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

Just curious whether anybody bought the VMP exclusive of Otis Brown - Southside Chicago?

My first copy was skipping all over the place from the very start of side one.

My second copy was even worse.

A third copy is on its way but I’m losing hope that I’ll ever receive a decent copy; especially seeing as my second copy was number 25 of 500, so I assume they must be almost out of them.

A real shame, as I’ve fallen in love with this collection of obscure 60’s soul singles from Mr. Brown.
 
gaporter said:
I do not like the line of thinking that something is only successful if it sells out. Ideally things would be pressed in amounts so that everyone who wants one can get a copy. If you absolutely have to have your limited FOMO then I maintain the open pre-order method is the way to go. Everyone who wants one can secure a copy and you don't have to spend money to press more copies than you need to.
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Or even batches. Don’t number them and print 1000. If it’s selling quick order 500/1000 more. Repeat as necessary. This trend is just playing into idiot collectors who don’t care for music and just want thing on shelf, loving nothing more than numbers colours and the misconception that an items rarity makes them special. It disgusts me.
 
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Andy said:
I agree with the sentiment. I buy records to play. The music has always been the important thing to me. I do wish I'd been able to take better care of some of the though :) However, I've always considered myself as building, or adding to my record collection & thought of myself as a collector on some level. After buying records over a few decades I've not managed to sell any yet really (which I do need to change from a practicality standpoint).

The difference to me is someone who wants to buy a colour variant over black vinyl? And even more so, pay more money for a colour variant over black vinyl. That can't really be about the music, it's about a sense of false rarity. Limited edition & small runs used to happen all the time, but basically because the retailers thought they would only sell 30, 300, 500 or 1000. I don't think that is a problem, but driving scarcity by limited runs of different colour variants is. To me a record isn't really limited to 500 if you can get the music on black vinyl with a pressing of 5000. If we all change the perception to focus on the music & not the colour of the vinyl, it won't seem as limited or as rare.

Also, surely record store day, should be the real target for creating this type of cynical behaviour. I am happy that VMP have been able to sell a 1000 copies of a Jazz title so quickly. It means we'll get more AAA Jazz. I would guess that most of the people buying
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Yeah what RSD has become is sad but I still give it a pass because it does work to get new people into local record stores and to give them a degree of cash flow security for the year. If VMP went under tomorrow would it be even 1/1000 as sad as it happening to a wonderful local record store?
 
debar22 said:
I mean, aren’t we all collectors on some level at the end of the day? Damn near everything is available via digital or streaming. But we like the physical format. These are luxury items. If a music fan wants to listen to Blonde, the fact that the vinyl was so limited hasn’t prevented them from hearing the album.

I hate the manufactured scarcity as well & don’t like the variant game, but it’s a double-edged sword. There’s a bunch of rare records that I wanted that I couldn’t afford 10-15 years ago that I’ve recently been able to acquire recently because they’ve finally been reissued due to the increased interest in vinyl - which the collectors of rare variants have helped generate.

At a certain point there will be a tipping point though. There’s only so much capacity for manufacturing vinyl, and I think the pandemic has highlighted that with all of the delays. If the demand exceeds the capacity, the cost to the consumer will continue to increase. For me, the cost of new records is already at my limit.

And that’s not even taking into account the possibility that the economy declines. At some point the vinyl bubble is gonna burst due to one reason or another. At that point, it’s not going to be manufactured FOMO, but legit scarcity due to lack of demand. And I don’t know if that’s any better than what’s going on now.
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I'd accept an indies only or a Dinked if it gets people to shop in a local over Amazon but as a general rule I'm with you. Coloured vinyl is proper bollocks. Id happily see everything uniformly black if it sorted out shitty presses and warps.

And as for FOMO scarcity pushing. It's a pain in the arse as one of the consequences is for a bunch of flippers to fill their boots and to sit on presses for years until the prices are so nuts that fans are paying 5 times over just to hear the analog version. Balls to limited presses, balls to coloured presses. Press frequently and in decent quality instead
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah what RSD has become is sad but I still give it a pass because it does work to get new people into local record stores and to give them a degree of cash flow security for the year. If VMP went under tomorrow would it be even 1/1000 as sad as it happening to a wonderful local record store?
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Yeah, but I don't think record store day has a great deal to do with locals & has all to do with the labels & distributers. I was talking to a small record shop owner a couple of years ago & he basically stopped stocking RSD releases the following year. He was saying with the premium / mark up they have to pay to get the records in, they have to charge a fortune to make any money & it's just becoming too much of a gamble.
 
Andy said:
Yeah, but I don't think record store day has a great deal to do with locals & has all to do with the labels & distributers. I was talking to a small record shop owner a couple of years ago & he basically stopped stocking RSD releases the following year. He was saying with the premium / mark up they have to pay to get the records in, they have to charge a fortune to make any money & it's just becoming too much of a gamble.
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Yea, one of our locals that used to do RSD - and the one I preferred - stopped a few years back. Funny enough, the one listed in VMPs silly book.
When I called that year to ask he said they would be doing a sale but not carrying RSD titles. Something along the lines of if you want to get deals on some great music then we’ll be here; if want to buy overpriced hype (my words), we won’t be participating. I don’t know where the falling out happened cause they had just done the last BF. But guy didn’t seem to like them.
 
Andy said:
Yeah, but I don't think record store day has a great deal to do with locals & has all to do with the labels & distributers. I was talking to a small record shop owner a couple of years ago & he basically stopped stocking RSD releases the following year. He was saying with the premium / mark up they have to pay to get the records in, they have to charge a fortune to make any money & it's just becoming too much of a gamble.
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Yeah I think that is the biggest complaint of it, that the majors are flooding the market with overpriced curios that no one needs. It’d be nice to see it be as much about pressing actual albums and independent labels. In the modern age of high innner city rents and competing with Amazon etc the revenue has got to help!
 
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Snoddywilko said:
Just curious whether anybody bought the VMP exclusive of Otis Brown - Southside Chicago?

My first copy was skipping all over the place from the very start of side one.

My second copy was even worse.

A third copy is on its way but I’m losing hope that I’ll ever receive a decent copy; especially seeing as my second copy was number 25 of 500, so I assume they must be almost out of them.

A real shame, as I’ve fallen in love with this collection of obscure 60’s soul singles from Mr. Brown.
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I have it coming as a swap for Classics this month. Thanks for the heads-up on the issues - I'll have to make a point to listen right away.
 
Joe Mac said:
Or even batches. Don’t number them and print 1000. If ifs selling quick order 500/1000 more. Repeat as necessary. This trend is just playing into idiot collectors who don’t care for music and just want thing on shelf, loving nothing more than numbers colours and the misconception that an items rarity makes them special. It disgusts me.
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I agree but at the same time I doubt I would pre-order as many records if it wasn't for limited/coloured versions and the added fomo on said versions. As someone who's pretty much always struggling to set a limit on a budget, I'd probably just be waiting for deals on all the "regular" versions.

If both a wide press black copy and a limited coloured copy are available I would pick the coloured press at even a few € more. I think it's nice seeing the value increase and in the future if you really did want to part with it , you would most likely at least be able to get your money back.

The biggest thing I've noticed in the last few years is that labels are monitoring discogs/eBay and tend to reissue where there's money to be made. I would caution anyone desperate to spend stupid money on a coloured pressing to check the track record of the label/exclusive retailer. If you have the patience there's always going to be an anniversary or general repress down the road. It's only a matter of time as well before vmps exclusivity runs out and someone else picks it up.
 
Snoddywilko said:
Just curious whether anybody bought the VMP exclusive of Otis Brown - Southside Chicago?

My first copy was skipping all over the place from the very start of side one.

My second copy was even worse.

A third copy is on its way but I’m losing hope that I’ll ever receive a decent copy; especially seeing as my second copy was number 25 of 500, so I assume they must be almost out of them.

A real shame, as I’ve fallen in love with this collection of obscure 60’s soul singles from Mr. Brown.
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Mine sounds fine. No skipping at all. I hope the third one works out for you.
 
yukbon said:
Counter argument: blonde, vmp's toots & maytals sweet and dandy.
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Sure but to be honest that could happen to any record. Everything is limited in that sense and for several reasons they could always stop pressing even the most popular of albums. You see that in the "common records that escalated in value" thread.

I always say if it's something you want just buy it right away. Thats not fomo, it's just common sense. Fomo is when you buy something you don't actually want but are just worried you aren't going to be able to get it later, in case you might want it.

I personally made the mistake with Blonde but at the time 50€ felt like a lot for a record and never actually believed retail shops wouldnt get it locally.
 
Understood and agreed on all points, but it's a testament that the "don't worry it'll get repressed" chilled attitude does have a risk and is not a sure bet. I bought a blonde boot, it's good enough for me, but that's not like a grail for me or anything. sweet and dandy on the other hand I can't find as an old press or bootleg, or even a decent stream (just a bunch of toots best ofs). I'd definitely love it, but not 200$ worth.
 
yukbon said:
Understood and agreed on all points, but it's a testament that the "don't worry it'll get repressed" chilled attitude does have a risk and is not a sure bet. I bought a blonde boot, it's good enough for me, but that's not like a grail for me or anything. sweet and dandy on the other hand I can't find as an old press or bootleg, or even a decent stream (just a bunch of toots best ofs). I'd definitely love it, but not 200$ worth.
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Yeah I've been waiting on a Citizen Cope and Damion Marley repress for years. Still could happen but I doubt it. Another example would be Cake. It's been like a decade since the vinyl boxset with just rumors about new pressings with nothing to show for it.
 
bdm105 said:
Yeah I've been waiting on a Citizen Cope and Damion Marley repress for years. Still could happen but I doubt it. Another example would be Cake. It's been like a decade since the vinyl boxset with just rumors about new pressings with nothing to show for it.
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Cake is the one I don't think we will ever see repressed. Word is the band was pretty unhappy with how the process went down with the box set- and if you've ever seen their lead singer live then you'd understand that doing anything that makes THAT guy go on a rant is probably going to be a dealbreaker. But who knows
 
TheThinWhiteDuke said:
Cake is the one I don't think we will ever see repressed. Word is the band was pretty unhappy with how the process went down with the box set- and if you've ever seen their lead singer live then you'd understand that doing anything that makes THAT guy go on a rant is probably going to be a dealbreaker. But who knows
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Yeah VMP was saying they may have Fashion Nugget in the works but who knows. I have the boxset (had 2 and sold 1 to a local store at the time for basically cost) but it's an example of things not being guaranteed to be repressed.
 
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