Vinyl Me Please Anthology

jamieanderson1968 said:
I love this quote from the email
"our first launch of this concept had its share of hiccups and we appreciate everyone sticking with us throughout the process."
Because you had our fucking money already and it was not like you were going to give refunds to half of us. Bloody eejits
Click to expand...
Yeah, I liked that one and was tempted to go to the Facebook page and state that I learned they really like to kill their communities in response to the question posited in the email. I’d also like to know why this one gets preserved but the forums got nuked.
 
Benhawaii said:
Vmp sent me two records twice for the anthology. Never got back to me when I queried why. So now I have doubles. Lol. Typical vmp bullshit. Also asked on their insta why they keep releasing easy to find hip hop curations. No response. They should rename their business crickets and cash.
Click to expand...
Which ones did they send you doubles of?
 
A week ago, they mentioned that there would be a customer survey coming, but I haven't seen anything about it since so I wrote in with feedback to anthology@vinylmeplease.com and also sent it in Facebook message to Cameron Schaefer. I echoed what many have said here about how horrible the Facebook group had become, and suggested that they might consider reopening the forums for Anthology customers. At a minimum, I observed that I just can't see them successfully creating the type of community they seem to want without consolidating or removing the "look what I'm spinning right now" posts.

I'd love if, before they disable new content in the Facebook group, someone from VMP would let us know some of the changes they plan to make going forward, and maybe even just tip their hand about the next Anthology.

As I was writing this, a question popped into my head: why did you (or didn't you) get in on this first Anthology?

Was it to learn more about jazz?
To pick up on some harder-to-find Blue Note titles?
Because you like Vinyl Me Please's curation?
Something else?
 
seeirwin said:
As I was writing this, a question popped into my head: why did you (or didn't you) get in on this first Anthology?

Was it to learn more about jazz?
To pick up on some harder-to-find Blue Note titles?
Because you like Vinyl Me Please's curation?
Something else?
Click to expand...
For me it was to learn more about jazz, particularly what the differences were between the 5 different styles ('modern' wasn't intended as a style) featured in the set. It turned out that I could have just asked you. :LOL: I've tried several times to get into what I call 'dead-guy jazz' and it never stuck, but I figured I'd try again, particularly because I figured if I ever decide to part with the set - being that it's Blue Note - I can get my money back on it and not take a loss. The anthology set still didn't make DGJ 'click' for me, but who knows, maybe down the road it will.

I'm not huge on reissues in general, but I will say that the sound quality on these records is fantastic. For now I'll hang on to the set and revisit it from time to time. In hindsight would I have rather spent the money on the forthcoming Type O Negative box set? Definitely.

EDIT TO ADD: I should note that a major, major factor in buying this set was that it was pressed by RTI rather than GZ, it wasn't being stored in a hot Carolina warehouse and it was being shipped by VMP employees who theoretically had an interest in secure packaging, rather than being shipped by temps who do not specialize in shipping vinyl. If this had been a GZ pressing being shipped by VMP's 3rd-party logistics people, I'd never have spent the dough.
 
Last edited:
seeirwin said:
As I was writing this, a question popped into my head: why did you (or didn't you) get in on this first Anthology?

Was it to learn more about jazz?
To pick up on some harder-to-find Blue Note titles?
Because you like Vinyl Me Please's curation?
Something else?
Click to expand...

I bought in to the idea that something special was being done, and that in working closely with Blue Note there would be a high level of quality in all aspects of the product. AAA pressings of otherwise difficult to find albums of great music (plus one first pressing of a digital original). As an international I did the maths on equivalent high end "audiophile" pressings and figured the cost per record was ok. I pay minimum US$35-50 shipping if buying direct from Music Matters, Acoustic Sounds etc. I liked the idea of a community of sorts but I'm not on Facebook and didn't want to join for this so that wasn't any use to me. I like the idea of gaining some education and guidance in my jazz journey but have found that fairly insignificant, tending toward non existent. In the same period I have grown my knowledge and understanding through hanging out here (Blue Note/Jazz threads) reading (Whitney Balliett - I love his writing so much!) and following my own trails of discovery with the assistance of Spotify etc. So perhaps the greatest gift the anthology gave me was showing me that I didn't need the anthology? Now that is game changing.
 
seeirwin said:
Was it to learn more about jazz?
To pick up on some harder-to-find Blue Note titles?
Because you like Vinyl Me Please's curation?
Something else?
Click to expand...

When I was in my late teen's, I was a guitarist in a jazz band. I've got a lot of respect for jazz and a really strong palette for what I like and don't like. (Bop for instance isn't something I'm down for. Post-bop, though, can be amazing. Akinmusire was my favorite of these six.)

I've been a Classics subscriber since the beginning. I really like the little notebooks they include with each record. I'd assumed (foolishly) that VMP was going to have booklets like that for each of the six albums. The idea of chilling out, reading a booklet, and listening to six Blue Note albums seemed like an amazing idea. I stress seemed.

I ended up listening to a ton of Blue Note recordings and finding some favorites, but that has very little (nothing) to do with VMP. I'm the guy who sits and listens to every record store day release and buys what he likes based off of what he hears.
 
seeirwin said:
A week ago, they mentioned that there would be a customer survey coming, but I haven't seen anything about it since so I wrote in with feedback to anthology@vinylmeplease.com and also sent it in Facebook message to Cameron Schaefer. I echoed what many have said here about how horrible the Facebook group had become, and suggested that they might consider reopening the forums for Anthology customers. At a minimum, I observed that I just can't see them successfully creating the type of community they seem to want without consolidating or removing the "look what I'm spinning right now" posts.

I'd love if, before they disable new content in the Facebook group, someone from VMP would let us know some of the changes they plan to make going forward, and maybe even just tip their hand about the next Anthology.

As I was writing this, a question popped into my head: why did you (or didn't you) get in on this first Anthology?

Was it to learn more about jazz?
To pick up on some harder-to-find Blue Note titles?
Because you like Vinyl Me Please's curation?
Something else?
Click to expand...
<——— sucker, who would have not bought it, given more time.
 
High Rant District said:
For me it was to learn more about jazz, particularly what the differences were between the 5 different styles ('modern' wasn't intended as a style) featured in the set. It turned out that I could have just asked you. :LOL: I've tried several times to get into what I call 'dead-guy jazz' and it never stuck, but I figured I'd try again, particularly because I figured if I ever decide to part with the set - being that it's Blue Note - I can get my money back on it and not take a loss. The anthology set still didn't make DGJ 'click' for me, but who knows, maybe down the road it will.

I'm not huge on reissues in general, but I will say that the sound quality on these records is fantastic. For now I'll hang on to the set and revisit it from time to time. In hindsight would I have rather spent the money on the forthcoming Type O Negative box set? Definitely.

EDIT TO ADD: I should note that a major, major factor in buying this set was that it was pressed by RTI rather than GZ, it wasn't being stored in a hot Carolina warehouse and it was being shipped by VMP employees who theoretically had an interest in secure packaging, rather than being shipped by temps who do not specialize in shipping vinyl. If this had been a GZ pressing being shipped by VMP's 3rd-party logistics people, I'd never have spent the dough.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the next Anthology isn't from a genre that is stereotypically reissued for "audiophiles" whether they'll go the Kevin Gray/RTI route again, or use GZ. Given that DGJ (nice phrase!) isn't your thing, maybe you'll be even more excited about the next one.
 
seeirwin said:
A week ago, they mentioned that there would be a customer survey coming, but I haven't seen anything about it since so I wrote in with feedback to anthology@vinylmeplease.com and also sent it in Facebook message to Cameron Schaefer. I echoed what many have said here about how horrible the Facebook group had become, and suggested that they might consider reopening the forums for Anthology customers. At a minimum, I observed that I just can't see them successfully creating the type of community they seem to want without consolidating or removing the "look what I'm spinning right now" posts.

I'd love if, before they disable new content in the Facebook group, someone from VMP would let us know some of the changes they plan to make going forward, and maybe even just tip their hand about the next Anthology.

As I was writing this, a question popped into my head: why did you (or didn't you) get in on this first Anthology?

Was it to learn more about jazz?
To pick up on some harder-to-find Blue Note titles?
Because you like Vinyl Me Please's curation?
Something else?
Click to expand...

I didn't and it was strictly cash. Essentially my desire for the selected albums was not worth what was asked (which came out to $360 canadian after shipping). That was the price of 1 Bowie Box set + 1 Lou Reed Box set (i.e, 15 albums, several being doubles and a few triples, each with a booklet, the Bowie being hardcover). I couldn't justify it. Didn't feel premium enough for the price at the time. As un-purist as it sounds to a jazzbo :), colored vinyl like the previous VMP Blue Notes and a hard cover book might have done it for me. I also loved that the 4 previous BN exclusives went further off the normally beaten BN path (spiritual jazz, latin jazz and 70s soul jazz especially). A selection like US3 would have felt more "VMP" to me.

No disrespect to those that love their purchase, btw.
 
seeirwin said:
As I was writing this, a question popped into my head: why did you (or didn't you) get in on this first Anthology?

Was it to learn more about jazz?
To pick up on some harder-to-find Blue Note titles?
Because you like Vinyl Me Please's curation?
Something else?
Click to expand...

I wanted to subscribe to learn about the different eras of jazz and the history of Blue Note. I wasn't too familiar with Blue Note or any of the artists when this was announced, and I figured if Blue Note was involved, there might be a lot of behind-the-scenes storytelling that would be interesting. The forum members had already figured out what the 6 albums were, and I streamed them all on spotify and enjoyed each of them in different ways - I could tell that they were different, but thought it would be interesting to dig into how they represented each of the different eras and to tease out what I should be listening for on each of the albums. I imagined that it would be cool, at the end of the "experience," to be able to hear some random jazz recording and maybe be able to pick out which of those sub-genres it was from. But I also didn't think I'd suddenly fall in love with jazz and these would become my favorite records in my collection.

The main reasons why I ended up not subscribing:
  • VMP deleted the anthology discussion thread on the forum without warning just days before this went on sale which indicated (to me) that VMP's approach to "community" and "dialogue" wouldn't necessarily mean that they would put much effort into answering reasonable or difficult questions, so I didn't think I'd learn very much from the "experience." I'm totally fine learning on my own, but I can just find a book and stream different albums to get a sense of what they sound like for a lot less than $230 - or, I could browse the blue note and jazz threads on the forum and be able to freely and openly ask questions from a knowledgeable and generally friendly group of people who aren't trying to sell me anything.
  • The price was more than I was willing to pay. I get that they were premium pressings, but I don't necessarily need a premium pressing of an album that I'm not really familiar with. I can just stream any of them on spotify to check them out, but I'm not sure I'd be spinning any of these records frequently enough to justify the price per record (other than the Lou Donaldson). Record Store Day was also that same week and I'd already made a list of RSD releases that I knew I'd enjoy, so I was happy to spend my money that way instead.
  • The days leading up to the anthology announcement seemed to be peppered with inconsistencies in what we were told about the details of the anthology, and VMP staff seemed to withhold key pieces of information unnecessarily. Seeing VMP put the "pre-sale" link in that Billboard article after we'd been reassured that we'd have exclusive early access made it feel like VMP was just trying to say and do whatever they could to drum up interest, which made me skeptical about what they actually had in store for the experience itself.
  • The shipping and logistics issues with the other VMP exclusives and ROTMs were already piling up and there was NO WAY that they were going to get these records shipped every two weeks to each person and have each shipment arrive within just a few days of each other.
There's part of me that wishes that I would have gone along for the ride, but there's part of me that is glad I saved myself the aggravation because it sounds like the people who were in it for the high-quality pressings got what they paid for (in the end), but people (like me) who were hoping for more of an interactive education weren't satisfied with the experience that VMP provided.
 
From VMP:

Some key improvements we're working on...

1. Updating our quality control process to be much more comprehensive, and making sure we have all components in-hand early on to eliminate risk of production issues.

2. Shipping Anthology all at once, while keeping the element of surprise alive for everyone who wants it (we have some tricks up our sleeve to accomplish this!). Also working on a redesigned shipping box for safer deliveries.

3. More extensive, truly exclusive content of all types. Longer and more robust podcast, liner notes that are available with each "episode" rather than all at the end, more written/editorial content, and behind the scenes stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top