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

Rowan said:
You know, back in the old days if an artist I didn't really know came up as a VMP exclusive I'd have a punt on them. About a year or two ago I decided I wasn't buying blind and would stream first. Nowadays I just let them pass me by. 40 fucks is a hefty price to pay in case you like something where the old 20 bucks days seemed more reasonable... Such is commerce, inflation and record retail I suppose
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Same here! The old VMP forum was often responsible for adding to my collection and I have a lot of 'new music' as a result which I wouldn't have otherwise bought (Julien Baker, The JuJu Exchange, BadBadNotGood, Ayalew Mesfin, Lafayette Afro-Rock Band, Mitski, etc). Because they were so affordable I didn't think twice about ordering them as it wouldn't have been a huge financial loss if I didn't enjoy them.

To be fair though this is something which covers all aspects where records are concerned. I had a clear out of my shelves last year and sold a load of records for silly prices that I had bought on ebay and the like for hardly anything years ago. As an example I bought MF DOOM - MM..Food, The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and Beyonce's S/T in 2018 for £10 each. I sold DOOM for £45 (now goes for £90), The Flaming Lips for £50 and Beyonce for £75.

I really hope the whole vinyl market crashes at some point to become more affordable. It has become less about the music and more about status/collectibility in my opinion.
 
Selaws said:
I really hope the whole vinyl market crashes at some point to become more affordable. It has become less about the music and more about status/collectibility in my opinion.
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GASP

Hnooooooo! My discogs valuuuuuue!

-clutches discogs value to chest-

Don't worry about what the mean man said, he doesn't know you, he doesn't know you like I do.... You're never going ANYWHERE... We're going to be together forever and ever, forever and ever, forever and ever...
 
The bubble is frustrating

It was already getting bad but blew up badly after the Apollo fire (which never was resolved) and covid really lowering supply

Maybe we should do something about it

Or maybe covid has deteriorated my mental state so much that I just want to get rage out
 
Selaws said:
Same here! The old VMP forum was often responsible for adding to my collection and I have a lot of 'new music' as a result which I wouldn't have otherwise bought (Julien Baker, The JuJu Exchange, BadBadNotGood, Ayalew Mesfin, Lafayette Afro-Rock Band, Mitski, etc). Because they were so affordable I didn't think twice about ordering them as it wouldn't have been a huge financial loss if I didn't enjoy them.

To be fair though this is something which covers all aspects where records are concerned. I had a clear out of my shelves last year and sold a load of records for silly prices that I had bought on ebay and the like for hardly anything years ago. As an example I bought MF DOOM - MM..Food, The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and Beyonce's S/T in 2018 for £10 each. I sold DOOM for £45 (now goes for £90), The Flaming Lips for £50 and Beyonce for £75.

I really hope the whole vinyl market crashes at some point to become more affordable. It has become less about the music and more about status/collectibility in my opinion.
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Yep I’d really rather sell all these records I’ve sold recently at fair prices and then have been able to buy the ones I sold them to fund for much less too. But in general it’s just tiring.
 
This week has been something for me that has left a bad taste. The Weeknd's ridiculous 100 buck album, The National 3 figure book thingy, the $50 Prine 2 LP selling out super quick, 2 $45 2lp non-audiophile exclusives selling out in 2 hours, and this doesn't even include Friday's brewing shitstorm with the Craft Small Batch.

I feel like FOMO is at a fever pitch, these are all ridiculous prices and the collecting aspect of all of this, at least this week, just isn't fun anymore.
 
wmeugene said:
This week has been something for me that has left a bad taste. The Weeknd's ridiculous 100 buck album, The National 3 figure book thingy, the $50 Prine 2 LP selling out super quick, 2 $45 2lp non-audiophile exclusives selling out in 2 hours, and this doesn't even include Friday's brewing shitstorm with the Craft Small Batch.

I feel like FOMO is at a fever pitch, these are all ridiculous prices and the collecting aspect of all of this, at least this week, just isn't fun anymore.
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Yeah and looking at so many of these releases it feels more like owning this thing has become more important than what is pressed in the grooves. I like aesthetics as much as anyone but surely it’s what’s in the grooves that should determine the value.
 
wmeugene said:
This week has been something for me that has left a bad taste. The Weeknd's ridiculous 100 buck album, The National 3 figure book thingy, the $50 Prine 2 LP selling out super quick, 2 $45 2lp non-audiophile exclusives selling out in 2 hours, and this doesn't even include Friday's brewing shitstorm with the Craft Small Batch.

I feel like FOMO is at a fever pitch, these are all ridiculous prices and the collecting aspect of all of this, at least this week, just isn't fun anymore.
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Completely understand this.

When its a release that I'm really excited for and has had a lot of effort put in then I'm all for spending a bit more. When every release has a gimmick or low pressing to 'justify' insane prices then its no fun for anyone. I'm not a die-hard National fan but if I was I would be pissed off at what went down with that vinyl/book. They KNOW the die-hard fans will want at least 1 copy, with many completionists wanting each variant. To start the price at $120 for just the book that is limited to 'just' 3400 is a slap in the face.
 
Meanwhile JPEGmafia is selling black ben Carson on 3LPs for the price of one VMP 2LP

That makes me feel happy and getting my anger out
 
Selaws said:
Completely understand this.

When its a release that I'm really excited for and has had a lot of effort put in then I'm all for spending a bit more. When every release has a gimmick or low pressing to 'justify' insane prices then its no fun for anyone. I'm not a die-hard National fan but if I was I would be pissed off at what went down with that vinyl/book. They KNOW the die-hard fans will want at least 1 copy, with many completionists wanting each variant. To start the price at $120 for just the book that is limited to 'just' 3400 is a slap in the face.
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It’s the adding the record on to sell the book that really fucks me off with that one. Photo books, to be fair, aren’t cheap things and you could well imagine it costing say €80 to buy solo. But it would only have sold to a couple of hundred die hards. So they stick on a 1LP 8 track record to sell it to thousands on a FOMO basis. It’s extortion. At the bare minimum for €130 it should have been a full show over 2/3 LPs. The cynicism of that release astounds me.
 
Joe Mac said:
It’s the adding the record on to sell the book that really fucks me off with that one. Photo books, to be fair, aren’t cheap things and you could well imagine it costing say €80 to buy solo. But it would only have sold to a couple of hundred die hards. So they stick on a 1LP 8 track record to sell it to thousands on a FOMO basis. It’s extortion. At the bare minimum for €130 it should have been a full show over 2/3 LPs. The cynicism of that release astounds me.
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Yeah, that one was unbelievable. It was $275 for the signed bookplate version! I'd want the book, a 2-3lp set and a prime seating concert ticket for that price.
 
wmeugene said:
Yeah, that one was unbelievable. It was $275 for the signed bookplate version! I'd want the book, a 2-3lp set and a prime seating concert ticket for that price.
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When did this whole charging extra for signing copies become a thing too. Whatever happened to that being a perk for the first few die hards who bought on day of release from your website rather than waiting for it to drop in store.
 
Joe Mac said:
It’s the adding the record on to sell the book that really fucks me off with that one. Photo books, to be fair, aren’t cheap things and you could well imagine it costing say €80 to buy solo. But it would only have sold to a couple of hundred die hards. So they stick on a 1LP 8 track record to sell it to thousands on a FOMO basis. It’s extortion. At the bare minimum for €130 it should have been a full show over 2/3 LPs. The cynicism of that release astounds me.
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I hadn't thought of that but its a great point!

The other thing that annoys me about it is adding 'limited' to something that has 3400 copies. There was a time when limited meant a few hundred at the most, now they just add it to everything as a buzzword to squeeze out more sales.

I'm not against expensive limited sets either if there is justification to it. The recent Ill Considered box set came to £117 with postage and was limited to 338 copies. The concept centres around a stop motion animation that took over 2 years to create and the original artwork was split up to 1 second each (12 pieces) and included in each box, hence the limitedness. The group then recorded an improvisational EP which was included in the hand made box. Now compare that to a book which they could press an endless number and it really infurates me.

You just KNOW that the next Craft One-Step will be an absolute mess of people scrambling to get a copy. At least Craft have taken feedback on board and will press more going forward.
 
Selaws said:
I hadn't thought of that but its a great point!

The other thing that annoys me about it is adding 'limited' to something that has 3400 copies. There was a time when limited meant a few hundred at the most, now they just add it to everything as a buzzword to squeeze out more sales.

I'm not against expensive limited sets either if there is justification to it. The recent Ill Considered box set came to £117 with postage and was limited to 338 copies. The concept centres around a stop motion animation that took over 2 years to create and the original artwork was split up to 1 second each (12 pieces) and included in each box, hence the limitedness. The group then recorded an improvisational EP which was included in the hand made box. Now compare that to a book which they could press an endless number and it really infurates me.

You just KNOW that the next Craft One-Step will be an absolute mess of people scrambling to get a copy. At least Craft have taken feedback on board and will press more going forward.
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I agree and disagree with you. I don’t agree with the idea of limited as a concept. I think it’s another way of bumping the price up and as a way of reeling in people who collect things to stay in shrink. None of this helps music fans.

I do understand that economics of scale and potentially limited market size will create a limitations such as with your ill considered set and that is absolutely natural and I have no problem with that.

I think with the craft that the first two were limited to 1,000 because unlike a normal press where you get 100,000 records from a lacquer with a one step you only get that bare 1,000. They didn’t want to go to the expense of getting these expensive mastering engineers to cut multiple lacquers with all those asssociated extra costs. That said simply saying “initial run of 1,000” might have given them scope to test the market with just 1,000 but then go back and cut more lacquers to press more once they saw the market was there.

Who knows. Maybe I’m just idealistic or naive but I do wish people would look after their customers rather than just seeing us as walking talking ATMs.
 
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Joe Mac said:
I agree and disagree with you. I don’t agree with the idea of limited as a concept. I think it’s another way of bumping the price up and as a way of reeling in people who collect things to stay in shrink. None of this helps music fans.

I do understand that economics of scale and potentially limited market size will create a limitations such as with your ill considered set and that is absolutely natural and I have no problem with that.

I think with the craft that the first two were limited to 1,000 because unlike a normal press where you get 100,000 records from a lacquer with a one step you only get that bare 1,000. They didn’t want to go to the expense of getting these expensive mastering engineers to cut multiple lacquers with all those asssociated extra costs. That said simply saying “initial run of 1,000” might have given them scope to test the market with just 1,000 but then go back and press more once they saw the market was there.

Who knows. Maybe I’m just idealistic or naive but I do wish people would look after their customers rather than just seeing us as walking talking ATMs.
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If you're going to do limited, I like the Grateful Dead's Dave's Picks model. Offer a subscription for the year at a lower rate with perks (free shipping and bonus disc) and raise the "limited" numbers as needed to meet demand (they started out at 12k a title and are up to 22k). They still sell out, but since I started subscribing, I've never had a stressful moment in trying to get one.
 
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