Sadness... wanting a Mosaic simply for $$$ or novelty

[tranemonk]

I was over all the AAJ BB and noticed three or four different posts about people selling their Mosaics... and started thinking that there are some people who simply buy the Mosaics for

a) resale profitability and/or

b) novelty (it's nice to have something that is OOP, that other people don't have) and/or

c) don't know or care about the Mosaics and are simply addicted to the whole "collectable" thing...

I know (at least I think I know.... ) that none of us over here operate with those motives... I know for me EVERY mosaic I buy... is based on a love for and/or a curiousity about a particular artist... Sometimes it's a dud, sometimes a home run but it ALWAYS and ONLY about the music and the musicians (and wanting to support the company...)

I don't begrudge any one who has multiple motivations for buying them when at least the main one is a love of the music... I do find it disheartening when the dominant/sole reason is resale profitability...

I have not nor will I ever sell my Mosaics... (now what my daughter does with them when I croak is another story... )

That's my story! and i'm sticking to it...

[RDK]

I have a hard time believing that anyone who buys a Mosaic set for "only" profit motives would be spending any time at all over at AAJ or here.

I don't have a lot of sympathy either way. The sets are usually available for several years, everyone has a chance to buy them, and whether someone buys it for the music or as an investment the money is the same to Mosaic. I wish a lot of the older, oop sets were cheaper too, but to be honest I've bought a few sets that I was unsure about knowing that I could always resell them later and at least break even.

[zen archer]

I have 30 Mosaic box set's and 4 of the select boxes and i have never once thought about

the resale value or how collectable they are. The value is in the music ,each one a small treasure to

enjoy for years to come!

[GA Russell]

Offhand, the only boxes I'm sorry I didn't get when they were available are the Charles Brown, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis and the Maynard Ferguson. In every case, the sets were too big for my budget.

Now the Selects are a different story. I'm going to be kicking myself when they go out of print!

[mikelz777]

Mosaic sets are very nice but not that compelling that they deserve such idolatry. Who cares what people do with them once they buy them? As long as they aren't buying such large quantities that it denies someone else a reasonable chance of acquiring one if they want it and that's highly unlikely in any case.

For me, the big boxes are never going to be a speculative, completist or novelty purchase. I won't buy them unless I'm very fond of the artist or I've been able to listen to enough samples of the set of an unknown artist (Farlow and Parlan for me and Farlow cuz it was only $50 new) that I know I'm really going to like it. I've only ever been disappointed by one set which fell a bit on the speculative side (I preferred the artist in a different phase of his career) but I knew I would be able to sell it for at least what I paid for it if not more. (and did) The Selects lend themselves more to speculative purchases and all 5 of mine were unknown artists to me but going into those buys with my eyes open, they all turned out very enjoyable.

The market drives the prices and some of these sets have fetched insane amounts. Knowing the market for them, I've purchased 1 or 2 that I found for a good deal and sold them at a profit (but still a fair price) so I'd have more money to make other music purchases.

Edited February 14, 2007 by mikelz777

[Hot Ptah]

I have a feeling that Mosaic may wish that more people would buy them for $$$ or novelty--just as long as many more people buy them.

[Jim R]

For me, the big boxes are never going to be a speculative, completist or novelty purchase...

...Knowing the market for them, I've purchased 1 or 2 that I found for a good deal and sold them at a profit (but still a fair price) so I'd have more money to make other music purchases.

[Lush Life]

I have a feeling that Mosaic may wish that more people would buy them for $$$ or novelty--just as long as many more people buy them.

Bingo.

As jazz fans, we better all hope the market for Mosaic's product stays healthy, because we are already seeing the CD market as a whole start to shrink in significant ways.

Worse, no less a prominent blues label than Yazoo is ending its CD reissues...partly because the label owner wants to retire, and partly because it was never super-profitable to begin with, but was instead more of a labor of love.

[mikelz777]

For me, the big boxes are never going to be a speculative, completist or novelty purchase...

...Knowing the market for them, I've purchased 1 or 2 that I found for a good deal and sold them at a profit (but still a fair price) so I'd have more money to make other music purchases.

"Never speculative" in the sense of not being sure if I'm going to like the artist/recording or not.