Re: Jewish Music Available on the Web

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

Mayer,

In light of (a little Hanukah pun) our discussion of a directory,
perhaps you could share with us the list of the "top 65 Judaica shops
in the country" that have music listening stations.

Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Mayer Pasternak <mayer (at) jewishmusic(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Wednesday, December 16, 1998 5:59 PM
Subject: Jewish Music Available on the Web


Hi all,
I have been listening in on the discussion on this list for a few
years. My personal feeling has been to stay out of most of the
conversations about specific products since - I actively market and
represent many of them. I have believed the marketplace should
determine its verdict on products by themselves. However, since there
has been a discussion of what is available on my site and what is
missing - I would like to add my 2 cents.

In the past the philosophy of our company has been to provide the
broad based Jewish music consumer audience with access to products
that were viable on a national and international level. We have boxes
of demo CDs that were submitted to us, that were unmarketable in
Judaica shops or via conventional catalog methods and as thus they
were relegated to obscurity (circular file). What artists fail to
realize is the cost of printing catalogs and the mailing costs vs. the
kind of response their products can elicit on a mass level. (Our cost
of placing an item in our print catalog is about $400 - our last print
catalog was mailed to over 150,000 people and there are products that
sold less 40 copies) We were therefore very selective as to which
products we placed in print and that we carried. We had to select the
products for the masses and are "marketable" and function as a
recommender.

There are literally hundreds of titles that end up in judaica stores
that just sit there because the customers walking in have never heard
of the group or artist. The customers have no way of making an
intelligent decision about the products except based on the artist's
recognition, title and cover art. Except for a handful of stores
around the country the sales staff has equally little knowledge about
the albums.  We have tried to change that by installing listening
stations in the top 65 Judaica shops in the country. It has allowed
customers to preview albums and make their decisions based on sound
bytes.  None-the-less there are still albums that don't sell that way
either.

The Internet has changed all of that! The cost of adding a product to
our website is a fraction of the above costs. Online catalogs can be
updated relatively quickly. Products can have lengthy descriptions,
song lists, reviews and real audio - which all help market the
products. So, over the last three years we have been slowly expanding
or product offering. We are currently at 3,700 products with over
5,000 pages to maintain. The response is fascinating to say the
least - obscure products have been ordered within an hour of being
added to our site. The range and diversity of products that the same
people order is also quite amazing. However, many products sell only
one or two copies even after being on the site for several months.

We are none-the-less committed to making as much Jewish music as
possible available to the public. So over the last 5 months we have
opened up the doors to artists that have products that they would like
to make available through our company and our site. There may be some
of you that have albums or know of artists that have albums that we do
not currently carry. To that ends I share the following information.
We will add "Jewish" music products to our database and online catalog
for a nominal fee for setting it up - which includes, scanning the
covers, adding the table of contents and adding a description provided
by the artist or record label. We will also add up to ten minutes of
real audio - for a nominal fee for sampling and transmission. We will
only do this for products that are in print, readily available and
meet the basic market standards of quality. This service is provided
only when we are provided with a nominal amount of product on
consignment a consignment basis. This product will be available if and
when someone orders it. If and when the products sell they will be
paid for. This program is similar to others that are being provided by
other non-jewish distributors and retailers. If you would like more
information you can email me.

There are several individuals that have posted to this list recently
that have taken us up on this offer. Their products have sold, because
they made them available and made them accessible through our
services. It is a nominal investment on the part of the artists and
labels and it allows people to get access to hearing and buying their
products.


I am posting this message to this list as a service message not as a
sales vehicle. If you say that our offering is "Incomplete" you now
have the chance to remedy it!

Mayer Pasternak
Tara Publications
Jewishmusic.com

P.S Many of the albums that have been discussed recently you can find
on our site at http://jewishmusic.com . Including some adult Chanukah
offerings including Jon Simon, Festival of Lights, Voice of the
Turtle, Zamir Choral - Klezmer Conservatory - Oy Chanukah, a new A
Cappela album by Listen Up!  - to name a few. For those of those that
like shmaltz Kenny Karen has a song on his album called "Festival of
Lights" which is great!  I had suggested to Six Degree that that put
that on the Festival of Lights album but they vetoed - their loss.