The Blue Note Thread

Man, the whole MM price gouging thing still makes me way too angry. I'm sorry you guys didn't get all the ones you wanted at the normal prices.
It's atrocious. And with $10 shipping, I have never bought anything directly from their site. The pricing structure is insane to me. They use to be $35. Now they have certain albums for $100!
 
It's atrocious. And with $10 shipping, I have never bought anything directly from their site. The pricing structure is insane to me. They use to be $35. Now they have certain albums for $100!
Are you aware of how it went down? They pulled all their distribution, put a letter up on their homepage claiming it was because the third party retailers couldn't be trusted not to price gouge, but then like two months later all of their prices skyrocketed, the more desirable ones more than the low sellers, and they went back and deleted that sentence from their homepage.

Not too long after that, they introduced the colored pressings for an additional huge markup for titles that were sold out and strongly implied that that was the only repress. A bunch of people who don't even like colored records bought for fear of missing out, then they repressed the black back close to the normal price again (until they raised that too).

I have a hard time thinking about ordering direct from them after that. Luckily I've been able to get most of the ones that grabbed me initially for $40 or less, because it wasn't too many.
 
Are you aware of how it went down? They pulled all their distribution, put a letter up on their homepage claiming it was because the third party retailers couldn't be trusted not to price gouge, but then like two months later all of their prices skyrocketed, the more desirable ones more than the low sellers, and they went back and deleted that sentence from their homepage.

Not too long after that, they introduced the colored pressings for an additional huge markup for titles that were sold out and strongly implied that that was the only repress. A bunch of people who don't even like colored records bought for fear of missing out, then they repressed the black back close to the normal price again (until they raised that too).

I have a hard time thinking about ordering direct from them after that. Luckily I've been able to get most of the ones that grabbed me initially for $40 or less, because it wasn't too many.
For me personally its one of those situations where I'm glad they aren't readily available in the UK, the temptation to get them is vastly reduced. I wasn't aware of this price gouging stuff but that sounds so sleazy. I get as a seller you want a fair price for your wares, but to go about it in such an obviously damaging way is not good.
 
Are you aware of how it went down? They pulled all their distribution, put a letter up on their homepage claiming it was because the third party retailers couldn't be trusted not to price gouge, but then like two months later all of their prices skyrocketed, the more desirable ones more than the low sellers, and they went back and deleted that sentence from their homepage.

Not too long after that, they introduced the colored pressings for an additional huge markup for titles that were sold out and strongly implied that that was the only repress. A bunch of people who don't even like colored records bought for fear of missing out, then they repressed the black back close to the normal price again (until they raised that too).

I have a hard time thinking about ordering direct from them after that. Luckily I've been able to get most of the ones that grabbed me initially for $40 or less, because it wasn't too many.
Yep--I am aware. And that's mostly why I haven't ordered from their site. Third-party pricing should never influence their prices and it set a bad precedent. If they want to make more money, then sell it initially for more if you want. This whole sliding scale thing is bogus. I can't believe that some of their records are $100 now when they started out at $35-40. I have been able to find most for $40-$60 (I think I paid $60 for Matador which was my most expensive one.)
 
Best way to prevent price gouging, keep them in print at a reasonable price. The whole ‘limited’ aspect of the vinyl reboot is the douchiest element IMO.
"We made some of the best sounding Blue Note represses at limited quantities and now other people are selling it for more money on the 2nd hand market because we don't have them in print anymore...HOW DARE THEY!!"
 
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