Bandbox: an uncompensated review of an interesting new club

seeirwin

Member
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May 16, 2019
Messages
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Location
Orange County, CA
Hello all. I tried a month of a new (I think?) record club called bandbox. I have no affiliation with this company. There's no promo code I'm going to give for you to sign up. I'm putting this here because I think some of you might be interested. The website is bandboxrocks.com if you want to check it out.

The gimmick: every month you get 2 records from the same band; one record is going to be an album that is well-known, and the other one might be an overlooked classic. In addition to the records, the box contains two zines: one is about the band, and the other one is a more targeted track-by-track listening guide for one of the records. The cost is $49/month.

Here's my experience with

The signup and packaging: I signed up and it was pretty hassle free. I didn't any spam from them (like I did with VNYL when I tried that). When the box shipped, I got a notification with tracking. The box arrived in a nice high-quality record mailer.



What's in the box? I had no idea which band would be featured, and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it to find that Weezer was the August Bandbox featured artist. The two albums were Weezer's self-titled debut (the blue album) and Everything Will Be Alright In The End. The zines both looked great and were printed on nice glossy paper. One of them has an interview with Jason Cropper (original Weezer guitarist and co-author of My Name Is Jonas) and some other interesting articles (e.g. a ranking of all of Weezer's albums (the Black Album came in dead-last)), and an attempt to make the case the EWBAITE should have the same revered status as Weezer's first two albums. That was a major uphill battle for me because I'm definitely one of those Weezer fans who fell off after Maladroit. The other zine is a listening guide for the Blue Album.

The records themselves: I believe the blue album is this version (Weezer - Weezer) which was pressed at RTI. EWBAITE also appears to have been pressed at RTI (based on the runout code format), although I'm not sure I can find the sepcific version on discogs. Both records are flat and play with no issues.

Overall impression: Bandbox is obviously trying very hard to put out a product that feels intentional, polished, and educational. I think they were very successful in that regard. My guess is that these records could be had for about $30, so the question is whether it's worth $19 for the additional content. If you are interested in a helping hand to appreciate some new music then the answer might be yes. Much to my surprise, the writing was good enough to frame EWBAITE such that I really started to come around on that record.

I think I covered it all, but let me know if you have any questions. I hope this helps some of you!
 
Hello all. I tried a month of a new (I think?) record club called bandbox. I have no affiliation with this company. There's no promo code I'm going to give for you to sign up. I'm putting this here because I think some of you might be interested. The website is bandboxrocks.com if you want to check it out.

The gimmick: every month you get 2 records from the same band; one record is going to be an album that is well-known, and the other one might be an overlooked classic. In addition to the records, the box contains two zines: one is about the band, and the other one is a more targeted track-by-track listening guide for one of the records. The cost is $49/month.

Here's my experience with

The signup and packaging: I signed up and it was pretty hassle free. I didn't any spam from them (like I did with VNYL when I tried that). When the box shipped, I got a notification with tracking. The box arrived in a nice high-quality record mailer.



What's in the box? I had no idea which band would be featured, and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it to find that Weezer was the August Bandbox featured artist. The two albums were Weezer's self-titled debut (the blue album) and Everything Will Be Alright In The End. The zines both looked great and were printed on nice glossy paper. One of them has an interview with Jason Cropper (original Weezer guitarist and co-author of My Name Is Jonas) and some other interesting articles (e.g. a ranking of all of Weezer's albums (the Black Album came in dead-last)), and an attempt to make the case the EWBAITE should have the same revered status as Weezer's first two albums. That was a major uphill battle for me because I'm definitely one of those Weezer fans who fell off after Maladroit. The other zine is a listening guide for the Blue Album.

The records themselves: I believe the blue album is this version (Weezer - Weezer) which was pressed at RTI. EWBAITE also appears to have been pressed at RTI (based on the runout code format), although I'm not sure I can find the sepcific version on discogs. Both records are flat and play with no issues.

Overall impression: Bandbox is obviously trying very hard to put out a product that feels intentional, polished, and educational. I think they were very successful in that regard. My guess is that these records could be had for about $30, so the question is whether it's worth $19 for the additional content. If you are interested in a helping hand to appreciate some new music then the answer might be yes. Much to my surprise, the writing was good enough to frame EWBAITE such that I really started to come around on that record.

I think I covered it all, but let me know if you have any questions. I hope this helps some of you!
Do you get to choose the artist? Or from a list of artists? Or do you know the artist before it ships? Cause if I got Weezer, I'd cancel immediately. Lol. But the concept seems pretty cool.
 
Do you get to choose the artist? Or from a list of artists? Or do you know the artist before it ships? Cause if I got Weezer, I'd cancel immediately. Lol. But the concept seems pretty cool.
Not as far as I'm aware. I think it's a relatively new service and that maybe this was only the 2nd installment (they had a Neil Young box), so I feel like that aspect might have to change. $50 is a big investment to have literally no idea what's coming.
 
Not as far as I'm aware. I think it's a relatively new service and that maybe this was only the 2nd installment (they had a Neil Young box), so I feel like that aspect might have to change. $50 is a big investment to have literally no idea what's coming.
It sounds like a great idea. I would just definitely want to know if I'm getting James Taylor or if I'm getting Bikini Kill. One of those would be great, one would not be great.
 
I like the idea but not a whole lot of info on the website. Wish they had a list of previous picks just to get a sense of what it's like. From what I can tell, it was Weezer and Neil Young so far, both fine picks. Dunno about that price though. I'm tempted to give it a try, might just keep an eye on them for now.
 
I like the idea but not a whole lot of info on the website. Wish they had a list of previous picks just to get a sense of what it's like. From what I can tell, it was Weezer and Neil Young so far, both fine picks. Dunno about that price though. I'm tempted to give it a try, might just keep an eye on them for now.
As of a few weeks ago, there were some 50% off codes floating around, and someone on reddit posted about a 100% off code that he used. You might dig around a bit and be able to find a bargain.
 
The Discogs integration so you never get an album you already own and ability to pause anytime sounds pretty sweet.
I just dont see how this could work given how the content is woven into the magazines. I for instance would have had one album from each of their two picks.
Edit: so from the neil yoing tweets they are sharing everybody got rust never sleeps, but the second album varies. ( i coul spot silver and gold, hawks and doves and hitchhiker in the unboxing pics)
 
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This seems interesting. Not ready to move on $50/month, but I might in the future as they build it up more. These details make it more appealing for sure:

Discogs integration (never get an album you already own)

Free exchanges for any title in our catalog
 
maybe when i get a job or my 65K comes to me

but i'll wait a few months

also maybe if they removed some of the unessential stuff like the turntable mat..
 
Lol I got a Facebook ad for them since I was on their website. Next one looks like it’s Ride’s Going Blank Again + the new Ride album.
the question is which one will be the obscure lesser known album that is given to everyone and which is just the one thats from what i know kinda randomly chosen
 
the question is which one will be the obscure lesser known album that is given to everyone and which is just the one thats from what i know kinda randomly chosen

The box I got was specifically built around the two albums I got. References to both throughout the zines that come with the box.
 
The box I got was specifically built around the two albums I got. References to both throughout the zines that come with the box.
But apparently some prime for Neil young got a different album than the one shown off (like hitchhiker or the one with the gameboy camera cover)
 
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Hi everyone! This is Bandbox founder Alex Rice. Thanks for the thorough review, OP! I'm glad that you dug EWBAITE, because musical discovery is my favorite aspect of doing this. I happened upon this forum and thread in a Google search and wanted to answer a few things people discussed here.

First off, you can get your first month for 50% off with the code FIDDY if you want to give us a try! Just enter that at checkout at www.bandboxrocks.com.

We've done Neil Young and Weezer so far, and yep, the Ride box just shipped yesterday! For the first two months, everyone received one universal album (Rust Never Sleeps and The Blue Album, respectively - this is the album you get a listening guide for) and one that randomly varied (Neil - After the Gold Rush, Zuma, Comes a Time, Harvest Moon, Silver & Gold, Hitchhiker; Weezer - Make Believe, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, The White Album). This month, everyone got the same two Ride albums. In the future, it will probably be a combination of those two - sometimes everyone will get the same two, sometimes one or both albums will vary.

The way the Discogs integration works - you message us there at bandboxvinyl so we can see your collection, and if you have one of the albums we've ordered, you don't get it! That even goes for the universal album, as last month we had four subscribers who already owned Blue, so they received two of the other three possible records. If you get an album you don't want, you can exchange it for free for any record we have in stock (right now, that's most of the albums we've shipped in the first two months).

You're not going in completely blind, as we post hints about the upcoming artist on our Facebook page. For both Weezer and Ride, people eventually were able to figure out the identity of the next month's artist. We've had some subscribers tell us they like the idea of each shipment being a complete mystery, though, so if you ignore those comment sections you can keep it a surprise.

Somebody mentioned the slipmat. There's a free bonus item in each box, and that was our first one. Last month, it was a Hey Marseilles album and this month it's a Ride poster. Also, one lucky subscriber received two free tickets to see Ride this fall in their September box! We'll probably do more giveaways like that in the future.

James Taylor is okay, but no chance of him ever being in a Bandbox. Although he was mentioned in the Neil Young magazine as part of our feature on Shakey's frequent collaborators.
 
Hi everyone! This is Bandbox founder Alex Rice. Thanks for the thorough review, OP! I'm glad that you dug EWBAITE, because musical discovery is my favorite aspect of doing this. I happened upon this forum and thread in a Google search and wanted to answer a few things people discussed here.

First off, you can get your first month for 50% off with the code FIDDY if you want to give us a try! Just enter that at checkout at www.bandboxrocks.com.

We've done Neil Young and Weezer so far, and yep, the Ride box just shipped yesterday! For the first two months, everyone received one universal album (Rust Never Sleeps and The Blue Album, respectively - this is the album you get a listening guide for) and one that randomly varied (Neil - After the Gold Rush, Zuma, Comes a Time, Harvest Moon, Silver & Gold, Hitchhiker; Weezer - Make Believe, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, The White Album). This month, everyone got the same two Ride albums. In the future, it will probably be a combination of those two - sometimes everyone will get the same two, sometimes one or both albums will vary.

The way the Discogs integration works - you message us there at bandboxvinyl so we can see your collection, and if you have one of the albums we've ordered, you don't get it! That even goes for the universal album, as last month we had four subscribers who already owned Blue, so they received two of the other three possible records. If you get an album you don't want, you can exchange it for free for any record we have in stock (right now, that's most of the albums we've shipped in the first two months).

You're not going in completely blind, as we post hints about the upcoming artist on our Facebook page. For both Weezer and Ride, people eventually were able to figure out the identity of the next month's artist. We've had some subscribers tell us they like the idea of each shipment being a complete mystery, though, so if you ignore those comment sections you can keep it a surprise.

Somebody mentioned the slipmat. There's a free bonus item in each box, and that was our first one. Last month, it was a Hey Marseilles album and this month it's a Ride poster. Also, one lucky subscriber received two free tickets to see Ride this fall in their September box! We'll probably do more giveaways like that in the future.

James Taylor is okay, but no chance of him ever being in a Bandbox. Although he was mentioned in the Neil Young magazine as part of our feature on Shakey's frequent collaborators.
If I subscribe now, would I be able to get the Ride box? Or would it be for next month’s box?
 
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