Anyone else receive their 1st VNYL subscription LPs package?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by FMills, May 13, 2015.

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  1. inperson

    inperson Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    Not being patriotic/nationalistic or anything but I'm pretty sure you should have said, "this is the world we live in."
     
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  2. lightbulb

    lightbulb Not the Brightest of the Bunch

    Location:
    Smogville CA USA
    I've always been hesitant to subscribe to any such "record/LP/single" of the "month/Salvation Army bin" service.
    I'm sure there are, have been some worthy ones (i.e. Sub Pop, etc).

    But the general concept has a big flaw - unless I know in advance what title or artist they're sending to me:
    For a new release, how would I know not to buy it on my own, when I walk into a record store or shop online?
    For a "vintage" release, how would I know they won't send me a title I already own?
    Specific personal tastes aside, whether they mail me Blood on the Tracks, Rust Never Sleeps, Radio City OR Slippery When Wet, Sports, The Way It Is , if I already have it, it's a useless purchase. At least to most....
    .
     
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  3. Arkay_East

    Arkay_East Forum Resident

    Location:
    ATX
    Oh yeah. The whole model panders to a lowest common denominator even IF it worked as intended. Are you frikkin kidding me?!? I can barely get exactly what I want on a consistent basis when I'm digging for myself!! These people must have less than a dozen records, no personality and rocks for brains to boot.
     
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  4. troggy

    troggy Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

    Location:
    Benton, Illinois
    This may be the best thread I've ever read here. Is Kickstarter merely a license to steal or what?

    I'm all for "let the buyer beware" but people really have no shame. Even if this guy is just in over his head, why did he think that taking other people's money was a good idea to begin with?
     
    Kristeva likes this.
  5. danner

    danner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birmingham, AL
    Yeah, I'm sure you can discover some cool stuff that way, but at the end of the day, I'd rather just spend that money on records I actually know I want. I did the Matador Records single of the month thing last year, and only a couple of them really grabbed me.
     
    lightbulb likes this.
  6. inperson

    inperson Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    How can people trust others to select music for them anyway?
     
  7. cc--

    cc-- Forum Resident

    Location:
    brooklyn
    I was just waiting for a Better-Records joke...
     
  8. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    If he had sent out decent albums, but poorly targeted, you could argue that maybe he got in over his head. But the fact that he has so obviously chosen to send out stuff he could source for a few pennies per title reveals that, no, this isn't a guy who is drowning. This is a guy trying to fleece those who were foolish enough to send him money.
     
  9. Kristeva

    Kristeva Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I can remember my enthusiasm for discovering new music in the 80's but being so frustrated with not being able to hear stuff before I parted with my hard earned cash. Then headphone booths appeared and that was a start but still not perfect. I can remember the scowling looks on the faces of the staff when I bought something to the front desk and asked ever so politely if I could listen to it. I used to frequent a record shop that ran a small 'library service' (somewhat hush, hush, under the counter). These days I use spotify or Youtube to find /hear music first. I'm not sure anyone needs someone to find music for them, let alone the kind of stuff your nan used to listen to, lol.
     
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  10. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    In the early '80s, Leopold's Records in Berkeley ran a record rental service, where you would buy a record, and then could return it minus some set charge ($1-$1.50?). They did brisk business in a town where a lot of records were sold anyway.
     
  11. Peter_R

    Peter_R Maple Syrple Gort Staff

    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    He found a way to get rid of the records that no store wants, and in lieu of giving them away, people are paying to take them off his hands.

    Quite a clever little scam.

    Have there been ANY testimonials from satisfied customers?
     
    Gumboo likes this.
  12. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    It would be good if all the outlets that gave this creep PR when he had the Kickstarter campaign going would do follow-up articles about how he fleeced everyone, how he changed the terms of the Kickstarter offering, how that's legal, how Kickstarter offers no assurances, and how, therefore, people should be very very very wary of sending their money via any Kickstarter campaign.
     
  13. Arkay_East

    Arkay_East Forum Resident

    Location:
    ATX
    Agree. Kickstarter is lame to begin with. You can't work for it, so convince others to funnel you money while taking no personal risk? Sounds like a platform for p*****s.

    I did think the De La Soul Kickstarter was awesome , but everyone who has been a fan of the band since the 80s knew the risk was very low before they pledged.
     
    Matheusms likes this.
  14. phish

    phish Jack Your Body

    Location:
    Biloxi, MS, USA

    I'm pretty sure I meant country. I can only speak to what I know is legal here. I'm sure there are other countries that allow this sort of stuff, but you also have countries where such a crime would equal harsh punishment.
     
  15. troggy

    troggy Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

    Location:
    Benton, Illinois
    I might be able to do this in certain situations, with someone I already know has a good idea what I like. There's no way I'd trust some Kickstarter schlub to do this for me though. If I did it, it'd just be for fun, just to see what I'd wind up with.
     
    Brudy likes this.
  16. KDubATX

    KDubATX A Darby Man Never Says When

    Location:
    Austin
    I could see something more like a 'secret santa' setup being kind of fun where I go pick out 3x LPs for a total of about $25 that I think are really cool and send them to a random member of the board who in tern does the same thing. You still get the fun of getting 3 surprise albums, plus you get the "fun" of shopping for someone else's surprise without the worry that the are picking out the 1st 3 clearance bin titles that the find.
     
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  17. Kristeva

    Kristeva Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    This is actually a really interesting subject for another thread - I've long since given up recommending music to other people. I'd get chatting about music with someone and then in my exuberance find myself recommending stuff they might like to listen to. I learnt very early on that quite a lot of people profess to being a music lovers whilst being nothing of the sort and actually aren't that interested in broadening their horizons, as it were. I also learnt that quite a lot of people can get quite offended by this behavior for some reason.
     
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  18. lightbulb

    lightbulb Not the Brightest of the Bunch

    Location:
    Smogville CA USA
    The victims of this flawed business model/venture were enticed by what's lacking in the Internet/digital streaming/downloading era:
    The personal and human interaction-connection that can be a highly rewarding aspect of music discovery and listening.
    Remember when your best friend would bring over a new 45 RPM single for you to spin, or you taped some great new songs you just heard on cassette to give as a gift to your girlfriend? It was for the unexpected joy of something refreshing and brand-new.
    Using the precise keywords that struck the right chords for the buyers seeking this level of connection, this possibly well-intentioned but not well thought out platform was created.
    The closest I've experienced to "hand curated music" was when I would ask the record store clerk for his recommendations. But I wouldn't give him my wallet if he recommended a Pablo Cruise LP.
     
  19. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    Do they have a list of albums you currently own?
     
  20. Arkay_East

    Arkay_East Forum Resident

    Location:
    ATX
    Some of the handwritten notes mention the "curator" looking thru the customer's Discogs account but I find this claim dubious at best.
     
    troggy likes this.
  21. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Like the guy who told them he liked Ministry, Nine Inch Nail, Einstürzende Neubauten and Skinny Puppy. And the curator said he dug the guy's taste and hoped he enjoy the Debbie Boone record he was getting.
     
    Bowieboy, inperson, danner and 2 others like this.
  22. FMills

    FMills Member Thread Starter

    Just to follow up from my original post: man, that Stereogum story sure stirred things up. And Twitter has blown up with negative comments directed to @getvnyl. I had written a complete account of my experience for Blurt and was about to post when I saw the Stereogum piece, so added some updated content. I also gave a shout out to the folks on this forum. One thing worth noting: when I originally backed the Kickstarter campaign, I knew the end result might be, uh, less than thrilling. But I rationalized my decision by figuring that I might get a decent story out of it for our magazine and website. Looks like I was right on both counts... Here's the link: http://blurtonline.com/feature/love-will-find-a-way-the-vnyl-subscription-service-blows-it-pt-1/
     
  23. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Well you know of course those records aren't going out to anyone, they are actually worth something, seems like the stuff people are getting as said are bin stuff, this idea was flawed from the start, I'm actually more angry at the people giving their money to a project like this, I'm sure no-one ended up getting any Floyd or Beatles in their delivery's
     
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  24. bubba-ho-tep

    bubba-ho-tep Resident Ne'er-Do-Well

    Location:
    San Tan Valley, AZ
    Since this is the Steve Hoffman Music Forum, what he should have said was "this is the world in which we live in."
     
  25. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Well, if we're going to get pedantic about grammar and word choice, it should be

    "this is the world in which we live."
     
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