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

Rowan said:
My replacement Alicia Keys that was sent because the first replacement had a misprint on it… has a totally different misprint on it. You honestly couldn’t write this shit….

I mean… in this case it seems VMP actually can’t write something. Namely ‘The Diary of Alicia Keys’ on the front of a record box set
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Storf packaged and apporved!
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
I would be curios to see how many subscribers they lose over the next few months.
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I have a feeling that when everybody’s year long freebies subs end, they are gonna be bleeding memberships. Probably part of why they are consolidating tracks.

I don’t blame them for consolidating tracks because they were spreading too thin already. I also maintain that it’s gonna get harder and harder to license good titles. We have already seen it happening and as labels like rhino and Interscope make their own subscription services or regular release series, they aren’t gonna have over the really great stuff to VMP.

I randomly saw some VMP pressing numbers the other week when I was trying to remember who did that 4 pack of VMP stuff like 5 years ago for a crazy discount (it was bespoke post)…they did like 25k Feist albums as an initial pressing. That’s way higher numbers than I thought for the record of the month subs.
 
MikeH said:
I have a feeling that when everybody’s year long freebies subs end, they are gonna be bleeding memberships. Probably part of why they are consolidating tracks.

I don’t blame them for consolidating tracks because they were spreading too thin already. I also maintain that it’s gonna get harder and harder to license good titles. We have already seen it happening and as labels like rhino and Interscope make their own subscription services or regular release series, they aren’t gonna have over the really great stuff to VMP.

I randomly saw some VMP pressing numbers the other week when I was trying to remember who did that 4 pack of VMP stuff like 5 years ago for a crazy discount (it was bespoke post)…they did like 25k Feist albums as an initial pressing. That’s way higher numbers than I thought for the record of the month subs.
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I'm definitely out after my yearly membership ends in December or January. It was 100% the free records that got me into it but I've skipped on most records this year. I think you might be right.

So fascinating how the rising popularity of vinyl is also potentially VMP's greatest threat. It was potentially a business that thrived better off a dead medium
 
Ghost said:
I'm definitely out after my yearly membership ends in December or January. It was 100% the free records that got me into it but I've skipped on most records this year. I think you might be right.

So fascinating how the rising popularity of vinyl is also potentially VMP's greatest threat. It was potentially a business that thrived better off a dead medium
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It’s the downside of a business model where you don’t actually own anything you are producing. VMP is nothing without licensing titles and when labels don’t wanna license to them or open their own subscriptions, the choices become more and more limited.
 
Ghost said:
I'm definitely out after my yearly membership ends in December or January. It was 100% the free records that got me into it but I've skipped on most records this year. I think you might be right.

So fascinating how the rising popularity of vinyl is also potentially VMP's greatest threat. It was potentially a business that thrived better off a dead medium
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It still is popular but I don't see it as much as it was let's say 5 years ago. Prices increased a lot to a point we find it normal to pay $45/50 for a single lp. Music fans and record collectors used to buy two records for the price of one today. Many just don't buy as much as before because they simply can't afford.
 
Skalap said:
It still is popular but I don't see it as much as it was let's say 5 years ago. Prices increased a lot to a point we find it normal to pay $45/50 for a single lp. Music fans and record collectors used to buy two records for the price of one today. Many just don't buy as much as before because they simply can't afford.
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It was definitely more popular during the pandemic. People had more disposable income from not going out and more time at home to buy and listen to LPs.
 
MikeH said:
It was definitely more popular during the pandemic. People had more disposable income from not going out and more time at home to buy and listen to LPs.
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True, and a lot people who spent a lot of their disposable income on records during the pandemic no longer have the space to add X artist's 5th best record or whatever (even if it's still a good record). Not speaking from experience here or anything...
 
D Jilla said:
True, and a lot people who spent a lot of their disposable income on records during the pandemic no longer have the space to add X artist's 5th best record or whatever (even if it's still a good record). Not speaking from experience here or anything...
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That's also a separate issue - if you're a huge fan of that artist, then you'll be overjoyed this pressing is available (granted, depending on the # of other quality pressings), and it makes sense if the company offers it as a limited store exclusive. Where they screwed up their curation is pressing thousands of a band's 5th best record, expecting the community at large to feel the same way. This has led to 'please don't make us throw these in a landfill' sales. They could actually get away this to some degree before instituting Swaps but never seemed to grasp the inevitable outcome of when those two things intertwine.
 
serotonein said:
That's also a separate issue - if you're a huge fan of that artist, then you'll be overjoyed this pressing is available (granted, depending on the # of other quality pressings), and it makes sense if the company offers it as a limited store exclusive. Where they screwed up their curation is pressing thousands of a band's 5th best record, expecting the community at large to feel the same way. This has led to 'please don't make us throw these in a landfill' sales. They could actually get away this to some degree before instituting Swaps but never seemed to grasp the inevitable outcome of when those two things intertwine.
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I remember people complaining about the Isley Brothers - Go For Your Guns being chosen as their 4th or 5th best album. I recently bought the VMP and hot damn, it’s good. So I don’t think that the “5th best album” argument always holds water but it’s led to disappointments a lot lately for many people.

The bigger issue was price hike without really a quality hike or curation hike. Nothing really changed aside from more tracks being added. They went back to GZ for everything. And the constant 40% off sales last year were really an awful idea for them. People who paid full price for stuff were pissed and people who used the coupon didn’t wanna pay full price for everything ever again.
 
MikeH said:
I remember people complaining about the Isley Brothers - Go For Your Guns being chosen as their 4th or 5th best album. I recently bought the VMP and hot damn, it’s good. So I don’t think that the “5th best album” argument always holds water but it’s led to disappointments a lot lately for many people.
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Fair point, though I had to look it up and couldn't believe that album was VMP Classics in 2019! Of course, while a bit of a gamble (even 5th best Isleys still slams), it was an RKS lacquer and pressed at QRP so understandable how it's also maintained value on the secondary market. Doing the 5th best at GZ at the current price is a problem, especially if it's in Essentials (or Essentials *and* Classics for a recent artist).
 
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