Vinyl Me Please Anthology

TenderLovingKillerĀ® said:
Also, itā€™s systemic of larger issues with QC issues that show up regularly for MANY of their customers. Itā€™s much easier to cut VMP slack if similar shit didnā€™t keep happening all the while their prices keep raising higher and wait times keep getting longer.
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It's not VMP. It is the industry overall. Chad hiked prices heavily, everyone else has. In fact, in some cases Chad is simply gouging. And Chad has pressing issues as well, for $100 records. VMP rely on the pressing plants and printing companies.

Yes, they should have caught the typo before it went out. Likely, they neve saw it. The boxes went straight from the printer to have the records inserted and boxed to ship. That's the way supply chains work. They only knew when customers receiving the boxes told them.

Also, I would rather have the typo box now that wait a few months for the little typo to be fixed.

If it a printer mistake, the printer pays for the replacements, BTW.
 
RHANDMJ said:
It's not VMP. It is the industry overall. Chad hiked prices heavily, everyone else has. In fact, in some cases Chad is simply gouging. And Chad has pressing issues as well, for $100 records. VMP rely on the pressing plants and printing companies.

Yes, they should have caught the typo before it went out. Likely, they neve saw it. The boxes went straight from the printer to have the records inserted and boxed to ship. That's the way supply chains work. They only knew when customers receiving the boxes told them.

Also, I would rather have the typo box now that wait a few months for the little typo to be fixed.

If it a printer mistake, the printer pays for the replacements, BTW.
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VMP went from $27 a month to $40 though. That's a larger increase than Chad or other places. And arguably the quality actually went DOWN by going from QRP to GZ. If they go up again, it's really an awful price for what you get for the most part.
 
MikeH said:
VMP went from $27 a month to $40 though. That's a larger increase than Chad or other places. And arguably the quality actually went DOWN by going from QRP to GZ. If they go up again, it's really an awful price for what you get for the most part.
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Exactly, even worse prices Internationally.

You can say "get used to price hikes", and that's fine. I just won't pay it and go elsewhere to buy records.

I don't know how many times one has to repeat "I expect a premium product for a premium price" for it to actually make sense how unacceptable this is all starting to be.
 
MikeH said:
VMP went from $27 a month to $40 though. That's a larger increase than Chad or other places. And arguably the quality actually went DOWN by going from QRP to GZ. If they go up again, it's really an awful price for what you get for the most part.
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Well, there is an argument that they had been underpriced. Now they are on a par with Chad, Mofi, RTI pressed stuff etc. - and I would say the stuff they put out is much more interesting, and they pay for licensing and new mastering, while Chad charges those prices for recycling old lacquers in many cases. And Chad owns the pressing plant.

However, having said that in their defence, I won't be carrying on with Classics pressed at GZ. I understand that VMP had no choice - to keep on a monthly schedule, RTI could not fulfill, and Chad has closed up QRP to outside orders while he pumps out his own older stuff ad infinitum.

I would expect VMP to go back to RTI eventually for Classics if possible, but until then, it pretty must has to be something amazing for me to buy it.

The economic environment is not good and the outlook worse. Inflation driven by Covid was inevitable, and the resulting breakdown of supply chains has made it worse. I am seeing in stores all type of manufacturers who have also indiscriminately taken advantage of this to make unwarranted price hikes. Gas is way up - and heading way, way more up. This has direct impact on vinyl. With the breadbasket of Ukraine being decimated by a Nazi, food is going up - way up. The unwillingness of the world to deal with Climate Change is impacting insurance costs, food costs, housing and being past the point of no return will imact supply as well. Covid has not gone away - that will have further impacts.

Costs will go up. In my situation, it simply makes me more attentive to what I buy, and why, and that means less records and better records. No place for inbetweeners.
 
RHANDMJ said:
Well, there is an argument that they had been underpriced. Now they are on a par with Chad, Mofi, RTI pressed stuff etc. - and I would say the stuff they put out is much more interesting, and they pay for licensing and new mastering, while Chad charges those prices for recycling old lacquers in many cases. And Chad owns the pressing plant.

However, having said that in their defence, I won't be carrying on with Classics pressed at GZ. I understand that VMP had no choice - to keep on a monthly schedule, RTI could not fulfill, and Chad has closed up QRP to outside orders while he pumps out his own older stuff ad infinitum.

I would expect VMP to go back to RTI eventually for Classics if possible, but until then, it pretty must has to be something amazing for me to buy it.

The economic environment is not good and the outlook worse. Inflation driven by Covid was inevitable, and the resulting breakdown of supply chains has made it worse. I am seeing in stores all type of manufacturers who have also indiscriminately taken advantage of this to make unwarranted price hikes. Gas is way up - and heading way, way more up. This has direct impact on vinyl. With the breadbasket of Ukraine being decimated by a Nazi, food is going up - way up. The unwillingness of the world to deal with Climate Change is impacting insurance costs, food costs, housing and being past the point of no return will imact supply as well. Covid has not gone away - that will have further impacts.

Costs will go up. In my situation, it simply makes me more attentive to what I buy, and why, and that means less records and better records. No place for inbetweeners.
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some fair points. i'll say SOME of what VMP puts out is more interesting, not all. I find a lot of VMP's releases to be very middle of the road albums, or someone's 6th best album for example. I think I ended up wanting 3/12 releases last year from classics. A lot of it is not something I want to pay $40 for, regardless of where it is pressed. I still think that Speakers Corner might have my favorite curation of all of the audiophile labels--just my personal taste though. Different strokes and all that jazz.

And saying that AP shouldn't charge as much because they own the plant and reuse older plates isn't entirely fair to me. It's not like he doesn't have operating costs. Also it was just a smart business decision of his to start his own pressing plant, and it was his smart decision to cut 33s and 45s of a lot of albums way back when, or acquire Classic Records, etc. They helped KG and Cohearant get off the ground. They have consistently used the best engineers even before that was a "thing".

You could say VMP was maybe undercharging at the time, but they weren't that much cheaper than other labels. AP was $35 and VMP was $31. Most of VMP was still GZ pressed, even some classics IIRC. Swaps were excellent value though and made me buy WAY more than I probably should have from them...

I get that costs will go up. But they were already hiked up a large percentage before most of the other issues you talked about. If they go up again, I think they will really struggle to maintain customers especially if the quality stays where it's at now.
 
MikeH said:
some fair points. i'll say SOME of what VMP puts out is more interesting, not all. I find a lot of VMP's releases to be very middle of the road albums, or someone's 6th best album for example. I think I ended up wanting 3/12 releases last year from classics. A lot of it is not something I want to pay $40 for, regardless of where it is pressed. I still think that Speakers Corner might have my favorite curation of all of the audiophile labels--just my personal taste though. Different strokes and all that jazz.

And saying that AP shouldn't charge as much because they own the plant and reuse older plates isn't entirely fair to me. It's not like he doesn't have operating costs. Also it was just a smart business decision of his to start his own pressing plant, and it was his smart decision to cut 33s and 45s of a lot of albums way back when, or acquire Classic Records, etc. They helped KG and Cohearant get off the ground. They have consistently used the best engineers even before that was a "thing".

You could say VMP was maybe undercharging at the time, but they weren't that much cheaper than other labels. AP was $35 and VMP was $31. Most of VMP was still GZ pressed, even some classics IIRC. Swaps were excellent value though and made me buy WAY more than I probably should have from them...

I get that costs will go up. But they were already hiked up a large percentage before most of the other issues you talked about. If they go up again, I think they will really struggle to maintain customers especially if the quality stays where it's at now.
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You points are all fair.

I agree that Speakers Corner are the best. I just got the Mingus Oh Yeah and Alice Coltrane Eternity. Superb. I am also a huge fan of Pure Pleasure, despite skepticism about analog sources - the mastering is superb regardless, and their choice are deep. Just received Great Friends - digital master, sounds fantastic - Billy Harper! Sonny Fortune! Amazing.

VMP was originally about discovery. I like having records that may not otherwise have popped on my radar, and which Chad, Mofi, or virtually any American label would never consider. The Aretha Now and Roberta Flack are masterpieces that would for sure not have been done otherwise, the Stax box - and now the Philadeplia box - are masterworks. Whil Chad recycles Way Out West, VMP did Freedom Suite - brilliant. While Chad offers Willie Nelson's (IMO, no offense) shitty boring debut album, VMP did Sonny Sharrock - Ask The Ages, never sounded near as good. The Milestone run was killer - no one wants to touch 70's stuff, yet Milestone was a fantastic label easily the equal of Contemporary, and in many ways, the successor to Blue Note as many BN artists went there. Cheers to VMP for those. Chad would not even know they exist, and Mofi ouldn't be interested - MOFI haven't been interesting in years now that they are into One-Step warhorse territory.

Where we diverge - both Chad and VMP have operating costs. Chad has the advantage of vertical integration to reduce those costs and achieve higher margins. I don't really care about that, but I simply think Chad is simply churning out repeated warhorses that he knows will sell and not taking any even slight risk off that well worn path. VMP will take some risks, and there are some obvious cases of those risks either not panning out or being straight up misjudged. Chad makes smart business decisions, agreed. But he does not make smart musical decisions.

KPG/Cohearant didn't get a start from Chad. In fact, there were two factors to KPG. He partnered with Hoffman and was able to step up when Hoffman became persona no grata in the licensing world, and he was in on the ground floor when Music Matters took off. He did work for Speakers Corner long before Chad was really in the game. When Chad started to do his own records, he did use Stubblebine, Grundman etc. and when he ramped up with BN and Impulse runs, taking advantage of the ground turned already by Music Matters, he brought in Hoffman - not for Hoffman's mastering skills (he has none) but the name. Business move, smart, plays to who is 'in' at the moment, but more smart marketing that being driven by the music.

Sadly, with the state of the world, prices are going to go up - a lot. With crude prices heading through the roof, and no end over the short or mid term, vinyl prices will go up a lot and some players will fail. Just my perspective, but that for me means adapting - buy more carefully and considered curation and determination of the value to me. The era of FOMO over a new version of KOB or Way Out West is over, the incremental value isn't there.
 
RHANDMJ said:
You points are all fair.

I agree that Speakers Corner are the best. I just got the Mingus Oh Yeah and Alice Coltrane Eternity. Superb. I am also a huge fan of Pure Pleasure, despite skepticism about analog sources - the mastering is superb regardless, and their choice are deep. Just received Great Friends - digital master, sounds fantastic - Billy Harper! Sonny Fortune! Amazing.

VMP was originally about discovery. I like having records that may not otherwise have popped on my radar, and which Chad, Mofi, or virtually any American label would never consider. The Aretha Now and Roberta Flack are masterpieces that would for sure not have been done otherwise, the Stax box - and now the Philadeplia box - are masterworks. Whil Chad recycles Way Out West, VMP did Freedom Suite - brilliant. While Chad offers Willie Nelson's (IMO, no offense) shitty boring debut album, VMP did Sonny Sharrock - Ask The Ages, never sounded near as good. The Milestone run was killer - no one wants to touch 70's stuff, yet Milestone was a fantastic label easily the equal of Contemporary, and in many ways, the successor to Blue Note as many BN artists went there. Cheers to VMP for those. Chad would not even know they exist, and Mofi ouldn't be interested - MOFI haven't been interesting in years now that they are into One-Step warhorse territory.

Where we diverge - both Chad and VMP have operating costs. Chad has the advantage of vertical integration to reduce those costs and achieve higher margins. I don't really care about that, but I simply think Chad is simply churning out repeated warhorses that he knows will sell and not taking any even slight risk off that well worn path. VMP will take some risks, and there are some obvious cases of those risks either not panning out or being straight up misjudged. Chad makes smart business decisions, agreed. But he does not make smart musical decisions.

KPG/Cohearant didn't get a start from Chad. In fact, there were two factors to KPG. He partnered with Hoffman and was able to step up when Hoffman became persona no grata in the licensing world, and he was in on the ground floor when Music Matters took off. He did work for Speakers Corner long before Chad was really in the game. When Chad started to do his own records, he did use Stubblebine, Grundman etc. and when he ramped up with BN and Impulse runs, taking advantage of the ground turned already by Music Matters, he brought in Hoffman - not for Hoffman's mastering skills (he has none) but the name. Business move, smart, plays to who is 'in' at the moment, but more smart marketing that being driven by the music.

Sadly, with the state of the world, prices are going to go up - a lot. With crude prices heading through the roof, and no end over the short or mid term, vinyl prices will go up a lot and some players will fail. Just my perspective, but that for me means adapting - buy more carefully and considered curation and determination of the value to me. The era of FOMO over a new version of KOB or Way Out West is over, the incremental value isn't there.
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I need to grab that Mingus. I really love the Allen Toussaint they recently did and hope SC does more from his catalogue!
 
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