{"id":333,"date":"2009-09-23T11:30:10","date_gmt":"2009-09-23T11:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=333"},"modified":"2009-09-23T11:30:10","modified_gmt":"2009-09-23T11:30:10","slug":"thinking_inside_the_box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2009\/09\/thinking_inside_the_box\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking inside the box"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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

\"JanineJansen.jpg\"<\/span>“Downloaded”? (”  “)? Allegedly<\/i> that’s what happened? Like my ex-boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend “Lauren”, if that was even her real name<\/i>? 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<\/i>: like what the kids are doing with their rap<\/i> music<\/i>.” Or, “We remember hearing something about her and ‘iTunes’, but we’re not entirely sure that exists.” Four years ago, Jansen’s Four Seasons<\/a> <\/i>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?  <\/p>\n

Back in the “real” world, the Yo-Yo Ma box set will be selling for…$789. From the e mail to the press:<\/p>\n

In celebration of his 30th anniversary with Sony Music Yo-Yo Ma<\/a> 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<\/a>. 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<\/a> on October 26th with pre-sales being taken now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eight. Hundred<\/i>. Dollars. Eight hundred dollars. Eight<\/i> – OK, I’ll stop. ((($800!))) Remember when the global economy collapsed a year ago? You know how the recently released Beatles stereo box set<\/a> is only $200? <\/p>\n

A few months back, I wrote in defense of the box set<\/a> 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 <\/i>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. <\/p>\n

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?  <\/p>\n

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? <\/p>\n

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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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}