had I not cancelled just this morning, I would have definitely dropped Essentials made Classics my main and probably would have used those credits for Outkast. in hindsight maybe I should have done that, but whatever, I really don't care that much. I was pretty certain Outkast was coming, and while it's a good album, Outkast is simply a group I never really got into so I figured I would just remain blissfully ignorant about Outkast rather than having to buy their entire discography eventually.
that said, if I can come across one on the PIF thread I would claim it but not even sure how likely that will be since it will need to be in pretty bad shape for it to need to be replaced.
I think I might just join with the lady's old account, since it can still do the one month with it, and grab that Outkast. I'm not a massive over the top fan of theirs, to be honest. I mean, I respect them, but I don't listen to the entire discography that much. I picked up what I did in the past because I either traded something cheap for brand new copies (ATLiens and Aquemini) or paid $8 a piece for new copies (Stankonia and Speakerbox/The Love Below). In the end, I'm an ATLiens fan. I like "Elevators." I like the early shit. Unfortunately, Southernplayalistic falls into that category and the only reason that I don't own it already, is because it was missing the tracks that they are replacing.
So... probably gonna scoop that up right quick with her acount, and not renew with my own account which is ending this month, for obvious reasons. Maybe, we'll wind up swapping a side sub for the Veedon Fleece on the way out the door, too, only because she's a big Van Morrison fan and she never speaks up or asks for anything vinyl-wise, as I continue to buy record consistently. Honestly, the only reason that I was still checking in with VMP over the 7 months that I'd canceled my membership is because she loves Fiona Apple so goddam much and I was trying not to miss that being dropped. NOW WHAT BE A GOOD TIME TO FINALLY RELEASE IT.
These upcoming Bongo releases are cool -- that Skull Snaps looks real slick -- but not only do I not want to give them the money for them, but I genuinely don't fucking trust them. I can almost see the warp when I look at the mock ups. Actually, that would be hilarious if they just released the mock ups with the dented sleeves and defects already in them. I'm cool with the black vinyl.
This is really what they never figured out how to monetize, outside of AOTM selections and a few exclusives. Otherwise, seeing the list of curated items, or listening to the Spotify playlists, none of that forced someone to pay VMP as a music discovery service. For someone like me, they were really good for that when they had a manageable store of ~25 items that I could peruse to learn about new stuff. But they were only making money off that when people purchased those items from them. Otherwise, they were just giving away their curation/discovery. And the real value, for me, was in telling me those albums existed in the first place. Other people might be more plugged in and not have found that to be very valuable, but I’d venture to guess most of us found at least one thing that caught our interest either through the VMP store or through On Rotation.
TBH if they rebranded The Standard and made it a subscription-based weekly curation newsletter (and not just some astrology jokes bookended with ads for store exclusives), I’d be tempted.
Your points are dead on. Unfortunately, their formula at this point is kind of lazy: Just press variants of Mr Bongo and Now Again titles. Put out some old Staxx shit. Curation-wise, you can pretty much just see what's up with those labels and dig into the Blue Note catalog on your own. We even have a thread dedicated to them and another for jazz in general, so we have each others brains to pick. If you go back and read the interview about EU, you'll notice that Cam mentions contacting Egon from Now Again about the release, as if it was his idea. He also states that, when he did that, Egon told him that they were already in the works of speaking with the label owner to do some Juju reissues. What that means is that,
@The_Stoned_Ape ape is not only responsible for that EU album, but likely for VMP doing the Juju reissues by proximity. That also means that VMP probably got a lot of points with Egon, because of
@The_Stoned_Ape, since it looked like Cam's idea and as if he was on point in that regard, as far as curation. VMP was given the early exclusive, because of that and it could have only strengthened that connection. The positive view on all of this is that, since it was a forum member that REALLY did that curation, they are still here. We're all still here. Even the curation wasn't all them.
Oh, and if you want to find a bunch of weird shit to look into, go follow Egon on instagram. I use that saving feature to add music to an album on there. I have a number of accounts that I began to trust and, if those people recommend something, I just add it. I've gone back later and discovered a number of things that I've played on my radio show because of that method
