Friday, June 30, 2006
Hunter's IV and more!
The Hunter's IV web page is coming along well. I was given a couple of great group photos and a radio station chart. I also found a copy of the record on Bare, but seems I am starting to have more questions about the group. I'll go back to the source to be sure I get it right. Has anybody ever seen the Hunter's IV on the Josie label?
Great Ebay Quote for a record. Rare 1st Press!! The Monotones, Book of Love Argo 5290. Well, you could have a first press on the Argo label with the black label vertical logo as opposed the brown label. But rare? It sold at least a billion copies! The real first press was on the Mascot label, and it is definitly worth having in decent shape. If you see that type of heading on a listing, it's probably the same uninformed or misguided seller looking for the reactionary bidder, or uninformed collector.
Speaking of Ebay, I bought a copy of the Chandeliers "Blueberry Sweet" on the Angletone label this week. I have the promo copy that shows the artist as the Chandeliers Quintet. The interesting part of record collecting is that I could go after the blue stock copy "quintet", the different lettering on the later press, and the red wax copy. Is there no end? Probably not. Maybe that is what makes the hobby fun and a lifelong endeavor.
Speaking of promos, it begs the question again, what is the rarer version on some releases. I discussed the Tonettes on Doe 103, and the fact that the stock copy may be more difficult to locate than the promo. It's tough to say with the Chandeliers. The record took off running at the start. I don't believe they ever issued a second promo of Blueberry Sweet when the "Quintet" was dropped of the label. Depending on when the name change occurred, and if they pressed then, more stock quintets then DJ's, would determine the value of each. Since the record was breaking, we know that radio stations across the country got promos. Anyway, it's certainly a dilemma....for a record collector!
Next time, it's the Pixies Three!
Friday, June 23, 2006
The Aquatones, upcoming interviews, Johnny Dee
Here is a picture of the Aquatones "Crazy For You" as a promo. I just found this one and will add it to my site tonight. This is one of what I believe is two promos that came out on the orange label. The other will be 1015 "Every Time". I have been wondering why Lou Fargo did that? My best guess is that he wanted the record to stand out. If it did, there might be a better chance of having it played. Most promos seemed to be black and white - very dull! Some had the regular label, but just added "Not For Sale" or something similar.
If you visit my Aquatones site, you will see that this and Every Time came out on black label stock releases. That was a big departure from the Aquatone blue. I'm just missing 1015 and 1022 on promo. All others are accounted for.
Have you had a chance to see my latest page, Johnny Dee? I took his Colonial label records from 1957, and have them with a few variations in chronological order. He later used his real name of John Loudermilk and had some great records, and wrote some amazing songs.
So what's next? Well, I was all set to try and tackle the Fireflies, and another opportunity presented itself. I won't play guessing games this time. In fact, I challenge you to find any information about this group on the Internet. The group is called the Hunters IV. They made one record, and it was released locally on a small label and then apparently sold to Josie for a release. Not only do I have some great pictures to go along with this group, but I just interviewed Dwight Hunter whom the group was named after. This will take a bit longer since I have to edit the interview and such, but look for this mid to late July. I can promise, you won't be disappointed with the music or the graphics. And the stories! I will be really pleased to offer this one up.
I have another Interview in my future with an original member of the Pixies Three. I am hoping to do that in the first part of July. I always associated them with 3 records on Mercury and an LP. They actially had 6 45's, so I get to add more records to my want list!
My latest Rockit Radio show was just uploaded to their website. I try to do two shows a month, but I am not always that good! Check out their site, shows, and links. It's a good resource.
If you visit my Aquatones site, you will see that this and Every Time came out on black label stock releases. That was a big departure from the Aquatone blue. I'm just missing 1015 and 1022 on promo. All others are accounted for.
Have you had a chance to see my latest page, Johnny Dee? I took his Colonial label records from 1957, and have them with a few variations in chronological order. He later used his real name of John Loudermilk and had some great records, and wrote some amazing songs.
So what's next? Well, I was all set to try and tackle the Fireflies, and another opportunity presented itself. I won't play guessing games this time. In fact, I challenge you to find any information about this group on the Internet. The group is called the Hunters IV. They made one record, and it was released locally on a small label and then apparently sold to Josie for a release. Not only do I have some great pictures to go along with this group, but I just interviewed Dwight Hunter whom the group was named after. This will take a bit longer since I have to edit the interview and such, but look for this mid to late July. I can promise, you won't be disappointed with the music or the graphics. And the stories! I will be really pleased to offer this one up.
I have another Interview in my future with an original member of the Pixies Three. I am hoping to do that in the first part of July. I always associated them with 3 records on Mercury and an LP. They actially had 6 45's, so I get to add more records to my want list!
My latest Rockit Radio show was just uploaded to their website. I try to do two shows a month, but I am not always that good! Check out their site, shows, and links. It's a good resource.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Electronic Ebay payments +Aquatones
No, the two are not related, and no disrespect was intended for the Aquatones!
When it rains, it pours. After finding the Tonettes on Doe 103, my number 1 most wanted 45, along comes the next one on my list. Well, I am cheating just a bit, but my collection is missing three promos on the Fargo label for the Aquatones. #1016 "Crazy For You" popped up, and is orange. Fargo did release at least a couple orange labels that were stock copies. 1015, which is also on my list, may also be orange as a promo, and 1022 which is probably white. I have not seen them yet, so it's my best guess. Lou Fargo was very consistent when it came to issuing promotional copies to the radio stations, so I have no doubt 1015 has a promo. 1022 was the last Aquatones issue, but I bet he still sent them to the disc jockeys.
Paypal is not just for Ebay. In fact, before Ebay bought the company, they were certainly doing business other places, and actually they still do. Do you remember Bidpay? It was basically an on-line service that would mail out a money order for a small fee. I used it for the convenience until it went out of business. There was also another on-line service, but I can't recall the name. I used them often, so I could separate myself from the Ebay conglomerate. There is nothing wrong with Paypal, if you are a buyer. As a seller, when you start to combine the Ebay seller fees and the Paypal BUYER fees, it's not cheap to sell on Ebay.
I can hear you say, "But, you have millions of people a day looking". True, but not at your listing. In the record world, if you have a basic listing with no bells and whistles, you won't get 100 people looking at your product. In theory, the people that do are prospective buyers. You could list your disc in a magazine like Goldmine or Discoveries. I still subscribe to the latter, but my last issue was just over 60 pages. That's a far cry from issues of the past that easily doubled that number. Sounds a bit like my Computer shopper magazine. But I digress.......
Say you buy an ad in Discoveries. Let go with a unit space page ad for 55.00. You can probably list over 60 records, but for arguments sake, lets go with 50. The print is small either way. Let's also decide that your records average a $20 selling price each. That is 1000.00 if they all sell. You have spent 5 per cent of your profits on advertising. Not a bad return, though it's likely they won't ALL sell.
Same scenario on Ebay. .60 insertion, .35 for a thumbnail, 1.00 final value, .90 paypal for electronic payments, for each record. That's 2.85 per record in fees. If all 50 sell, it's 142.50. Much higher than print advertising. With Ebay, if they don't all sell, you are not paying final value and electronic payment fees, and your costs go down. With print, you are stuck. Discoveries and Goldmine have a very targeted audience, and you will get more collectors actually reading your ad, by far. Even with the reduction in the size of the magazine, the fact is that more eyeballs will read your unit space ad. If they continue to decline in circulation, my argument continues to have less merit.
Granted, you probably won't sell all your records in my examples. But Ebay has the potential of costing you almost three times as much. Some of the pros and cons are obvious, but it's just not cheap to use Ebay. It is however, very convenient, instant, and can be monitored very closely. That is definitly worth something. Those benefits can be really felt if you just have a few lower dollar records to sell. The fee percentage will still be high, but anybody can list quickly on Ebay and know within a week if they made a sale or should consider the fees to set up a Ebay store.
.
When it rains, it pours. After finding the Tonettes on Doe 103, my number 1 most wanted 45, along comes the next one on my list. Well, I am cheating just a bit, but my collection is missing three promos on the Fargo label for the Aquatones. #1016 "Crazy For You" popped up, and is orange. Fargo did release at least a couple orange labels that were stock copies. 1015, which is also on my list, may also be orange as a promo, and 1022 which is probably white. I have not seen them yet, so it's my best guess. Lou Fargo was very consistent when it came to issuing promotional copies to the radio stations, so I have no doubt 1015 has a promo. 1022 was the last Aquatones issue, but I bet he still sent them to the disc jockeys.
Paypal is not just for Ebay. In fact, before Ebay bought the company, they were certainly doing business other places, and actually they still do. Do you remember Bidpay? It was basically an on-line service that would mail out a money order for a small fee. I used it for the convenience until it went out of business. There was also another on-line service, but I can't recall the name. I used them often, so I could separate myself from the Ebay conglomerate. There is nothing wrong with Paypal, if you are a buyer. As a seller, when you start to combine the Ebay seller fees and the Paypal BUYER fees, it's not cheap to sell on Ebay.
I can hear you say, "But, you have millions of people a day looking". True, but not at your listing. In the record world, if you have a basic listing with no bells and whistles, you won't get 100 people looking at your product. In theory, the people that do are prospective buyers. You could list your disc in a magazine like Goldmine or Discoveries. I still subscribe to the latter, but my last issue was just over 60 pages. That's a far cry from issues of the past that easily doubled that number. Sounds a bit like my Computer shopper magazine. But I digress.......
Say you buy an ad in Discoveries. Let go with a unit space page ad for 55.00. You can probably list over 60 records, but for arguments sake, lets go with 50. The print is small either way. Let's also decide that your records average a $20 selling price each. That is 1000.00 if they all sell. You have spent 5 per cent of your profits on advertising. Not a bad return, though it's likely they won't ALL sell.
Same scenario on Ebay. .60 insertion, .35 for a thumbnail, 1.00 final value, .90 paypal for electronic payments, for each record. That's 2.85 per record in fees. If all 50 sell, it's 142.50. Much higher than print advertising. With Ebay, if they don't all sell, you are not paying final value and electronic payment fees, and your costs go down. With print, you are stuck. Discoveries and Goldmine have a very targeted audience, and you will get more collectors actually reading your ad, by far. Even with the reduction in the size of the magazine, the fact is that more eyeballs will read your unit space ad. If they continue to decline in circulation, my argument continues to have less merit.
Granted, you probably won't sell all your records in my examples. But Ebay has the potential of costing you almost three times as much. Some of the pros and cons are obvious, but it's just not cheap to use Ebay. It is however, very convenient, instant, and can be monitored very closely. That is definitly worth something. Those benefits can be really felt if you just have a few lower dollar records to sell. The fee percentage will still be high, but anybody can list quickly on Ebay and know within a week if they made a sale or should consider the fees to set up a Ebay store.
.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Uh Oh, It's The Tonettes!
It finally happened. I just found and bought the last Tonettes disc for my collection. "Uh Oh" backed with "He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me" on Doe 103. It's the toughest record to find by the Tonettes, and on the Doe label. It's the first one I have seen in about 4 years, while during the same time period, I have seen a half dozen Vince Castro Doe 102 records for sale. You say you want to know the value? OK, I'll bite. Books list it at 150.00 mint. I will buy all you have at that price. I would list it between 250 and 350 mint. I know of 4 copies on the white label promo, so unless I am dead wrong, the stock copy should be worth even more. It is a rare case where more promos were pressed than stock copies.
Do You Remember by Sha Na Na was received well on my radio show last night. I will be playing it on my next Rockit Radio show. Look for that to be posted next friday.
I'm now starting on my next artist page. It's a single artist, sometimes with a group. The label is from North Carolina, and this artist went on to quite a bit of fame under a different last name. He is definitly a singer, but also an outstanding songwriter. I will feature his first five records for this label, and a few variations (Of Course!).
I have a lead on a group member of the Matadors. This group recorded on Back Beat out of Texas, and may have had just one release. I hope to do an interview in the near future.
Do You Remember by Sha Na Na was received well on my radio show last night. I will be playing it on my next Rockit Radio show. Look for that to be posted next friday.
I'm now starting on my next artist page. It's a single artist, sometimes with a group. The label is from North Carolina, and this artist went on to quite a bit of fame under a different last name. He is definitly a singer, but also an outstanding songwriter. I will feature his first five records for this label, and a few variations (Of Course!).
I have a lead on a group member of the Matadors. This group recorded on Back Beat out of Texas, and may have had just one release. I hope to do an interview in the near future.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
New Sha Na Na CD and radio airplay?
I got the new Sha Na Na CD sent to me by "Jocko". He is one of the original members of the group, and is joined by two other originals, Screamin Scott Simon and Donny York. Those three along with four others, comprise the group today. The CD has 14 songs and two "bonus" tracks. I always thought those bonus tracks were a goofy idea for CD's. One is a duet with an artist from Japan and the other is sung by Pat Boone. Pat Boone? What's he doing on a rock and roll CD? Oh yeah, he owns the label. The promo sheet Has a recommendation from Brian Bierne for "The Cat In The PT Cruiser", "Don't You Remember" and "Blue". He said they are good radio songs.
What is a good radio song? Now there is a statement with way more questions than answers. The first one for me is, What Radio Stations? That's right, who is going to play the CD? Once we get answers to that, then maybe we can decide what really are good radio songs.
Sha Na Na was huge in the 70's and had a hit TV show in the late 70's to the early 80's. At that time they had two records in the top 100. Thirty years later, they are still a recognizable name in the oldies market, but who is going to play that CD? I know, what is an oldies market these days? That would be another blog!
I can play a couple of cuts on Rockitradio.net and my live show on KVMR-FM in California. Both shows are heavily 50's and early 60's oriented hits and misses. "Don't You Remember" is too catchy NOT to play. And it will fit in, likely as a then and now segment. "Blue" and "Sandy" are nice ballads. So is "Love Can Hurt". I could play any of those, and will. Many of the other tracks are rock and roll solos done somewhat in the style of the 50's. Anybody hosting an oldies show could play the tracks I mentioned and tie in the Sha Na Na name and it (You) would sound good.
Who else is going to play it? I think it will have to be the oldies stations, and mainly the non-commercial frequencies at that. There are a ton of oldies shows on public radio, so there is still a substantial audience if everyone played it. I don't see the zillion megawatt stations playing "PT cruiser", though there is nothing wrong with it. It's a cool rock and roll song and could definitly get a party started. It's also a great way to start off the CD as track number one.
Why won't the other stations play it? I just don't know that Sha Na Na will fit into the current iterations of rock and roll radio. We have a local station that plays the 80's up to today. They stick with the proven hits. This CD is not classic rock, and it's not hard rock either. Do I hear "Jack"? Their format is somewhat unpredictable, and it might just work.
Sha Na Na will need to get this played from the bottom up. Heck, that's why they sent it to me! If the small stations and non-commercials get on it, then someone in their barco lounger puffing a cigar and barking orders to their conglomerate affiliates, will need to nod an approval. Corporate radio is a thing of the present, and apparently the future. If it's this much trouble for an established act to get squeezed into a playlist, you can imagine what a new artist goes through.
Will the system ever change? Not in the near future. As corporations continue to buy stations in markets across the country, besides getting bloated, they become very powerful. People like Clear Channel that own a dumpload of stations, can set the rules, play who they want, in search of the almighty dollar. The only real way left to try and break new and established artists is the independent radio stations. Sad but true. Don't forget, there are true success stories from artists that went from the bottom up. It's just a tough market to break into.
I found a Chordcats promo on the Cat label, and it's a 78! First promo I have seen for the label. I have one stock copy on my website that was given to Dr. Jive, where they just slapped a sticker with his name on it and put it on the label. I wonder how many other "real" promos they made? It should be on my site by the end of the week. Still trying to decide on the next artist. if I spent less time arguing with myself, I would get more work done!
What is a good radio song? Now there is a statement with way more questions than answers. The first one for me is, What Radio Stations? That's right, who is going to play the CD? Once we get answers to that, then maybe we can decide what really are good radio songs.
Sha Na Na was huge in the 70's and had a hit TV show in the late 70's to the early 80's. At that time they had two records in the top 100. Thirty years later, they are still a recognizable name in the oldies market, but who is going to play that CD? I know, what is an oldies market these days? That would be another blog!
I can play a couple of cuts on Rockitradio.net and my live show on KVMR-FM in California. Both shows are heavily 50's and early 60's oriented hits and misses. "Don't You Remember" is too catchy NOT to play. And it will fit in, likely as a then and now segment. "Blue" and "Sandy" are nice ballads. So is "Love Can Hurt". I could play any of those, and will. Many of the other tracks are rock and roll solos done somewhat in the style of the 50's. Anybody hosting an oldies show could play the tracks I mentioned and tie in the Sha Na Na name and it (You) would sound good.
Who else is going to play it? I think it will have to be the oldies stations, and mainly the non-commercial frequencies at that. There are a ton of oldies shows on public radio, so there is still a substantial audience if everyone played it. I don't see the zillion megawatt stations playing "PT cruiser", though there is nothing wrong with it. It's a cool rock and roll song and could definitly get a party started. It's also a great way to start off the CD as track number one.
Why won't the other stations play it? I just don't know that Sha Na Na will fit into the current iterations of rock and roll radio. We have a local station that plays the 80's up to today. They stick with the proven hits. This CD is not classic rock, and it's not hard rock either. Do I hear "Jack"? Their format is somewhat unpredictable, and it might just work.
Sha Na Na will need to get this played from the bottom up. Heck, that's why they sent it to me! If the small stations and non-commercials get on it, then someone in their barco lounger puffing a cigar and barking orders to their conglomerate affiliates, will need to nod an approval. Corporate radio is a thing of the present, and apparently the future. If it's this much trouble for an established act to get squeezed into a playlist, you can imagine what a new artist goes through.
Will the system ever change? Not in the near future. As corporations continue to buy stations in markets across the country, besides getting bloated, they become very powerful. People like Clear Channel that own a dumpload of stations, can set the rules, play who they want, in search of the almighty dollar. The only real way left to try and break new and established artists is the independent radio stations. Sad but true. Don't forget, there are true success stories from artists that went from the bottom up. It's just a tough market to break into.
I found a Chordcats promo on the Cat label, and it's a 78! First promo I have seen for the label. I have one stock copy on my website that was given to Dr. Jive, where they just slapped a sticker with his name on it and put it on the label. I wonder how many other "real" promos they made? It should be on my site by the end of the week. Still trying to decide on the next artist. if I spent less time arguing with myself, I would get more work done!
