$400-600 per LP? The Electric Recording Co. LOVE "Forever Changes" next*

Buy a handbag.... for the retail price you can get a turntable and lots of records

Women, Bags and small leather goods, Bags and clutches

by the way, a Hermes Birkin (2015) has been sold at $206,111 at a Christie's auction. A nice price increase after a few years.

 

Off:

Not my motive nor intention.
If you read the "quote" above my statement you replied to, the topic was "music for the elite" [in reference to LP's released by TERC/which is the subject of this thread].

Only pointed out, correctly, music buyers spend much more [on both new & used musical formats] than what the poster inferred was an elitist level of expenditure.

 

This is no doubt true - but the point is that there's nothing inherent in what they're doing that would rule out economies of scale (even recognising that the market for such albums is probably in the four figures) or necessitates those prices - other than that's what crazy rich collectors will pay.

 

This is real coincidence. I read an article about this company on The Guardian website back in 2013. I forgot the name of the company and have been trying to find it since, and did a few weeks ago.

I think the idea behind all this is really exciting. If I had a system in the 6 figures (sadly I don’t!) then this is the kind of product I would want. I have looked in the website. Obviously I can’t comment on the sonic quality but they look absolutely beautiful. Also, I don’t know the profit margins but it seems most titles sell out. Whether it is music purists or people who know the price of everything and value of nothing buying them I don’t know. But that’s the same for any luxury product. I think that a company undertaking something like this is great for the industry, they have their niche. The chance to buy some of these albums, painstakingly produced as close to original as possible, but in brand new condition, has to be a good thing. If not, we may as well say that equipment worth thousands of dollars shouldn’t be made, as it’s not accessible to the masses.

Now if the music itself wasn’t available elsewhere, and it was limited to these 300 units, then that would be a different story, but there are other ways of accessing the recordings. I just wish the ERC could get their hands on the Beatles Stereos!

 

If MFSL would only sell 300 copies of their One Step series, the price would be much higher.

Every product with a very low number has a steep price.... cars, watches, bags and LPs

 

Don't worry ~ someone is already needle-dropping them as we type our comments here !

 

I wrote this in the previous thread back in 2016, my opinion hasn't changed:"I'm involved in labels, perhaps my biggest motivation for issuing and reissuing music is to share it with a wider audience, to make it readily available, music shouldn't be hidden away and exclusive, it should be universal, inclusive and affordable, this label is the antithesis of what I think labels should be about and their undoubted quality is no defence because others reach similar levels at a fraction of the cost."

 

My best buddy was looking for a certain bag from Hermes for his sister when we're in Portugal last fall. When we visited one at Porto, the costs were eye-watering.

Having said that, previous Discogs sales of TERC pressings are much higher than the original price on their official online store, so there is definitely a market for rich people who would not hesitate to buy them at any cost.

I won't lie, they do look beautiful though.

 

Eithea 15K Yaris or a 150K Maserati are not the only options.

 

Boy, somebody picked the wrong analogy! Seriously, I needed a laugh to get going and this post did it for me. IF I get a stimulus check, buying me a couple of shirts!

 

There's no way any shirt would be worth anywhere near $600 to me. Similar to stereo systems for 100k and music media for hundreds of dollars, what could a shirt possibly be like that I'd think it's worth $600? It would have to be a shirt that could get a job and bring home a regular paycheck. Or at least a shirt that can clean and do the dishes on its own.

 

< lol, chief musical officer

 

< I heard that's nothing, compared to the price of a Hermes Merkin

 

< yes, you could have a customized Maserati braced and plated in gold shielding so it could survive Earth re-entry

< it would still pick up dust under normal conditions of usage tho

< a possible working prototype design



1969 DMB at AFI Gate by Steve Paige

 

Perhaps the same reason(s) that people are buying reissues for $30 instead of buying NM originals for a fraction of the price? I have no real answer beyond that!

 

I am sure a while back I read that many of the big labels (off the top of my head most of the music I play is owned by Warners, Sony or Universal) were no longer licensing their titles out to other producers such as MFSL. That may of course be wrong. Love's Forever Changes (a great album and a personal favourite) is owned by Warners I think and used to regularly appear in those best albums of all time lists.

 

I don't think these guys are trying to create collectors items per se. I think he's sincere in what he's trying to do and has the time (and money) to do it.

This guy doesn't present himself as someone paying pennies for a product and dressing it up like a collectors item to cash in like you see major labels doing all the time...there's no scarves and marbles and badges or photos or stickers here.

What you are paying for here is his attention to detail and the cost of attaining that detail and doing things by hand and avoiding all economies of scale is going to cost you.

 

Yeah, there is a certain "fear factor" that goes into the ownership of something expensive and fragile! It takes so little to harm the investment!

 

Couldn't Electric do a super-dee-duper version for $$$ and put out a "lesser" version at a more affordable price?

Or do they potentially fear that the latter would mean no one would buy the former?

 

I think the high prices are what people react to. Even I did it when I first heard of these guys. I think I posted some negative comments on here about them at the time they first came up.

But knowing a bit more of what they do, I get it. Do I want to pay for it? Not really. But they are dedicating their time and effort to a specific goal which costs money to achieve. People can either pay or not pay for it. I'm not sure every bit of hand made effort they make is value for money but it's part of their USP.

I haven't see this guys P&L statement but I bet his margins are far lower than companies selling cables at $1,000 a meter.

 

Fremer is highly influential in the audiophile market - I guess, as I don't really follow that crew.

But assuming he is, it's worth it for Electric to give him the records due to all the publicity involved.

For them to sell, they need a respected voice - or 2, or 3 - to give the thumb's up...

 

Crud, I've got a relatively dinky review website, and I've gotten probably more than $200,000 in review product sent to me over the decades!

Of course, those DVDs/Blu-rays didn't cost $400 a pop - though I got a few $200+ boxed sets over the years.

Anyway, businesses send out free product all the time. It's advertising!

 

Do you know for a fact that they damage the product they send to Fremer? Don't mean this to sound accusatory - just curious.

With all the DVDs/BDs I've gotten, I'd estimate 70-80% came "factory new". Some had hole punches, some had scratches on the bar codes, but most were the same as if I'd purchased them at the store!

 

Hutchison defends such efforts as part of the label’s devotion to authenticity. But it comes at a cost. Its manufacturing methods, and the quality-control attention paid to each record, bring no economies of scale. So Electric Recording would gain no reduction in expenses if it made more, thus negating the question Hutchison is most frequently asked: Why not press more records and sell them more cheaply?

“We probably make the most expensive records in the world,” Hutchison said, “and make the least profit.”