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

[Ethos99]

Yeah, nobody is going to be "angry," which is why they can do it. That being said, there's still a purpose and intention with initially advertising it as limited to only 4k and to members only for 48hrs. They put that in for a reason. The implication is that, if you want to insure that you're able to grab a copy, become member. Otherwise, that 48hr window means absolutely nothing. And, of course, it doesn't. If the pressing is unlimited anyway, why not just do like they've done for other pressings and make it open to the public from the jump? My guess is that with those other releases they were the only ones selling them, while this is a simple variant. A variant with a potentially endless run. They're rocking back and forth between narratives that cancel each other out.

Even when they specify that 4k is an initial run with a "potential" repress down the line, it puts the idea in heads that another pressing is only likely, but not guaranteed. With what Idler Wheel is selling for now, there's still incentive to buy, because there's no guarantee when that repress might come and, if you want it later, you might be stuck dealing with the secondary market.

I should clarify that I'm not complaining, I'm just somewhat fascinated. They opted to scrap that initial plan after they already began the roll out. They're weighing what makes more short term financial sense, while trying to balance the implied value of exclusivity, rarity, and being a member, with trying to sell as many as feasible with an uncapped run.

And just to clarify, I wasn't insinuating that you were complaining. My initial reason for posting countdowns is that is what facinates me, the speed of how they are selling.

The double edge to them having this purchase link that non members can use and you can buy any quantity through is that we can check stock.

 

[Ethos99]

However, I do think any company would try to sell as many as possible while trying not to piss off their members. That's just business.

 

[MikeH]

Yeah, nobody is going to be "angry," which is why they can do it. That being said, there's still a purpose and intention with initially advertising it as limited to only 4k and to members only for 48hrs. They put that in for a reason. The implication is that, if you want to insure that you're able to grab a copy, become member. Otherwise, that 48hr window means absolutely nothing. And, of course, it doesn't. If the pressing is unlimited anyway, why not just do like they've done for other pressings and make it open to the public from the jump? My guess is that with those other releases they were the only ones selling them, while this is a simple variant. A variant with a potentially endless run. They're rocking back and forth between narratives that cancel each other out.

Even when they specify that 4k is an initial run with a "potential" repress down the line, it puts the idea in heads that another pressing is only likely, but not guaranteed. With what Idler Wheel is selling for now, there's still incentive to buy, because there's no guarantee when that repress might come and, if you want it later, you might be stuck dealing with the secondary market.

I should clarify that I'm not complaining, I'm just somewhat fascinated. They opted to scrap that initial plan after they already began the roll out. They're weighing what makes more short term financial sense, while trying to balance the implied value of exclusivity, rarity, and being a member, with trying to sell as many as feasible with an uncapped run.

Not many people realized that the link through the magazine worked for non-members though and that's where the sketchiness/ineptitude comes in. I'd also bet that something like 70% of members are not members here or on reddit. I have come across so many people who don't even know you can swap hah. This was presented as BREAKING NEWS! WE HAVE A LIMITED VARIANT OF FIONA'S 10/10 ALBUM THAT YOU CAN ONLY BUY HERE! I can see how people thought it was limited to members only. They wrote 4,000 in their initial post but it was a bit hidden (didn't say it IIRC on the store page and hid it in the article) then only said 4K was the limited run when someone asked on twitter and it was not a tweet, but a reply to someone so it didn't show up on their main twitter page...so I understand why people would be mad if they thought they had to become a member to purchase. At least they are giving refunds.

After the swaps fuck up, VMP eventually cancelled my membership for me and sent me a refund even though I wasn't charged yet for the month...which kind of sums up VMP nowadays. Works for me. I used that money to buy Fiona indie variant elsewhere.

 

[Dead C]

And just to clarify, I wasn't insinuating that you were complaining. My initial reason for posting countdowns is that is what facinates me, the speed of how they are selling.

The double edge to them having this purchase link that non members can use and you can buy any quantity through is that we can check stock.

Yeah. I didn't think you were insinuating anything, I just wanted to point out why it was interesting to me.

However, I do think any company would try to sell as many as possible while trying not to piss off their members. That's just business.

Definitely. I still like watching VMP try to maneuver that. Personally, I feel like it often backfires in the long run.

If you were motivated to purchase it based on any of those factors related to it being a limited variant that could easily sell out, but then you just continue to see it in the store for an extended period of time, I'm not so sure that your're going to be as inclined to pull the trigger as quickly next time. Case in point is how someone suggested in here earlier that, if you don't want to hassle with trying to get it later, you should probably buy it from VMP right now, and they made that case based off of that idea that they were only pressing 4k at first and we have no idea when a repress is coming. That's a likely conclusion to come to, but now it's proving it might not be the case, after all, and taking that reasoning with it. If they did, in fact, add 2k to the initial pressing, that changes things a bit. The "repress" is kind of already here.

VMP or not, this is somewhat of a FOMO market. If they announced this by highlighting that you wouldn't get it for months anyway and there's no chance of missing out, I don't think they'd move quite as many units quite as quick. With so many preorders coming out all the time, certain things can take priority in a buyer's mind. It's like when they added to the Bon Iver pressing. Next time you see something like this, you might just figure you can get to it when you get to it, because you were duped by FOMO last time. Never presenting that FOMO element at all with an initial run count and a 48hr window doesn't make anyone feel duped in any way later. At least with Idler Wheel there was a discount during the first couple of days that added to that motivation and made it feel like a sound move.

This is also interesting because it explores the question of appeal around variants. The VMP variant is actually proving easier to acquire than the indie variant this time.

 

[MikeH]

VMP or not, this is somewhat of a FOMO market.

Their email about it was just about as FOMO as it gets...I think it even had the alert emojis and said "BREAKING NEWS". Their tweets also said members only for 48 hours (which was obviously not true).



You're correct though--VMP is not the only one doing this. It's pretty much all record stores now/places that sell exclusives. I think VMP is a bit more of an offender than others though as they constantly push things. It's part of the beast now though...the hard part is not falling for it. I still fall for it sometimes and buy albums I don't really need just because they are limited. I snagged the Zia repress of Fleet Foxes even though I already have the regular black variant.

 

[Dead C]

Not many people realized that the link through the magazine worked for non-members though and that's where the sketchiness/ineptitude comes in. I'd also bet that something like 70% of members are not members here or on reddit. I have come across so many people who don't even know you can swap hah. This was presented as BREAKING NEWS! WE HAVE A LIMITED VARIANT OF FIONA'S 10/10 ALBUM THAT YOU CAN ONLY BUY HERE! I can see how people thought it was limited to members only. They wrote 4,000 in their initial post but it was a bit hidden (didn't say it IIRC on the store page and hid it in the article) then only said 4K was the limited run when someone asked on twitter and it was not a tweet, but a reply to someone so it didn't show up on their main twitter page...so I understand why people would be mad if they thought they had to become a member to purchase. At least they are giving refunds.

After the swaps fuck up, VMP eventually cancelled my membership for me and sent me a refund even though I wasn't charged yet for the month...which kind of sums up VMP nowadays. Works for me. I used that money to buy Fiona indie variant elsewhere.

Good point. I have seen people on reddit asking who else signed up for Fiona, only to be informed they never needed to. If you did that by signing up for the one month membership, then got screwed dealing with swaps... not a good first impression. Especially, if Fiona is still sitting in the shop when the next ROTM announcement comes in.

 

[Dead C]

Their email about it was just about as FOMO as it gets...I think it even had the alert emojis and said "BREAKING NEWS". Their tweets also said members only for 48 hours (which was obviously not true).



You're correct though--VMP is not the only one doing this. It's pretty much all record stores now/places that sell exclusives. I think VMP is a bit more of an offender than others though as they constantly push things. It's part of the beast now though...the hard part is not falling for it. I still fall for it sometimes and buy albums I don't really need just because they are limited. I snagged the Zia repress of Fleet Foxes even though I already have the regular black variant.

It's also about how they are playing it, if it's effective, and for how long. Even Fiona's site sold enough copies based on the fear they might not appear elsewhere. To get someone to then buy another open variant, when they might have already purchased the black, is a tricky move.

 

[MikeH]

Good point. I have seen people on reddit asking who else signed up for Fiona, only to be informed they never needed to. If you did that by signing up for the one month membership, then got screwed dealing with swaps... not a good first impression. Especially, if Fiona is still sitting in the shop when the next ROTM announcement comes in.

I have friends who are tech savvy, are on reddit, etc who are VMP members, signed up for a year and had NO idea that you could swap the album of the month or do add-ons for a cheaper price hah. They just set and forget. I'd be willing to bet that is a large percentage of VMP subscribers. We're in a bit of a bubble in that A) a lot of us have been members for awhile, B) we're on a forum that spawned from VMP and most of us are pretty avid record collectors and C) we get news from each other instead of VMP itself.

People on reddit, when I told them that you could order Fiona without being a member, asked "well what's the point of being a member then?" and I said, at this point....even I don't know anymore haha. This month was the perfect shitstorm IMO. No must-haves on any track, swaps being a mess so most people didn't get what they wanted and then a lot of the "exclusives" either had diff variants elsewhere or could be purchased by non-members. Definitely a bad first impression for a lot of people, especially those who signed up for the buy 2 get 1 free month deal.

 

[Ethos99]

Yeah. I didn't think you were insinuating anything, I just wanted to point out why it was interesting to me.



Definitely. I still like watching VMP try to maneuver that. Personally, I feel like it often backfires in the long run.

If you were motivated to purchase it based on any of those factors related to it being a limited variant that could easily sell out, but then you just continue to see it in the store for an extended period of time, I'm not so sure that your're going to be as inclined to pull the trigger as quickly next time. Case in point is how someone suggested in here earlier that, if you don't want to hassle with trying to get it later, you should probably buy it from VMP right now, and they made that case based off of that idea that they were only pressing 4k at first and we have no idea when a repress is coming. That's a likely conclusion to come to, but now it's proving it might not be the case, after all, and taking that reasoning with it. If they did, in fact, add 2k to the initial pressing, that changes things a bit. The "repress" is kind of already here.

VMP or not, this is somewhat of a FOMO market. If they announced this by highlighting that you wouldn't get it for months anyway and there's no chance of missing out, I don't think they'd move quite as many units quite as quick. With so many preorders coming out all the time, certain things can take priority in a buyer's mind. It's like when they added to the Bon Iver pressing. Next time you see something like this, you might just figure you can get to it when you get to it, because you were duped by FOMO last time. Never presenting that FOMO element at all with an initial run count and a 48hr window doesn't make anyone feel duped in any way later. At least with Idler Wheel there was a discount during the first couple of days that added to that motivation and made it feel like a sound move.

This is also interesting because it explores the question of appeal around variants. The VMP variant is actually proving easier to acquire than the indie variant this time.

It will come around to bite them in the ass. I already got the black off of her site and rarely buy anything from VMP without a coupon.

 

[Skalap]

I have friends who are tech savvy, are on reddit, etc who are VMP members, signed up for a year and had NO idea that you could swap the album of the month or do add-ons for a cheaper price hah. They just set and forget. I'd be willing to bet that is a large percentage of VMP subscribers. We're in a bit of a bubble in that A) a lot of us have been members for awhile, B) we're on a forum that spawned from VMP and most of us are pretty avid record collectors and C) we get news from each other instead of VMP itself.

People on reddit, when I told them that you could order Fiona without being a member, asked "well what's the point of being a member then?" and I said, at this point....even I don't know anymore haha. This month was the perfect shitstorm IMO. No must-haves on any track, swaps being a mess so most people didn't get what they wanted and then a lot of the "exclusives" either had diff variants elsewhere or could be purchased by non-members. Definitely a bad first impression for a lot of people, especially those who signed up for the buy 2 get 1 free month deal.

In my firsts months as a member, I didn't knew about the shop and it's exclusives. I think I joined for BIG and swapped a few times after that for past ROTMs but never purchased anything from the shop (and I would have purchased a few exclusives if I knew).

Anyway. Since I cancelled my membership, I never purchased any single record from them until they add those Analogue Productions records a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for Norah Jones' record and put an order (+ two other exlcusives, Fania and Sister Rosetta Tharpe). I used the 20% discount code people were sharing here, it worked. There were many shipping options and I went with the "free shipping for members", thinking that they would send an email asking me to choose another shipping since I am not a member anymore. Well, they didn't. Believe me or not but I received my shipping notice the next day and my parcel is now in England and should arrive next week. A few days after, members started complaining that they were still waiting for their shipping notice, some are maybe still waiting for.

 

[NewsFedora]

I feel like there's a bit of revisionist history going on here. When the exclusive was first announced, the only way people saw the 4,000 pressing was clicking into the article and seeing the sales icon on that page. The original tweet and actual order page had no pressing quantity info.

In fact, minutes after the announcement, me and @Djxfactor511 were questioning how much was being pressed in this very thread. I had initially assumed VMP was gonna do the "pressing as much as we feel like doing" strategy, as that's what they'd done with previous Fiona releases. Then we saw the 4,000 number, and some slight FOMO kicked in. But VMP quickly backtracked on that pressing quantity and said it was just for the initial run.

How much time between the initial announcement and the clarification?

They've now removed the 4k pressing number from the article. LOL

Thirty minutes.

 

[MikeH]

I feel like there's a bit of revisionist history going on here. When the exclusive was first announced, the only way people saw the 4,000 pressing was clicking into the article and seeing the sales icon on that page. The original tweet and actual order page had no pressing quantity info.

In fact, minutes after the announcement, me and @Djxfactor511 were questioning how much was being pressed in this very thread. I had initially assumed VMP was gonna do the "pressing as much as we feel like doing" strategy, as that's what they'd done with previous Fiona releases. Then we saw the 4,000 number, and some slight FOMO kicked in. But VMP quickly backtracked on that pressing quantity and said it was just for the initial run.

How much time between the initial announcement and the clarification?



Thirty minutes.

When it was first announced on here, I asked how many copies and when it would be shipped since it didn't mention either on the store page initially. Someone pointed out that 4,000 were being pressed but it was a bit hidden in the magazine article, and this was later deleted. The only place this was ever clarified was on twitter as a reply. There were people as recent as today on reddit asking how many copies were pressed or thinking VMP sold out. VMP was also saying "member exclusive" for the first 48 hours and responded with that to quite a few people who asked when non-members could buy it.

To be fair, I didn't see pressing numbers on the "indie variant" I bought from Bull Moose either. But they also weren't pushing it as hard as VMP was in terms of being "limited!" or "Breaking News!! Exclusive!". As someone else here mentioned, copies have sold for $80 on eBay already. FOMO vinyl is at such a peak now and VMP has cultivated that for quite some time. People are also buying VMP records on eBay and Discogs for way above market price even though the albums are available for cheaper and not sold out on the VMP store. For some things, you could buy a 3 month membership and get that album plus two others for cheaper than people are paying on discogs for some things.

 

[NewsFedora]

I can't really fault VMP for marketing the hell out of a huge, critically acclaimed release and I never really saw them push it as being "limited."

They didn't sell out when it was a (mostly) member exclusive so almost anyone who can order a copy has been able to. If this turned into another Still Woozy situation I would totally get the criticism, but in this case, I think VMP did alright.


BTW about that non-member workaround... did anyone reach out to customer service to report it as a bug? While it might not have mattered in this situation, it could come back again down the road with another release, where it can be exploited and cause problems. But if no one tells them about it, they will probably never fix it.

 

[MikeH]

I can't really fault VMP for marketing the hell out of a huge, critically acclaimed release and I never really saw them push it as being "limited."

They didn't sell out when it was a (mostly) member exclusive so almost anyone who can order a copy has been able to. If this turned into another Still Woozy situation I would totally get the criticism, but in this case, I think VMP did alright.


BTW about that non-member workaround... did anyone reach out to customer service to report it as a bug? While it might not have mattered in this situation, it could come back again down the road with another release, where it can be exploited and cause problems. But if no one tells them about it, they will probably never fix it.

I agree with most of what you said. But why put the 4,000 number on it to begin with then? I get that it was only up for 30 or so minutes, but it was long enough for people to question it and 30 min for such a huge, critically acclaimed release when the other album variants were sold out in most other places is a pretty long time. The part that bothers me is that they pushed it as being exclusive to members only for 48 hours and I saw quite a few people sign up to buy it after worrying it would sell out. I just don't think they are ever really forthcoming with information about their pressings, or when they are it ends up being a miscommunication inside VMP (like with Still Woozy being announced as a member exclusive but then not actually being one).

In one of my emails with CS that went unanswered, I told them about the workaround for Fiona and said they should maybe fix it if these things are meant to be member exclusives. But at the end of the day, VMP doesn't care because it sells. It's why they also don't care that people like that Vinceron seller buys 80+ copies of every ROTM and they haven't shut it down.

 

[dhodo]

I agree with most of what you said. But why put the 4,000 number on it to begin with then? I get that it was only up for 30 or so minutes, but it was long enough for people to question it and 30 min for such a huge, critically acclaimed release when the other album variants were sold out in most other places is a pretty long time. The part that bothers me is that they pushed it as being exclusive to members only for 48 hours and I saw quite a few people sign up to buy it after worrying it would sell out. I just don't think they are ever really forthcoming with information about their pressings, or when they are it ends up being a miscommunication inside VMP (like with Still Woozy being announced as a member exclusive but then not actually being one).

In one of my emails with CS that went unanswered, I told them about the workaround for Fiona and said they should maybe fix it if these things are meant to be member exclusives. But at the end of the day, VMP doesn't care because it sells. It's why they also don't care that people like that Vinceron seller buys 80+ copies of every ROTM and they haven't shut it down.

Also, someone asked on that tweet "pressing size?" and instead of answering directly, they said "go read the article." They deleted that tweet after they realized it was incorrect.

 

[Ethos99]

1687

1585

 

[Kyuuji]

Should criticize the bad and praise the good so I have to now give some further props to Elli at VMP for single-handedly recovering my faith in the subscription. I raised the issue with swaps meekly and said that Mr. Hands was largely a pressure pick after swaps closed early from what I could remember there being but wondered whether it would be possible to swap to Shabaka as a remedy to some of the frustrations. Immediate response actioning and, it's a little hard to tell but, is either a straight swap or a token of good faith on their part as both Herbie and it are in the orders list (swap page shows Herbie, new order for Shabaka). In either case it's a nice thing and I'll be happy as that is set to be a wonderful record to own.

Then my first ever shipment from VMP arrived without Phrenology by The Roots (the choice I signed up with). Checked my orders and wasn't there either so sent a response thanking her for the above and mentioning the case of the missing record. Felt bad throwing another issue her way after helping to resolve two already but I needn't have. Two minutes later a response saying sorry she wasn't sure what happened but she's put it on order for this month. Checked my orders – there it is.

So after four days of frustration it took one person willing to look out and within fifteen combined minutes it's all been sorted and resolved, and my frustration pacified.

If that wasn't enough in her "now spinning" of the response I noticed 'The Never Story' by JIA and was curious so checked it out. Well, that's fire. The beat switch and second half of NEVER might make it one of the best tracks I've heard in awhile! Came back to say as much and she's given me recommendations for something similar!



So good support, helpful and friendly and a good music recommendation. Couldn't hope for more from someone handling support. I hope anyone with remaining issues has them resolved. Website is still questionable, their response as an entity is poor but it gives a lot of reassurance to have a point of contact that's willing to listen and help

 

[Murfocakes]

Should criticize the bad and praise the good so I have to now give some further props to Elli at VMP for single-handedly recovering my faith in the subscription. I raised the issue with swaps meekly and said that Mr. Hands was largely a pressure pick after swaps closed early from what I could remember there being but wondered whether it would be possible to swap to Shabaka as a remedy to some of the frustrations. Immediate response actioning and, it's a little hard to tell but, is either a straight swap or a token of good faith on their part as both Herbie and it are in the orders list (swap page shows Herbie, new order for Shabaka). In either case it's a nice thing and I'll be happy as that is set to be a wonderful record to own.

Then my first ever shipment from VMP arrived without Phrenology by The Roots (the choice I signed up with). Checked my orders and wasn't there either so sent a response thanking her for the above and mentioning the case of the missing record. Felt bad throwing another issue her way after helping to resolve two already but I needn't have. Two minutes later a response saying sorry she wasn't sure what happened but she's put it on order for this month. Checked my orders – there it is.

So after four days of frustration it took one person willing to look out and within fifteen combined minutes it's all been sorted and resolved, and my frustration pacified.

If that wasn't enough in her "now spinning" of the response I noticed 'The Never Story' by JIA and was curious so checked it out. Well, that's fire. The beat switch and second half of NEVER might make it one of the best tracks I've heard in awhile! Came back to say as much and she's given me recommendations for something similar!



So good support, helpful and friendly and a good music recommendation. Couldn't hope for more from someone handling support. I hope anyone with remaining issues has them resolved. Website is still questionable, their response as an entity is poor but it gives a lot of reassurance to have a point of contact that's willing to listen and help

In fairness to VMP they always make right before refund or some other form of compensation. If only they didn’t keep dropping the ball.

 

[Kyuuji]

In fairness to VMP they always make right before refund or some other form of compensation. If only they didn’t keep dropping the ball.

Yeh it felt good to finally anchor some contact between us and considering I bashed them felt it only fair to update with it being responded to. Certainly doesn't absolve them of the issues that occured and there seems to be significant problems with the website itself, but certainly helped remediate my personal sentiment from the past week. At least until the next swaps come around and we see if they're handled better. Just predominantly happy that, with the issues resolved, I've finally managed to lock in some good music and can sit back and look forward to its arrival.

 

[MikeH]

Yeh it felt good to finally anchor some contact between us and considering I bashed them felt it only fair to update with it being responded to. Certainly doesn't absolve them of the issues that occured and there seems to be significant problems with the website itself, but certainly helped remediate my personal sentiment from the past week. At least until the next swaps come around and we see if they're handled better. Just predominantly happy that, with the issues resolved, I've finally managed to lock in some good music and can sit back and look forward to its arrival.

It's a big issue with VMP for me...their CS (when they get to your concerns) is fantastic IMO. They always do what is in their power make things right. The frustrating part is they might have the hardest job at VMP and it shouldn't be that way. I have no complaints about their CS staff and they have always been awesome when I have problems.