Vinyl Me Please Anthology
- Thread starter mdmost
- Start date
That's the nature of the beast. I actually don't mind people voicing their opinions. To some, this is overpriced. I understand.
However, one aspect people aren't taking into consideration are licensing fees. I've seen people repeatedly mention how they can put together Stax reissues on their own for $20 a piece. The reason they can do that is because those reissues are from Craft Recordings. Craft is under the Concord umbrella and Concord owns the Stax catalog. They can charge less upfront since it's their own catalog and they don't have to pay any licensing fees. Inhouse reissues means the price to the consumer will be lower. A third-party reissuing anything (i.e. VMP) will have to pay licensing fees. Licensing fees are not cheap. This adds to the price.
What about presentation? I have a few Craft reissues. They're fine, but it's what I'd expect for $20, give or take a few bucks. I think the Anthology titles will likely have high gloss, tip-on jackets from Stoughton. That's not cheap either.
Basically, I think pricing discussion should be a bit more nuanced than VMP is ripping everyone off. That said, VMP is still a business and they're going to do what businesses do. They don't exist for benevolence. I'm personally not going to get emotionally invested either way. The only Anthology I have is the Blue Note one. There were some growing pains with that release, but they were ironed out thanks to our protests. I like Motown, but thought the set was overpriced, so I skipped it. No big deal. I don't have FOMO. And honestly, it's weird when adults keep going on about FOMO. They're records. Nothing about any of this is essential in your life. Get it or don't get it, life goes on. I had no interest in Ghostly, so I skipped that too. The Stax set looks good to me and is right up my alley, so I'll get it.
AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
Just a few things........
First and foremost, i believe the bulk of us just don't want to see anyone make a knee jerk purchase or get caught up in the FOMO. There are plenty of new people to this hobby and to educate them is part of what this place is about, and I don't mean that in a condescending way, @Joe Mac 's QOTSA was a perfect example, that being said, it's your money, do what you want with it.
The problem I, and I'm not going to speak for others, is the notion that you don't have a choice, that all the issues are acceptable for some reason, that's just not true, but it does force each of us as individuals to look in the mirror and make that choice. Complaining about something while continuing to feed into it, regardless of what it is, makes no sense to ME.
And I want to be clear, again, this is where I'm at, I want VMP to come around and do things better because I want to be a subscriber, I honestly do. I'm not a fan of all the releases they've done but there are, were, enough to make me want to be there regularly. But I don't and can't support the way the do business so I won't support them in any way, shape or form until I see things change.
VMP knows their customer base really well, and any good company should, but I, ME, am not a fan of how they market to that customer base. Members shouldn't get overly upset with people who buy VMP products and those who are VMP Subscribers should also understand the frustration on the other side as well. Things tend to get funneled a bit in this thread, complaining about the price of an item happens all over the forum, it's not a VMP thing, people have always helped guide others to better prices, but in here, it turns into picking on VMP.
I'm done putting the blame on anyone, company or individuals. You earn your money, you have the right to spend or not spend it as you see fit, but as long as the conversation stays clear of attacking individuals, it'a a conversation that's had just like any other conversation about any other company or product, there are those who will be in and those who will be out...........and if you have the "conversation" properly you might sway folks from opposite sides to see your point of view.
I'm sure VMP pops into this forum "occasionally" but don't kid yourself into thinking anything around here is going to change what they do, the majority of their user base is non-vocal in any capacity. This was the major reason for the old forum being shut down, you can't have ANY negativity in your own back yard if you want to bring in new subscribers, that would force people to have to think about it.
So like I said, do what you want, but don't think you can't just get up and say enough is enough...........you can and you should.
First and foremost, i believe the bulk of us just don't want to see anyone make a knee jerk purchase or get caught up in the FOMO. There are plenty of new people to this hobby and to educate them is part of what this place is about, and I don't mean that in a condescending way, @Joe Mac 's QOTSA was a perfect example, that being said, it's your money, do what you want with it.
The problem I, and I'm not going to speak for others, is the notion that you don't have a choice, that all the issues are acceptable for some reason, that's just not true, but it does force each of us as individuals to look in the mirror and make that choice. Complaining about something while continuing to feed into it, regardless of what it is, makes no sense to ME.
And I want to be clear, again, this is where I'm at, I want VMP to come around and do things better because I want to be a subscriber, I honestly do. I'm not a fan of all the releases they've done but there are, were, enough to make me want to be there regularly. But I don't and can't support the way the do business so I won't support them in any way, shape or form until I see things change.
VMP knows their customer base really well, and any good company should, but I, ME, am not a fan of how they market to that customer base. Members shouldn't get overly upset with people who buy VMP products and those who are VMP Subscribers should also understand the frustration on the other side as well. Things tend to get funneled a bit in this thread, complaining about the price of an item happens all over the forum, it's not a VMP thing, people have always helped guide others to better prices, but in here, it turns into picking on VMP.
I'm done putting the blame on anyone, company or individuals. You earn your money, you have the right to spend or not spend it as you see fit, but as long as the conversation stays clear of attacking individuals, it'a a conversation that's had just like any other conversation about any other company or product, there are those who will be in and those who will be out...........and if you have the "conversation" properly you might sway folks from opposite sides to see your point of view.
I'm sure VMP pops into this forum "occasionally" but don't kid yourself into thinking anything around here is going to change what they do, the majority of their user base is non-vocal in any capacity. This was the major reason for the old forum being shut down, you can't have ANY negativity in your own back yard if you want to bring in new subscribers, that would force people to have to think about it.
So like I said, do what you want, but don't think you can't just get up and say enough is enough...........you can and you should.
100% and my QOTSA is very much at the more acceptable end of the range. I overpaid, just on that record, by roughly €2.50 and it is a very nice variant. It’s more the whole pitch of the way it was sold that leaves a sour taste. Plus being stuck in a 3 month sub. Am I happy to be getting Aretha this month? Yes. I’m i delighted. Am I happy to be paying $36 (€32.50) for a purple swirl in a sub I’m tied into when the same version on black is €16.99 in my local? Not so much! Again individual record, I’ll live and learn.
I would struggle to live with the decision to pay $300 for an 8 record set like this from a company like VMP.
Last edited:
Stop being reasonable, this is the anthology thread.
jamieanderson1968
Well-Known Member
There have been a few copies the Blue Note anthology. The prices haven't been totally crazy. I wonder if some people have sold the records individually.
www.discogs.com
The Story Of Blue Note Records (Vinyl, US, 2019) For Sale | Discogs
Shop the 2019 US Vinyl release of The Story Of Blue Note Records at Discogs.
www.discogs.com
dhodo
Well-Known Member
I know it doesn't matter to many people, but just for the sake of clarity, it is not the same version. It is cut by JP at Optimal and I haven't found any definitive confirmation if it is AAA or not. The VMP version is AAA, cut by Ryan Smith and pressed at GZ.
I have read that the EU Rhino one sounds good so it would be interesting to hear a comparison of them.
for half the price it'd have to be pretty shit not to be a better bet. I trust rhino over VMP & GZ every day of the week even if it turns out that one is ADD or ADA rather than AAA. Also Opitmal > GZ tends to be my experience.
dhodo
Well-Known Member
That's fair, I agree in general. Hard to say which will sound better without hearing both though.
If I end up not being able to get a decent copy from VMP (always a concern). I'll have to import one.
TCell
Well-Known Member
Yeah, according to Storf I'm off as the list is Chronological, so I was off and this list looks more accurate, although I also can't figure out what the Otis albums is either. It actually makes sense to break the set into 2 halves (Before and After the Plane Crash / End of Atlantic distribution).
So I'm in a quandary on whether to order this Anthology:
Pros:
- I love Stax
- I think this box set will be well put together with high quality reissues, well pressed, et al.
- If it contains Soul Finger and Raw Blues; I've wanted those two titles on vinyl for a while.
- Robert Gordon notes should be good. (But I've read his book on Stax, so I'm not sure how much I'll be learning.)
- Storf loves Stax, and is well read on it, so I actually think he'll be better on the podcasts (vs. the Storf-splaining Blue Note to Don Was which was comical.)
- Actual interviews with the artists
Cons:
- Obviously, the box set is hella-expensive this close to Christmas, so the timing is shit. (I could ask my wife & kids for it, but they've probably already gotten me something...hopefully x-c skate skis, fingers crossed.)
- As much as I love to guess, I still hate that they don't just tell us the titles, because...
- I likely already have 2 of the titles (whatever the Otis title is and Sam & Dave).
- Soul Finger is an A+, and Raw Blues would be an A+, but the other four artists' albums will be their second or fifth best albums.
- How the hell does this set not have Isaac Hayes? He was the 2nd most important artist on Stax, and was the whole label after the Atlantic Records disaster. I'm don't think you can truly tell the story of Stax without him. And The Isaac Hayes Movement hasn't been reissued and that album is amazing.
- Not a con, but a things that make you go hmmm...After Anthology #2 was called "The Women of Motown", why wasn't this called "The Men of Stax"?
So after all that rambling, I'm still torn.
Waitressboy
Well-Known Member
Not to kick a dead horse, but for 2.50 euros you can buy a great bottle of red wine in my country.
Yeah I mean it’s 6 times that here before you’re getting anything worth drinking. That’s actually the same price as a flat white in the nice cafe outside work haha!
spilledleche
Well-Known Member
I think it depends on if you remember being able to buy records for less than$25 new. The scale has tipped so far the past few years that $35 a record seems fine to a lot of collectors.
I think a lot of that depends on the record. For an individual audiophile record or a piece over a couple of disks or a beautiful package on its own, maybe. For a standard enough pressing in a box set, hell no, I’ve never seen these types albums in boxes priced this obscenely high anywhere else.
The crazy thing is, the community aspect is gone. That felt like a major selling point for both the first two sets, and now? It's just totally gone. There's no reason to think that, slowly but surely, the other bonus content will disappear and this'll end up just another overpriced box set. The whole concept of anthology is only worthwhile in so far as they offer content to meet the price; that's this whole discussion about value. But they're slowly removing the value-added aspect, even if those aspects were kind of garbage to begin with, at least they were there. I asked Storf about the community in Reddit and he ignored the question, but he did confirm that the liner notes will be on the typical cardstock.... which sucks, because, like you said, VMP has gone pretty cheap wherever they could get away with it.
I've done all three anthologies now. I think Motown was good, probably the best overall, but the price was also the worst. Ghostly has the best podcast, but the Motown packaging is infinitely better. I actually think Ghostly is kind of trash, to be totally honest. The "bonus material" for Ghostly has been like, some links to Youtube videos and some links to interviews, all done by different publications--the sort of shit I could come up with if I had 0 knowledge of the artists but their name and the ability to type into Google. That's about on par with what the Blue Note antho was like, in terms of bonus content. The Motown bonuses were decent, some actual new content and some of it I liked. Maybe they'll do that again for this Stax anthology; I got the sense that they farmed a lot of the work off to Ghostly for that antho, at least based off the one unboxing video I watch (which was Cam and the Ghostly guy dropping Millennial business marketing buzz words for a half hour), so maybe that's why the Ghostly stuff has been subpar overall.
I think the original idea of antho, as a box set shipped out over time, was good. I think it was a logistical nightmare and they fucked it up so hard that people flipped out, but I still think it's a really good idea and some other (competent) company could pull it off. However, at this point, the anthologies are just super overpriced box sets being sold as premium "experiences" which is just total marketing shit. The privacy sleeves are a joke. The unboxing videos are so stupidly lazy. They don't prepare for them at all and expect the viewers to come in with questions, as if it's our job to make these videos worthwhile. How any company could offer an unboxing video that's just some dude in his kitchen talking a bunch of random bullshit with 0 production value and 0 preparation at all blows my mind. They're not a small company. We should expect better, but it's kind of embarrassing. At least but a fucking webcam and a microphone for fuck's sake.
And yet, I love my Blue Note set. The conversations I had on here led me to really fall in love with jazz. That's what I want again, an actual community of people talking about the content and sharing information. I doubt that'll get replicated again, in all honesty. Maybe if they do another jazz antho. Maybe with this Stax one, who knows. At this point, I've accepted that the anthos are just overpriced box sets, and I'm only buying the ones I genuinely want (Stax being one of them, likely any other jazz set they put out) and I'm only buying those because I can afford it. If I weren't lucky enough to have a good job that pays well, I wouldn't buy these things.
Part of me thinks we're going to look back and mark this anthology thing as the point at which VMP jumped the shark (although I bet many on here would point to earlier points, all valid). It's the point at which any shred of the old "community" ethos was thrown out the window in favor of more profit. The "VMP treatment" used to sort of mean something, but now it stands for absurdly overinflated pricing, horrible QC, decent-to-above-average quality, and a commitment to FOMO marketing bullshit. The anthology is a very good symptom of what's wrong with the vinyl industry in general, and a very good indicator that it's a stupidly big bubble. If I didn't honestly still believe VMP's classics track was a good deal, I would've canceled my sub a while ago.
Hopefully VMP learns that business is a long term game. Sometimes, short term profits need to be tempered in favor of building good will in a community, providing good products and services, and focusing on giving a shit about their customer base. It's about growing a functional, thriving business, not just grabbing as much cash as possible before they get bought out by Walmart or whatever.
But I doubt it'll change.
Anyway, that rant is crazy, but I'll end it here with: I'm still buying this stupid Stax box set.
RobbieBobby
Active Member
You're right, because it would be so much better if Nathan was aggressively negative about all things VMP like most of the other people on here.
He is joking around, and his discourse is at least more interesting than the anti-VMP circle jerk that these forums have devolved into.
Nathan is allowed to throw his own shit out without being called morally reprehensible. JFC.
Queue Joe Mac calling me a shill for living in the same state at VMP, not understanding the scale of things here considering Colorado is the size of his home country.
Don’t you dare condescend me suggest that I’m incapable of comprehending anything. Also, more than a little bit disingenuous considering that they’re from Denver and so are you. Or coming from such an insignificantly small capital city am I incapable of understanding the scale of a minor US city?