I've ended up just swapping Salt and Pepa for Stevie and cancelling the other tracks. Just went and bought the Pumas LP in the spatter on sale from an Australian retailer along with a couple other albums I've been after, so pretty happy all round. Also cancelled the auto-renewal, I get that VMP can produce good product, but their actual systems are blah, and this has very little to do with anything pandemic related, this is a consistent marketing promise/failing to deliver issue. Spending money like this on the subscription shouldn't cause this level of anxiety or frustration, I can get that elsewhere for free.
Vinyl Me Please (store, exclusives, swaps, etc)
- Thread starter Captainfog
- Start date
radiodead
Well-Known Member
Swapped for The Stooges.
now if I could just get a reply on my Caribou and Yves Tumor issues.
now if I could just get a reply on my Caribou and Yves Tumor issues.
Hollywood
Well-Known Member
What issues do you have with those two titles?
radiodead
Well-Known Member
My Caribou also has popping on the final track on Side A. Yves Tumor has a nasty warp, I put it in the spin clean and it was like an inch from being able to line up to actually spin it properly.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
I have a feeling that some of Fiedler’s interview was blowing smoke up the interviewer’s ass. Yes they might be selling more but I bet their profit margins are shrinking. They are offloading stuff like crazy at big hits to profit. All the sales they have been running lately, Woodstock box set in swaps (they had to have taken a loss on that), the buy 2 get 1 sale...all of this is designed to get inventory off the shelves no matter the cost. On top of that, all of the coupons and store credits they have to give for fuck ups and coupons being posted online and being used by tons of people...and shipments randomly going out without all of your records in it. The amount of potential profit they are throwing away every month because they can’t figure out how to actually run the business smoothly is amazing to me.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
The Caribou click has sadly been a widespread issue. Some members seem to have gotten 3 or 3 pressings before getting a good one. It sucks because the pressing sounds SO good.
Ethos99
Well-Known Member
I'm just gonna leave this here. Re: vinyl production costs.
mojitomastering.com
Hot Wax: When Does It Make Sense For a Band To Press Vinyl Records?
We often hear artists talk about pressing their latest projects to vinyl. It's no myth that pressing vinyl records is expensive, especially when compared to the (essentially) free digital distribution possibilities that the internet provides. We decided to break down vinyl costs to get a better...
wynn72
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I'm sure some of it was blowing smoke for sure. Or they're just looking at Gross Revenue as opposed to Net Profit for the year (which wouldn't surprise me at all considering their lack of business experience).
Regardless, there is no way they aren't bringing in new subscribers regularly. You can see the promotions of new ROTMs on Social Media and people excited about it who are unaware of how poorly run of a service it actually is. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. Since the only way they will actually fix these problems is by overall subs going down.
wynn72
Well-Known Member
I'm just gonna leave this here. Re: vinyl production costs.
Hot Wax: When Does It Make Sense For a Band To Press Vinyl Records?
We often hear artists talk about pressing their latest projects to vinyl. It's no myth that pressing vinyl records is expensive, especially when compared to the (essentially) free digital distribution possibilities that the internet provides. We decided to break down vinyl costs to get a better...
Interesting article. With those cost numbers and what VMP charges, there is no way they aren't making a nice profit per run (depending on licensing costs, since this doesn't seem to cover that and I'm sure it's a big part of the overall cost)
I've cancelled now for the second time in a row after my subscription ended, was pissed off when Hands was the Classics ROTM then rejoined for Aretha. Cancelled again after my sub was done. This is just too much of a shit show and stressing me out. I hope I'm done with VMP but it's likely I may do just Classics and only the ones I like if (and that's a big if) I come back.
For now, I'll likely put my money towards BN Tone Poets (and BN80), Soul Step and Colemine (that release map for the year is fire)
For now, I'll likely put my money towards BN Tone Poets (and BN80), Soul Step and Colemine (that release map for the year is fire)
parnell17
Member
Just out of curiosity, are the past month's ROTMs usually available for Swaps in the following month? I was so busy trying to seal my Swap that I didn't have a look if the Stooges for instance were available as a swap. I rejoined because I wanted Stevie, but swapped for Caroline Polachek and chose Stevie as an Add-On. But since I'm on a 3-month-term, I could simply swap for it next month or July. I don't need De Stijl and I was honestly a bit disappointed with the Swap menu aside from the Swap Exclusives and I'm not sure I can go through this mess again next month.
The Essentials Track rarely sells out unless it's a massive smash, and I'm quite sure Stevie stays around for a while, maybe even forever. It's probably more the question whether I'm willing to wait until June or July while saving some cash for another record I actually want instead of going for a VMP-filler I'm lukewarm with.
The Essentials Track rarely sells out unless it's a massive smash, and I'm quite sure Stevie stays around for a while, maybe even forever. It's probably more the question whether I'm willing to wait until June or July while saving some cash for another record I actually want instead of going for a VMP-filler I'm lukewarm with.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
It’s up if it hasn’t sold out. It seems that after a certain date, VMP marks tracks sold out to hype up FOMO. Stooges was “sold out” last month then was back in stock and was available for swaps later last night. I think you should be able to pick up Stevie as a swap next month. If you don’t see it and it’s still in stock in the store, CS should be able to manually swap it for you.
Jonathan Y
Well-Known Member
So my ass was stuck on the couch last night doing my normal evening activities when I realized I forgot about swaps!!! So I checked in, quickly, and finally I may add, I grabbed Lil Kim for my Essentials swap. Luckily no issues, cuz I arrived after the crash I suppose?
Gavaxeman
Well-Known Member
Stooges is still in the swap options for me ..
Bluecloud777
Well-Known Member
I think so. I've just checked what's still available for swapping and Lil Kim is still available. It seems there's not that much demand for this record. I've bought it too though a short time ago with the coupon, I think it's a great record.
Jonathan Y
Well-Known Member
Yea for sure the first skit can be much, but the album slaps and the Jay Z, Biggie, Diddy, Jermaine Dupri, Lil Cease features add to the fire!
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Swaps eventually went back up but every “swap exclusive” was gone and any other records I wanted were also gone as it was really slim pickings. Glad you got something you like though!
MikeH
Well-Known Member
And this isn’t even taking into account pricing at much larger quantities so the raw cost of pressing for them must be pretty low. VMP has many other costs though on top of what this article said. They have staff, mastering costs, licensing costs, marketing, etc. They must still be making a pretty penny but if their logistics were in order I don’t doubt they could vastly improve their net profits, especially with how much they charge.I'm just gonna leave this here. Re: vinyl production costs.
Hot Wax: When Does It Make Sense For a Band To Press Vinyl Records?
We often hear artists talk about pressing their latest projects to vinyl. It's no myth that pressing vinyl records is expensive, especially when compared to the (essentially) free digital distribution possibilities that the internet provides. We decided to break down vinyl costs to get a better...
Ethos99
Well-Known Member
Which is my point. They are charging $22-34 for single discs and probably, at worst, spending 10-12 on each one.
And for the ROTM quantities they are probably spending much less than that and getting a discount on the 100-1000 run exclusives.
They are wasting their own profit but i doubt losing money at this point.
radiodead
Well-Known Member
It really does. It’s pretty minor but still annoying on top of being on one of my favorite tracks.
my first Idler Wheel had popping into Every Single Night and the rest of the pressing was great. But can’t have that. Got a replacement, thankfully that ones perfect.