Bear Family gets US distribution deal with MVD

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by djej, Jun 15, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    I'm sure you're aware that EMI ceased to exist when Universal acquired it a few years ago and subsequently sold parts of it (such as EMI Classics, Virgin, Parlophone) to the Warner Music Group.
     
  2. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    Yeah, it is all corporate soup now, or maybe mush.
     
    Vintage1976 likes this.
  3. cdwolf

    cdwolf Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Quite a bit of misinformation/disinformation there!

    "The big distributor" (who is Triple D by the way?) did indeed "get a better wholesale price" which I don't have a problem with in theory but in practice the distributor was also a retailer in direct competition with us. In addition, Bear Family lied to us again and again, swearing categorically that "everyone gets the same prices" when this was manifestly untrue.

    So in 2008 we stopped selling their products and forced them to take back all our remaining stock. One of the best decisions we ever made because the prices at which we allegedly "drove other Bear Family dealers out of the Bear Family business" kept dropping and dropping to the point where it makes absolutely no sense to sell BF products today (or for the last 6 or 7 years). Current prices by Ernie B and others are within maybe 5% of what BF charges sellers who order directly from them.

    "CD Wolf... had German bank accounts and used that to force other dealers out by undercutting prices." Total hogwash. While we did/do have German bank accounts, we didn't use them in our BF dealings. We did what anyone else could have done: we used currency exchange houses in NYC to pay our BF invoices. This is available to anyone, or other dealers could simply have paid BF by credit card. No special advantages here at all.

    The problem with those other dealers was that their profit margins back then were humongous, by music industry standards. Pretty much what MVD margins must be at the prices they try to charge currently. $522 for the Jerry Lee box? Yeah right -- BF wholesale prices to sellers, plus transportation and other costs to get the products to the seller's place of business, are right around the $228 that Ernie B charges. IMO, $228 is way too low but $522 is ridiculously high. I don't think MVD will ever get more than $400, except occasionally from uninformed buyers.

    The bottom line is that BF has always had great high-end products but their business management is comically inept and incompetent. This new business arrangement doesn't suggest that they've learned anything at all over the years.
     
  4. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
    Now if they can only get someone to properly master their cds .
     
    melstapler likes this.
  5. Hamhead

    Hamhead The Bear From Delaware

    What they're going to bring in will be limited.
    One of my friends John Miller ran a import company in Port St. Lucie. He carried Bear Family and got heat from the major labels especially RCA from bringing them in.
    Some of those sets had material on them that the artists did not want released (Waylon Jennings) which he called the distributor making threats not to bring the set into the states. RCA called Miller telling him "those box sets have material that's licensed only for the German market and if it comes into the US will violate copyright laws".
    Sunshine went out of business around 6 years ago and sold Bear Family sets on eBay, I don't know if he got in trouble bringing those in and selling the, but 60% of his business was all Bear Family boxsets and single disc LP's and CD's.
     
  6. melstapler

    melstapler Reissue Activist

    Yes and they also need to stop shipping box sets and 1CD titles which are now apparently being manufactured as CD-R and sold at regular price, when CD-Rs should cost much less. Retailers don't indicate which titles are now being pressed as CD-R and yet the packaging seems to have remained the same. As a loyal Bear Family buyer who likes to have backup copies and always buys through retail, I've spent far too much money to be "burned" and "duped."
     
    Shvartze Shabbos and Scope J like this.
  7. Kkfan

    Kkfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Music City, USA
    The price for the Sun Records set has dropped to $226.89 at EB Raggae via Amazon. This is cheaper than even the price at their own website. Now would be a great time to grab it.

    Amazon.com: Buying Choices: At Sun Records - The Collected Works »
     
  8. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    That may be because you may not have selected the ErnieBs wholesale option and signed up (?). My ernie's price for that was much less than 226, plus I was able to use ernies occasional "additional 20% off" coupons off of wholesale (the 20% coupons are only occassional, more often they are 10-15%
     
  9. Kkfan

    Kkfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Music City, USA
    At the moment, the wholesale value is at Ernie's is $228. And shipping comes to $14. Amazon shipping is only 3.99.
     
  10. spanky1

    spanky1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Thanks for clearing this up Wolf. As a former BF customer of yours, I was sad to see you part ways with them, but I certainly understand your predicament.
     
  11. cdwolf

    cdwolf Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Yeah, we weren't happy with getting out of the BF business at the time, but in retrospect it was an absolute blessing because we managed to get out before the BF economics completely collapsed.

    Just to give everyone an idea of exactly how screwed up the economics of selling Bear Family are, check out the aforementioned Jerry Lee Lewis At Sun Records set. The price code for this 18CD set is RL which means BF considers it equivalent to a 22CD set (that's their way of charging for the books included in the sets). This means that, at the price I paid for most of the time I was selling BF, it would cost EUR 169.96 (about $194 at the currency rate I would have to pay). At the final price (after BF jacked up the price to us) it would have been EUR 182.16 (about $208). The price at one European wholesaler right now is EUR 179.09 ($204). These prices are without VAT. They don't include freight cost to the US: another $13 to $14 per set, plus customs clearing costs. So all in all we're looking at costs of roughly $210 to $222, depending on the price above, shipped to a seller in the US.

    Now EBRecords has this listed on Amazon for $230.98, incl shipping. After Amazon takes their 15% cut, they will net $196.94, out of which they will have to pay the USPS about $6.45 (9 pounds shipping weight by media mail) or more. So after all is said and done, they'll be left with around $190 for the set. This is before any of their operating costs: labor, warehouse, financing/lease costs, technology etc. (At their own website they would do better but any 15% or 20% coupons would make it even worse for them, of course.)

    Yet we have seen their costs for this item should be at least $210 so they are losing $20+ on each set they sell. So either EB has no idea what they are doing or they have cut a very special deal with BF, or both.

    A rational price on this set, allowing reasonably efficient sellers to cover all their costs plus a reasonable profit sufficient to let them stay in business, would be around $320, IMO (Amazon itself wants $341.21; BF itself wants EUR 329.95=$376.15 incl. VAT).
     
    eddiel and Kkfan like this.
  12. Kkfan

    Kkfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Music City, USA
    Thanks for that insight. Considering everything, it's almost a miracle to get the prices EB is giving. I can't imagine them offering their 15% off coupon on these any time soon.
     
  13. darling

    darling Senior Member

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    As you probably know, EB had a 15% off sale for only Bear Family (and Ace) this past February. Perhaps they will to the same thing again after the holiday season next year...
     
    Kkfan likes this.
  14. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    Does anyone know why the entire Bear Family catalog disappeared from the Ernie B website today? It was there last week. Is this the kick-in date for the "exclusive" distribution at the top of this thread. Will Bear Family prices now double?
     
    Shvartze Shabbos likes this.
  15. Kkfan

    Kkfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Music City, USA
    Did you contact Ernie B to find out what happened?
     
  16. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    Ernie told me he is not permitted to sell Bear Family. He implied that he hopes he can sell again
     
    Kkfan likes this.
  17. MerseyBeatle

    MerseyBeatle Martha my dear (1995-2012)

    Location:
    Charleston, SC
    :cry::mad::realmad:
     
  18. Kkfan

    Kkfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Music City, USA
    Damn!
    What a waste!
     
  19. Kkfan

    Kkfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Music City, USA
    I really hope he's allowed to resume selling BF. Was counting on getting the Roy Acuff box from them.

    When was Ernie asked to stop selling?
     
  20. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    it seems November 1
     
  21. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    That sucks! Ernie B's, as a standalone, was probably Bear Family's best friend for sales in the U.S.. I was always amazed that when I looked through his website, it appeared that he would actually stock damn near everything that they released and now, to just stop him seems rather foolish, especially with so many of his evident customers, who are members here. I wish Ernie the best with that decision, as I'm sure that it eventually has to hurt his bottom line?
     
    Mr. H, Kkfan and Tribute like this.
  22. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    That certainly turned out to be true.
     
    Kkfan likes this.
  23. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    Although I could access MVD through the above link when this was originally posted, now I cannot and must be registered as a business. Previously, they listed Bear Family boxes, though at prices almost double anywhere else. I was trying to see whether they were the only USA "dealer" with the Roy Acuff box. I know some will say order it direct from Bear Family in Germany, but I am curious about what the hold up is with USA dealers being able to sell new Bear Family. Is MVD actually importing Bear Family or has this fallen apart?
     
    melstapler likes this.
  24. melstapler

    melstapler Reissue Activist

    This is not a good sign. I asked a clerk at the record store about MVD and he thought the acronym was a venereal disease. Do you think they would let me register as a business? Even though I don't sell any of my collection, in some situations I've bought 4, 5 and even 6 copies of a title. You should sign up as Chuck Finley with Tribute Records & Tapes.
     
  25. fortherecord

    fortherecord Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Cool. The Bear Family's new all stereo Herman's Hermitts CD set is great!
     
    melstapler likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine