I just re-watched the Vinyl documentary with Nicci yesterday, and burnt a copy of it to CD for one of my bosses, so of course I feel compelled to speak about record collecting today. I'm not going to discuss the process of acquiring new albums, or the analyze the psychology of someone who attempts to fill holes in their life with material possessions. I'm going to rant about how more and more bands and record labels are engaging in "limited edition" releases as a last-ditch effort to make dwindling audiences more greatly appreciate their recorded output.
When it comes to ripping off fans, the biggest offender has to be Southern Lord Records. A quick glance at their website is all one needs to understand how guilty they are of robbing folks blind. The first news item on their front page contains the headline, "Boris Smile CD+DVD (special 2 disc set LTD. edition mailorder version)". The release is "limited" to 3,000 copies. If you click through to the label's web store, you are bombarded with different options and configurations of this package that range from $13 - $45. Then there is the "Boris w/ Merzbow - Rock Dream 3xLP", which is "ultra-deluxe," limited to "a little over 3,800" copies, plus, the vinyl version contains a bonus track and costs $32. A few years ago, when fans were paying ridiculous amounts of money for the imported Japanese version of the Boris album Pink, Southern Lord decided to do a limited edition pink-splatter vinyl version of the record. Those quickly sold out, and several months later they decided to re-issue the colored vinyl version (on different colored vinyl), quickly making the original copies obsolete. One must look no further than the pressing info for the much ballyhooed (and much boring!) Boris/Sunn O))) collaboration Altar to understand how disgustingly greedy the label and bands are when it comes to suckering folks into buying overpriced "limited" (but not really) releases. There are exactly ELEVEN "limited" versions of Altar, sets of which were printed in runs of anywhere from 500 to 2,000, on various colored vinyl combinations, plus a picture disc LP. The Boris-owned Inoxia label is equally guilty. If you want their deluxe "limited" version of the Rainbow album (the US version is already overpriced at $35), you can expect to pay about $265 for it. What do you get for your money? Two extra tracks, a video clip (not even a concert DVD?), and a box that won't fit on your record shelf. Even boring, regular old standard black vinyl releases on Southern Lord are overpriced at $16-17.
Hydra Head Records has slightly better prices (from $10-$22) for a standard release -- although $18 for a boring Jesu EP is excessive -- but they too are guilty of terrible business policies, especially when it comes to releases from Pelican, Jesu and Isis. All are available in "limited" and in various colored-vinyl configurations. None sell. It's fucking retarded. You could walk into a certain large (and somewhat bland from a quality standpoint) Hollywood record store today and find twenty copies of the new Pelican album on "limited" colored wax. The "limited" color Jesu releases were still sitting on shelves nearly half a year after the original release. Pelican is by far the worst Hydra Head offender, because they don't even have the audience to cash-in on, but they continue to try and exploit their non-existent audience with retarded "limited" releases. There are at least four different versions of Australasia, none of which sell very well. They even went so far as the re-issue what was originally a tour-only version of March Into The Sea in an attempt to make more money. Priced at $11, you can tell no one is chomping at the bit to obtain a copy.
It started with these labels, and now it's spread to countless others. As of maybe two years ago, Temporary Residence began offering limited color vinyl pressings of every single release. To their benefit, they don't overcharge for vinyl. In fact, they probably have the best mail-order service around. Sure, everything used to cost $10-12, and now they range from $11-15, but that's very fair when compared to most labels. Matador Records (ugh, fucking Matador!) has absolutely no idea how retarded their prices are. The new Stephen Malkmus album? $18. The new Cat Power album? $24. Their standard mail-order prices make Southern Lord's look cheap. The new Dead Meadow album (by far the band's worst) was, naturally, offered in a limited run of 500 copies on colored vinyl. Those "expanded" Mission Of Burma reissues (the originals of which can be found at most used record stores) each cost $24.
Even Elliott Smith, whose albums XO and Figure 8 were originally pressed by micro-indie Bong Load, have been revamped and reissued in "limited" quantities, some of which are numbered, color-vinyl editions.
All of these infractions serve only to hurt consumers and devalue the music inscribed in those grooves (or polycarbinate plastic, in the case of CDs), which is, after all, the most important aspect of purchasing an album. Granted, I don't own a record label during this tumultuous economic era, so I don't know just how hard these folks are struggling to stay in business. I just think that hard times call for a plan that allows music fans to more easily procure albums. A record label consciously trying to manufacture a market for its releases by raising prices and limiting the number of available copies is detrimental to people who want to actually support the artists. It used to be that labels pressed a certain number of records based on expected sales, and if those sold out the market for second-hand copies created itself. This era of cutting back spending in order to charge more and create higher demand for a product is sickening to witness.
Here's a little DID YOU KNOW:
The only Beatles album still in print is Abbey Road.
More fun facts tomorrow. LOST returns tonight!
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Oh, please. We barely make any profit on vinyl. We press out RTI on HQ180 vinyl, and manufacture gatefold sleeves at Stoughton - the costs are huge. Those Burma records - the originals of which are extremely hard to find btw! - were remastered all-analog, live from the original master tapes, without a computer or any digital processing, at Sterling. Do you have any idea how time-consuming and expensive that is? In addition, there are extra tracks not on the original vinyl. We are actually LOSING money on the Burma reissues - they're a total labor of love. Sorry, but you have no idea what you're talking about.
I have to agree with Patrick here. If you are the fan, you're always going to obsess over the records. I'm a record collector, I should know. But when it comes to pressing up records as a label head or as an artist, it involves much more than just playing the music, mixing, and mastering it. While I have not been involved in any heavy reissue programs like Matador (but would love the opportunity), it's a way of getting that old music out there to old and new fans, and it costs money. I released a series of four 12" singles a few years ago, at a low pressing of 100 copies each. I wanted it to be limited not to sell and meet the demand, but to have my music out there on a format I always enjoyed listening to. It was roughly $750 each for a pressing of 100 records, including the UPS shipment of four boxes with 25 records in each one. It's not cheap, but when you are in the business of "selling" records, you want to make it appealing so fans can come back to it. The great thing about downloading music is that it's free. The bad thing about it is that for a lot of people, it eliminates the need to see and know the effort that was put into making that music available in the first place.
Otherwise, any of us who make music would be playing congas at local parks with a donation hat in front, hoping for the best.
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