Hey Kids, Have You Heard The News? MOSAIC's IN TROUBLE!!!

[mjzee]

My guess is that Universal now owns the piece of Mosaic formerly owned by EMI.  IIRC, in the past Mosaic would sometimes send out emails from @Capitol-EMI.com.  So if this indicates a friendly relationship between Mosaic and Universal, that's all to the good.  I also don't think it would cause a problem with Sony or Warner - those guys live for licensing fees, and Mosaic's boxes are limited editions, i.e. short term.

I had a chance to chat with Michael and Scott during their recent in-office sale.  They seemed genuinely upbeat about the future.  They indicated that some aspects of their business model may have to change, in ways unspecified to me (and perhaps yet to be fully-figured-out by them), but it was clear they were very focused on cash-on-hand and how much cash is tied up by unsold sets.  I took it to mean either shorter production runs, fewer total sets produced per title, or perhaps prepays (again, just guesses on my part).  But they were definitely looking forward to creating new sets in the future.

[JSngry]

That Bill Barron set will give them good cash flow, when it comes.

[jlhoots]

11 minutes ago, JSngry said:

That Bill Barron set will give them good cash flow, when it comes.

You bet - meanwhile they still can't get the Savory out.

[Rooster_Ties]

38 minutes ago, JSngry said:

That Bill Barron set will give them good cash flow, when it comes.

We should all email them about when we can pre-order the Barron set.  I'd certainly get one!

[JSngry]

Make sure you specify Bill, Not Blue.

[Chuck Nessa]

9 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Make sure you specify Bill, Not Blue.

Made me laugh.

[AllenLowe]

I hear they are planning on a Barron Trump set.

[Brad]

2 hours ago, mjzee said:

My guess is that Universal now owns the piece of Mosaic formerly owned by EMI.  IIRC, in the past Mosaic would sometimes send out emails from @Capitol-EMI.com.  So if this indicates a friendly relationship between Mosaic and Universal, that's all to the good.  I also don't think it would cause a problem with Sony or Warner - those guys live for licensing fees, and Mosaic's boxes are limited editions, i.e. short term.

I had a chance to chat with Michael and Scott during their recent in-office sale.  They seemed genuinely upbeat about the future.  They indicated that some aspects of their business model may have to change, in ways unspecified to me (and perhaps yet to be fully-figured-out by them), but it was clear they were very focused on cash-on-hand and how much cash is tied up by unsold sets.  I took it to mean either shorter production runs, fewer total sets produced per title, or perhaps prepays (again, just guesses on my part).  But they were definitely looking forward to creating new sets in the future.

Inventory and overhead is always a big concern , especially for a small business. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

11 hours ago, Brad said:

Inventory and overhead is always a big concern , especially for a small business. 

I remember years ago when Michael would complain about all of the Condon LP sets they had collecting dust on their warehouse shelves and how they had so much money tied up in these sets that it was hurting their ability to get out any new sets. I am pretty sure that set was instrumental in Mosaic completely abandoning vinyl for all those years.

[Brad]

Although they've probably explored this but I wonder if a subscription model would be feasible for certain projects, or perhaps having people invest in certain projects, sort of selling securities to a project.   Trouble is, they would be projects without any expected return. 

[David Ayers]

1 hour ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I remember years ago when Michael would complain about all of the Condon LP sets they had collecting dust on their warehouse shelves and how they had so much money tied up in these sets that it was hurting their ability to get out any new sets. I am pretty sure that set was instrumental in Mosaic completely abandoning vinyl for all those years.

 

Maybe that’s why the Sun Ship set didn’t stay around long enough for me...

[sidewinder]

If you wanted that one, Scott had a test pressing available at the Sale. Might be worth asking if it is still available.

[ghost of miles]

3 hours ago, Brad said:

Although they've probably explored this but I wonder if a subscription model would be feasible for certain projects, or perhaps having people invest in certain projects, sort of selling securities to a project.   Trouble is, they would be projects without any expected return. 

I've often thought that they might want to explore some sort of Kickstarter approach to developing certain sets.  Bill Barron, say!  

[Kevin Bresnahan]

1 hour ago, ghost of miles said:

I've often thought that they might want to explore some sort of Kickstarter approach to developing certain sets.  Bill Barron, say!  

Good idea but (I hate to say this) you better set your sights low as Kickstarter is a "make it or lose it" model. If you ask for too much, you might not get any.

And remember, as great as a Bill Barron set might sound to you and Jim, there are just not a lot of people out there like you willing to spend "Mosaic money" on a box set. You're also going to run into the fact that there are some people, myself among them, who already have nearly all of this material on various CDs & LPs.

[JSngry]

Bill Barron would not be Kickstart, it would be Kickass.

[soulpope]

2 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Bill Barron would not be Kickstart, it would be Kickass.

....

[hbbfam]

17 hours ago, AllenLowe said:

I hear they are planning on a Barron Trump set.

And some people are saying this will be the best mosaic release ever.

[Brad]

18 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Good idea but (I hate to say this) you better set your sights low as Kickstarter is a "make it or lose it" model. If you ask for too much, you might not get any.

And remember, as great as a Bill Barron set might sound to you and Jim, there are just not a lot of people out there like you willing to spend "Mosaic money" on a box set. You're also going to run into the fact that there are some people, myself among them, who already have nearly all of this material on various CDs & LPs.

Not to argue against myself but Mosaic would need the money in advance, long before the set ever came close to production.  

[Ed S]

I think it is smart of them to gauge interest prior to re-pressing for reasons mentioned above.   Going forward I would imagine some form of the same for new sets - either subscription, or solicitations for advance orders, then making a determination of what size of pressing to make.  Then, unless the product is jumping off the shelves, limit to a single pressing and work the set through the Last Chance process

I would also suggest that they should have made their solicitation for advance orders for a new printing of the Bee-Hive set in advance of running out of stock.  That way they could make a decision whether to re-press or allow the set to go through the Last Chance process.  As it stands now - there may be a number of customers who had this set on their wishlist but held off for whatever reason - completely unaware that supply was dwindling and Mosaic was at such a critical decision point relative to cash flow.  Those customers would undoubtedly be disappointed of the set's cancellation without notice.  Not a good way to keep customers happy.

I was in the same situation when the troubles were first made public some time ago.  The JPJ, Savoy, Mingus and a couple more I wanted (and many others I already had) were on back order with the prospect of outright discontinuation looming.  Luckily the surge in volume allowed re-pressing of all of the sets I wanted.  I have since pre-ordered their two newest sets.

[medjuck]

18 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I remember years ago when Michael would complain about all of the Condon LP sets they had collecting dust on their warehouse shelves and how they had so much money tied up in these sets that it was hurting their ability to get out any new sets. I am pretty sure that set was instrumental in Mosaic completely abandoning vinyl for all those years.

But they must have eventually sold them all....Or did the license run out?  Was it the same as the cd set which they still have? 

[Rooster_Ties]

3 hours ago, medjuck said:

But they must have eventually sold them all....Or did the license run out?  Was it the same as the cd set which they still have? 

Even if the license ran out, they would have been permitttd to sell all the stock already pressed. I'm mostly nearly positive that the contracts wouldn't have forced them to destroy already existing inventory simply because the timer ran out. (Or I'd be shocked to learn otherwise.)

[Brad]

Without knowing the terms of the license, it's hard to know.  Sometimes, in any commercial relationship, you're allowed to use up the inventory but it's not a universal rule, based on my experience. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

5 hours ago, medjuck said:

But they must have eventually sold them all....Or did the license run out?  Was it the same as the cd set which they still have? 

They did eventually sell them all out. It was the first Condon set - The Complete CBS Recordings Of Eddie Condon And His All Stars - MQ7-152

. The CD version sold out years before they sold their last LP set. It stuck around for a very long time.

[sidewinder]

I picked up my vinyl copy of the Condon towards the tail end of that run,  i recall. Probably when it hit ‘last chance’.

[Chuck Nessa]

Spoke with Michael yesterday and ordered some sets to catch up.