's pricing was reasonable tho...I'll continue to buy vinyl if I think it's a reasonable price and I hope there's some common sense decisions made by those in the industry.
 
VinylGuy said:
I heard something on the radio the other day about a musician who was selling albums but still couldn't afford her rent as the income from Spotify etc is so little.

Combined with no live gigs for most of the year, musicians (among many others) have had a hard time.

I'd have been happy with paying an extra £7 for a Nubya signature on her album. Actually Shabaka charged more (his signed album was around £50). I did actually pay for this and later regretted it, although later got refunded because it was never sent out.

If more artists adopt vmp's pricing then regrettably I'll be streaming their albums instead (ie Yussef). I do think Nubya's pricing was reasonable tho...I'll continue to buy vinyl if I think it's a reasonable price and I hope there's some common sense decisions made by those in the industry.
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With streaming, the artist gets something like .0008 cents per stream. Unless you are Beyonce level, your cheque from streaming might be $50 a month if lucky.

Vinyl doesn't sell much in the overall scheme of things. Even 2000 or 3000 copies yields a relatively small amount to the artist. $10k or maybe $15k. Split between band members - beer money. Radio royalties are now minor, and also go mostly to the biggest pop artists.

Don't ever count on a record label to make a common sense decision.

I too sympathize with the price of vinyl. I rarely get anything under $35 now and some are even more. I end up being more selective.

But don't blame the artists. Many can't afford to buy their own records.

I am willing to pay more for newly recorded vinyl from interesting artists, of which the UK jazz scene has quite a few these days.

Reissues, where there are no recording costs to recoup, the label owns the rights and the royalty rate is low, is another matter. Unlike some, I tend to pass on the latest, audiophile, definitive, best mastering, super 180 vinyl from a rock star mastering guru (when did mastering engineers become folk hero celebrities?) because that is where the real gouging is taking place, and sadly where far too many are eager to play along.
 
phramenma said:
Some lovely Quin Kirchner represses - as always highly recommended:


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I've wanted that first Quin Kirchner for a long time. The only question is: do I assume it will come to Europe (Juno, HHV etc) or do I pony up $55 for it shipped now? (It's $75 from his website 🤯)It is a record I'd pay that for, but I'd prefer not to. Dilemmas of a European record buyer...
 
Poly-Rythmo said:
I've wanted that first Quin Kirchner for a long time. The only question is: do I assume it will come to Europe (Juno, HHV etc) or do I pony up $55 for it shipped now? (It's $75 from his website 🤯)It is a record I'd pay that for, but I'd prefer not to. Dilemmas of a European record buyer...
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I've sent a message to Quin asking for help in regards to possible availability in stores. I'll let you know.
 
phramenma said:
I've sent a message to Quin asking for help in regards to possible availability in stores. I'll let you know.
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Cool. I should note that Juno had both his first and second albums on release so there's hope. It was pure FOMO that made me buy directly from the US on his most recent album.
 
Mr Moore said:
@Selaws have you seen Honest Jon's have the Tubby boxset half price this weekend at £90.
Thought you might be interested.
Tubby Hayes - The Complete Fontana Albums 1961-69 : Honest Jon's Records
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Damn what a great deal, it's upwards of £200 on other sites! I have been thinking about picking this up but I have 5 out of the 11 Fontana LP's. At this price though, the remaining 6 LP's are still affordable, so I picked it up! Cheers @Mr Moore, this will be a fantastic treat to dig into!
 
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