R.I.P. VMP Forum

scotthilk · Jun 5, 2019

Random thought: Was just thinking today how great it was that VMP ended their forums. Without it, N&G wouldn't have come to be. This place is already 1000x better in every single way. Bravo, all.

Bull Shannon · Jun 5, 2019

scotthilk said:
Random thought: Was just thinking today how great it was that VMP ended their forums. Without it, N&G wouldn't have come to be. This place is already 1000x better in every single way. Bravo, all.

Amen. Now that my subscription is no longer tied up with my love of this community, the "is this worth $25/month" question was a whole lot easier to answer.

Enoch · Jun 5, 2019

Bull Shannon said:
Anyone yet received an email as to whether they're one of the lucky 50% receiving Weyes Blood this month (maybe)?

I haven't heard anything of course the orders page says shipping with your RotM

Sprague Dawley · Jun 5, 2019

jaycee said:
I've been assuming the following:
They are positioning themselves to be the not quite audiophile company for Fadsters. In other words, people that have enough money to buy records of decent quality but don't want to consider themselves stuffy old white guy nerds who talk about rock music from the 70's. Their market is late 20's to 40 year olds with decent jobs and disposable income. They want to be the audiophile Newbury.

This sounds exactly right to me. Once you get "the bug" though I don't see why you need some omniscient git to "curate" anything for you. You know what you like, it's easy enough to find out about kindred bands thru bandcamp, you want the vinyl, you go straight to the source, or a one-stop, or fib your way into wholesale accounts. It's easy. I started a wholesale distributors thread on this forum somewhere but zero interest in it.

D.I.Y, baby.

Enoch · Jun 5, 2019

mcherry said:
Because I got bored I dug through all his comments back over a year and I was able to figure out that it’s not Matt. The guy even has a Twitter with the same handle. He prob knows people at the company tho. Either way, probably a good idea to not spread unconfirmed rumors.

just reading the posts in that thread(?) it was clear to me it wasn't Matt

Count_Vader · Jun 5, 2019

Anyone have a list of times they've screwed up these past few months?

swamp · Jun 5, 2019

Count_Vader said:
Anyone have a list of times they've screwed up these past few months?

Better yet can anyone sing it to the tune of The National’s Not in Kansas and post the video on a streaming video website?

sahomerrocks · Jun 5, 2019

jaycee said:
I've been assuming the following:
They are positioning themselves to be the not quite audiophile company for Fadsters. In other words, people that have enough money to buy records of decent quality but don't want to consider themselves stuffy old white guy nerds who talk about rock music from the 70's. Their market is late 20's to 40 year olds with decent jobs and disposable income. They want to be the audiophile Newbury.

Audiophile Newbury or contemporary Sundazed would honestly be extremely appealing to me if they could consistently deliver without all the hassle.

mcherry · Jun 5, 2019

wokeupnew said:
Dang you’re right. Well if you wanna delete these comments because I feel bad about it now

Will do

pijo · Jun 5, 2019

Indymisanthrope said:
I’ll actually take the opposing view here and give them the benefit of the doubt on this score. I don’t think the company promotes the all-in-ones beyond their promo imagery, a lot of which is outsourced to marketing/production vendors. They want people to have decent systems. But I see it like I see the case of my elementary school librarian calling my mom to complain that I was only reading books about dragons. One, none of her damn business. Two, I was reading twice as much as any other kid in the class, even if it was about dragons. If the choice is between somebody being scared to dip their toes into the world of vinyl because they don’t know where to start, or playing some records on an approachable machine that appeals to them...you know, man, whatever. I played the HELL out of some records on an old Fisher Price turntable as a kid. Did I get the *best* audio experience from that Ewoks Adventure storybook record? Hell no. Did I damage the records a bit? For sure. But I had fun & enjoyed it, and it gave me good memories. Would I encourage someone to buy a Crosley today? No way. But if they have one, hey...I hope they get lots of enjoyment out of it. The only thing I have ever 100% agreed with Vinyl Junkies on is that the records are meant to be played.

I have to admit, I get a laugh out of the promo photos every month. When I had a more positive overall outlook regarding VMP I took the view that there was some humour in there, almost an in-joke thing to see how many infuriating details you could spot. I still kind of feel like there's something in this but I'm less and less sure that any kind of stuff up is deliberate these days. Still gives me a chuckle.

Melt Face Molly Drop · Jun 5, 2019

jaycee said:
I totally agree. Pardon my made up term fadsters. i'm one of those people btw. I bought a u-turn 'cause it seemed good and I could. I don't know anything about high-end audio and just try to copy @HiFi Guy, and I think colored vinyl is fun, looks cool, and can add something to the presentation of the art. I didn't intend to present an argument that some stereotyped group was more valid than another.

FTR I don't take issue with anything anyone is doing with their vinyl , what they play it on, whether they even play it, or whatever @Lee Newman does with his. Whatever VMPs intentions are is up to them. I guess if I take issue with something (and I'm not sure if this is even a real narrative) it's when the company is about curation, community, quality record pressings, exposing people to new music, to classics, to rediscovered gems, to new artists.... all of these things at once...everything to everybody, but is really about some other business going on behind the scenes. Most importantly not delivering on the basic promise of exchange of cash for goods and services. Just be whatever your record subscription service thing is. You know what Newbury is, You know what amazon is, You know what Plaid Room is, you know what AP is, etc. What is VMP? Maybe it's the thing that I think they are going for, maybe not, maybe they're just some folks struggling to be the business people they need to be? Why they couldn't just be completely open and honest with their community about their intentions is a real <shoulder shrug.gif>

Yeah, seems more and more that VMP’s identity is whatever flavor of the week the people decide it is. Is it audiophile, urban outfitters, crosley, high fashion, industry collaborators... Problem is, they’ve proven they can’t be all of this at once and really need to pick a direction and stick with it.

Count_Vader · Jun 6, 2019

Indymisanthrope said:
I’ll actually take the opposing view here and give them the benefit of the doubt on this score. I don’t think the company promotes the all-in-ones beyond their promo imagery, a lot of which is outsourced to marketing/production vendors. They want people to have decent systems. But I see it like I see the case of my elementary school librarian calling my mom to complain that I was only reading books about dragons. One, none of her damn business. Two, I was reading twice as much as any other kid in the class, even if it was about dragons. If the choice is between somebody being scared to dip their toes into the world of vinyl because they don’t know where to start, or playing some records on an approachable machine that appeals to them...you know, man, whatever. I played the HELL out of some records on an old Fisher Price turntable as a kid. Did I get the *best* audio experience from that Ewoks Adventure storybook record? Hell no. Did I damage the records a bit? For sure. But I had fun & enjoyed it, and it gave me good memories. Would I encourage someone to buy a Crosley today? No way. But if they have one, hey...I hope they get lots of enjoyment out of it. The only thing I have ever 100% agreed with Vinyl Junkies on is that the records are meant to be played.

They have an "Top 10 Best All In One Turntables" Listicle. They promote them a little bit. I'm not inherently against people owning them, epecially if they enjoy them but I do think they have the possibility to turn people off the hobby.

jamieanderson1968 · Jun 6, 2019

Indymisanthrope said:
Three, if she was so concerned that they were warping my mind at a young age, why did the school library have so dang many of them in the first place?

As a librarian I apologize for this person. In over 20 years I have never shushed a person or judged their reading choice. Hell if it was me I would of made you the "dragon librarian" and asked you what other books we should have in the library.

kvetcha · Jun 6, 2019

Indymisanthrope said:
Three, if she was so concerned that they were warping my mind at a young age, why did the school library have so dang many of them in the first place?

#jeremythatcherdragonhatcher

I own that book in hardcover.

AnthonyI · Jun 6, 2019

There comes a time when an idea is started, all the right reasons and intentions, and integrity towards the ideal of said entity. Inevitably, if things go well, you have growth and with growth you're suddenly looking at profits and losses, slowly your integrity turns to how to keep the profits up and losses down and then your goal starts to go that way as well. Suddenly the choices you made from an enthusiasts standpoint become choices made from a business standpoint. So what happens at that point? How do you adjust to it while keeping your original intentions and goals alive and thriving? That's what separates the men from the boys.

tonythegamer · Jun 6, 2019

gouis said:
I can't believe they're selling that poopy sounding Torres record for $34. I actually like the album but the VMP version sounds like poop.

Can get it for less than $10 shipped on Discogs. It's one of the cheapest items you can get from the VMP catalog on Discogs I'm pretty sure.

https://www.discogs.com/Torres-Sprinter/release/6993353

MikeH · Jun 6, 2019

tonythegamer said:
Can get it for less than $10 shipped on Discogs. It's one of the cheapest items you can get from the VMP catalog on Discogs I'm pretty sure.

https://www.discogs.com/Torres-Sprinter/release/6993353

It’s crazy to me that they keep raising prices on albums they have had in stock for forever. They are trying to pass it off like a new record too that just came out. That album is the cheapest one I always see on eBay or discogs.

kvetcha · Jun 6, 2019

MikeH said:
It’s crazy to me that they keep raising prices on albums they have had in stock for forever. They are trying to pass it off like a new record too that just came out. That album is the cheapest one I always see on eBay or discogs.

There may be some truth to the idea that they’re trying to foster a more compliant, less picky customer base.

tonythegamer · Jun 6, 2019

MikeH said:
It’s crazy to me that they keep raising prices on albums they have had in stock for forever. They are trying to pass it off like a new record too that just came out. That album is the cheapest one I always see on eBay or discogs.

MikeH · Jun 6, 2019

kvetcha said:
There may be some truth to the idea that they’re trying to foster a more compliant, less picky customer base.

Yea--also they nuked the forums so now there's nobody to point out to others that those records are super old and easy to come by for cheaper prices elsewhere. I laughed when I saw some of those exclusives in the email yesterday.

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