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

[Nee Lewman]

i'm out of the loop all things VMP i just now discovered they quit doing their records of the month (tracks) format.from the brief research i've done it's more of curation service now.do ya think this will actually work out well for them?

Hasn’t for anyone else to date.

 

[walkingdogs]

It blows my mind that those of us in the know concerning the business that VMP has become gives them a single penny of their money anymore.

 

[December_boy]

It blows my mind that those of us in the know concerning the business that VMP has become gives them a single penny of their money anymore.

What does this mean? “…in the know...”?

 

[walkingdogs]

What does this mean? “…in the know...”?

Knowing that they suck as a business now and are most likely on life support with a litany of problems.

 

[bdm105]

Knowing that they suck as a business now and are most likely on life support with a litany of problems.

They're still shipping albeit slowly and are functioning. I'm using my credit card and proceeding with caution but proceeding

 

[Nee Lewman]

They're still shipping albeit slowly and are functioning. I'm using my credit card and proceeding with caution but proceeding

I think a bigger concern than their shipping at this point is inexplicable delays, all items going to a preorder state, a TWO MONTH gap in new ROTM/flagship whatever they want to call it now and a shift to a business model that has not been successful to scale and/or plagued by grifters in the past.

 

[tvham]

I still have like $130 in combined membership and store credit but don't plan on signing up until they have two things I want then I can cancel right after.

 

[Nee Lewman]

I still have like $130 in combined membership and store credit but don't plan on signing up until they have two things I want then I can cancel right after.

Is there a difference between membership and store credit anymore?

 

[tvham]

Is there a difference between membership and store credit anymore?

 

[bdm105]

I think a bigger concern than their shipping at this point is inexplicable delays, all items going to a preorder state, a TWO MONTH gap in new ROTM/flagship whatever they want to call it now and a shift to a business model that has not been successful to scale and/or plagued by grifters in the past.

At the same time i have still gotten my monthly box every month without fail. But yeah it's worth keeping an eye on and use a credit card

 

[Nee Lewman]

At the same time i have still gotten my monthly box every month without fail. But yeah it's worth keeping an eye on and use a credit card

I mean that model starts shipping this month. What could possibly go wrong with VMP completely changing their business model and shipping everyone either a record they swapped for or a random monthly selection?

 

[bdm105]

I mean that model starts shipping this month. What could possibly go wrong with VMP completely changing their business model and shipping everyone either a record they swapped for or a random monthly selection?

In an ideal world they'll start their own distribution. It would help them a lot

 

[Nee Lewman]

In an ideal world they'll start their own distribution. It would help them a lot

This was the very first thing they thought was too hard, long before they really had scale issues.

 

[jfitzy]

Been out of the loop with VMP for a while. Holy shit things have really fallen apart. No monthly ROTM? What’s the point of being a member?

A discount in the store and “free shipping”?

Makes me sad. I subbed to VMP around the same time I started collecting (late 2019) and was introduced to a ton of great records through them. I hope they can turn things around, but things look dire indeed.

 

[MikeH]

That was one of the fun things about the club in the beginning, stuff was relatively cheap and would go on sale if it hung around. It allowed me to take more chances which in turn allowed them to be able to be more adventurous. Now, I have to know it’s a record I love, that is either impossible to get anywhere else or that the quality is so high that I am getting the best pressing available. If that criteria doesn’t apply, then I can find something more worthwhile to spend that money on.

You also knew you could resell for at least what you paid for it. Those days are long over.

 

[MikeH]

Been out of the loop with VMP for a while. Holy shit things have really fallen apart. No monthly ROTM? What’s the point of being a member?

A discount in the store and “free shipping”?

Makes me sad. I subbed to VMP around the same time I started collecting (late 2019) and was introduced to a ton of great records through them. I hope they can turn things around, but things look dire indeed.

I think they are going back to much smaller runs of things and we’ll start to see more sell outs. Broadcast is sold out apparently.

The benefit of being a member I guess is 15% off non-member price plus free shipping. It’s more that they have made it even more prohibitively expensive to buy something without a membership. You’re looking at $60+ with shipping for a non-member price.

That’s my issue. I’m kinda curious about the Abdul Malik and Teo albums but not $45 plus shipping curious. If they were in a shop in the uk I’d walk straight past without an issue.

The only things I’m remotely interested in are the broadcasts… which I already have on CD anyway

That Abdul-Malik is one of the best things VMP has done in a long time. The kind of release I used to get really excited about for VMP. Expensive OG, hard to find, lesser known album/discovery for a lot of people, and the quality is excellent. Teo is fine but not worth the price. I know you probably pay much more for being in the UK though

 

[ntaos]

I think they are going back to much smaller runs of things and we’ll start to see more sell outs. Broadcast is sold out apparently.

The benefit of being a member I guess is 15% off non-member price plus free shipping. It’s more that they have made it even more prohibitively expensive to buy something without a membership. You’re looking at $60+ with shipping for a non-member price.



That Abdul-Malik is one of the best things VMP has done in a long time. The kind of release I used to get really excited about for VMP. Expensive OG, hard to find, lesser known album/discovery for a lot of people, and the quality is excellent. Teo is fine but not worth the price. I know you probably pay much more for being in the UK though

Looks like the Budos Band will be 1k. That’s even less than the Max Roach. So yeah good call

 

[MikeH]

Looks like the Budos Band will be 1k. That’s even less than the Max Roach. So yeah good call

I think if they make enough money from it, 1k is the sweet spot where if its a decent selection, they’ll sell out pretty regularly or not have many sitting on a shelf in a warehouse taking up space. The issue is gonna be what happened with Anohni—does an artist wanna license a good title for only 1k-2k copies?

 

[ntaos]

I think if they make enough money from it, 1k is the sweet spot where if its a decent selection, they’ll sell out pretty regularly or not have many sitting on a shelf in a warehouse taking up space. The issue is gonna be what happened with Anohni—does an artist wanna license a good title for only 1k-2k copies?

Totally. I feel like it could work for classics and maybe some hip hop. Both have to be semi-obscure or niche I’d think. It’ll be interesting to see how Essentials does in a more niche model (re: Pop Negro). Or if they have to do a few variants in that track. Hopefully getting out of the month churn helps avoid that latter route.

 

[MikeH]

Totally. I feel like it could work for classics and maybe some hip hop. Both have to be semi-obscure or niche I’d think. It’ll be interesting to see how Essentials does in a more niche model (re: Pop Negro). Or if they have to do a few variants in that track. Hopefully getting out of the month churn helps avoid that latter route.

The biggest fuck up IMO during the Cam years was overpressing and doing constant 40% off sales. Made nobody want to ever pay full price for a release and tanked the whole VMP aftersale market. If you can get a VMP record for $20-25 on discogs or in a sale, why pay $40+? So then they are stuck with overpressing but people swapping for credit to hopefully get those records cheaper later.