Vinyl Me Please Essentials

HuddieLedbetter said:
I'm not sure on Stankonia, but my condolences on the jobs lost across your friends and in the industry. It's stressful to watch and go through both personally and generally.

As for VMP: While I've no direct knowledge, my guess is that the pricing changes, etc. do reflect risk in their model. Their churn has to have increased across the percentage of people that experienced job insecurity, or just aren't happy with the service, and that has to have combined with lower new sign-ups as it is a non-essential good (well, for the folks outside this forum...). Depending on their board meeting schedule/ cycle they've had pressure to provide an answer on costs, yield per customers, efficiency, and importantly some level of net recurring revenue relative to (or in excess) of their churn. Their costs have risen with mastering, pressing. They also clearly have a mountain of operational inefficiency and costs. They needed to present a plan in this last meeting (or just prior to the next) because execs like to be seen as people that take action, have confidence in their decisions -- and hey, if you are right, why haven't you out it into implementation? (and that's a lot better than explaining that you've been actually managing the business poorly) -- which explains the sudden poor rollout of the announcements and changes.

They are in trouble or at least underperforming the key metrics their investors care about...

Will they stay in business? Subscription calendars can be powerful and give you time to recover.

Will it be valuable for the subscriber? It would take a lot of courage and management strength to drive quality as a strategy vs tricks on margins. (You can determine if the leadership has shown that courage) Also, fixing fundamental problems often has to do with culture, management -- real change can take time.

Flip side: The valuable exits for this business are largely dependent on acquisition -- which is tough and narrow for their investors because the range of potential buyers is really small. That's tough because investors aren't super excited about carry costs, but also provides some protection as long as they can get the metrics in line -- no one likes to believe that they be thrown away (or gotten wrong) a call and the tendency is to push the business to find a path. The original founders get heavily diluted, maybe replaced, but the business sticks around for a while.

I expire in May. Id have to see a lot of change and improvement in the service, the economy, etc to renew -- but I would like to renew. I love the idea and moments of the execution have been great -- they scream for a need of stronger management fundamentals and a stronger view of accountability, pride in excellence, and integrity in the leadership -- which seems to be squandering great promise.

Wow. That was long.
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Long, but good.
 
Urbs_hott said:
Sound stage is way better and the VMP just sounds muffled in comparison. Not that it’s terrible, and it’s probably good enough for most casual fans, but when you compare the two the difference is significant.
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this was my review of the VMP press (I’m really proud of this one haha):

Ericj32 said:
It sounds like it's coming through the speakers they'd have in the restroom of a restaurant.
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to get me back on essentials for stankonia they need to do at least one of 3 things

1. have a good pressing
2. have a badass color
3. a brand new cover
 
duke86fan said:
to get me back on essentials for stankonia they need to do at least one of 3 things

1. have a good pressing
2. have a badass color
3. a brand new cover
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Really, #1 should be compulsory. If you don't have #1 then would 2/3 really matter?

The mock-up will have a badass color, at least.
 
gaporter said:
The cover of Stankonia is amazing tho
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If they were to change the cover, I would rather see a new colorscape on the same image (kind of like they did w/ MMJ's Z - however one may feel about that change). That alternate Stankonia cover that was posted, IMO, isn't a great cover and maybe only stands as a novelty/relic of the history of the album's release.

I think maybe putting some bold colors in the flag might look cool - like some neon, poppin' aesthetic.

Edit: Also, I don't think they've changed many covers (MMJ, Fiona, maybe a silver foil treatment here or there - sure I'm missing some) but that is, by and large, the exception and not the rule; I think it is hard with a classic album where the image so embodies the feelings of the music for people.
 
Lord Diaper Baby said:
If they were to change the cover, I would rather see a new colorscape on the same image (kind of like they did w/ MMJ's Z - however one may feel about that change). That alternate Stankonia cover that was posted, IMO, isn't a great cover and maybe only stands as a novelty/relic of the history of the album's release.

I think maybe putting some bold colors in the flag might look cool - like some neon, poppin' aesthetic.
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I think they could change it, but to me the cover (and most other Outkast album covers tbh) is so iconic that it just would feel wrong to me. I think album covers are important and especially when it comes to vinyl, since a big advantage of the medium is getting a sizable and detailed print of the album cover. If you pick an album with a cover as iconic as Stankonia only to change it, I just feel like it's pointless and a downgrade. I felt the same with Cosmogramma - the album art for that one is very iconic and the alternate VMP art just looked messy in comparison. (I know that was apparently a FlyLo approved design but I still prefer the original)
 
gaporter said:
I think they could change it, but to me the cover (and most other Outkast album covers tbh) is so iconic that it just would feel wrong to me. I think album covers are important and especially when it comes to vinyl, since a big advantage of the medium is getting a sizable and detailed print of the album cover. If you pick an album with a cover as iconic as Stankonia only to change it, I just feel like it's pointless and a downgrade. I felt the same with Cosmogramma - the album art for that one is very iconic and the alternate VMP art just looked messy in comparison. (I know that was apparently a FlyLo approved design but I still prefer the original)
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at the very least they could do something cool like a gatefold with that badass looking booklet art that was shown a bit ago
 
sahomerrocks said:
Mandelbrot! I took a course in college called Fractals, Chaos, and Visualization and we would just sit there and make shit like this.

View attachment 62101
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When I worked at Kinkos a couple decades ago there was a dude who would pay 2 bucks each to make stuff like that on the self serve Color copiers . We just thought he was a stoner with lots of money but maybe it was for a similar class.
 
NathanRicaud said:
I just got a shipping notice for Buena Vista Social Club as well! 🙌🕺

As I’m in Australia, I’m likely to receive it in September or October. Can’t wait to spin it, especially as the weather will be a bit warmer here by the time it arrives! 🌻🌝
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I just got shipping notices too, Nath but not for BVSC or Bar-Kays. They're still in Pending.

Got separate emails for each Fiona and Sports Team though, so hopefully, they all arrive together.

Also, I did notice that my last shipment arrived about a week after you were spinning White Stripes and I think they were shipped around the same time which was pretty "blergh" since we live in the same city.
 
Lacubrious said:
I just got shipping notices too, Nath but not for BVSC or Bar-Kays. They're still in Pending.

Got separate emails for each Fiona and Sports Team though, so hopefully, they all arrive together.

Also, I did notice that my last shipment arrived about a week after you were spinning White Stripes and I think they were shipped around the same time which was pretty "blergh" since we live in the same city.
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I haven’t gotten a shipping for any of my Fiona Apple orders (When The Pawn & Fetch The Bolt Cutters) yet, so it must be super random with the way the warehouse are fulfilling all these VMP orders!

I got a shipping notice yesterday for four albums that are all in the same box (Big Bill Broonzy, Yaeji, Jockstrap and Rexx Life Raj). I also got a separate shipping notice for Tyner McCoy yesterday and today, a shipping notice for Buena Vista Social Club!

Nothing yet for The Bar-Kays, Lord Finesse and a lot of other “in-stock” records. Happy to wait though!

Also, it is really random with the arrival of shipments. They’ve been taking a long time as of late to arrive to me (all shipments).
 
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