CONJECTURE: Universal to increase prices of over 600 vinyl 24%-80% soon

...and that copy of "So" bought on CD in 1986 would cost you about $35 today

Looks like the last post on that thread confirms through the reporter responsible for the article that the R2R copies were purely promotional & not actually available for public consumption...

 

Well this is confusing, given that Universal (UK?) are slashing the price of a lot of vinyl - courtesy of this site:

http://greatofferstore.com/

Or maybe this is a final sell off of certain titles before they put their prices up?

They must know that price increases of this nature are going to do more harm than good to their business? Or maybe they don't care...

 

I think it's probably the latter- they're looking for any angle that will give them a little more profit- if sales drop significantly, I'm guessing they'll roll the prices back down a little. I feel like they are testing the waters to see just what they can get away with....

 

I asked one of the store owners in town about this and he said he received no such email. Now we are in Canada and Universal in the US did tell Canadian companies that they had to buy directly from Universal Canada so perhaps it wouldn't apply to Canada. However, my experience tells me that if prices in the US would jump this high, so would the prices in Canada.

 

Guilty here. I'm afraid to open my MFSL Beck's Sea Change considering how much it's worth...

 

Is MFSL raising their vinyl prices too?

I was at Echo Audio in Portland OR a few months ago. They were using the pink MFSL vinyl to demo a SME turntable. It sounds nice. You ought to play it.

At the same time they were playing the MFSL vinyl I was demoing some headphones using my MFSL CD and Blu-ray high-res rip of "Sea Change". It was a whole lotta Beck going on.

 

Yep. And given my lousy track record with really noisy U2 vinyl, my sealed copies of Pop, All That You Can't Leave Behind and Best of 1990-2000 will likely stay that way. I opened my expensive copy of How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and instantly regretted it; the vinyl was a very noisy pressing and instantly worth a lot less because it's no longer sealed.

 

I ran across this newsflash and posted it in the Will the music biz now see a reason to promote vinyl thread. There is not enough information that I could find to clearly establish how these presses are being produced, that is, whether a production line has been re-established from scratch (funded by whom??) or whether they are using NOS parts or mislabeling refurbished presses as new presses.

 

Speaking of United,look at this.

http://www.urpressing.com/loyalty.php

United is pushed to over capacity,and is not taking new customers until their second plant opens.
Their photos show Lened presses from the 60s that look pretty worn out.

 

They've been overcharging on their UK prices for ages already. It's a running joke in most independent stores about how much over everyone else Universal are. St Vincent /Wilko & Daltrey / Blue Note reissues have all been high profile examples this year.

 

I like vinyl, but if this is true I'll be buying even less.

Universal 's vinyl is often crap anyway.

 

There's always used vinyl to buy I guess. That said.....I just picked up a new copy of "Freak Out" for $30, before it goes up to $50....if it actually does!

 

Wasn't today the day the price increases were supposed to go into effect? I spot-checked a few titles at some online retailers but saw no change from previous prices.

 

You beat me to it. I see no evidence that the LP prices increased as stated in the OP. It is possible that they are waiting for 11:59PM. Interestingly enough, if you do a web search on "Universal increasing prices" you come up with many hits on previous announcements by Universal saying slashing CD prices should help sell more CDs!

 

Can this rumor either be verified or put to rest??

 

Not, its evil spirit will roam the earth forever like an unhallowed banshee of vinyl seething.

 

No idea how the music retailing business works. Maybe the price increases won't appear at retailers until the current stock is sold, and they order some more from Universal? Just thinking out loud.

I really hope those price increases were either a lie, or Universal reconsidered. Talk about a bad move for music lovers.

 

Yeah. I'm noticing this more as well. Fine by me.

 

noticed a few dramatic increases while at HMV this morning

KISS - reissues formerly $24.99 now $45.99 with 20% discount - a 47% increase in the base price
Soundgarden - Superunknown went from $56.99 (already ridiculous) to $85.99!!!!
Iron Maiden reissues - up to $30 from $24.99

 

Your HMV quotes don't even track with the spreadsheet that was linked at the start of the thread. I see no changes on Amazon.

 

Costs going into effect would not necessarily effect retail till reorders are made.Notice the memo was sent around first week in Dec. to allow dealers to get orders in before the cost increase.This would have been a time when stores would have been a bit flush with holiday dollares,including gift card sales.Universal not only wanted to give heads up on future bad news but to use that as an incentive for extra fourth quarter sales.Stores had to decide whether certain titles were worth reordering(why reorder a Christmas title?why order a title that has been sitting in your bins for months?)as well as maybe an extra copy or two of something popular that will sell post-Christmas gift card sales.This is a time honored tradition and Universal is one of the flagrant abusers of the tradition.

 

when I bought U2's last album a few weeks ago at my fave local, he said good I got the last copy before the price increases with his next order, explaining that Universal was raising their prices. Seeing this thread today confirms it for me. Current stock will sell out, and we will be seeing the price increases with new stock. No doubt some places will start hiking up what they already had.

 

We Got The Beats Record Store
11 mins ·
So, Universal is raising prices - A LOT. About 500 titles are going up significantly in price. Example: Lady Gaga The Fame and most Kanye West titles - my cost is going up by about $7. Bob Marley Legend and most Taylor Swift titles - my cost is going up $5. Most Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beach Boys up $4, Erykah Badu - Worldwide Underground and Baduizm - going up $6 each, Jay-Z The Blueprint is going up a massive $11 in cost, most Beastie Boys up at least $2 in cost, some artists are just going up by $1.50 to $2.00. AND...on the plus side, prices are coming down on about 100 titles including Soundgarden Superunknown (coming down almost in half - of course after I just bought one at the higher price LOL) Most of the Kiss catalog is dropping by about $6 each. I have to place orders by 2PM on Friday to get stuff at the old prices. If you have any wants, please type them here or in a private message asap. There is nothing I can do about this, and it affects every retailer across the globe. No one will be exempt from these increases. (f@%#$!!!)

 

Thanks for the info. However this does not track with the original OP and I must say doesn't sound highly bizarre. Assuming that the wholesale price increase ends up being doubled at retail the increase would be mostly in the single digit range. Universal does seem to be taking advantage of vinyl scarcity with some of their most popular artists. People should just resist paying prices that they view as excessive.

 

Conjecture: Hipsters will move away from vinyls in under five years, so if they are going to gouge people, now is that time.