Vinyl Me Please Essentials

Skalap said:
Same here. They shipped me two records yesterday and I am waiting for my box which should go today or in the next days. Must be a Shopify issue again... I remember when they were saying that it was not costing them too much to have multiple packages sent.

I am then waiting for swap preview and, if nothing exciting (situation I expect considering how weak are AotM for the next months), I'll ask for a refund and to cancel my membership.
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Tried the refund option given I have every increasing credits - They denied me twice.
 
ByersVinyl said:
Tried the refund option given I have every increasing credits - They denied me twice.
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Companies experiencing solvency issues rarely issue refunds, and in the rare case they do, will try to drag it out as long as possible.

When you are in a cash crisis, the order goes: taxes first, payroll second, rent third, suppliers fourth and everyone else goes in the hat with a chance to get their bill pulled out that month.

Former customers wanting refunds for credit notes are last. They usually end up as unsecured creditors, and still at the bottom of the list.
 
RHANDMJ said:
Companies experiencing solvency issues rarely issue refunds, and in the rare case they do, will try to drag it out as long as possible.

When you are in a cash crisis, the order goes: taxes first, payroll second, rent third, suppliers fourth and everyone else goes in the hat with a chance to get their bill pulled out that month.

Former customers wanting refunds for credit notes are last. They usually end up as unsecured creditors, and still at the bottom of the list.
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Yep I can attest to this as a Bandbox subscriber. we didn't even get the records we are owed,
 
Twentytwo said:
Yep I can attest to this as a Bandbox subscriber. we didn't even get the records we are owed,
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True. When a company goes under, all the inventory goes into the bankruptcy trustee's hands, and will be sold as part of the bankruptcy proceedings. None will go to pre-order customers, and pre-order funds (which are going to be in the general bank account) go to the order of creditors - secured first, then if there is anything left, to the order of unsecured priority.

Important to note that the minute a company goes tits up, it ceases to be a company operating in the normal course of business. It becomes an entity that exists to satisfy the creditors in order of security.
 
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yukbon said:
I am hoping they power through it. When they do cool shit, they’re really good at it. That miles Davis box set is still fucking amazing.
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So am I.

If not, someone else will step into that market niche. It IS viable, but likely the VMP model - handling logistics in house, which is the toughest part to do if not at scale - is not.

Even the major labels don't really handle logistics. They outsource it to third party operations.

Some of best records, particularly over the past 5-7 years, have come from VMP. But in the last 2 - not near as many.
 
RHANDMJ said:
So am I.

If not, someone else will step into that market niche. It IS viable, but likely the VMP model - handling logistics in house, which is the toughest part to do if not at scale - is not.

Even the major labels don't really handle logistics. They outsource it to third party operations.

Some of best records, particularly over the past 5-7 years, have come from VMP. But in the last 2 - not near as many.
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But they don’t do logistics. Saddle Creek does?
 
RHANDMJ said:
So am I.

If not, someone else will step into that market niche.
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herein is the problem: look at how others who are trying to step into that space are handling it.

Mostly it's not as well: IVF; a lot of their presses have been unimpressive, to be kind about it.
or they handle it decently but the offerings are pretty scant: Rhino -- pretty great but limited choices,
or their execution is pretty dry but "ok": Craft -- whose prices are ok and product is ok but shipping cost sucks.
 
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yukbon said:
herein is the problem: look at how others who are trying to step into that space are handling it.

Mostly it's not as well: IVF; a lot of their presses have been unimpressive, to be kind about it.
or they handle it decently but the offerings are pretty scant: Rhino -- pretty great but limited choices,
or their execution is pretty dry but "ok": Craft -- whose prices are ok and product is ok but shipping cost sucks.
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Agree. I don't know IVF much (in vitro fertilization I know a bit better, unfortunate acronym) and I feel like Rhino High Fidelity has hurt VMP as they are saving the 'A' titles for themselves, just like Chad is doing with Craft. Although both labels have deep enough catalog to go around.

As far as shipping, the free lunch is over (except at Amazon, where scale and controlling the supply chain make it feasable). It was obviously never financially viable. Shipping rates have gone up across the board, and by a lot. Businesses get better rates, but it isn't free - either it is built into price, or it is a sacrifice in margin. It doesn't cost nothing.

One issue with subscription plans is that shipping must be built in. It is either disclosed as a line item when signing up or built into to the subscription rate. This is why I have a feeling that ultimately the best survival route for VMP is not the subscription model, or a very modified version of it such as a negative billing or charge on ship model.
 
yukbon said:
herein is the problem: look at how others who are trying to step into that space are handling it.

Mostly it's not as well: IVF; a lot of their presses have been unimpressive, to be kind about it.
or they handle it decently but the offerings are pretty scant: Rhino -- pretty great but limited choices,
or their execution is pretty dry but "ok": Craft -- whose prices are ok and product is ok but shipping cost sucks.
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Yeah, the thing you’re missing here and that is gonna make VMP’s spot in the market hard to maintain is these are labels. MoFi and Chad bring a certain amount of prestige and history with them (and manufacturing). If VMP had stayed the course with the plant - they would have had an edge that they might have been able to use to transcend just being another company using licensed product. The labels are squeezing something like VMP out. VMP isn’t gonna be able to pull the stuff that warrants their price and there are companies doing the lost sounds thing better. Without their own product, there’s nothing for them to offer the market.
 
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