Vinyl Me Please Anthology

Mather said:
What constantly gets me with VMP is this seemingly unquenchable desire by them to keep all the details of their releases secret until the last possible second, then to cry ignorance when people finally receive their product and it's not what was promised. If they would just actually release the details and images of their reissues PRIOR to 3 DAMN DAYS before shipping some of this crap might be avoided. At the very least people could make an informed decision and while there would certainly still be complaints at least those that were really bothered by it could avoid the purchase and thusly VMP could avoid a good portion of the backlash. I mean if they insist on making these boneheaded errors over and over again and proceed to feign ignorance each time it successively happens than at the very least releasing the details early would help to quell the justifiable anger.
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It's the FOMO marketing strategy and they have really been amping that up lately. Limited to 1000! High quality pressings of albums that haven't been re-released in a decade at least! Really great source material! AAA! Housed in a cool looking box!

I actually do get the idea behind this product and think it could be quite cool if it was done the right way. Considering the previous Blue Note x VMP quality, I would have still signed up for this likely even without knowing the rumored titles. The idea of a subscription where you receive 2 albums every few weeks with a podcast lead up with good interviews is awesome. Learning about the history of a label through a vinyl subscription service is a great idea. But it just seems crappy to not be up front about some of these issues like using a bad CD scan for some of the artwork. There seems to be constant miscommunication among VMP staff and their attention to small details is nonexistent. It's a really bad look for VMP. They consciously made the decision to use the CD album art and the reasoning was that they couldn't get the original album art. Yet now that people are complaining, VMP says they are asking Blue Note about getting a digital copy of the liner notes now...I thought they couldn't get the files? The real reason is either incompetence or laziness and neither is a good look for VMP. It sucks because the rest of the product is great and something like this takes the shine off of something that could have been truly awesome. There's a lot to like about this box set but you can only use the "we're a small company trying to figure it out" excuse so many times...
 
Mr Moore said:
I came across this one too - contact.ume@umusic.com on this site:

UMe

Universal Music Enterprises is the catalogue division of Universal Music Group. UMe provides a frontline approach to catalog management, a concentration of resources, opportunities in new technologies and an emphasis on strategic marketing initiatives to engage all types of consumers across...
www.universalmusicenterprises.com www.universalmusicenterprises.com

They also suggest Cem Kurosman at Blue Note Records' email is plain old cem.kurosman@umusic.com so who knows, might be able to stick don.was@umusic.com on there too!
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My friend used to work at General Electric (back then, the parent company of NBC) and said Tina Fey had an email address in their outlook contacts list - as simple as Tina.Fey@GeneralElectric.com
 
Mather said:
There's a quote from one of my favorite TV shows "Justified" that goes like this.

"If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole."

Raylan Givens

There are many times I think about this quote and how VMP views it's customers as a whole... and I think how apt it feels to me in relation. If the consumer base freaks out over some tiny thing VMP did, maybe it's on us. But when this consistently happens every single month... guess what VMP, we're not the "assholes", it's you.
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And there’s also a lot of, “It was a team decision to go this way.” Still doesn’t make it right, or the best decision.”

In terms of the Dexter jacket, something like, “In our goal to retain historical accuracy, we used the best high quality scan of the original album cover and art. There are some noticeable imperfections.”

I can damn near guarantee that would’ve been better than what they ended up doing.
 
Biscuit said:
It's because the company is staffed with 20 and 30 year olds who haven't worked in the industry before and therefore, lack experienced quality assurance (which many on this forum possess)- coupled with VMP staffers' lack of product knowledge- can lead to such things.
"Haste makes waste."
"Measure twice, cut once."
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Yep. A young, inexperienced staff they can probably underpay, who are so grateful for their "dream job" they won't question, and who lack the experience to meaningfully do so anyway.
hatfieldpdx said:
All of this, paired a with a great vision. And sadly, a complete and utter lack of willingness to acknowledge their shortcomings.

So much potential, all going to waste.
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I agree, except that I'm not sure they even have a cohesive vision beyond growth.
Mather said:
What constantly gets me with VMP is this seemingly unquenchable desire by them to keep all the details of their releases secret until the last possible second, then to cry ignorance when people finally receive their product and it's not what was promised. If they would just actually release the details and images of their reissues PRIOR to 3 DAMN DAYS before shipping some of this crap might be avoided. At the very least people could make an informed decision and while there would certainly still be complaints at least those that were really bothered by it could avoid the purchase and thusly VMP could avoid a good portion of the backlash. I mean if they insist on making these boneheaded errors over and over again and proceed to feign ignorance each time it successively happens than at the very least releasing the details early would help to quell the justifiable anger.
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Absolutely. It's always shocking to me (though no longer surprising) when they don't know the details of their primary products, and then their damage control is always 1) "this was on purpose and has to be this way" until that fails because it's never really true. And then 2) "we're just finding out about this and we're looking into it!"
 
heavysoulbrutha said:
The orginal:
dexter-gordon-blp-4083-dexter-calling-cover-1920-ljc.jpg


dexter-gordon-blp-4083-dexter-calling-back-1920-ljc.jpg


What we got (courtesy of @birchstick) :

View attachment 1455

View attachment 1458
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This is why the Anthology should have cost $150-$180, tops (assuming the pressings will be high quality). Glad I didn't bite, despite really wanting that Bobby Hutcherson album.
 
MikeH said:
We were told that the images on the site were just mockups and wouldn't be the final album art.
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It's this shit right here, every time. "Oh it's a mock up don't worry." Then when the final result is exactly the same it's silence for a while then "We're looking into it." Then after a little while longer and the backlash doesn't subside "Oh it was our only choice because X-Y-Z were situations beyond our control." Then when that doesn't quell the issue a slightly higher up official like Cam comes on with "Hey guys we've tried to get to the bottom of this (As if "THIS" wasn't a situation of their own making) and it appears X-Y-Z was a result of A-B-C that was something we couldn't control (It was) but we know you're disappointed and we know we need to do better and we will... learning experience blah blah..."

Repeat ad nauseum.
EVERY DAMN TIME.
 
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David A. said:
Sooo, which albums were #3 and #4 for this set? I've totally ignored this product tbh.
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Lou Donaldson - The Natural Soul
Bobby Hutcherson - Montara

Wayne Shorter - Schizophrenia and Ambrose Akinmusire - When The Heart Emerges Glistening
 
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