Vinyl Me Please (store, exclusives, swaps, etc)

[NewsFedora]

I thought I'd just do a random stock check on Shabaka & The Ancestors and it says there's only 40 left in stock. So that means VMP would've taken around 300 copies out, to put into the September Swaptions!

And maybe they did take some Whitney Houston out as well, to put into the September Swaptions too! Not sure about that though (especially as its been selling quite well in comparison to the Shabaka), but I am pretty certain Shabaka & The Ancestors will be in the next Swaptions!

Although the Swaptions weren't amazing for August (there were some nice surprises though - Sampa The Great, MF DOOM, Holy Hive, BBNG, Jason Isbell), I think the September Swaptions might be a bit better just with Shabaka & The Ancestors being in there!

They’re not going to pull stock for swaptions a whole month in advance.

 

[NathanRicaud]

They’re not going to pull stock for swaptions a whole month in advance.

I think VMP would do that! Why else is it down to 40 copies? Do you think it's because of all the replacements they had to send to everyone? And the warehouse did a stock count and VMP updated it?

 

[NewsFedora]

I think VMP would do that! Why else is it down to 40 copies? Do you think it's because of all the replacements they had to send to everyone? And the warehouse did a stock count and VMP updated it?

Probably something like that, they ran an inventory check shortly before swaps opened to get accurate stock figures (it’s why Noname erroneously appeared in stock for a hot minute).

Same reason Ivy Sole’s live album saw a dramatic decrease. For her’s it makes even more sense, as before the adjustment it literally showed that only a dozen copies had sold. And that’s been in the store since, like April.

 

[NathanRicaud]

LOW STOCK ALERT TIME!

Whitney Houston Boxset - 13 copies left
Christelle Bofale VMP Rising - 13 copies left
Loleatta Holloway - Cry to me - 25 copies left️
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor - 8 copies left
Afro Peruvian Classics - 20 copies left

The Afro-Peruvian Classics is definitely going to sell out soon, as it dropped yesterday, and the Whitney Houston boxset won't last long either, as will the Local Natives!

 

[Bluecloud777]

LOW STOCK ALERT TIME!

Whitney Houston Boxset - 13 copies left
Christelle Bofale VMP Rising - 13 copies left
Loleatta Holloway - Cry to me - 25 copies left️
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor - 8 copies left
Afro Peruvian Classics - 20 copies left

The Afro-Peruvian Classics is definitely going to sell out soon, as it dropped yesterday, and the Whitney Houston boxset won't last long either, as will the Local Natives!

I love it when you, @Kyuuji and others do these stock checks.
Can you possibly see what it looks like for the Nina Simone AP? My plan is to pick this up with swap credits.
Alternatively I think about getting Donny Benet "Mr. Experience" and James Booker "Classified". Can you see the stock for them?

 

[NathanRicaud]

I love it when you, @Kyuuji and others do these stock checks.
Can you possibly see what it looks like for the Nina Simone AP? My plan is to pick this up with swap credits.
Alternatively I think about getting Donny Benet "Mr. Experience" and James Booker "Classified". Can you see the stock for them?

Me and @Kyuuji love doing this for you guys!

Donny Benét - 41 copies left
James Booker - Classified - 657 copies left
Nina Simone - Little Blue Girl - 42 copies left

Enjoy using your 10% coupon to grab what you need Bluecloud777!

The James Booker is definitely going to hit the sales section! They should’ve limited that one to 500 copies, so don’t worry about grabbing that one, although $2.30 off, means you get it for only $20.70 + free shipping which is great!

 

[BazookaTooth]

100%! I can't see VMP getting even close to what Samy has been doing with Analog Africa or Vik with Ostinato Records, just to name these two.

agree ! not at the same quality and detail.
i must grab some more from them. the packaging and the music on the compilations i have from each of the labels is superb, but whom am i telling this?

 

[NathanRicaud]

agree ! not at the same quality and detail.
i must grab some more from them. the packaging and the music on the compilations i have from each of the labels is superb, but whom am i telling this?

@Skalap is the expert in this area! I love his passion for those more obscure/crate-digger labels! He turned me onto Analog Africa and I can confirm that the music put out by them is great and their pressings are great too!

 

[Skalap]

I think that would be good though so then more people are exposed to the music and it further supports those labels/artists too! As VMP is the biggest vinyl club, it will be huge for those artists/labels to get that exposure! Because ROTM's are huge! They're advertised on Instagram, and sell a lot! I'm definitely for it! And I think VMP will collaborate with a lot of different labels and will choose excellent albums and will give it that extra special treatment

Or, considering all the issues VMP customers faces every month, it will give a bad image of these reissues label and their passionate owners. In addition, what special treatment VMP gave to these records? A colored variant? For $15 more? Seriously? I love Mr Bongo, I love Analog Africa, I love Ostinato Records, I love Mad About Records, I love Superfly Records, I love many other reissues labels and I don't want them to work with VMP. I want these small reissue labels to keep doing what they have been doing and I'll keep supporting them. They probably never get big and I am not even sure they want to. It's not a VMP question, it's a question of who record collectors want to support.

 

[Bluecloud777]

Me and @Kyuuji love doing this for you guys!

Donny Benét - 41 copies left
James Booker - Classified - 657 copies left
Nina Simone - Little Blue Girl - 42 copies left

Enjoy using your 10% coupon to grab what you need Bluecloud777!

The James Booker is definitely going to hit the sales section! They should’ve limited that one to 500 copies, so don’t worry about grabbing that one, although $2.30 off, means you get it for only $20.70 + free shipping which is great!

Thanks a lot for that valuable information.

By the way, do we know how limited AP pressings usually are? Do they usually keep on repressing them? For instance some The Doors AP pressings had been on backorder on Acoustic Sounds. Oh, I just see they are available again, also the Infinite Vinyl boxset of The Doors for $400.

 

[NathanRicaud]

Thanks a lot for that valuable information.

By the way, do we know how limited AP pressings usually are? Do they usually keep on repressing them? For instance some The Doors AP pressings had been on backorder on Acoustic Sounds. Oh, I just see they are available again, also the Infinite Vinyl boxset of The Doors for $400.

You’re welcome!

Yeah, AP titles aren’t really limited! They sell well, and sell out but usually get repressed! Just goes to show how great the quality of those pressings are, with prices like that!

 

[NathanRicaud]

Or, considering all the issues VMP customers faces every month, it will give a bad image of these reissues label and their passionate owners. In addition, what special treatment VMP gave to these records? A colored variant? For $15 more? Seriously? I love Mr Bongo, I love Analog Africa, I love Ostinato Records, I love Mad About Records, I love Superfly Records, I love many other reissues labels and I don't want them to work with VMP. I want these small reissue labels to keep doing what they have been doing and I'll keep supporting them. They probably never get big and I am not even sure they want to. It's not a VMP question, it's a question of who record collectors want to support.

I want my free shipping though!

Just kidding! But for real, I tried to order some records from Mr. Bongo and they didn’t ship to Australia, and all those other labels via Bandcamp etc, the shipping is just too much! It’s like I have to make a big order! Kinda like what I did with Sam Records (my god I love Sam Records so much!).

I really appreciate that VMP do free shipping, especially as I’m international! I love them so much for that!

Back to what you’re saying though, that is a good point! You don’t want the owners to be given a bad name due to the issues VMP have! But also, I think the positives will outweigh the negatives and the owners will be so proud to have VMP collaborating with them! Of course some of them wouldn’t want to do it, but would be so happy with the ones who do want to do it!

I want to support everyone, but want to support VMP the most because they tick the boxes for me with costs, exclusives and I love their ROTM and great CS service (apart from the waiting time)!

 

[Skalap]

I want my free shipping though!

Just kidding! But for real, I tried to order some records from Mr. Bongo and they didn’t ship to Australia, and all those other labels via Bandcamp etc, the shipping is just too much! It’s like I have to make a big order! Kinda like what I did with Sam Records (my god I love Sam Records so much!).

I really appreciate that VMP do free shipping, especially as I’m international! I love them so much for that! ♥♥♥

Back to what you’re saying though, that is a good point! You don’t want the owners to be given a bad name due to the issues VMP have! But also, I think the positives will outweigh the negatives and the owners will be so proud to have VMP collaborating with them! Of course some of them wouldn’t want to do it, but would be so happy with the ones who do want to do it!

I want to support everyone, but want to support VMP the most because they tick the boxes for me with costs, exclusives and I love their ROTM and great CS service (apart from the waiting time)!

It's not free shipping when you're asked $15 more for the same record.

 

[NathanRicaud]

It's not free shipping when you're asked $15 more for the same record.

$15 more is exaggerated! So are you saying an album like Afro-Peruvian Classics, which is pressed at Pallas, starts off as $12, and then the VMP more than doubles the price for their exclusive variant at $27!?!?

NO!

 

[Skalap]

$15 more is exaggerated! So are you saying an album like Afro-Peruvian Classics, which is pressed at Pallas, starts off as $12, and then the VMP more than doubles the price for their exclusive variant at $27!?!?

NO!

Shabaka's last record is $39, most of the past AotM are $34 to $40, Mr Bongo colored variants are all $6/8 more expensive, there are many other examples.

 

[NathanRicaud]

Shabaka's last record is $39, most of the past AotM are $34 to $40, Mr Bongo colored variants are all $6/8 more expensive, there are many other examples.

Ok, so VMP exclusives are around $6-$8 more expensive. That is definitely a pretty big markup but you get the free shipping! $8 is a big markup but it’s not a massive markup like $15!

 

[Bluecloud777]

Ok, so VMP exclusives are around $6-$8 more expensive. That is definitely a pretty big markup but you get the free shipping! $8 is a big markup but it’s not a massive markup like $15!

While @Skalap is right on some records, I mostly agree with @NathanRicaud. Free shipping is a great benefit for us internationals, especially if you buy in a clever way. APs for instance would at least be 65 to 70€ over here in Germany, and when buying at VMP it's only about 52€. Many exclusives are not that much more expensive than limited Indie versions in Germany. Of course some pricing is ridiculous like Shabaka or Whitney, but for many records it's not such an enourmous difference. Also most what VMP puts out sounds pretty good, unless you get a noisy copy with some scratch or production problem. I think if I was in the US I might not be a member, but for Internationals it really makes sense, most of the time.

 

[Skalap]

Ok, so VMP exclusives are around $6-$8 more expensive. That is definitely a pretty big markup but you get the free shipping! $8 is a big markup but it’s not a massive markup like $15!

I calculated on these 3 Mr Bongo variant records VMP did, it's $26 each so $78 shipped (considering you are a VMP subscriber). The same three records shipped to Australia directly by Mr Bongo comes to $88. So you are right, you "save" $10 when ordering through VMP. On the other hand and comparing devils, Shabaka's last album is $21,99 on Amazon and $39 on VMP.

 

[Bluecloud777]

I calculated on these 3 Mr Bongo variant records VMP did, it's $26 each so $78 shipped (considering you are a VMP subscriber). The same three records shipped to Australia directly by Mr Bongo comes to $88. So you are right, you "save" $10 when ordering through VMP. On the other hand and comparing devils, Shabaka's last album is $21,99 on Amazon and $39 on VMP.

But of course you're now comparing a standard black edition of Shabaka with a limited colored edition. I agree the price difference is still too high, but I would expext a colored limited edition to be more expensive. Whether one needs colored limited editions at all is another question of course.

 

[Rowan]

What's all this people talking country and not throwing Gram/ Burritos/ Gram era Byrds in about? Grevious Angel should be in everyone's record collection. Gram And Emmylou busting out the harmonies is a massive yes! As should Sweetheart for that matter and Gilded Palace of Sin and Burrito Deluxe.