You may have noticed we added some changes and new features to our site today. It is part of our ongoing mission, in addition to providing you great new and unique content daily, to make the site easier to navigate, and give you simple access to the best we have to offer.

On the homepage and on our concert vault landing page, we have narrowed down and streamlined the features and updates because you told us the many choices we offered in the past were overwhelming. Now, each day you will find new items of interest, whether it be music features, special deals, or news we’d like to share.

Wolfgang's Vault Homepage Update

We’re working every day, taking your suggestions and feedback into account, to make the live music experience, and the retail entertainment experience the best it can be for you. Coming soon, we’ll add functionality to make your participation in comments and your visits to Wolfgang’s Vault even more personal. We’d love your feedback and thoughts as we roll-out these updates, and hope you will share your favorite things about our site with your friends.

Thanks for your support. Enjoy…

—Bill Sagan

[New Features at Wolfgang’s Vault is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

[Vic Chesnutt is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Shortly after the acquisition we commenced the transfer of all these master tapes, a majority of which were 40 to 50 years old. We needed to repair many of these tapes and then carefully and painstakingly transfer them, uncompressed, into a digital format. We then hired Grammy award-winning sound engineers to mix and master these live recordings. Between nine and eleven Wolfgang’s Vault employees and outside consultants have been working on this project nearly full-time for ten months. Wolfgang’s Vault has invested millions of dollars in this effort and less than one-quarter of these performances are in a finished state. It will be at least five years before Wolfgang’s Vault breaks even on this investment.

Most of our very capable and professional staff is between the ages of 25 to 35 and I have had the privilege of watching these young people become thoroughly enamored with great Jazz. I am even more convinced than I was at the beginning of this project that Jazz has a bright future and legacy if we can but present these great, high-quality recordings to a new generation of fans in a manner that those many years younger than I demand. That is what Wolfgang’s Vault has done and is doing with other live music genres from rock to country to bluegrass and is what we intend to do with Jazz.

We will offer free low-bitrate streams and lossless paid downloads to listeners. We pay full mechanical rates to publishers and a royalty that is higher than the norm to performers for all downloads. I would note the royalty here but performer compensation is a confidential matter. We pay royalties every month and provide performers with online up-to-the-second reporting of download sales if they want it.

I am a Jazz fan, not a Jazz expert. I know what I like and I like Jazz broadly and improvisational, live Jazz best. I have been told by labels and performers that Jazz CD sales have been and continue to be weak and that the sales future is not bright. Wolfgang’s Vault has spent millions and will spend more to bring these great live Jazz recordings to old and new fans. We do it in the manner that the younger generation understands and requires — streaming and downloads — at a fair price to consumers, timely and frequent payment to performers and publishers and in a manner that values high quality above all else.

Bill Sagan

[Jazz and Wolfgang’s Vault is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]