Bandbox: an uncompensated review of an interesting new club

Twentytwo said:
I am sure they are doing the best they can. Supply chain is about as close to out of your control as possible. Waiting sucks but it is pretty much the new normal when it comes to vinyl. VMP obviously has their connections, but for the smaller fish in the pond it is tough sledding. I have waited over a year for multiple records in the past year or so so what is a few months for Bandbox.
Click to expand...
I waited almost a year for my Ladyhawke album before I decided to get something else instead since I was tired of waiting for it. I understand that delays are common and it seems like based on what I have seen online its pretty common with Bandbox. I have no experience with VMP as I'm not a member but it seems like they don't have as many problems getting their albums out in a timely manner. Bandbox needs to give more realistic release dates. I don't like the idea of ordering something that doesn't have a specific release date as you have no idea if its guaranteed to come out when they say it will be release. They need to get their current releases out in a timely manner before adding more exclusive releases to their site. I also decided I didn't like the album enough to wait for it and I wasn't that excited about the zine either. It doesn't seem like its worth it to become a Bandbox member. The only membership I would even considering joining even though I don't care for all of the things they have released is VMP.
 
boychik0830 said:
I waited almost a year for my Ladyhawke album before I decided to get something else instead since I was tired of waiting for it. I understand that delays are common and it seems like based on what I have seen online its pretty common with Bandbox. I have no experience with VMP as I'm not a member but it seems like they don't have as many problems getting their albums out in a timely manner. Bandbox needs to give more realistic release dates. I don't like the idea of ordering something that doesn't have a specific release date as you have no idea if its guaranteed to come out when they say it will be release. They need to get their current releases out in a timely manner before adding more exclusive releases to their site. I also decided I didn't like the album enough to wait for it and I wasn't that excited about the zine either. It doesn't seem like its worth it to become a Bandbox member. The only membership I would even considering joining even though I don't care for all of the things they have released is VMP.
Click to expand...
Yes, I think VMP has a little more weight behind them to ensure stuff goes out on time, but they also have things delayed. I think it's just the nature of the beast at this point. They had a hip hop Record of the Month, which I've never seen delayed, pushed back from December to Q2 2023. It happens, and it's hard as a consumer to pay money without knowing when you're going to get your goods.
 
boychik0830 said:
I waited almost a year for my Ladyhawke album before I decided to get something else instead since I was tired of waiting for it. I understand that delays are common and it seems like based on what I have seen online its pretty common with Bandbox. I have no experience with VMP as I'm not a member but it seems like they don't have as many problems getting their albums out in a timely manner. Bandbox needs to give more realistic release dates. I don't like the idea of ordering something that doesn't have a specific release date as you have no idea if its guaranteed to come out when they say it will be release. They need to get their current releases out in a timely manner before adding more exclusive releases to their site. I also decided I didn't like the album enough to wait for it and I wasn't that excited about the zine either. It doesn't seem like its worth it to become a Bandbox member. The only membership I would even considering joining even though I don't care for all of the things they have released is VMP.
Click to expand...
VMP has a much larger subscriber base and more purchasing power. Usually would give them more priority over bandbox at the pressing plants. VMP is pressing thousands of each ROTM. Bandbox is usually under 1K.

I get why people can get frustrated by bandbox. Im a little lenient because I paid less for a whole year of bandbox than I would for 2 months of VMP. And that’s not even including the 4 free albums
 
boychik0830 said:
I waited almost a year for my Ladyhawke album before I decided to get something else instead since I was tired of waiting for it. I understand that delays are common and it seems like based on what I have seen online its pretty common with Bandbox. I have no experience with VMP as I'm not a member but it seems like they don't have as many problems getting their albums out in a timely manner. Bandbox needs to give more realistic release dates. I don't like the idea of ordering something that doesn't have a specific release date as you have no idea if its guaranteed to come out when they say it will be release. They need to get their current releases out in a timely manner before adding more exclusive releases to their site. I also decided I didn't like the album enough to wait for it and I wasn't that excited about the zine either. It doesn't seem like its worth it to become a Bandbox member. The only membership I would even considering joining even though I don't care for all of the things they have released is VMP.
Click to expand...

The $120 a year with 4 free albums that most of us got was absolutely worth it, delays or not. Less than $10 a record for quality albums is unheard of these days. If you are paying full price for everything, then it may not be, just my two cents.
 
Twentytwo said:
The $120 a year with 4 free albums that most of us got was absolutely worth it, delays or not. Less than $10 a record for quality albums is unheard of these days. If you are paying full price for everything, then it may not be, just my two cents.
Click to expand...
to be honest, with how many promotions and coupon codes there always are, it's almost hard to pay full price. i'm not sure i have ever paid full price on anything through bandbox...
 
tvham said:
Another question - I got $39 credit for subscribing three months in a row...I wonder if I can use the code with credit?
Click to expand...
worth a shot? i believe i used a gift card along with my half off yearly sub code. but possible that they limit it to store purchases and not subs this time?
 
MikeH said:
VMP has a much larger subscriber base and more purchasing power. Usually would give them more priority over bandbox at the pressing plants. VMP is pressing thousands of each ROTM. Bandbox is usually under 1K.

I get why people can get frustrated by bandbox. Im a little lenient because I paid less for a whole year of bandbox than I would for 2 months of VMP. And that’s not even including the 4 free albums
Click to expand...
VMP doesn't have enough monthly releases i'm interested in to justify spending the money to get a subscription.
 
boychik0830 said:
VMP doesn't have enough monthly releases i'm interested in to justify spending the money to get a subscription.
Click to expand...
yep--totally fair. i go in and out of being a subscriber for VMP. not sure what kind of music you mostly listen to but they definitely have some gaps in their releases. and it's pricey. i can't bring myself to do a year long sub because they don't have enough monthly records I want to buy for a year.
 
MikeH said:
yep--totally fair. i go in and out of being a subscriber for VMP. not sure what kind of music you mostly listen to but they definitely have some gaps in their releases. and it's pricey. i can't bring myself to do a year long sub because they don't have enough monthly records I want to buy for a year.
Click to expand...
I listen to mainly female indie pop/rock artists. I can only count a handful of essential releases from this year and last year that I'd interested in owning. Very few store drops I'd care to own and if there was something I wanted I could get another variant elsewhere for significantly less. A couple of things I might have been interested in like queen, caroline rose, stevie nicks and tennis but not enough to become a vmp member. It's really expensive for what you get and most months I'd probably want to swap for something else.
 
boychik0830 said:
I listen to mainly female indie pop/rock artists. I can only count a handful of essential releases from this year and last year that I'd interested in owning. Very few store drops I'd care to own and if there was something I wanted I could get another variant elsewhere for significantly less. A couple of things I might have been interested in like queen, caroline rose, stevie nicks and tennis but not enough to become a vmp member. It's really expensive for what you get and most months I'd probably want to swap for something else.
Click to expand...
yea--there's a lack of female artists a lot of times and international bands as well. the releases you mentioned are all great though from VMP.

VMP used to have a lot more true exclusives and that's when I was a member for about 4 years in a row. they've gone down the variant route for a lot of store exclusives and skewed a lot toward Jazz in the past year or two. I haven't found nearly as many ROTMs I have wanted in the past 2-3 years.
 
MikeH said:
yea--there's a lack of female artists a lot of times and international bands as well. the releases you mentioned are all great though from VMP.

VMP used to have a lot more true exclusives and that's when I was a member for about 4 years in a row. they've gone down the variant route for a lot of store exclusives and skewed a lot toward Jazz in the past year or two. I haven't found nearly as many ROTMs I have wanted in the past 2-3 years.
Click to expand...
The last exclusive vmp had that interested me was their pressing of giving the world away by hatchie. I got the secretly membership one because it made more sense as I also wanted angel Olsens album too which meant it would be a lot cheaper to get that one.
 
boychik0830 said:
I listen to mainly female indie pop/rock artists. I can only count a handful of essential releases from this year and last year that I'd interested in owning. Very few store drops I'd care to own and if there was something I wanted I could get another variant elsewhere for significantly less. A couple of things I might have been interested in like queen, caroline rose, stevie nicks and tennis but not enough to become a vmp member. It's really expensive for what you get and most months I'd probably want to swap for something else.
Click to expand...
This has nothing to do with Bandbox and all to do with your listening preferences. Check out Julianna Riolino's debut album if you haven't already.

 
Jan said:
So, i think i made a mistake with that yearly sub. Looks like they declaring theit full 40$ exclusives value plus shipping which makes me pay an additional 15$ (+20$ shipping), which makes this unnecessarily expensive for me.

Therefore i decided to PIF the rest of my yearly membership. So if someone wants in, please let me know. The way i imagine it works is, you let me know your shipping adress and pm ( or put in this thread ) yor choices and i´ll let this send to your adress. So, if someone is interested let
me know.

EDit: if they let me change shipping adresses regularly we couls also split this
Edit2: Since i want to avoid the shipping costs, american adresses to ship to would be much preferred
Click to expand...

Had a similar experience when the club first launched, tried to suggest ways to work around it. e.g. why declare value as $40 if the same record is being sold as $20 to US addresses? Surely that means the value of the record is $20 maximum, and of that $20 there has to be some sort of US shipping cost included, likely taking it under the old £15 VAT threshold.

They've had some exclusives that I've been tempted by but the international costs plus the feeling of being ignored put me off them for good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top