Re: List of Top 100 Jewish Music Stores and resources

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

Mayer,

Those of us in the group now know that you, Simon, and Larry are
excellent sources for Jewish music.

Even so, an annotated list of local Jewish Music Stores can still
serve a number of functions.  We may want to find out about stores
that others on the list like (with information on such things as
selection, knowledge & personality of owner(s), ambience, prices, even
location, phone number, URL, hours...) for the following reasons
(among others):
1. Convenience.  Quick source for those top 100 titles.
2. Browsing.  Some of us may still do this for recreation.  (Note that
the JewishMusic.com web site is browsable too with lots of recorded
excerpts.)
3. Surprise.  Discovering Jewish music stores that you didn't even
know about right in your back yard.
4. Recommendations.  Now we can answer friends and family when they
ask, "Where can I get Jewish music where I live?"
5. Travel.  Where to go when we're on the road.  Perhaps some local
stores are also more likely to carry product (e.g., local klezmer
bands) that is different from our regular sources.
6. "Oddball" products.  I guess that I fall into this category.  After
about 25 years of collecting, I have a list of about 50 recordings
that are specifically Jewish (mostly on LP) that I know I would like
to own and do not.  (And that's only the ones I know about.)   Perhaps
I should post them and ask for the help of list members.  In the
meantime, it would be great to find out about those "few stores in the
country that have eclectic assortments of product that has accumulated
over the years".   What is old and just so much garbage for the
vendor, might be of value to someone far away.  Perhaps there are a
few others in the group who also would like to know about these
stores.  But surely this is not the prime reason why the group may
continue to develop such a list.  (In any case, thanks to Judy Fertig
et al, we know about libraries that may have these hardest to find
recordings of Jewish music.)

I hope that you feel that we have been making an appropriate use of
your list.

And thanks for your additional comments on distributors and the ways
of the Jewish music wholesale/retail world.

Sincerely,
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: Sunday, December 20, 1998 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: List of Top 100 Jewish Music Stores and resources


>There is an inherent problem with what you are trying to do. You seem
to be
>looking for sources of "oddball" products. The average judaica shop
at stops
>the equivalent of top 100 recording while the better ones (there are
10 in
>the US) stock 200 - 500 titles. For the most part they are all
getting most
>of their music from about 7 distributors in the US. There are a few
stores
>that take product on consignment from local artists. But by and large
the
>best way to get specialty items is from the distributors direct
retail
>catalogs or on the web. Anything that they do not carry you will need
to get
>directly from the artists. There are a few stores in the country that
have
>eclectic assortments of product that has a ccumulated over the years
both I
>am unaware of any that are computerized or have a catalog.
>
>The following are the major distributors in the US that sell retail
and have
>the largest selections that you are looking for.
>
>USA
>Tara - Jewishmusic.com
>Soundswrite - soundswrite.com
>Hatikvah (Simon) - only via email - Simon has loads of eclectic stuff
you
>wont find anywhere else
>Hataklit - they have a website predominantly Israeli products
>Sisu (Kol Ami) sisuent.com - there website is sparse and they
dominate more
>in videos
>Aderet -  aderet.com they have a retail that is predominantly Frum or
>orthodox music
>Sifrutake - they have a selection available on the jewishmall.com
they have
>a retail store in Brooklyn
>Sameach - is the other orthodox distributor and they have no retail
>
>
>
>Virtually all the jewish music getting into the stores - are through
these
>companies and the odds of finding other products on a consistent
basis is
>hit or miss. It is true that most of the Judaica stores can get
almost
>anything through these distributors - they sometimes do special order
>products for customers - but many of them do not stock the products
that
>sell one or two copies a year for the specialty buyer.
>
>
>
>
>
>