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

I was just scared I had no identity without vmp

I just am not great with curation and figuring out what new is coming out so I depend on new exclusives and pitchfork buzz to see what stuff if actually good
If you like VMP's curation, you can follow along with what they release for free and then buy it elsewhere. Bandcamp, Bullmoose, your local... It's extremely rare that they have any TRUE exclusives now. I started buying "exclusives" through other avenues like those listed and every single time I have gotten my album way before VMP sent theirs out and I paid less.
 
Well, after five and a half years, this is the move that is finally going to get me to cancel.

So I've made it a bit of a point not to do too much piling on of a lot of things with VMP because...honestly, I've not had many issues with what they have sent me at all. I've never once had a record show up with an unplayable warp. I did go through 4 copies of "Set Yourself On Fire" before getting a clean copy, but they were dealt with pretty promptly each time. I received some store credit for a couple of dinged covers on stuff that was sold out (Durand Jones and something else I can't recall at the moment...). Not anything even close to the more egregious stuff that I have seen from many of you lovely folks.

When they shut the old forum down, I tried not to hurl negatives around. Clearly those points were already being stated, and I was much more impressed with how N&G came together so quickly. It made me realize that I value this community and the people I've interacted with on it. (Some of them even in real life! What up @BjorgenFjorgen @Mather @juiceless you wonderful Weird Boys you!)

That being said, I was still very much enjoying the products I was getting from VMP. This includes some big ones from the want list, like QOTSA, Blackalicious, The Roots, El-P, The Flaming Lips, Phoenix, Outkast, and several others. It's even helped with my budding interest in jazz: Alice Coltrane, Art Blakey, Charlie Rouse, Johnny Griffin, Archie Shepp.....lots of stuff that I really love and am grateful to own in these editions.

I'm on an International month-to-month plan ($42 USD per month, which is around $55 CDN). When I started with VMP a long time ago I was doing three months at a time, but found that put more of a strain on my budget than I wanted. It is a bit pricey, certainly, but access to editions of stuff without the extra shipping costs (I know the Canadian contigent will back me up here, but shipping from US to Canada for vinyl is prohibitively expensive. For example, it was far cheaper for me to grab the VMP edition of Fetch The Bolt Cutters than from Fiona's site). Even with having a better job and making more money now, I've never wanted to do anything other than month-to-month, as I now have a bigger car payment, other bills, etc.

It was either going to take a massive dip in what I was getting from VMP, or an unreasonable price hike. $52 per month (approx. $75 CDN) is that unreasonable price hike. I've got several awesome local record stores that I would rather support even more at that price, and in the shorter term it should help me get to my new turntable even quicker.
Hear Hear!!
Yep, this is it.
I expect most Canadians to look at the exchange rate and not resub
 
There is a poll posted on reddit on if people will leave or not, so far 670 people have said yes. If those 670 people cancel, and lets say they only subbed to one track, were US based, and didn't buy anything else...thats $28k per month revenue they have lost
 
Makes me somewhat thankful I went for the two accounts in my minor stretch with them and did manage to soak up a load of the swaps that were around. Have missed a number of the bangers of the past but have also managed to get a load of great releases. Honestly from the repeat and expected swaps the only ones I feel bummed about not having got yet is Coal Miner's Daughter and perhaps Koko.

Was going to bump down to one running sub after these ran out but now will in all likelihood switch to Wax Buyers Club or just leave more free for picks from the pre-orders and Jazz threads, and Discogs hunts.

Current subs finish September and October and no word of a discount on the site or by email.
 
How many of those did they press again? Can't seem to find that info.
They pressed 7,500 of the $450 box set. I will repeat it again. Someone at VMP thought they would sell THREE MILLION DOLLARS worth of Grateful Dead box sets full of albums. Whoever thought that would be a good move should be looking for a new job right about now...
 
If you like VMP's curation, you can follow along with what they release for free and then buy it elsewhere. Bandcamp, Bullmoose, your local... It's extremely rare that they have any TRUE exclusives now. I started buying "exclusives" through other avenues like those listed and every single time I have gotten my album way before VMP sent theirs out and I paid less.
the records of the month are the truly hard part for me.. i know stankonia is very soon and who knows how good that pressing will be, and what if they actually get another miracle like spiritualized or graduation or section.80 or channel orange
 
If you like VMP's curation, you can follow along with what they release for free and then buy it elsewhere. Bandcamp, Bullmoose, your local... It's extremely rare that they have any TRUE exclusives now. I started buying "exclusives" through other avenues like those listed and every single time I have gotten my album way before VMP sent theirs out and I paid less.

Yeah this is my plan. Check out what they're doing, wait for the non color reasonably priced version. I mean, I've been doing that for non rotms for a while, but I guess it's for everything now.
 
I still don’t think you can sugar coat that big a rise, people would still see the trend. They could have done it better but not even Tom Hanks could lend them enough goodwill to get over that level of price hike.
Agreed, they should have done 10-20% a year over the last couple of years linked to big releases. They will have known about a trend of increasing costs for a long time, they’ve just failed to act on it In a sensible time frame to stem the flow.
 
There is a poll posted on reddit on if people will leave or not, so far 670 people have said yes. If those 670 people cancel, and lets say they only subbed to one track, were US based, and didn't buy anything else...thats $28k per month revenue they have lost
It's only a real poll if it runs from 1AM to 6AM EST. Otherwise I don't really think the results are an accurate population of what the VMP customers want.
 
There is a poll posted on reddit on if people will leave or not, so far 670 people have said yes. If those 670 people cancel, and lets say they only subbed to one track, were US based, and didn't buy anything else...thats $28k per month revenue they have lost

The question is how many people roll with the price increase and will that make up the difference
 
statement about the discounts from a DM i had

it's depending on your renewal date; if your main sub is set to renew on Sept 1, then you'll be offered a discount. If it's set to renew later, any other discounts will be emailed to you directly

so maybe i could get a legacy discount but it wont be now...

yes i have reached the bargaining stage and expect depression to come very soon
 
Agreed, they should have done 10-20% a year over the last couple of years linked to big releases. They will have known about a trend of increasing costs for a long time, they’ve just failed to act on it In a sensible time frame to stem the flow.

I still smell a fish, unless they’re making some shocking mistakes or are criminally overpaying for licensing I just don’t see how costs are spiralling this quickly. I mean they’re charging MOFI 2LP money for what are essentially bog standard quality colour presses. It’s not exactly like they’re short of buyers, any vinyl store would give its right arm for 30,000 captive customers every month and they don’t even have the overhead of a physical shop!

If the anthology is the thing that’s fucked them and caused this then it’s comical that they gambled everything on and idea that was so clearly weak and flawed from the beginning.

Also, 10-20% is still huge. I tend to look at my sub things yearly and if noticed a 10% rise that quickly I’d be questioning what extra value id gotten for it, inflation is not that high!
 
Makes me somewhat thankful I went for the two accounts in my minor stretch with them and did manage to soak up a load of the swaps that were around. Have missed a number of the bangers of the past but have also managed to get a load of great releases. Honestly from the repeat and expected swaps the only ones I feel bummed about not having got yet is Coal Miner's Daughter and perhaps Koko.

Was going to bump down to one running sub after these ran out but now will in all likelihood switch to Wax Buyers Club or just leave more free for picks from the pre-orders and Jazz threads, and Discogs hunts.

Current subs finish September and October and no word of a discount on the site or by email.
I actually thought of you straight away Kyuuji! I was like “Thank god Kyuuji had two accounts and was making the most of the add-on subs and acquired most of what she wanted! 👏👏👏

So glad you profited and made the most of it! Wax Buyers Club is awesome! The service there is like VIP! The guy who talks with us on the forum is the person who curates the ROTM’s and he actually is the one who packages our ROTM’s and sends them to us! ♥️📦💎
 
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