Thinking inside the box

If you've ever e mailed with me, you'll know how much I love putting things in quotes. "Quotes"-quotes, air quotes ("   "), quotes where they in no way should be. There's a deli on 125th and Amsterdam called "Harlem" Deli with the "Harlem" in quotes. This is especially funny because it's next to a Citarella, "the ultimate gourmet market," and just down the road from a slew of cute Columbia University brunch spots. "Harlem" indeed.

Fellow ArtsJournal blogger Greg Sandow sent this over yesterday and kindly said I could post it. It's a blurb from the Philadelphia Orchestra website advertising violinist Janine Jansen's February concerts with them:

"Downloaded"? ("  ")? Allegedly that's what happened? Like my ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend "Lauren", if that was even her real name? You know, the "hot" one from "Kansas" "City"? "MO"? In this case, I think the orchestra feels "downloaded" is a scary and possibly not-real word. As in, "You know, downloaded: like what the kids are doing with their rap music." Or, "We remember hearing something about her and 'iTunes', but we're not entirely sure that exists." Four years ago, Jansen's Four Seasons album was in the iTunes Top 20. Currently, digital sales of that record account for over 75% of the total sales. Amazing! Why not, then, say "iTunes sensation Janine Jansen" or "iTunes it-girl Janine Jansen" and provide some background information about her success? 

Back in the "real" world, the Yo-Yo Ma box set will be selling for...$789. From the e mail to the press:

In celebration of his 30th anniversary with Sony Music Yo-Yo Ma is releasing a 90 disc box set encompassing his entire recorded career and then some. Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside The Box includes Yo-Yo's entire recorded career plus 2 bonus discs as well as a 312 page hard bound book. This is a limited edition piece with each unit numbered. Outside The Box is available for pre-order through our direct to consumer store at YoYoMa.Skyroo.com. This special D2C offer is available to only the first 200 orders worldwide and includes a personalized note from Yo-Yo Ma, a signed never-before-released photo of Mr. Ma, and a guaranteed low numbered box set, set aside exclusively for this special offer.  The standard 90 disc box set will be available at Amazon on October 26th with pre-sales being taken now.

Eight. Hundred. Dollars. Eight hundred dollars. Eight - OK, I'll stop. ((($800!))) Remember when the global economy collapsed a year ago? You know how the recently released Beatles stereo box set is only $200?

A few months back, I wrote in defense of the box set on this blog. I suspect that in not so many years time we will see strictly digital and special edition CD packaging, that is, the two extremes of the spectrum. Either I want the music in a more immediate, cheaper, and less wasteful form (digital) or I want something special, something more unique: a souvenir of an experience (a concert, a post-performance signing) or a more expensive gift in a beautiful package. The Christmas PBS' Broadway: The American Musical mini-series was released, my grandmother, father and mother all separately gave me some combination of the CD box set, the DVD box set, and the hardcover book. I think I ended up with two books, two DVD sets and three CD sets.  I still have a Borders gift card with money left on it from the returns of the multiples. Do I have room in my apartment for a stack of CDs that would go straight to my computer/iPod? No. Do special box sets make good gifts? Absolutely.

An eight hundred dollar box set, though; that is another level of gift. You could buy Art for that. Proper Art. Original Art. What could possibly come with this that would make it worth the price? A lock of Yo-Yo Ma's hair for cloning purposes? Yo-Yo glasses a la Sarah Palin glasses? The chance to play the triangle on the next "& Friends" album? Yo-Yo Ma as the godfather of your child? 

It strikes me as odd that there doesn't seem to be a digital component of this celebration. Couldn't there be a $30 30-track online version? A dollar and a track for every year he's been on the label? Wouldn't that be more in line with an "Outside the Box" campaign?