Jon Bates
December 7th, 2002, 06:33 AM
For those of you who are not familiar with Chiaroscuro (www.ChiaroscuroJazz.com) we are one of the oldest independent jazz record labels in the world, with an extensive catalog that currently includes more than 130 titles. We are constantly trying to think of great new projects to record. At first, the list seems endless. In addition to some of the still living jazz legends who have been featured prominently on Chiaroscuro recordings over the past 30 years, there are some phenomenal world class "unknowns" who are certainly worthy. One of the greatest who comes to mind is pianist Mike Jones. Neil Tesser focuses more on Mike's playing in the liner notes of Oscar Peterson's last Verve release than he does on Oscar, and the new December issue of JazzTimes has an article about Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) that praises Mike Jones up and down. There's never been a bad review of a Mike Jones CD or performance. As far as we know, there isn't a pianist alive who can do what Mike does. We have four incredible Mike Jones CDs on the label, and yet,each release has barely sold a thousand copies (if that). Sure there's some comfort in knowing that someday in the future, folks will probably look back and say, "Oh my God! He was one of the greatest piano players who ever lived!", and it will be nice if they note that all his music was recorded by a little jazz label called Chiaroscuro. But, as satisfying as that may be in some strange way, it's not going to keep the lights on at Chiaroscuro (or at Mike's house)in the short term. I can hear some of you saying now, "oh that's just because Chiaroscuro doesn't pump enough money into advertising, promotion and marketing." Well guess what - you're wrong! We have had individual releases that have exceeded $20,000 in well planned print and media promotions alone. There has been absolutely no discernable spike in sales for those titles over the ones that have had far smaller promo budgets. You do the math. If we spend $15,000 on production and manufacturing, plus a combined $5,000 on promotion, mailings, and basic administrative overhead,we need to receive payment on 3,000 distributor orders (keep in mind it's all on consignment - we get paid 60 days after the retailer pays the distributor - usually 6 to 12 months from the date we ship out the door) or we need to make 1,500 mailorder or venue sales before we break even. As legendary and respected as many of our artists are in the jazz community, we can count on one hand the number of titles in our catalog that have sold over 3,000 copies in the first five years of their release.
This brings me back to the original question: Who should Chiaroscuro Records record next? Pretend that your livelihood depended on it and make a suggestion. Keep in mind that the return has to exceed the costs, and artists with exclusive recording contracts with other labels are not available. Who knows? If you come up with a real gem of an idea, you may be able to be involved in the project on some level.
I look forward to your comments.
Jon Bates
VP Operations
Chiaroscuro Records
Jon Bates
This brings me back to the original question: Who should Chiaroscuro Records record next? Pretend that your livelihood depended on it and make a suggestion. Keep in mind that the return has to exceed the costs, and artists with exclusive recording contracts with other labels are not available. Who knows? If you come up with a real gem of an idea, you may be able to be involved in the project on some level.
I look forward to your comments.
Jon Bates
VP Operations
Chiaroscuro Records
Jon Bates