Your favourite Bear Family releases

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by GodBlessTinyTim, Mar 3, 2015.

  1. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member


    Almost a year ago I posted this comment on another Hoffman thread about the MVD Exclusive distribution agreement of Bear Family

    "This appears to be VERY BAD news. I checked the MVD website, and the new Jerry Lee Lewis box is $522! At Ernie B's, if you register, it is only $228.
    Does anyone else think this is good? It may mean the end of my purchases. I note the MVD spokesman says the deal "allows MVD to expand further into the high end music collector's market". I bet none of us like "high end prices". I will not be stiffed for the audiophile prices that many distributors demand. I have a nearly complete collection of Bear Family boxes, but maybe no more."


    When I posted that I did not mention the frequent special coupons offered by Ernies, that reduced the price even further.

    It looks like MVD noticed that NO ONE was biting at $522, so they decided to drop it to $392. Somehow, I think hardly anyone will bite at that price either.
    Is it any surprise that the frequency of new box set releases has dropped off a cliff?
     
    Reader likes this.
  2. DEAN OF ROCK

    DEAN OF ROCK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hoover, AL
  3. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    The creator downloaded it from a torrent site for free, slapped it on about $6 worth of blank DVD-Rs and charges $150.
     
  4. Mychael

    Mychael Forum Resident

    Bear Family box sets released in 2014: 4
    Bear Family box sets released in 2015: 4
    Bear Family box sets released in 2016: 3
    Bear Family box sets released in 2017: 1 (three more finished or in production as of April, two more at planning stage)

    ...not counting updates or re-releases such as this one:
    [​IMG]
     
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  5. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    True, but draw that timeline back further and further
     
  6. spanky1

    spanky1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    I think you are right, and the whole situation concerns me. I don't know that we will see an immediate impact, but a year or two of poor sales will not bode well for them or us. I hate to see them forced to cheapen things at some point.
     
  7. Mychael

    Mychael Forum Resident

    Maybe you know more than the people at Bear Family, but so far sales from the MVD deal are far from "poor".
     
  8. spanky1

    spanky1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Nope, never claimed to know more than them. I can't imagine that sales have increased since the deal went into place. I think many of the sales for the past few months were dealers clearing out their stock. The next year or 2 will show how the good or bad the MVD deal is. I'm no marketing expert, but I DO KNOW that if you substantially raise the price of an item and reduce the channels of distribution, you will not help your sales.

    Exceptions can include exotic or rare items, but we are talking about cds. I know that the Bear Family products are not as readily available as they were a couple years ago. I also know that the MVD prices are nowhere near as good as Ernie B's or CDWOLF when he was in business.
     
  9. mikeja75

    mikeja75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.S.
    Prices have gone up in the US and I no longer purchase the large sets from Bear Family at all. I have to assume that the sales of BF for new and catalog sets has plummeted. At least in the US. Agree?

    I used to consider a number of different sets by artists that I normally don't collect -- and I bought a number of them.

    No more. I don't bother even looking any longer...
     
  10. cdwolf

    cdwolf Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina

    2007, my last full year selling BF, had at least 8 new boxsets, plus numerous smaller items...and there were no re-releases or updates (not sure those should even count at all). Earlier years would often have 3 or 4 boxsets every quarter, for an annual total of a dozen or so.
     
  11. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    If a boxset has been updated in any way (new book upgrade, or added tracks or remastered tracks), it should get a new catalog number so customers can keep things clear and understood when making purchases. That is the practice in the rest of the industry (though book upgrades are not typical) But as the Wolf said, the updates are not really completely new products (except for cases like the Johnny Horton, Jerry Lee etc).

    What is the update to the Jimmy Martin set? Text? Photos? New Music? Will it have a new catalog number? If it has the same catalog number, many collectors may hesitate to make a purchase, as the dealers will not really know in many cases (if you ask them)
     
    Svein Arne likes this.
  12. Reader

    Reader Senior Member

    Location:
    e.s.t. tenn.
    I do think many dealers were selling out their stock over the past few months. Even Ernie B still sold through Amazon after he quit selling BF at his website and the prices were great. I got the ones I was really wanting but no longer plan on getting more until the MVD deal changes.

    There are 3 or 4 I will get through some aftermarket seller but will get none through MVD or BF itself. They have about lost my business overall.

    The last new box I got was the Roy Acuff for about $170 compared to about $350 everywhere else now. Not good news for BF.

    Another BF problem is quality control. Remember the DVD problem with the Acuff box. No solution for it is there? I'm almost done with Bear Family.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2017
    Lucretius likes this.
  13. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I've seen Ernie B's prices quoted a lot on this forum and they are really great. But they appear to be one of the only sellers that sell that low. They must be working on very low margins as I've not really seen, outside of sales, anyone selling so cheaply.

    $522 does indeed seem high and $392 is closer to the prices I've seen elsewhere, both US and non US.

    To me Ernie B prices seem more of an outlier than a regular price.

    Were there many other sellers with such low prices, excluding sales, in the US?
     
  14. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    On paper that definitely rings true regarding reduced channels of distribution. But reduced suppliers doesn't necessarily have to mean reduced access. It's really access that we're talking about. If access is reduced then that's a problem. As long as MVD can provide the same level of easy access I don't think they'll be hurt sales wise.

    Prices on the other hand, different story.
     
  15. cdwolf

    cdwolf Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina

    I posted this on another thread about 8 months ago but it gives you a good overview of the economics of selling BF items.
     
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  16. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Thanks @cdwolf I must have missed that the first time around.
     
  17. Svein Arne

    Svein Arne Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
  18. Mychael

    Mychael Forum Resident

    To give some perspective: Bear Family released 9 box sets in 2007. Four of these were European/German language releases, with up to 10 discs (the international releases had 4 to 6 CDs each).
    In the last 4 years there was at least one box set released per year that would equal 5 or 6 "standard" BF boxes: the Chuck Berry set (or the forthcoming Louisiana Hayride box) is like all of the Hank Snow or Bill Monroe sets compiled into one volume, with years of research and preparation.
    And before you say, "I wish they would release more smaller sets..." – the 13-disc Country Rock project was issued as separate volumes, same as the Doo-Wop project.

    So it's not as if the Bear Family teams are slowing down; I'm working on 10 - 15 box set projects each year (more than half of them for BF, including updates of previous sets), and there are two other design teams at work there, too. (Plus, there's always research done on possible releases that for various reasons never reach the design stage...)
     
  19. cdwolf

    cdwolf Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    I count the following boxsets for 2007 (based on when they first showed up in my inventory...I always had them by release date, usually a bit earlier...no German releases included):

    16637 Bill Monroe - Last Days On Earth
    16749 Merle Haggard - Hag: Studio Recordings 1968-76
    16751 Wilma Lee & Stony Cooper - Big Midnight Special
    16808 Charlie Monroe - Old Kentucky Bound
    16818 George Jones - She Thinks I Still Care
    16821 Nashville Stars On Tour
    16849 American Folk & Country Festival
    16842 Gene Vincent - Outtakes (not a big box, but 6 CDs selling for over $100 so a boxset IMO)

    Earlier years also had "monster boxes", e.g. Carter Family, two Bob Wills, Beyond Recall, two Nat King Coles, etc., so the Chuck Berry is nothing out of the ordinary.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2017
    Tribute likes this.
  20. Svein Arne

    Svein Arne Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    Bear Family Records is a company from Germany so i do not complain if they use time to make cd box sets with music from Germany.
    They are doing an amazing good job.:righton::tiphat:
     
  21. cdwolf

    cdwolf Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    I wasn't complaining about BF's German releases...if that's how you somehow understood my post, then I wasn't clear enough. Sorry.

    My point was that Mychael claimed there were 9 boxsets in 2007, including 4 European/German releases. Instead I counted at least 8 international boxsets alone. Added to the 4 European/German sets, that would total at least 12 boxsets that year.
     
  22. Mychael

    Mychael Forum Resident

    I didn't "claim" anything – I just stated the numbers from Bear Family's original release schedule from 2007 (Yes I know, I could have added all kinds of other releases to beef up the sum total...). And I guess I made it clear that in my opinion it isn't about numbers – I just tried to make it clear that Bear Family is not slowing down.

    But then again, maybe it's time that I leave these discussions for good; everybody here seems to know more about Bear Family, their plans and their sales than those who are in daily contact with them.:confused:
     
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  23. Svein Arne

    Svein Arne Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    I dont have Money to buy everything.I hope someday to win in lottery so i can drive to Bear Family and fill up my car!:pineapple::tiphat:
     
    melstapler likes this.
  24. spanky1

    spanky1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    You don't want to do that. Don't take it personally. Remember that most of us in this thread are long-time customers of Bear Family. We've seen things(both real and imagined) that concern us about future pricing and availability. I think all of us (as music fans) want BF to succeed.

    As someone connected to the company, you are able to keep us informed(as much as allowable), and we are grateful for it.
     
    Kkfan, melstapler, cdwolf and 2 others like this.
  25. cdwolf

    cdwolf Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Except that BF clearly is slowing down. You stated this in an earlier post:

    Bear Family box sets released in 2014: 4
    Bear Family box sets released in 2015: 4
    Bear Family box sets released in 2016: 3
    Bear Family box sets released in 2017: 1 (three more finished or in production as of April, two more at planning stage)


    Yet we know that in 2007 there were at least 8 int'l boxsets. Or to try a different approach at a yardstick: I carried a total of 244 different int'l boxsets in the time I was selling BF. If we divide that 244 by the 30 years between BF's first boxset and 2007, we get a long-term average of slightly over 8 boxsets per year. Compared to your own numbers above, that would suggest a significant 50% dropoff.
     

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