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

[NathanRicaud]

Yeah I only have their pressing of Angel Olsen is because they let me swap it so it was $23, which was less than the clear one was going for in my local. I honestly don’t think they care, they have a group that are blindly loyal and sell enough of most pressings to get away with it.

Stop being so negative you!

VMP get away with it because they have such good taste when it comes to colour variants as well as curation. Plus, their sound quality (particularly their ROTM’s) for the most part is pretty great in my opinion! And they offer free international shipping if you are a member, which is amazing too!

I love VMP even though they are a very messy company. They are very inconsistent, but come through with great products in my opinion. And their customer service is

There’s a reason why VMP are the biggest vinyl subscription company

 

[Joe Mac]

Stop being so negative you!

VMP get away with it because they have such good taste when it comes to colour variants as well as curation. Plus, their sound quality (particularly their ROTM’s) for the most part is pretty great in my opinion! And they offer free international shipping if you are a member, which is amazing too!

I love VMP even though they are a very messy company. They are very inconsistent, but come through with great products in my opinion. And their customer service is

There’s a reason why VMP are the biggest vinyl subscription company

I’m trying to come up with a reasoned argument back but I just can’t because I see the messiness of the company as affecting all the things you say are great and that it is leading to a diminished product. Whilst they can get it dead right (songs for the deaf is impressive) it feels like their ratio is well down and I rate their curation less and less as time goes on too.

All I can say really is I’m glad it brings you joy.

 

[NathanRicaud]

I’m trying to come up with a reasoned argument back but I just can’t because I see the messiness of the company as affecting all the things you say are great and that it is leading to a diminished product. Whilst they can get it dead right (songs for the deaf is impressive) it feels like their ratio is well down and I rate their curation less and less as time goes on too.

All I can say really is I’m glad it brings you joy.

Their ratio for delivering a high quality product (including their pressings having no sound defects or major warps) has gone down. I highly agree with that. But I feel like this is happening everywhere, whether it’s Blue Note or Urban Outfitters even to when I was with Secretly Store. Apart from MoFi pressings and the Blue Note Tone Poet pressings and the Classics ROTM track, everything can be a bit of hit and miss (in my experience).

I feel like their curation, particularly in the R&HH ROTM track, has also gone down-hill since the second half of this year unfortunately.

I do very much agree with you, because the messiness of the club really does affect the quality of the overall vinyl. But I guess I just don’t mind taking chances, as I really like their coloured variants, prices and customer service and overall quality!

 

[Joe Mac]

Their ratio for delivering a high quality product (including their pressings having no sound defects or major warps) has gone down. I highly agree with that. But I feel like this is happening everywhere, whether it’s Blue Note or Urban Outfitters even to when I was with Secretly Store. Apart from MoFi pressings and the Blue Note Tone Poet pressings and the Classics ROTM track, everything can be a bit of hit and miss (in my experience).

I feel like their curation, particularly in the R&HH ROTM track, has also gone down-hill since the second half of this year unfortunately.

I do very much agree with you, because the messiness of the club really does affect the quality of the overall vinyl. But I guess I just don’t mind taking chances, as I really like their coloured variants, prices and customer service and overall quality!

see this is where I really disagree with you. I’ve only ever had 3 other records warped from all other online retailers combined and, this is impressive because I buy 75% in store, 2 records warped from store bought. That said I wouldn’t touch a trash retailer like uo either unless I really had to.

I also don’t agree with you on price. They charge premium prices for a product that isn’t always premium. Very few of their pressings have had the attention to detail that their price points suggest. Even the lauding of what they have been dragged kicking and screaming into doing for classics can be done cheaply, look at the rhino van Morrison and Joni Mitchell reissues or last months Ruen Bros AoTM, all at the €20 or less bracket and the same, or a higher level of quality.

 

[Murfocakes]

Their ratio for delivering a high quality product (including their pressings having no sound defects or major warps) has gone down. I highly agree with that. But I feel like this is happening everywhere, whether it’s Blue Note or Urban Outfitters even to when I was with Secretly Store. Apart from MoFi pressings and the Blue Note Tone Poet pressings and the Classics ROTM track, everything can be a bit of hit and miss (in my experience).

I feel like their curation, particularly in the R&HH ROTM track, has also gone down-hill since the second half of this year unfortunately.

I do very much agree with you, because the messiness of the club really does affect the quality of the overall vinyl. But I guess I just don’t mind taking chances, as I really like their coloured variants, prices and customer service and overall quality!

A 99.9% positive review. That 0.1% hints at the great disillusionment to come with the inevitable Fiona shitshow

 

[Skalap]

I don't see them as curators, they simply have the chance to work with some of the best majors and indie labels out there. IMO the best "exclusives" they put out are just color variants of Now Again, Tidal Waves Music, Mr Bongo, Blue Note, Motown, Colemine, Verve, Prestige, Fania more recently, etc... records You can't really go wrong with these labels. The rest is tons of Indie-everything (rock, pop, hip-hop, country) and sough after contemporary records (90's to today). The only difference is the price, higher, the quality, poorer, and the availability, sometimes maybe.

 

[goodoohuru]

The niche spot in the market VMP were once in, of selling vinyl as an art form and deeper experience probably doesn't pay the bills that well anymore, so now that niche is just a front for your standard online vinyl retailer. The problem is, most of us have been part of the journey since the beginning and we can see right through it, that's probably why they tried to get rid of us (old forum). It would be a unique situation for any growing business, i.e. having a bunch of people peeping through the windows as you do your thing.

Now they're trying to compete in a market that is already saturated by bigger, better and more experienced outfits and at the wrong end of the vinyl boom.

 

[Gavaxeman]

Managed to get back on website with new passwords etc but it’s a bit all over the shop ..didn’t see any new exclusives

 

[NathanRicaud]

Fingers crossed everything turns out magically smooth tomorrow when Grimes & Moses Sumney drop! I hope there isn’t further delays

 

[wynn72]

Fingers crossed everything turns out magically smooth tomorrow when Grimes & Moses Sumney drop! I hope there isn’t further delays

My membership still isnt showing up so Im not too optimistic. Looks like migration hit yet another snag.

 

[NathanRicaud]

I know the VMP new website hasn’t officially launched yet, but I hope everything gets transferred to our orders correctly! I’m missing The Rolling Stones and Ann Arbor Blues exclusives (yeah, I purchased the Ann Arbor bundle super quickly, before it got taken down) in my order! Also. I don’t see Ella Fitzgerald’s Christmas’ album in my orders too, unless that went with my November box (which I’m still waiting for to arrive).

I love drama, but I just hope there isn’t too much drama with any of my orders lol

Also, just remembered that Black Friday is next Friday!

 

[NathanRicaud]

My membership still isnt showing up so Im not too optimistic. Looks like migration hit yet another snag.

Yeah, my membership isn’t showing up either! My orders show up, but it doesn’t really make sense, especially as my past VMP boxes are not grouped accordingly. Like, I’ll just have Method Man’s Tical show up in my orders after TLC, when I had Tical in my VMP box like 3-4 months ago lol

 

[displayname]

The niche spot in the market VMP were once in, of selling vinyl as an art form and deeper experience probably doesn't pay the bills that well anymore

I think it pays the bills just fine. The issue is they are venture backed, so each month that bottom line number is expected to get bigger. At this point it’s not about paying bills, it’s about lining investors pockets. That’s all fine in the business world, but it’s a bummer for customers who are just numbers on a spreadsheet. Especially in an internet based business like VMP. You can tell some of the staff do want to try to form real bonds with customers, but management wants quiet numbers that can be easily tracked at the highest margin possible.

Fingers crossed everything turns out magically smooth tomorrow when Grimes & Moses Sumney drop! I hope there isn’t further delays

Given that we’re less than 4 business hours out from a normal drop time, I wouldn’t hold your breath.
#DelayMePlease continues.

I’ve lost all hope for a Friday drop. And with this many push backs, I’m loosing interest in following up. Honestly I’m more worried about a December swap than a store drop at this point.

 

[NathanRicaud]

I’ve lost all hope for a Friday drop.

Kate Bush understands our pain and sums it up for us marvellously in her opulent, indulgent single “There Goes A Tanner”

• “My excitement, turns into fright”
• “The sense of adventure, is turning to danger”
• “This shop’s shut for business”
• “I’m having dreams about things not going right”
• “We’re waiting, we’re waiting, we’re waiting”

 

[Selaws]

Sorry to detract away from the new store set-up, but I properly listened to the Etta Jones exclusive last night and read the liner notes etc.

The record sounds great, but why on earth did they edit the cover so much? The original pressing has a clear shot of Etta with a subtle peach hue over the photo. The VMP one has a overly darkened and saturated shot of her with the really strong pink hue. This isnt the first time they have done this (Blossom Dearie springs to mind) and it in no way adds to the aesthetic. I just dont get why they would go to all that trouble to make something worse?

They also edited out the photographers signature on the cover, which is properly disrespectful IMO, especially when celebrating the labels anniversary.

Even the DOL pressing from a few years ago used the original image. I know theres the argument that the OJC 2014 pressings used a different colour with darkened image, but even they kept the signature.

 

[Teeeee]

Stop being so negative you!

VMP get away with it because they have such good taste when it comes to colour variants as well as curation. Plus, their sound quality (particularly their ROTM’s) for the most part is pretty great in my opinion! And they offer free international shipping if you are a member, which is amazing too!

I love VMP even though they are a very messy company. They are very inconsistent, but come through with great products in my opinion. And their customer service is

There’s a reason why VMP are the biggest vinyl subscription company

Wow, they really have you drinking the Kool-Aid, Nathan. Tis ok, we'll still welcome you when you recognize their ways.

 

[Joe Mac]

I don't see them as curators, they simply have the chance to work with some of the best majors and indie labels out there. IMO the best "exclusives" they put out are just color variants of Now Again, Tidal Waves Music, Mr Bongo, Blue Note, Motown, Colemine, Verve, Prestige, Fania more recently, etc... records You can't really go wrong with these labels. The rest is tons of Indie-everything (rock, pop, hip-hop, country) and sough after contemporary records (90's to today). The only difference is the price, higher, the quality, poorer, and the availability, sometimes maybe.

I kind of both agree and disagree with you here. Partly because the likes of Now Again, Blue Note and Fania are the releases I’m least enthusiastic about and partly because I think that they often lazily rely on relationships with those labels and push sub par albums from them as curation rather than actually digging deep into those genres for themselves. I also think it’s possible to curate very well from indie and 90s/00s alt artists, I love a lot of that music, I just think they’re very bad at it and have a very narrow focus into particular places and times.

 

[Crabbers]

I kind of both agree and disagree with you here. Partly because the likes of Now Again, Blue Note and Fania are the releases I’m least enthusiastic about and partly because I think that they often lazily rely on relationships with those labels and push sub par albums from them as curation rather than actually digging deep into those genres for themselves. I also think it’s possible to curate very well from indie and 90s/00s alt artists, I love a lot of that music, I just think they’re very bad at it and have a very narrow focus into particular places and times.

But what about more Willie Nelson so that storf can complete his collection?

 

[Skalap]

I kind of both agree and disagree with you here. Partly because the likes of Now Again, Blue Note and Fania are the releases I’m least enthusiastic about and partly because I think that they often lazily rely on relationships with those labels and push sub par albums from them as curation rather than actually digging deep into those genres for themselves. I also think it’s possible to curate very well from indie and 90s/00s alt artists, I love a lot of that music, I just think they’re very bad at it and have a very narrow focus into particular places and times.

I don't like when you both agree and disagree with me. Though, I agree with the first part but disagree with the second. They did a good job on Australian music at least (Middle Kids, Montero, Gang of Youths, Julia Jacklin).

 

[MikeH]

I kind of both agree and disagree with you here. Partly because the likes of Now Again, Blue Note and Fania are the releases I’m least enthusiastic about and partly because I think that they often lazily rely on relationships with those labels and push sub par albums from them as curation rather than actually digging deep into those genres for themselves. I also think it’s possible to curate very well from indie and 90s/00s alt artists, I love a lot of that music, I just think they’re very bad at it and have a very narrow focus into particular places and times.

At least with Blue Note they have chosen mostly albums that haven’t been repressed in awhile and are expensive to find in good condition and aren’t as common of represses. The Blue Notes are some of my favorite albums they have pressed and Art Blakey is the only reason why I re-signed up. Outside of the classics track, VMP has been really poor in curation lately IMO. A lot does seem to me now to be labels sending albums to VMP to press instead of VMP seeking things out.