As any music collector can tell you, buying box sets and reissues is an expensive hobby. It's not often that fans catch a break, either; outside of the occasional Cyber Monday deal before the holidays, prices on box sets rarely go down, unless you've found the right connections in the secondary market.
So it's refreshing to see labels taking a nice step toward alleviating the financial crunch that comes with box set collecting. Fans of Sony and Legacy may have noted their recently-created Web store, Pop Market, which sells Legacy box sets and compilations at cut-rate prices for limited, 24-to-72-hour periods. (Full disclosure: it's made some of the holiday shopping that much easier at TSD HQ!) Rhino's done quite a nice ongoing sale for its "12 Days of Rhino," too.
Sales are nice on anything, but they're particularly nice on sets that could usually run upwards of $50 (or worse). Of course, such sets make one ask questions about box sets and sale ideas. Permit us to ask:
- Where's Universal's sales? Legacy and Rhino have deep catalogues and notable presences as catalogue labels go. Of the other major labels (EMI and Universal), the latter one has a deep catalogue and its own reissue imprints (UMe and the direct-order Hip-o Select). I wouldn't have minded seeing a discount on some of those Motown singles boxes, and I'm sure some of you would agree.
- Conversely, where's Sony's direct-order imprint? I'm constantly perplexed that Legacy doesn't have much of a limited-edition imprint (a la Hip-o Select or Rhino Handmade). While they have taken on such projects this year with great success (the Raw Power box, the Elvis box), why not make it a more permanent thing?
- EMI? You there? I mean, there's plenty of problems over there, but I'm not sure they've ever had a dedicated catalogue project - and certainly not an entire label. Let us know if anything changes, though.
What say you, dear reader? What sales have you enjoyed in your pursuit of catalogue gold? What questions would you ask a major label about their reissue and box set output?
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I have made several purchases so far. From Rhino, I ordered the Vanilla Fudge - Box Of Fudge set, and the Photograph (Double Exposure) reissue from Melanie. From Legacy, I picked up the Frank Sinatra Voice In Time boxed set.
I have not purchased from Pop Market, but anyone interested in picking up the Dolly Parton and Luther Vandross box sets from Amazon can get them for under $20 + S/H.
I've learned to generally wait at least a year, sometimes more, on boxed sets. Right now, for instance, you can get Billy Joel's My Lives box dirt cheap over at Amazon. Likewise, last I saw the prices on Joel's 30th anniversary The Stranger box has dropped in price. So has the Springsteen Born To Run box.
The new Bruce "Darkness" box set is insanely priced, even at Amazon's discounted price, so I'll be waiting on that one. A shame, since I'd really like to see those live DVDs.
Not exactly what you're looking for but there are a bunch of Rhino box sets on sale for ~50% off at Fye. I picked up the Talking Heads Once in a Lifetime set (which is, outside of the music, one of the worst things I've ever purchased). Almost got the Bee Gees first three albums but $38 is still a little too much considering I have the Horizontal reissue and the original CD issue of 1st.
As Tom stated, Amazon has a few dozen great boxed sets for less than $20. I picked up the Dolly Parton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Judas Priest sets.
F.Y.E. is clearing out some of their boxed sets. I picked up" Genesis 1983 - 1998" for $50 and "1976 - 1982" for $60.
Right now you can get Joy Division's "Heart and Soul" box set... which is basically everything they ever recorded spread across four CDs, for $18 shipped to the US from amazon.uk. Astounding!
And, as if to directly answer the post, I got an e-mail yesterday: Hip-o Select is offering free shipping right now. I'm not sure how long it goes on for, but anything you order before the 17th is guaranteed to get to you by Christmas Eve.