I'm really not trying to insult anyone here, but how was announcing the next 3 months of Essentials a scam? From what I recall from that day, VMP made the announcement, everyone freaked out, and then there was discussion pretty early on about whether it was exclusive. I don't recall when the QOTSA announcement about a standard edition came out but I don't believe there was a huge gap.
So what was unethical? Did VMP say they were the only ones to get this reissue? Would it have been better if they waited till yesterday to tell everyone about getting Songs for the Deaf? For people that signed up for the 3 months but then wanted to back out, were any refunds or cancellations denied?
I feel like a lot of companies play this exclusivity/FOMO game. I fell for it with Fat Beats when they reissued Step In the Arena by Gang Starr. I thought it was exclusively through them, spent 35 bucks, then saw a plain black variant on Amazon a couple months later for a lot cheaper. Sure I felt bad about my own impulsive nature, but I'm not sure Fat Beats did anything unethical either.
I'm rambling a bit, but I am genuinely curious what was really wrong about them announcing titles in advance like they did. Did it stoke FOMO? Absolutely. Did they likely get a ton of new customers who might even still believe that this is the way to get Songs for the Deaf? I am sure. I just don't beleive, personally, that this is a scam. I beleive there is likely some truth to them wanting to get the numbers early on how. many they would need pressed. Otherwise, we would all be in here screaming about how they are so short sighted and poorly run for not having enough copies of such a sought after record to go around, etc. Etc.
Or maybe I'm just an apologist and a shill.
