wmeugene
Well-Known Member
VMP’s sweet spot is twofold:people didn't really buy them when they were $20 either to be fair haha. A bunch of the "lost sounds found" from years ago never sold out when they were that price. Think The Books, Jim Sullivan and others are still in stock…
VMP is definitely pricey especially if you only dip in for a month. Think it’s $36/month on a yearly. I'm struggling to think of other reissue labels that do AAA with nice jackets (and don’t own the music) for under $35-40 though. Jackpot is close, but i think they are $30 for BNC quality thin jackets. Don’t think it would be remotely possible for them to make their monthly charges $18-$22 again. The quality of the mastering and jackets has gone up since those days for sure. I’d rather see them eliminate stuff like the OBI and art prints and charge less.
I think if they lowered the monthly if the plant ever got sorted out, that could bring a lot of people in. The curation is hit or miss for me too. Too much Nilsson this year. Too many represses and not enough things making membership worth it.
Even the most loyal VMP customers on discord are pretty pissed at how the Dolly track went down. They were told the only way to get the records was to subscribe, then later a bunch went into the store and ended up being included in 40% off sales.
1) AAA audiophile reissues, that tend to be the definitive 33 rpm release (think most Classics and a number of their older monthly titles)
2) Great sounding reissues of that haven’t been on vinyl in a long time (or ever) or have only a ho-hum standard release. A lot of the Essentials and RHH seem to mine this one.
Curation helps a lot with #1 and is absolutely vital for #2. #1 is the bread and butter of most audiophile labels these days. #2 requires a lot more work and is harder to execute well. The Lost Sounds Found think sounds great in theory, but isn’t sustainable as anything but a 3rd or worse priority.