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

For some strange reason I thought they'd read the room and have come out with an email saying sorry we have to raise prices but just look at the records we're going to end the year with...for these prices I think it's time to stop the guessing games and really sell us on why these records are "essential" and worth the extra cost... I have no idea why I think they'd do this looking at their track record but for me personally to even consider the bridge deal it would be nice if they threw us a bone!
 
MikeH said:
I feel like they have been looking for VC capital and investors for a long time.
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That's mostly due to blind belief that they can fix it and run a good business on their own; if only they had more money. At some point, they'll get an offer and their current set of investors are going to push hard to sell in order to get a return.

MikeH said:
Someone might buy them if they go bankrupt but I have a feeling their balance sheets are an absolute nightmare.
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I'm sure it's a disaster. But I think there's a few companies that could absorb the issues without too much difficulty, financially speaking, and right the ship.

I'm sure both Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds have kicked the tires.
 
If your company can't provide the product/service your clientele is paying for, DON'T BLAME THE CUSTOMER.

Own the problem and fix it ON YOUR DIME.

Can't fulfill orders and ship on time? HIRE MORE PEOPLE. Don't blame the paying customer for expecting their record that they paid for already.

Can't keep up with customer support? HIRE MORE PEOPLE.

Pretty sad that a bad business will punish their existing customers (or price them out) hoping to replace them with new customers.
 
4080 said:
For some strange reason I thought they'd read the room and have come out with an email saying sorry we have to raise prices but just look at the records we're going to end the year with...for these prices I think it's time to stop the guessing games and really sell us on why these records are "essential" and worth the extra cost... I have no idea why I think they'd do this looking at their track record but for me personally to even consider the bridge deal it would be nice if they threw us a bone!
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They will likely do the 3 month announcement next month since Spiritualized was the last of the most recent batch of 3 titles they announced. I bet they still keep the other tracks hush hush because it generates excitement (and ultimately disappointment) in their subscribers. Announcing the titles is, if anything, worse for their business model because less people would be subscribing for longer term subs if they knew that the year of titles only had 2 or 3 items people would want to subscribe to.
 
djdavedk said:
Many companies have gone away that seemed untouchable.

Circuit City, Blockbuster Video, and so on.
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True but those companies went away because of competition (Circuit City lost out to Best Buy, Amazon, etc) or new tech (Blockbuster replaced by Netflix, Amazon Prime and streaming). VMP's only true competition at this point is itself, which makes it even more impressive that they somehow keep shooting themselves in the foot.
 
MikeH said:
I don't know why some other company doesn't try to swoop in and take advantage of the market as VMP screws up over and over again. I know there are some ROTM clubs through labels like Secretly or Magnolia, but we know there's a market for this kind of product yet nobody has really tried to take on VMP. Maybe it's not the best time with the lacquer factory burning down and delays in shipping, but surely somebody could come in and take a dent out of the market share that VMP seems to have.
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Hell Im surprised Amazon hasn’t jumped in and tried a record subscription service yet
they have items that automatically renew for just about everything else.
 
Rahawk2 said:
Hell Im surprised Amazon hasn’t jumped in and tried a record subscription service yet
they have items that automatically renew for just about everything else.
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It's more of a headache than it's worth for Amazon. I'd be shocked to see them try to enter this kind of market outside of doing some exclusive color pressings like Target or Walmart do.
 
Rahawk2 said:
Hell Im surprised Amazon hasn’t jumped in and tried a record subscription service yet
they have items that automatically renew for just about everything else.
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Not quite the same though is it. Auto deliver on toothbrush heads or razor heads makes sense, you want the exact same ones every 1/3/6 months. On the same record? Not so much!
 
MikeH said:
Even the AP albums are more expensive in the US than they are through Acoustic Sounds. VMP still makes some sense if you're an international customer with the shipping costs if you were to shop elsewhere. But for most US customers, it doesn't make much sense anymore, especially if you have a fairly large record collection. They are mostly remastering/pressing easy to find albums with the occasional rarity or awesome album.
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This is the exact vibe im getting. Here in the UK I see a £20-£25 standard pressing as the average price. Shipping here almost always seems to be £4+. When VMP is selling an exclusive for $27-31inc shipping (around £21-24) its hard to turn down if im on the lookout for that album anyway.

If we take the AP's as a further example, I have ordered the Miles Davis - Someday My Prince Will Come for $39inc shipping (around £30). The cheapest I have been able to find it for in a UK store is £37.99 plus £4.50 postage. Its a huge difference. People often look to Discogs to see the average prices for these types of pressings (I do too) but if you filter to UK, there's very few (if any) and those which are there are usually listed at a premium.
 
Selaws said:
This is the exact vibe im getting. Here in the UK I see a £20-£25 standard pressing as the average price. Shipping here almost always seems to be £4+. When VMP is selling an exclusive for $27-31inc shipping (around £21-24) its hard to turn down if im on the lookout for that album anyway.

If we take the AP's as a further example, I have ordered the Miles Davis - Someday My Prince Will Come for $39inc shipping (around £30). The cheapest I have been able to find it for in a UK store is £37.99 plus £4.50 postage. Its a huge difference. People often look to Discogs to see the average prices for these types of pressings (I do too) but if you filter to UK, there's very few (if any) and those which are there are usually listed at a premium.
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Yep. And swap for credit for international subscribers is a fantastic option with the APs available. VMP is still crazy expensive (especially with the price hikes) but if I was an international subscriber I'd be tempted to take the bridge deal and pick up all of those AP pressings.
 
MikeH said:
Yep. And swap for credit for international subscribers is a fantastic option with the APs available. VMP is still crazy expensive (especially with the price hikes) but if I was an international subscriber I'd be tempted to take the bridge deal and pick up all of those AP pressings.
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This is exactly what I am planning on doing. The Miles was picked up using credit, and I have my eye on a few more now.
 
MikeH said:
It's more of a headache than it's worth for Amazon. I'd be shocked to see them try to enter this kind of market outside of doing some exclusive color pressings like Target or Walmart do.
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I was thinking it would be less of a club and more subscribe and save like they knock 3 bucks off if you agree purchase one record out their already existing stock. Or they could use their creepy witchcraft algorithm to pick one for you . I’m sure Bezos will probably do fine with out my dumb ideas though
 
Received the 'Rate your support ticket' for an order from April. I hit the "Bad, I'm unsatisfied" link as the request was for something not being shipped and it still hasn't received an update and is still "pending" in my orders. So after hitting the unsatisfied link it takes me to a webpage telling me the ticket is closed and I can't add an update/response.....perfect.

So anyone order Fiona Apple's Idler Wheel 4 months ago and have it pushed back due to some sort of repress and then have it shipped? Is it not repressed yet....did it ever get announced that it was repressed? It no longer has a product page on the store site either. 🤷‍♂️
 
MikeH said:
I feel like they have been looking for VC capital and investors for a long time. Someone might buy them if they go bankrupt but I have a feeling their balance sheets are an absolute nightmare.
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I said it before, but I'm having major flashbacks to when Pop Market went under. They were all promotion and content heavy, but could not deliver orders on time/at all. They went out of business and were resurrected by DirectToU (Alliance Entertainment aka distributor also backing Collector's Choice, DeepDiscount, ImportCDs, CCVinyl) and kept their "Daily Deal" promotion model.

Essentially VMP are vinyl store who offer a "subscription" (preorder) where they sell titles in mass quantities to their "members" (customers). Curation, 3 Month, 6 Month 12 Month, ROTM Guessing, Forum, Stencils, Prints, and Magazine are all just their promotional gimmicks. IMO, they could be another outlet for DirectToU to acquire and use their in place logistics with the VMP banner handling their customer facing content and Alliance fulfilling shipping.
 
mdmost said:
I just want my pending records from them so I can be done with all this. None of my August records have even moved to the label generation phase. Both Fionas should be in there too but nothing yet.
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Have you emailed CS and offered to send in some pre-printed address labels to see if that'll speed it up?

I kid, I kid, we both know CS won't read it until after they ship in Sept.
 
yukbon said:
Have you emailed CS and offered to send in some pre-printed address labels to see if that'll speed it up?

I kid, I kid, we both know CS won't read it until after they ship in Sept.
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Ha. I did email support this morning as I'm tired of waiting and they seem to send stuff out when prodded.
 
MikeH said:
I feel like they have been looking for VC capital and investors for a long time. Someone might buy them if they go bankrupt but I have a feeling their balance sheets are an absolute nightmare.
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This email will show up in your inbox sometime within the next year...
9B43DD02-2495-4EA6-A954-6E28B8D92AA4.png

...My bet is UMG acquires them and rolls them into UDiscover Music/Sound Of Vinyl.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
This email will show up in your inbox sometime within the next year...
View attachment 61876

...My bet is UMG acquires them and rolls them into UDiscover Music/Sound Of Vinyl.
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I think there's little doubt they will be acquired at some point. I wouldn't be surprised if UMG was a possible landing spot for them.
Stax is owned by Concord which distributes through UMG so Storf would in a sense be working for Stax, which appears to be a dream of his...
 
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