Is Mosaic in trouble?

[Lush Life]

I know the market out there for CDs in general in this age of downloads is rather tenuous. And I've read that Mosaic took a hit on their Bunny Berigan set when JSP ripped them off with an el cheapo box set.

Is Mosaic in trouble? Sure hope not, but I fear the honest answer.

[Rooster_Ties]

Looking at the number of Selects they've issued in recent years, I would think that they would actually be doing a bit better than ever.

(I'm not saying "lots" better, but -- WOW -- there is a LOT of Mosaic product available these days -- and one would think that would probably have to be good.)

[jazzbo]

I don't think Mosaic is in trouble. In fact they're expanding into production, the Select and Single line seems to be prosperous. Yes, it's unfortunate this pirating of their work. . .I think it will mean possibly fewer older sets than I would like but. . . .in trouble? I would guess not.

Edited March 18, 2007 by jazzbo

[Late]

That would be a strange (hypothetical) scenario:

"So -- what prompted the Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton on Mosaic?"

"Well, European copyright law can't yet get into 70's recordings. We decided it would be a good idea to reissue them now."

"Wow. Didn't think of it that way."

"Yeah, the Honeydew recordings are next. We'll start with the Elvin Jones Skyscrapers sessions, and move from there. Maybe a Mainstream label Mosaic Select."

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i would just like to go on record and say i think mosaic moving into production is a bad idea and will be the final nail in its coffin. mosaic is a re-issue label. what, did they run out of stuff do reissue (or licence and then reissue).

[Tom Storer]

You make it sound like the nailing of the coffin is all but finished. Is there any evidence that Mosaic's business is not healthy?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Health is all about profit, not sales. I would expect Mosaic to have heavier costs than other reissue labels, simply to invest in better quality. What the equation is for Mosaic, I don't know.

In Britain, even small firms have to file their accounts publicly. I think that isn't the case in the US, is it?

MG

[Tom 1960]

I'm not sure if they're in trouble or not? But man, they must be making some money on those great Mosaic Select series. For guys like myself, who can't often spend the big bucks on the large box sets, the Mosaic Selects give me an opportunity to make some serious purchases and not break the bank.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

5 or 6 years ago, shortly after co-founder Charlie Lourie's death, Mosaic went through a tough patch. They let go one of the telephone operators and didn't fill another spot when someone else left. I was told that those moves would help keep a positive cash flow. I have no idea how they're doing now. I doubt they're doing excellent. No one in the physical music business is doing well that I'm aware of.

[tranemonk]

No matter how they're doing...

I've come to realization (sign of getting older) that good things don't last forever... At some point it will cease to exist and we will all be quite depressed until we play those Art Blakey, Lou Donaldson, Art Pepper, Tal Farlow sets....

I have come to peace that I/we are quite fortunate to have Mosaic around for as long as we have and we've got access to this stuff..... So cough up the $$$ ad get what you want....!!!

Hopefully I will live to 80 and I'll drop before they will .... but.... I won't be shocked if they go first...

Edited March 18, 2007 by tranemonk

[sidewinder]

I really hope they are doing OK (and this should be a prompt for me to advance a modest next order). Over the last few weeks I've seen my favourite hi-fi dealer having to downsize thanks to outrageous hikes in rents, then there have been numerous vinyl store disappearances. All of the great and interesting places that made perusing/shopping fun seem to be hitting the dust. To be replaced by faceless mobile phone outlets, crappy nick-nack shops and so-called 'womens fashion/accessory boutiques'.

It's time for us to exercise our collective Mosaic $ muscle (what's left of it, that is).

Edited March 18, 2007 by sidewinder

[brownie]

I had various exchanges with Mosaic lately. Did not have any impressions of troubles ahead for them!

Long live Mosaic!

[sidewinder]

I had various exchanges with Mosaic lately. Did not have any impressions of troubles ahead for them!

Long live Mosaic!

Good to hear !

[Claude]

It's strange to open a thread with such an alarming subject when there is no sign whatsoever of Mosaic being in trouble.

Edited March 18, 2007 by Claude

[mjzee]

I visited them a few weeks ago, to pick up some titles. The office was bustling, people were very nice and friendly; nothing seemed amiss.

[J Larsen]

Health is all about profit, not sales. I would expect Mosaic to have heavier costs than other reissue labels, simply to invest in better quality. What the equation is for Mosaic, I don't know.

In Britain, even small firms have to file their accounts publicly. I think that isn't the case in the US, is it?

MG

Publicly traded companies have to file their financials. Subsidiaries of publicly traded companies do not (except for insurance companies) unless they themselves are publicly traded (ie another publicly traded company owns a majority of the shares and the remainder trade on the open markets).

I think Mosaic is quite obviously doing just fine. A fledgling label doesn't start new project after new project and issue more box sets than I can keep up with.

[sidewinder]

Literally just arrived in my email from Stamford -

"MOSAIC CONTEMPORARY

While the Mosaic Records Boxed Set encompasses everything this company was built on and will continue to be our most important contribution, over the last few years we have embarked on a number of different series. We have expanded the Mosaic Records imprint with Mosaic Selects and Mosaic Singles.

Since our inception, our mission has been to fill a vacuum where the established recording industry is lax. Even in our flagship Mosaic Records boxed sets, we have ventured beyond jazz to present worthy sets by Otis Spann, Charles Brown, The Four Freshmen and Amos Milburn.

Now we are introducing a line of single CDs under the banner Mosaic Contemporary which will be made available at Retail upon release. This line is inaugurated by artists that emerged in the '70s and appeal to what is now called an adult audience. These artists flourished in the genres called fusion, contemporary jazz and quiet storm R & B. They include Jaco Pastorious, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Patti Austin and George Duke and they are artists defined by a unique identity.

We hope to bring the same discerning ear to this era and genre(s) as we have to all forms of music we produce. What David Sanborn, George Benson and Joe Zawinul have in common more than any other musical characteristics are their individuality and the audience to which all three appeal. Our goal is to rescue forgotten classics and to present the music for that audience with high quality packaging and remastering.

We are in the process of building a Mosaic Contemporary website but for now you may preorder any of these from our True Blue Music site at http://www.truebluemusic.com . Or if you're lucky enough to have a record store nearby hopefully they have stocked some copies. The following sale prices are effective through April 15th."

[Claude]

Mosaic Contemporary is being discussed here:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=32320

[RDK]

It's strange to open a thread with such an alarming subject when there is no sign whatsoever of Mosaic being in trouble.

I agree. It's a needlessly alarmist thread.

But since we're here - what do we think the future of Mosaic might be, at least to the larger box sets? I mean, their bread and butter seems to have been, over the years, the BN/Capitol, EMI catalog, but that's pretty we ll mined by this point and Mosaic can't/refuses to re-release/repeat their earlier sets. In other words - and I think we've discussed this before - haven't most of the "big guns" available to them already been released?

It helps, of course, that Mosaic has recently been releasing more Verve sets, but as much as we want to see a Braxton Arista box (for example), it's hardly comparable, commercially, to another Duke collection or the BN recordings of Lee Morgan.

[Ken Dryden]

They have mined a lot of good stuff, while some labels may be asking too much to lease out certain recordings or artists. Cuscuna is a smart businessman, so he has to ask whether or not each potential set or individual reissue will sell enough copies to make a decent profit. No one can forecast accurately 100% of the time and the Capitol sets seem to be the ones that have done poorly, given the number of sales involving them.

The Honeydew jest by someone in an earlier post was a riot. Dave McKenna told me that the sessions he did for the label "sounded like they were recorded in a toilet" and that he never got paid for them.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Mosaic hasn't mined out EMI, yet, in my view. Les McCann, for one, would sell out a box in decent turnover time. I think a Howard Roberts box would be quite interesting, though maybe too much is currently available - that's someone I need to look into in a year or two. Eventually, when some of the stuff is deleted, I suspect a Cannonball Capitol box might be a good project. There's lots that hasn't been reissued.

I'd like to see a Billy Larkin box. But perhaps I'm the only one in the universe.

Argo/Cadet is another area insufficiently explored. They've done the Jazztet and I understand they're working on an Ahmad Jamal box - great! But there's Lou Donaldson and James Moody as well. And also, there were some lesser known organ combos on Cadet that were pretty interesting - The Three Souls; The Organisers; Sam Lazar; Baby Face Willette (and another I can't think of off the top of my head). A box of Midwest organ bands would actually be quite interesting, I think.

And of course, I'd like to see boxes of Lewis, Stitt and McDuff Argo/Cadets - but Mosaic wouldn't do those either In the light of Mosaic Contemporary, though, that view may be a bit pessimistic.

A new area the firm could look at is Muse. Muse is at present owned by Nippon Columbia and not being reissued by Savoy Jazz. The amount of stuff that's worth reissuing in decent presentations on Muse is huge. 32 Jazz did a rotten job on the catalogue when it had access and the stuff isn't available now anyhow.

And, as I keep saying, Sonny Lester's material should get a proper reissue programme.

And what about John William Hardy's labels Revelation and Trend? Not my kind of thing generally, but good stuff.

The idea that a firm like Mosaic is running out of possible material is just plain silly.

MG

[mikelz777]

Ooooo...I'd definitely be on board for boxes or selects of Les McCann and Baby Face Willette!!

Edited March 18, 2007 by mikelz777

[Chuck Nessa]

And what about John William Hardy's labels Revelation and Trend? Not my kind of thing generally, but good stuff.

MG

Trend belonged to Albert Marx, not Hardy. Trend and Discovery are now owned by Warner.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

And what about John William Hardy's labels Revelation and Trend? Not my kind of thing generally, but good stuff.

MG

Trend belonged to Albert Marx, not Hardy. Trend and Discovery are now owned by Warner.

Thanks Chuck. No doubt Collectables will get around to compiling a few eccentric pairings one day

MG

[Ken Dryden]

I don't think that Mosaic is running shy of material, by any means.

But some of the sets mentioned above might be a bit of a gamble as boxed sets. Then again, I'll leave it to Michael Cuscuna and company, since it will be their assets, not mine, that are in play.