[HANASHIR:4122] Re: Universal Jewish Music License-

[MahTovu <MahTovu...>]

In a message dated 10/10/99 9:16:39 PM, PKellyJr (at) aol(dot)com writes:

>Many of the parents at our congregation don't live in a Jewish neighborhood
>and  can't afford luxuries  including "costly" Jewish music.

>I herein put both feet in my mouth to point out that secular music is readily
>available anywhere and if you wait a few months, it will be on sale.  Jewish
>music is only found in a few places, it often costs much more than secular
>music  and is not discounted due to scarcity.  

Please don't take this personally, but I feel compelled to respond:

First the issue of cost: I just bought a whole bunch of new CD's at Tower 
records - Lyle Lovett, Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Cockburn, and a couple of old 
Van Morrison discs. Some of them were on sale for $12.99, but the others were 
$14.99 and $15.99. At our Mah Tovu concerts we sell cassettes for $10.00 and 
CD's for $15.00, and these prices are pretty standard with most Jewish 
artists. At A.R.E., through our catalog and on our website, we sell cassettes 
for $9.95 and CD's for $15.95; SoundsWrite and Tara charge pretty much the 
same. In the last couple of years we all LOWERED our prices to be competitive 
with secular music. Maybe some gift shops mark them up a little higher, but 
Jewish music IS available out there at competitive prices.

In fact, I believe that Jewish music is actually VERY competitively priced. 
Consider that MCA Records, a huge multinational conglomerate, probably 
printed up several hundred thousand of those Lyle Lovett discs, and probably 
put a few hundred thousand bucks into advertising and publicity. Mah Tovu, on 
the other hand, literally saved our pennies for four years and borrowed money 
from friends and family so that we could afford to go into the studio, record 
an album, and print up 1,000 cassettes and 1,000 CD's. We had to sell every 
single one of those before we broke even, and only on the second run did were 
we able to pay bacvk our loans and start to see any actual revenue. And now 
it's four years later and we've almost saved up enough money to go back in 
and record another one. Every disc that we give away as a demo or a gift 
comes out of our own pockets. Every time someone makes a copy (which is a 
violation of the copyright and ILLEGAL) we're one step farther away from 
being able to write, produce, and record new Jewish music. 

Secondly, it's precisely BECAUSE people don't live in Jewish neighborhoods 
that they NEED to have Jewish music in their homes and it SHOULDN't be 
considered a luxury. A wonderful teacher of mine named Max Frankel tells a 
great story: A rabbi goes to visit a congregant at his home. The congregant 
proudly shows the rabbi around the house, pointing out the fine Italian 
silver, the elegant English linen tablecloth, the exquisite French crystal, 
the gorgeous Native American art, and the top-of-the-line Japanese stereo 
system. The rabbi nods and smiles, oohs and aahs, and then gently asks the 
man, "what do you have in your home that is JEWISH?" 

We've got to create a culture among the families and children whom we teach/le
ad/perform for that it's IMPORTANTto fill their homes with Jewish music, 
books, videos, ceremonial objects, art, etc... and that it may just be worth 
spending a little more to do so. As far as accessibility, in this age of the 
internet anyone with a computer can order a ton of Jewish music and have it 
delivered overnight. If they don't have a computer they still have a 
telephone and all the major publishers have toll-free numbers. It's a matter 
of priority. Jewish music is easy to find if you want to find it. 

I love my new Lyle Lovett CD, and glad that I spent the $15.99 on it. 
However, it didn't teach me much about who I am, where I've been or where I'm 
going, it didn't touch me an any really significant way. I would rather have 
my kids (as yet unborn) live in a home that is filled with music that ties 
them to thousands of years of history and peoplehood, that teaches them 
something important, that touches them and moves them. How much is THAT 
worth? A lot more than $15.99.

End of sermon! Thanks for listening. Come again soon.

Oh, by the way:

SOURCES FOR JEWISH MUSIC
A.R.E. Publishing, Inc.
(800) 346-7779
http://www.arepublish.com

SoundsWrite Productions
(800) 9-SOUND-9 (976-8639)
http://www.soundswrite.com

TARA Publications
(800) TARA-400
http://www.jewishmusic.com

Steve Brodsky
Founding member of Mah Tovu (contemporary, original Jewish music)
Cantorial Soloist
Music Educator
Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter
Denver, Colorado

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+
Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Internet Consortium  http://shamash.org
------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------=