I don't buy the excuses or something is wrong with contract law in the US. My guess is enough profit is there to cover defectives especially as many don't play the vinyl or accept crackle and pop as part of the experience. About 30% retailer mark up I would imagine. Sell 10 records at $30 you make $100 profit. If one in ten returned you lose $20 which means $80 gross profit on ten records. If they are selling returned faulty product at near full retail they are taking the piss. If US Independent sellers were losing too much from eating bad pressings they would not remain in the business.
I've had some luck getting replacements for defective vinyl in the past from places like Vinyl Me Please, and larger labels. I just received a new release from one of my favorite artists from a smaller label and there is a visible and audible gouge on one of the sides. It plays through, but is extremely annoying. Being a smaller label I feel bad contacting for a replacement and haven't yet, but I shelled out big bucks for the deluxe edition and am pretty disappointed. Would the pressing plant credit the label for instances of defective pressings? Is this just the cost of doing business and I shouldn't feel bad asking for a replacement.
Yeah, I've used that trick on used records I paid a few bucks for. No way I would do it for an album I spent $20+ on.
It's definitely true that there were defective pressings in the old days. That's one of the reasons I was so excited to get a CD player in the early 90s. But at the same time, when I read about people getting 20%-30% defective records brand new, that's a lot higher than the percentage of bunk disks in the old days. Add to it that we're paying a premium price for vinyl these days and it's not unreasonable to expect a certain consistent level of quality.
Yes only used on cheap records I buy off discogs, Amazon records go back until they're 'moderately' flat, will be back and forth the post office every week trying to get one perfectly flat nowadays it seems
Must say I get few seriously warped or dished discs these days. Most common fault is a scratch across one track. These tend to come in clusters and then get a run of clean pressings. Sometimes I get a noisy pressing and it's easy to check here if it's the entire run (latest David Crosby). I can't say it's worse than the 70s when I remember exchanging plenty of pressings from shops.
A well pressed, centred, not warped, not full of non-fill and pops and ticks, new release vinyl record is rarer than a Sasquatch or a Tasmanian Tiger...
Maybe in your neck of the woods... In the past 2 1/2 years alone, I've purchased 30 or so new LPs. Sealed. Mostly reissues and a few newer releases. Not a single flaw, warp, bump, non-fill, foofee, doopee, whoopee, moopee, padiddle, dingleberry, non-hole-shaped-hole, carbunkle, flunkle... No a single problem. Sorry about your Sasquatch issue
I've purchased way more new LPs than you during that same period (easily over 200 - mix of new releases and reissues), but have very much the same experience as you. The amount of problems other members here seem to have with new vinyl has always perplexed me.
Most of our vinyl is pressed at GZ Optimal Record Industry Pallas MPO Rainbo United RTI My Fela box sets have been pretty good Beatles mono box as well Kate Bush Before The Dawn great Cure Disintegration great Radiohead - AMSP EU great after returning X 2 US abonima But for example John Coltrane Love Supreme RTI 2 X 45 Plenty of surface noise Gave up on Led Zep IV reissues after several returns I'm not super picky - my Shure V15Vxmr with Jico stylus replaced every 18 months will track just about anything but the most severely warped albums. But non-fill and noisy vinyl is not enjoyable. I prefer to find originals of older titles, but I would like to purchase new vinyl by current artists... My system can tell the difference between pressing, great ones and not so...
Same here.I don't buy a lot of new vinyl,but what I do buy are all new releases.Rarely do I have any issues.As others have said,this was more of a problem 5-6 years ago than it is now. I bought records back in the bad old days of recycled vinyl of the mid 70s-early 80s,that actually had pieces of record labels pressed into the vinyl.Most of which I replaced with better quality import pressings.Sometimes we forget how bad things could be back in the day.I never got into CDs,just sought out better pressings.
That is a shame.This is one of my favorite Bowie albums of all time.The 1997 issue sounds wonderful.I believe the currently available copy is a 2014 issue,from Friday Music.I have seen a lot of bad things about their product on the web.
Who has the say-so about where MFSL records are pressed these days?Is it the people in Sebatopol,or the Music Direct bean counters in Chicago?I bought MFSL records in the 80s and 90s.The ones pressed in Japan in the 70s,and 80s are the best as far as sonics and quiet surfaces.The Anadisq200 pressings from the 90s are clearly different.They were probably US pressings,a little noisier,but not much,than the earlier JVC pressings,but still very acceptable.MFSL sold them direct,they put out a little monthly newsletter,and on the rare occasion there was a defective record,they would gladly exchange it free.I was very disappointed by the first of the "new" MoFis I heard,the 45 RPM Get Happy!!,that I never bought another new MFSL again.It may have been that I compared this to a US white label promo Columbia copy. Mobile Fidelity could use a better pressing plant,if they wanted to.They could even go back to Japan.I just bought my first new record that was pressed by Toyokasei,in Yokohama,one wonders if they bought and upgraded the old Victor pressing plant.This was a very limited reissue of one of the rarest,most expensive Korean Shin Joong-Hyun records of the early 70s,Dead quiet surfaces,incredible detail.It sounds amazing.It is a great example of what can be done.It cost me $35 for a single LP.
I bought my first new LP in 1974 and I've had to return two new LPs since then. I've been told here yet I'm either too stupid to know when a record is screwed up or that I don't care what my record sound like, neither of which is the case.
Yes, it seems utility bills and rent always prevent the continual purchase of new LPs I wish they'd fix that...I'd be okay with a warped record (my turntable plays them perfectly - the USED warped records I've encountered) if they were 5 or 10 bucks. But...I can understand that the forum members with bad luck are not happy about that... I'm sticking with my winning streak...
I have never had a defective pressing from MFSL, out of maybe 60 titles. Neither newer titles or from the 80's. Mastering from them is another issue. They should be ashamed of the recent Ronstadt tities that sound like a blanket is over my speakers. Shame on them as they must know the tapes they used were lousy. But that is my one and only complaint. Friday Music is hit or miss, but the hits (like the Earth Wind Fire hits album) are dynamite!
