HW: Yuri etc...

[Jon Jarrett]

On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, Captain Bl at ck wrote, speaking of _In The Beginning_:

> Indeed, I saw this CD in a record store in Barnstaple two days ago.
>
> But this begs a question;
>
> What sort of deal does he have that gets these things into the stores when
> Voiceprint can't?

        Well, there are two answers to that, which I offer only as
observations rather than suggesting I know much about it. First is that,
round here at least, Voiceprint *can* get the stuff onto the shops. Round
here is Cambrudge UK, as some of you know, and here we have an HMV and a
large semi-independent called Andy's, both of which carry Voiceprint HW
and Fall stuff at least of not more. There is also a FOPP, which doesn't,
as far as I can tell, presumably using different distributors. They all
carry the EMI stuff as well or instead. What Voiceprint seem to lack is
any kind of extra-English distribution, but people on-list from
outside the UK don't seem to be able to get the EMI stuff either, so I
don't really understand that as they can hardly lack such things.

        Secondly, as for Dave Anderson, I imagine he can afford to pay a
lot to distributors, as the only overheads he's meeting for these reissues
are artwork, printing and pressing. And registering the new division of
Demi Monde (I assume they are his labels really? Or is he just licensing
out?) each time. But that might be half the answer, and the other half is
probably that Demi Monde has been around, what, 15 years now, and has a
decent-sized catalogue and somehow a respectable name. And a great deal of
what's on it must be quite cheap to produce as I say. So Dave Anderson
probably has a few good distribution deals which he can plug these things
into whenever they come out. This is just guesswork, though.

        There's hope in it if I'm right, though, as Voiceprint only have
to keep plugging at it and eventually the sheer size of the catalogue
they're amassing will become sufficient to interest local distributors and
stockists in cutting some sort of deal with them. But maybe there are
other reasons people don't like to deal with Voiceprint. I remember Steve
Pond saying something like that Dave Anderson could get away with anything
because of sheer smarm value; maybe Rob Ayling lacks that. He's not seemed
the easiest or most straightforward of people to deal with in what little
contact I've had with him, meaning mostly his posts to this list. Just an
opinion of course, yours,
                          Jon

ObCD: Jimi Hendrix - _Live at the Fillmore East_
--
"I recognise that I have transgressed many of the precepts of the divine
law, and that I am subjected by various vices and iniquities, disobedient
to the words of the divine mystery brought unto me and a worshipper of the
delights of this military age." Marquis Borrell of Barcelona, 955 A.D.

             (Jonathan Jarrett, Birkbeck College London)