Leave it to UMG USA for a novel way to thin out their inventory backlog. By the most radical method available in a Capitalist society. They are simply giving the records away for the cost of postage! Albums that were normally $29.95-$35.95 are now $0.00. But you’ll still pay the $8.00 postage for the record. That’s not exactly the lowest cost to move a record, but also pretty far from the highest.
A glance at the inventory reveals plenty of licorice pizzas that this Monk would not mind eating. Titles by such staunch core collection acts as OMD, Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music, but also artists of a newer vintage we have time for like Frankie Goes To Hollywood, P.J. Harvey, and Beastie Boys. Do I, personally, need any of these? Well, I’m in a huge culling phase right now, and I have everything I’d want already on the silver disc, and I did already buy the Roxy Music Steven Wilson 2.0 remix of the classic debut album, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about the two OMD albums on offer.
Prior to last year, if you wanted a copy of the 90s OMD album “Universal,” you would have been assured of a solid three-figure outlay since 90s LPs of those titles were relegated to short run UK/Euro/South American [!] pressings where the silver disc was last to penetrate the market. The move of UMG to reissue the albums on LP made perfect sense, looking at the numbers of wants and the price on Discogs.com, but apparently they overestimated the demand from OMD collectors. And now they can be had for the postage.
And that’s not to say that five to ten years from now, the possibly still growing OMD fanbase [those festival gigs really paid off…] might not be still ready to pay three figures for those future OOP [a second time] albums yet again! Remember: today’s cutout is tomorrow’s collectible! Sometimes, at least. If I had the $16.00 laying around to pay for postage, and were a speculating person, I might be motivated, just on the face of being an OMD fan who “collects” the band.
I only have their debut, the original UK die cut “Dazzle Ships,” and “Junk Culture,” from the pre-reunion period on LP. Of which the first two would be among the bitter end last things I’d sell off if I had to, but I have bought every one of their modern vinyl records… apart from the UK RSD 10″ singles which were too pricey from day one for my budget, and the “English Electric” album that was the only album of their modern ones not to be included in the deluxe boxed versions of those on offer. I once actually saw it at my local emporium for $22.00 but demurred on it!
Still, I do take perverse solace in the idea that UMG themselves have overestimated consumer interest in their stock, even in the current vinyl bubble, to the point where taking the tax break on giving the records away is their best fiscal bet. Could this be the first harbinger to the Great Vinyl Crash™ yet to come? The current trend is towards unsustainability and this suggests that UMG themselves know it. And it should also be said that old guard “classic rock dudes” like Paul McCartney , Elton John were also in evidence in this liquidation! So it’s not just a case of OMD being too obscure to sell, but points to a larger miscalculation from UMG that’s telling. If you like [almost] free LPs then D.J. hit that button. This probably won’t last too much longer.
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Post-Punk Monk 
Guess the McCartney collectors market is not bottomless.
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Dave – Uh, yeah!!! I remember the variations for his latest solo album selling for a small fortune in the aftermarket, was it last year?
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Nor PJ Harvey. Sheesh.
I don’t see anything here I would need.
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It’s not just records: they want to reduce their physical product storage cost to zero. They had originally planned for ALL physical product to be gone by 2021 end.
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alonewithstrangers – So now just-in-time manufacturing is the norm for physical music products! Say goodbye to physical catalog sales! If you don’t buy it when it’s announced, it’s “too late for you!” I am expecting all CDs to become CD-Rs any day now. In ten years a glass mastered CD will be impossible to manufacture as the infrastructure will have been completely abandoned. And records will be the only physical musical product available. At eye-watering costs. [Monk wants to wake up in a cold sweat at this moment… but he’s fully awake! Reality has become the nightmare!]
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I think you are being too optimistic. No physical product at all from the majors: it just isn’t worth it for them.
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alonewithstrangers – So right. With streaming they get their money for nothing! That’s why Rubellan Remasters has such a trying time to license and produce CDs in the current death throes of the physical music market. He’s quite vocal on his travails. Sony has made it all but impossible to license titles for CD; introducing the notion that all band members now have to approve the proposal! It might be kinder if the majors would just take off the mask and come right out and declare the CD era over. If all I could buy was LPs for the rest of my life then I’ll have to just stop buying music. I have more than enough to ride out the rest of my days without streaming. Which still has zero appeal to me.
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No I don’t think that is why Scott has found it hard. Universal won’t care if they can make some money licensing out material *if they have no current plans to use it themselves*…
Maybe they have plans for the things Scott wants to licence….? Who knows, eh?
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I don’t know what the deal is, but this freebie inventory seems in constant flux. You add something to your car, then go back for something else, come back, and what you originally added was gone. But later on it can be re-added…until it disappears again. I was thinking about replacing my used copies of Boys and Girls and The Bride Stripped Bare with new ones, and maybe picking up some Traffic albums, but my patience is at an end with their cart system, so screw it. None of those are important enough for me to waste my time.
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Michael Toland – I’ve heard on the Hoffman forums that the cart allows a single item to be “purchased.” So every LP you want will require a separate shipping fee.
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hi michael,
try adding one at a time.
the cost will still be 0.
i couldn’t add more than one, but it worked in the end.
later
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ne gative 1
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hi mr monk,
thanks for the heads up. got a couple of records,
a 2lp live from steely dan, and the u2 – 11 oclock tick tock reissue 12 inch.
i could not order both together though, and had to put each one in
separately.
also, the frankie goes to hollywood – liverpool lp, showed up, but
could not be purchased unfortunately.
later
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ne gative 1
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negative1ne – So you confirmed my response to Michael Toland. Steely Dan? I wouldn’t have pegged you as a fan! I learn something new every day.
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hi mr monk,
i am a fan of the latter steely dan, like aja, and gaucho, and the last 2.
i also have a nearly complete donald fagen collection, all his album, cd singles, cassette singles, imports, vinyl 7, and 12 inchers.
this is a leftover from my classic rock days. you don’t bring up those bands much, but i have the basics from boston, dire straits, cheap trick, doors, doobie brothers, eagles, electric light orchestra, fleetwood mac, foreigner, genesis, phil collisn, journey, rush, steve miller band, styx, supertramp, the police, tom petty, van halen, yes and more. grew up listening to them on the radio in the 70s, so they are always on my consciousness.
later
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ne gative 1
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Hey -1, you might be either amused or infuriated by http://www.ifhtb.com
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No I don’t think that is why Scott has found it hard. Universal won’t care if they can make some money licensing out material *if they have no current plans to use it themselves*…
Maybe they have plans for the things Scott wants to licence….? Who knows, eh?
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alonewithstrangers – Well, UMG are the only one of the big three that will even deign to play ball with him. There’s probably not much call for microlabels putting out niche product in the major’s view.
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hi mr monk,
the hits keep coming.
ended up going back, and got 2 more records.
the 2xlp – frankie goes to hollywood – welcome to the pleasurdome,
and also their 2nd and last album – liverpool.
the 2xlp greatest hits was sold out.
so it was about a $50 value, and shipping came out to $18.
these were the best deals i’ve seen from a domestic site.
later
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negative1ne – That’s great! I only finally got an original “Pleasuredome” on 2xLP a few years ago at the “basement” sale at a local store.
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Y’know, I was thinking… instead of giving them away for the cost of shipping (padded out to also pay their labor cost, it seems), why not sell them for a penny. That way they could record it as a sale and be able to exploit those inflated sales numbers.
Then it occurred to me that if there is no sale, there is no royalty payment. In order to cover the artist’s cut, UMG would have to sell these discs for somewhere in the vicinity of $3 (this is a guesstimate and it would be different case by case) in order to break even. But giving them away they probably dodge the performance royalties to the artists and the publishing royalties to the songwriters.
Which also means that if we order these discs, we’re fucking the artists over.
This is speculation, don’t take my word on it, but I’m moderately confident (based on my years working in the biz) that this is what’s going on.
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JT – Brother, you said a mouthful! Looks like the industry just figured out how to do cutouts again! Either that or they claim the giveaway as “promotion!”
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OK, so I’m late to the party, but where are the $0 LP’s? I’ve looked on the website and everything still shows the regular price. I tried adding one of the mentioned items but it still showed the list price. I’m sure there’s not much I would want but there could be some things I was on the fence about.
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Scott – They were on the first three pages of the link, showing as $0.00 so maybe they cleared out of there quickly. I saw the mention of this on the Steve Hoffman Forums the day before I posted so people were grabbing them. You probably didn’t miss much! I mentioned the highlights: Ferry, OMD, P. J. Harvey’s recent compilations. There was still a lot of classic and new rock in the mix. It was just… interesting. I suspect that JT was correct in assuming that this was a way to clear out the warehouse without giving a dime to the artists involved! At least when you shred inventory your royalty payments were paid up front. It’s you who [very sadly] took the hit on those. The labels make sure they always come out on top!
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