Vinyl Me Please Anthology

dhodo said:
Did they really pitch the release delay as a feature? I am surprised to read that some people think that's something that was a good idea or at all VMP' s "idea." The only reason companies do that is so they can get all the money up front while they can spread their expenses out. Pure win for them, no tangible benefit to the consumer. At least subscriptions usually give you the option to spread it out monthly.
Click to expand...

I don't know, I can't see how this is a cheaper method for them. Instead of having to do a single batch shipment of every anthology box, they're paying 3x the shipping cost, plus all the time it takes to do three different shipments packaged and all that stuff. I still like the idea in theory, but in practice they really bungled it.

Enoch said:
My suggestion will be for them to announce all the selections prior to going on sale and what exactly the "extras" will be.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think this is what they need to do. They set really high, vague expectations with this first box and didn't come through at all. If they had just been up front about the whole thing and told us exactly what the "experience" would be, then fine, that's reasonable.
 
Enoch said:
My suggestion will be for them to announce all the selections prior to going on sale and what exactly the "extras" will be.
Click to expand...
The Fania release post from Storf made it sound like VMP ROTM for essentials and classics might both be Fania. But who knows at this point...we know they are aiming to do more Anthology releases and I bet they are already very deep into production on at least 1 of them.

I think your suggestion is spot on--either announce all of the selections, or lower the price. If this had been like $150 for a mysterious 6 album release for a label that I'm a fan of, I would likely go for it, even without the promise of other extras. I went in on the Blue Note box because I knew the albums (some of which I had been hunting down for years) and VMP had a previous track record of really great sounding Blue Note pressings that were on par with MM for me. Based on the cost of A) earlier pressings of the guessed albums and B) cost of MM pressings, I felt this was an okay price--definitely not a steal, but fair. The Tone Poet pressings are spoiling me though...

Overall, being up front instead of vague on all the details would be lovely. But VMP is mastering the art of FOMO and I think that is largely why this sold out. The other part, and I'm basing this on the types of people that are in the FB group, is that I'm not entirely sure that most of the people who bought this are VMP subscribers. I think the Blue Note crowd make up a fairly large portion of the buyers of this Anthology. I have been really surprised at the number of people who had no clue what albums were being pressed. I think we are in a bit of a bubble in terms of being very involved VMP members and participants, so it's very likely that VMP doesn't even care about us and our feedback on this because we might not make up a big proportion of their consumer base on this. It will be VERY curious to see how they market the next non Blue Note box. BN has a huuuge built-in fanbase that made this one easy to sell out.
 
botherly said:
Yeah I think this is what they need to do. They set really high, vague expectations with this first box and didn't come through at all. If they had just been up front about the whole thing and told us exactly what the "experience" would be, then fine, that's reasonable.
Click to expand...
I still would have been fine with the split up shipping if I knew what I was getting and then they could have sent the booklet at the beginning
 
MikeH said:
The Fania release post from Storf made it sound like VMP ROTM for essentials and classics might both be Fania. But who knows at this point...we know they are aiming to do more Anthology releases and I bet they are already very deep into production on at least 1 of them.

I think your suggestion is spot on--either announce all of the selections, or lower the price. If this had been like $150 for a mysterious 6 album release for a label that I'm a fan of, I would likely go for it, even without the promise of other extras. I went in on the Blue Note box because I knew the albums (some of which I had been hunting down for years) and VMP had a previous track record of really great sounding Blue Note pressings that were on par with MM for me. Based on the cost of A) earlier pressings of the guessed albums and B) cost of MM pressings, I felt this was an okay price--definitely not a steal, but fair. The Tone Poet pressings are spoiling me though...

Overall, being up front instead of vague on all the details would be lovely. But VMP is mastering the art of FOMO and I think that is largely why this sold out. The other part, and I'm basing this on the types of people that are in the FB group, is that I'm not entirely sure that most of the people who bought this are VMP subscribers. I think the Blue Note crowd make up a fairly large portion of the buyers of this Anthology. I have been really surprised at the number of people who had no clue what albums were being pressed. I think we are in a bit of a bubble in terms of being very involved VMP members and participants, so it's very likely that VMP doesn't even care about us and our feedback on this because we might not make up a big proportion of their consumer base on this. It will be VERY curious to see how they market the next non Blue Note box. BN has a huuuge built-in fanbase that made this one easy to sell out.
Click to expand...
Yeah but if word gets around to both future potential customers and labels/artists how this one went down it hurts VMP's credibility and standing (I know, I know).
 
Enoch said:
I still would have been fine with the split up shipping if I knew what I was getting and then they could have sent the booklet at the beginning
Click to expand...

I kinda like the split shipping honestly, I agree with the idea that it made me listen to the albums more closely.

I also really like getting stuff in the mail, so........
 
Enoch said:
Yeah but if word gets around to both future potential customers and labels/artists how this one went down it hurts VMP's credibility and standing (I know, I know).
Click to expand...
I'm actually curious about that...because with the tons of bad press (no pun intended but kinda pun intended) around VMP lately, I wonder if this will all bite them in the ass. VMP can still claim to labels/bands that they sold x amount of copies and sold out, but stuff like the Outkast issue seems to becoming more and more prominent. I'm also pretty shocked to see so many exclusives not sell out. I thought that Comet is Coming would have sold out pretty instantly at only 500 copies but it seems to still be around. Maybe it is because that album is older and most people who wanted a copy have one...but it's still bizarre to me. It would have sold out really quickly with the old forum still around.

Will some other big label want VMP to do a box set further down the line with all these issues with the BN one? Represses, quality control, people complaining, etc. I suppose the complaints aren't super public now since they are on the private FB group only...but still.
 
MikeH said:
I'm actually curious about that...because with the tons of bad press (no pun intended but kinda pun intended) around VMP lately, I wonder if this will all bite them in the ass. VMP can still claim to labels/bands that they sold x amount of copies and sold out, but stuff like the Outkast issue seems to becoming more and more prominent. I'm also pretty shocked to see so many exclusives not sell out. I thought that Comet is Coming would have sold out pretty instantly at only 500 copies but it seems to still be around. Maybe it is because that album is older and most people who wanted a copy have one...but it's still bizarre to me. It would have sold out really quickly with the old forum still around.

Will some other big label want VMP to do a box set further down the line with all these issues with the BN one? Represses, quality control, people complaining, etc. I suppose the complaints aren't super public now since they are on the private FB group only...but still.
Click to expand...
I would think a label would do their homework and ask about how the BN went and see numbers, they may even got a sub to see it in person, or I could be too optimistic
 
Enoch said:
I would think a label would do their homework and ask about how the BN went and see numbers, they may even got a sub to see it in person, or I could be too optimistic
Click to expand...
If I was a label and got the box set after the fact with everything fixed/updated, I'd be impressed by it. It's not entirely the product that is bad, it's the roll out and mistakes along the way and the lack of the promised "experience". VMP can say here's the box set. The quality is good. We sold it out in 6 hours or whatever at $230/set. We know how to improve it to make more money next time. And with the forum shut down, it might be a bit trickier for labels to find out what happened behind the scenes.
 
MikeH said:
If I was a label and got the box set after the fact with everything fixed/updated, I'd be impressed by it. It's not entirely the product that is bad, it's the roll out and mistakes along the way and the lack of the promised "experience". VMP can say here's the box set. The quality is good. We sold it out in 6 hours or whatever at $230/set. We know how to improve it to make more money next time. And with the forum shut down, it might be a bit trickier for labels to find out what happened behind the scenes.
Click to expand...
if they got numbers about returns, reprints, represses, etc though
 
botherly said:
I agree, and the very format of the anthology was meant to push the idea of an experience. Getting two records at a time forces you to only listen to those two records in a given period. I love that idea, I think they were smart to come up with it.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to take a moment and point out that this is not a VMP original idea. They just marketed in a way to make it sound meaningful and unique. I’ve purchased a number of box sets over the years that came in pieces.
 
Teeeee said:
Wait - I don't understand this. You are getting liner notes AFTER you get the albums the liner notes are about?

That's strange, right? I'm not the only one that thinks that is strange? Isn't the point of liner notes to listen to the album while you read the notes?
Click to expand...
You are not alone. I assume it's six pages of large photos and six pages of notes by failed-to-win-a-Grammy writer Ben Ratliff; I'd have just put an insert in with each album - photo on one side, liner notes on the other.
MikeH said:
The Fania release post from Storf made it sound like VMP ROTM for essentials and classics might both be Fania.
Click to expand...
If they put out a salsa anthology it damn well better come with chips and guacamole.
 
Enoch said:
My Dexter replacement disc arrived today, it is just the disc no cover/sleeve*, clean it tomorrow and give it a play

*appears to be well wrapped, haven't opened the wrapping yet
Click to expand...


Well after being told a replacement box and replacement dexter were on the way, and after seeing your above quote, I got just the box. After following up, I get this response....


"Glad to hear you got the new box and that it's in fine shape! As for 'Dexter Calling', we've chosen to wait on replacements for that title until we've gotten the repress with the corrected jacket. We're hoping to have that in our warehouse within 4-8 weeks, and will ship yours out as soon as we're able!"


um.... ok?

Hearing folks also still waiting on Horace, I think the "repress" part should stand out - they're repressing more than just Shorter. Sounds like we're getting another Dexter as well and not just the sleeve? OR, are they just repressing some b/c they ran out of replacements due to press issues?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top