July 8, 2008

CD Boxed Sets Headed for Extinction?

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mojo-photo-boxedset.jpgWhile current releases by notable artists can still move some units, the CD boxed set may turn out to be a kind of global warming polar bear, feeling the pain of slipping physical music sales before the rest of the world. Reuters reports that fewer and fewer collections are being released, and quotes a music purchaser as saying “boxed-set sales have fallen off the cliff.” While SoundScan doesn’t have data specific to boxed sets, the last collection to be a hit was Nirvana’s With the Lights Out, which sold 504,000 copies. While a record exec quoted in the article downplays the sales slide with a Zen-like “everything is relative,” I can actually see a couple possible reasons for the downturn right there in paragraph two:

Only a handful of enticing boxed sets are due out at year’s end. Among them are Rhino’s long-in-the-works four-disc Jesus and Mary Chain collection, “The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities”; … and anthologies from Rob Zombie, Nina Simone, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton and Hall & Oates.

Ahem! Sure, hooray Jesus and Mary Chain, but I can safely say that’s a niche product: I’m probably in the top 10% in terms of dedicated J&MC fans, and I can’t imagine plunking down $50 for that thing. Otherwise, holy moley, record labels: you’re telling me the Hall & Oates boxed set might be a commercial disappointment? This points out a generally-overlooked factor in the whole argument about the reasons for the decline in music sales: people want to buy good music that they actually like. Has anybody done any studies correlating the sales downturn with the appearance of Ashlee Simpson? Well I’ll get right on that.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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