Pre-Order Thread

Wes C. Attle said:
I keep thinking that maybe with Target and Walmart in the whole vinyl game, maybe we’ll start seeing prices dropping back to unsilly numbers, but VMP says no
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listen, you can either pay $40 for something from VMP and it might show up damaged and late or you can spend $25 on it from a big box with actual customer service teams. it's all about the curation...
 
I wouldn't take it that way personally. It's definitely a cash grab but I don't think that the eight billionth variant of any of these is going to hold huge collector's value and I don't think (or hope?) that no one is scooping these up with an appreciation expectation. Walmart and Target's strategies also seem to differ for me. Target aims for high-popularity pop releases as well as albums that were never printed/went out of print from classic/legendary artists (as well as high end GH represses like Wally World). Walmart is willing to go more for older GH re-releases. Both of these make sense based on their expected markets to me. I think if anything it's a really good sign for the industry that huge retailers are willing to dedicate shelf and warehouse space to a larger, more finicky, premium priced physical medium when their whole business model is to not do that. It makes a lot more sense for a Walmart, Target, etc. to take on "exclusivity" of basic pressings of high popularity artists that one of the vinyl curation clubs doesn't have much interest in. The consumers is possibly buying as a gift or, if for themselves, will prioritize different things than the audiophiles that traditionally inhabit this space.

Like...the AT-120 is the highest end turntable in Amazon's listing with a TON of Victrola/Crosley knock off/All-in-ones, there's a big market for people trying to get in cheaply and listen to the things Walmart/Target are exclusively pressing here.

If anything, it feels a lot more like sports cards to me where the "retail" market and "hobby" market are two very different beasts with re-seller overlap.

(Edit: Now is it a bubble? Quite possibly. I know a lot of money I'd normally spend on live shows or, in prior years, digital ownership has been consolidated into Spotify and left me a good amount of free money to go towards physical ownership of vinyl. It's really possible that in 2022, if live shows are back, it reverses where the commemoration of music is standing in a crowd as opposed to owning the vinyl...we'll see.
 
waruv said:
I wouldn't take it that way personally. It's definitely a cash grab but I don't think that the eight billionth variant of any of these is going to hold huge collector's value and I don't think (or hope?) that no one is scooping these up with an appreciation expectation. Walmart and Target's strategies also seem to differ for me. Target aims for high-popularity pop releases as well as albums that were never printed/went out of print from classic/legendary artists (as well as high end GH represses like Wally World). Walmart is willing to go more for older GH re-releases. Both of these make sense based on their expected markets to me. I think if anything it's a really good sign for the industry that huge retailers are willing to dedicate shelf and warehouse space to a larger, more finicky, premium priced physical medium when their whole business model is to not do that. It makes a lot more sense for a Walmart, Target, etc. to take on "exclusivity" of basic pressings of high popularity artists that one of the vinyl curation clubs doesn't have much interest in. The consumers is possibly buying as a gift or, if for themselves, will prioritize different things than the audiophiles that traditionally inhabit this space.

Like...the AT-120 is the highest end turntable in Amazon's listing with a TON of Victrola/Crosley knock off/All-in-ones, there's a big market for people trying to get in cheaply and listen to the things Walmart/Target are exclusively pressing here.

If anything, it feels a lot more like sports cards to me where the "retail" market and "hobby" market are two very different beasts with re-seller overlap.

(Edit: Now is it a bubble? Quite possibly. I know a lot of money I'd normally spend on live shows or, in prior years, digital ownership has been consolidated into Spotify and left me a good amount of free money to go towards physical ownership of vinyl. It's really possible that in 2022, if live shows are back, it reverses where the commemoration of music is standing in a crowd as opposed to owning the vinyl...we'll see.
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Look some people (me) collect 7", some are variant/artist completists.
The big box dive into the Vinyl pool certainly adds a wrinkle to that.

Someone out there is going to be the guy/gal that decides to be the Walmart Variant completist and will get 5 min in some 60 Minutes piece about the resurgence of Vinyl or a segment on a Discovery Channel show about collectors.
 
The Commish said:
Look some people (me) collect 7", some are variant/artist completists.
The big box dive into the Vinyl pool certainly adds a wrinkle to that.

Someone out there is going to be the guy/gal that decides to be the Walmart Variant completist and will get 5 min in some 60 Minutes piece about the resurgence of Vinyl or a segment on a Discovery Channel show about collectors.
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Hey, that's my new angle.
 
It also seems companies get out of the game before the proverbial bubble actually bursts. They think (know) they can grab a quick buck but they overexert themselves due to lack of knowledge of the demographic as a whole and end up having to liquidate most, if not all, stock as a result. So it's like the bubble is bursting for retailers, but not the industry as a whole. Hot Topic comes to mind in this example. They likely view it as a fad instead of a sustainable form of revenue.
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
It also seems companies get out of the game before the proverbial bubble actually bursts. They think (know) they can grab a quick buck but they overexert themselves due to lack of knowledge of the demographic as a whole and end up having to liquidate most, if not all, stock as a result. So it's like the bubble is bursting for retailers, but not the industry as a whole. Hot Topic comes to mind in this example. They likely view it as a fad instead of a sustainable form of revenue.
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This feels right. I doubt anyone is going to start viewing them as loss-leaders like Best Buy did through the 90s.

But I’m still curious if these are all coming through the usual production channels or if there’s a McRecord factory churning these things out separately.
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
It also seems companies get out of the game before the proverbial bubble actually bursts. They think (know) they can grab a quick buck but they overexert themselves due to lack of knowledge of the demographic as a whole and end up having to liquidate most, if not all, stock as a result. So it's like the bubble is bursting for retailers, but not the industry as a whole. Hot Topic comes to mind in this example. They likely view it as a fad instead of a sustainable form of revenue.
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To be clear, Hot Topic was a great source for extremely hard to find imports over 20 years ago. I can't speak for their vinyl game since then but to say that they are somehow just now getting into the market is at best ignorant. At least then, they had knowledgeable and connected buyers on staff.
 
debianlinux said:
To be clear, Hot Topic was a great source for extremely hard to find imports over 20 years ago. I can't speak for their vinyl game since then but to say that they are somehow just now getting into the market is at best ignorant. At least then, they had knowledgeable and connected buyers on staff.
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True, I’ll have to plead recency ignorance as I only recall them selling off their stock for $5 a pop (and something I greatly benefited from). They just do a handful of exclusives now.

Having popped into HT a bunch as a kid, I don’t ever recall seeing music there, just music-related garb. Could’ve been that I wasn’t part of whatever scene they were pushing.
 
If anyone is looking for the new Bartees Strange album Live Forever, there are some copies still available here: Bartees Strange - Live Forever

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