Zappa.com

Sorry if this has been dealt with elsewhere, but I was just wondering what the policy was regarding distribution of new releases. Before I joined the forum I was unaware of the number of 'new' FZ releases and initially thought they were exclusively mail order from Barfko Swill, then discovered G&S mail order in UK, but then looking for some Rykodisc Frank stuff on amazon uk I discovered some 'new' cds are also easily available from there but others are not. I just ordered OSD today from G&S which was £18, a bit steep imo even if p&p included, only $16 dollars from BS but would get hit with postage and longer delivery time to UK (last time i ordered from G&S (CP3/Wazoo) delivery was literally the next day which was brilliant). OSD was not available on amazon uk yet Dub Special was,at £10 (!!) from Book Depository, almost half the price i paid for OSD.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why some 'new' releases are available outside BS/G&S and others are not and also, are any of these 'new' releases actually available in record stores to buy over the counter ?

From the FAQ:

Question:

What's it going to take to get OZ in the stores, in every retail outlet on earth. I'm sick of waiting for it to be released. It seems that there will be another ICE AGE before this happens!
- josh

Answer:

It is released. Ask your record store to stock it.

So I guess the answer would be, that no one has requested that your favorite distributor stock it. Or alternately your distributor didn't order any from Barfko-Swill. Now apply to all releases in question, with the exception of the limited editions probably.
With Amazon, they have affiliate sellers who list things on the website that Amazon itself sometimes doesn't stock. I'm not sure why Amazon doesn't stock them, that is a question that I have not seen an official answer for. It may have something to do with Music Today being a competitor in some way, but that would be purely a guess.

So I guess the best chance of getting it into your local store, if you still have a local record store (I don't,) would be to walk up to one of the friendly service people and tell them (demand with great conviction and clear diction) that you want them to stock every single Zappa release in the world. Flash 'em money and say "See here, now this could be yours, but you don't carry the album I want so suck it buddy." and walk out the door. I give it a 50/50 shot that the next time you walk in they will have what you want.

_________________
"Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read and what we must believe?" T.J.

Thanks for the reply but it still begs the question of exactly why distributors don't stock the 'new' stuff. What i mean is this, take for example my local record store which has a healthy collection of Rykodisc Zappa cds and as far as i know nobody has asked the manager to stock these, so why does there need to be a special request to stock the 'new' stuff particularly when it's already clear to him that zappa sells (rykodisc stuff is regularly replenished). Is it more difficult for a distributor to order this stuff, does the price put them off - i'm just asking because the reply above would only seem to work if a store stocks no zappa at all. Shops seems to stock e.g. hendrix posthumous releases alongside the normal stuff, it only seems to be with frank that stocks are restricted to pre death period ?

Ryko has major backing from warner, Barfko-Swill is for the most part an independent company, so there is no blanket distribution deal like you would have with a major label. The most likely reason you can't get it at the local store is they don't even know it exists. But that again is just a guess.

_________________
"Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read and what we must believe?" T.J.

Sorry, but i didn't see the final section of your original reply which offered very good advice i.e. i should ask the boss why he has no 'new FZ releases' !! I think you may also be right above as recently I asked one of the assistants about Wazoo and was confidently told "yes, we have that" and he then produced a copy of Grand Wazoo............ the resulting exchange did suggest he was unaware of the cd i was referring to.

No problem, you probably couldn't see it because it wasn't there yet. I think in odd directions sometimes. I get the basic idea down and post, then fix it after the fact. Sometimes they come complete on the first shot, but more often they require a few touch ups, and on rare occasions I have to scrap that shit and start from scratch.

_________________
"Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read and what we must believe?" T.J.

I'm glad you posted that, i thought my descent into mental fragmentation had started