[78-L] 78-L Digest, Vol 35, Issue 17..Bear Family

[Nigel Burlinson]

I was the lead discographer for the Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Johnnie Ray
& Dean Martin sets.

I know that ALL four (4) of the Day sets (issued one a year for four years)
sold several thousand copies each and the Clooney slightly less. Don't know
about the Ray & Martin but as Richard  told me about 20 years ago they were
done "for the love of it" ie to provide a definitive issue of all that 
artists work for
Columbia, Capitol etc AND also in the belief that real collectors would be 
prepared
to pay about (now) 125 Euros for each of them. And they were!


Nigel Burlinson (burlinson at orange.fr)



> Message: 9
> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:52:22 +0200 (CEST)
> From: "Benno Häupl" <goldenbough at arcor.de>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] marketing CD's
> To: 78-l at 78online.com
> Message-ID:
> <456924842.224366.1313110342998.JavaMail.ngmail at webmail11.arcor-online.net>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> .
> Bear Family sets are not being issued for individual consumption, but 
> rather for
> archiving purposes. This is why they are mainly purchased by libraries.
>
> The aim is not listening pleasure, but to have COMPREHENSIVE information
> available in 500 years from now. In most cases Bear Family pays licence 
> fees(!)
> to the original record companies as well.  In return, they can use the 
> original
> tapes.
>
> The Johnny Horton set had been finished for about 10 years before it was 
> issued,
> because CBS had lost an unissued track. So they postponed the publication 
> until
> the recording turned up (on a vinyl demo).
>
> Compare Richard Weize's approach with Bear Family to the one he used to 
> have
> when he issued the LPs on Folk-Variety, Country Music History, Point and 
> other
> labels that were supposedly 'Pressed in Malaysia' or 'Czechoslovakia', 
> 'German
> Democratic Republic' or 'Netherlands' (in fact at the still existing 
> EUROPA vinyl
> pressing plant in Hanover, Germany).
>
> The same marketing approach for 'archiving purposes' applies to 
> discographies.
> Greenwood sold 80% of their runs to libraries, not collectors. In average 
> they
> sold about 1,000 copies, of which 800 went to U.S. libraries at 
> universities etc.
>
> Benno Haeupl
> .
>
>