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

Indymisanthrope said:
Remember when Cam committed to more transparency and —
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That's why i think it's intentional. It's a choice they make not to contact the complete costumer base by email in case of issues, delays, price changes etc. When they know of the issue. Instead they let people deal with cs first or someone gives a statement on Twitter, reddit or elsewhere. Transparency is not something they want. And I don't mean it in a way some want it. I do not need information about company internal stuff like what they financial situation I or why they parted ways from someone. But if an exclusive was delayed I usually know about it from a cs reply someone posted here ( weeks before, if at all) an email goes out. Same with their bigger issues. And that's why i don't trust them on any promises.
 
Finally caught up on this thread, oof.

My top 3 for the decade:
1) Sufjan Stevens "Carrie & Lowell"
2) Robyn "Body Talk"
3) Spoon "Hot Thoughts"

Wasn't BVSC supposed to be delayed just to October? or was it always to November? Did they offer any official explanation of what happened?

I'm out after Spiritualized when my 3 month deal is up. Maybe would have stuck around for Stankonia if they'd offered another 3-month deal in the $60-75 range, but trying to frame $89 + tax as a "deal" is just a joke. And why on earth would I add a side-sub that costs even more than that per month? They'd have to raise their store prices on past ROTMs again to make it worth subscribing.

I tried to come up with a record that would be worth subscribing for, but I can't think of anything. I'd rather buy the same album from another retailer, or pay non-member prices plus shipping, or flipper prices, or just continue to live my life without owning that particular album on vinyl, as I've somehow managed to do for a few decades now. I don't NEED the thrill of potential warps, damaged records, misrouted records, delayed records, oversold records, records that I'm stuck with because I already paid and can't find anything to swap for, price hikes, or to have my CS e-mails ignored for weeks, to be put in a "bucket," to have my swap choices locked in and then deleted, to have my swap choices locked in and then changed without my permission, or to find logical and grammatical errors in virtually every communication they provide to me.

Now that QOTSA, When the Pawn, and Spiritualized are all no longer dangling out there as future possibilities, I was wondering what they would do next just to try to make a case for their continued existence. It feels like they're trying to soak up as much money from subscribers as possible now that there's nowhere else for them to go.
 
Ericj32 said:
I was wondering what they would do next just to try to make a case for their continued existence
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Probably start repressing or just teasing represses of their more sought after ROTMs "Hey instead of buying De La Soul for $150 on discogs get it straight from us for the low low price of $52" (or whatever the domestic US price is exactly). They have enough high resale value albums in their past that they could probably rest on their laurels with such a strategy for a little while
 
PineapplePhantom said:
Probably start repressing or just teasing represses of their more sought after ROTMs "Hey instead of buying De La Soul for $150 on discogs get it straight from us for the low low price of $52" (or whatever the domestic US price is exactly). They have enough high resale value albums in their past that they could probably rest on their laurels with such a strategy for a little while
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Yeah I agree, but doing this past a certain point also will undercut the FOMO that they’ve built their business around.
 
Bohnjaggs said:
Interesting. I'm a huge Spoon fan. They Want My Soul is in my top 3 albums of the decade but Hot Thoughts is probably my least favorite Spoom album overall. 🤔
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I love me some Spoon too but I made an arbitrary rule when evaluating best of decade albums that the artist could not have put out better albums in previous or successive decades. So that would eliminate the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, Radiohead, The National, etc... from the best albums of the 2010 decade discussion in my book. Obviously that’s my own silly rule.

FWIW I actually prefer Hot Thoughts to They Want My Soul or Transference.
 
Bohnjaggs said:
Interesting. I'm a huge Spoon fan. They Want My Soul is in my top 3 albums of the decade but Hot Thoughts is probably my least favorite Spoom album overall. 🤔
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I like “They Want My Soul” too - it’s in my top 5 for the decade. I feel like “Hot Thoughts“ has more of that punchy pop tension though. It’s like almost a dance record - it makes me clench my fists and roll my wrists and neck around.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I love me some Spoon too but I made an arbitrary rule when evaluating best of decade albums that the artist could not have put out better albums in previous or successive decades. So that would eliminate the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, Radiohead, The National, etc... from the best albums of the 2010 decade discussion in my book. Obviously that’s my own silly rule.

FWIW I actually prefer Hot Thoughts to They Want My Soul or Transference.
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I'd go TWMS>>Hot Thoughts>Transference myself. I think Transference and Telephono are the only albums of theirs I don't have and I don't have a compelling desire to pick them up. Not surprised that Hot Thoughts is divisive either.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Slightly related I saw Discogs did a Spoon primer...

blog.discogs.com

Discogs Digs | Discogs

Discogs Digs is the place to start your journey of music discovery. Explore recommendations, unique stories, guides, and more.
blog.discogs.com blog.discogs.com
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When I clicked on that and started scrolling down, I was thinking "Damn, I would have a hard time narrowing it down to 3 or 5 or whatever this list would be," since I think they are so consistent. Come to find out, they included every LP. :ROFLMAO:
 
dhodo said:
I'd go TWMS>>Hot Thoughts>Transference myself. I think Transference and Telephono are the only albums of theirs I don't have and I don't have a compelling desire to pick them up. Not surprised that Hot Thoughts is divisive either.
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This is actually my ranking too. As much as Hot Thoughts didn't really click for me (and I tried), I probably like it better than Transference.
 
dhodo said:
I'd go TWMS>>Hot Thoughts>Transference myself. I think Transference and Telephono are the only albums of theirs I don't have and I don't have a compelling desire to pick them up. Not surprised that Hot Thoughts is divisive either.
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I am missing the same plus They Want My Soul. I was inspired by the Silk Screened album art on the Remastered Soft Effects EP to finally pick that up (I am a sucker for stuff like that). I am sure I will end up grabbing the Telephono remaster here shortly and eventually add the other two, a MOR is still a really good album.
 
Also, after looking at my old VMP orders since I joined.. a few takeaways...

1) Why did I sell my De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State on Reddit for like 30 bucks a few years ago?
2) It's nice to go back and remember the excitement of the Gorillaz, QOTSA drops.
3) Rostam's "Half Light' is one of my favorite exclusives (/750 yellow)
4) My first VMP was Weezer's Pinkerton
5) Thankful that even though they barely pressed any reggae, they did some awesome exclusives + Madlib's 420
 
Jan said:
It's still my main problem with them and it was the common thing between all their problems so by now I have to assume it is on purpose: they simply refuse to communicate in a transparent and upfront way to their customers. they only communicate issues or changes to their customers after a shitstorm
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It’s not even just communication between VMP and their customers. It is very clear that nobody in the company talks to each other and has been that way for years. Storf doesn’t know if an album is mono or stereo. He doesn’t know whether it’s AAA or a digital remaster. He writes copy on the site saying they don’t want to spoil the art print for BVSC but the picture is right above that copy. CS doesn’t know anything about inventory. It’s really not hard to stay in communication with employees when you have a team of 20 people. If you don’t know the answer to something, just ask the person who would know. I’m always amazed at how poorly everyone in the company seems to communicate and that trickles down to customers. I’ve had CS issues where I talked to 3 different CS agents who all told me different things: they would send a replacement, then another person said no replacements existed and I could have another ROTM for free and a third person mailed me a replacement.
 
MikeH said:
It’s not even just communication between VMP and their customers. It is very clear that nobody in the company talks to each other and has been that way for years. Storf doesn’t know if an album is mono or stereo. He doesn’t know whether it’s AAA or a digital remaster. He writes copy on the site saying they don’t want to spoil the art print for BVSC but the picture is right above that copy. CS doesn’t know anything about inventory. It’s really not hard to stay in communication with employees when you have a team of 20 people. If you don’t know the answer to something, just ask the person who would know. I’m always amazed at how poorly everyone in the company seems to communicate and that trickles down to customers. I’ve had CS issues where I talked to 3 different CS agents who all told me different things: they would send a replacement, then another person said no replacements existed and I could have another ROTM for free and a third person mailed me a replacement.
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Yes. The only time I've been truly burned by them was the Buckley "Grace" pressing. I mailed and asked what master they had, was it the Kevin Gray. They checked around and confirmed that yes, it was the Kevin Gray. Got the album and of course no it was not the Kevin Gray, and it was the most crappy poppy pressing ever. Like... I'd almost understand getting a "I don't know" but they actually checked and confirmed it was. WHO CONFIRMED THAT? Like... how...
 
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scotthilk said:
Also, after looking at my old VMP orders since I joined.. a few takeaways...

1) Why did I sell my De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State on Reddit for like 30 bucks a few years ago?
2) It's nice to go back and remember the excitement of the Gorillaz, QOTSA drops.
3) Rostam's "Half Light' is one of my favorite exclusives (/750 yellow)
4) My first VMP was Weezer's Pinkerton
5) Thankful that even though they barely pressed any reggae, they did some awesome exclusives + Madlib's 420
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My biggest takeaways

  1. Joined with Main Source - Breaking Atoms which came with a skip, requested a replacement and the replacement had the skip as well lmao classic VMP.
  2. BBNG. Apparently I got it but I can't find it in my collection and I honestly don't remember ever seeing it in person. It's messing with my brain.
  3. It definitely is nice to remember my joy in securing that Gorillaz pressing.
  4. I lost my job and went broke and had to cancel during the year all the De La Soul releases came out and I'm still depressed about it.
 
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