spintheblackestcircles.org

Was out with the family yesterday so missed both the Waxwork drop and gnashing of teeth.

When I logged in at 8pm UK time everything was gone from WW. Luckily I saw it listed at Transmission by chance and bagged a regular one there at the last minute along with a tape of Basket Case for just over £50 for both delivered... and now count myself very fortunate having read through the posts on here (even though the cracking ice deluxe and booklet would have been cool, I would personally rather drop that sort of cash on an OG).

I think any label has to weigh up the virtues of exclusivity to create a buzz and the potentially negative PR risk of P***ing off folks who then can't get one.

As others have pointed out been a long time since we've had bunch of people back on here chewing the fat together. Shame in a way that it is exclusivity or moaning about shipping that gets people engaged.... all about the music at the end of the day, which most STBC-ers appreciate ;)

I've never heard such nonsense, Spun. I buy records solely as test purchases to monitor shipping and Customs costs, and if I don't like what I see, this is where I come to discuss it!

chiefbrody wrote:I've never heard such nonsense, Spun. I buy records solely as test purchases to monitor shipping and Customs costs, and if I don't like what I see, this is where I come to discuss it!

Now I understand what it is I am actually doing! I need to get the spreadsheet out! Damn you consumer advice research masquerading as vinyl record collecting!

@chief
@bez

Heh, heh. The spirit of @mateo is strong in you two :)

Now, with all this in mind! I can't tell enough what great job Deathwaltz did with the two Twin Peaks releases!!! They knew the demand will be massive - Waxwork and Deathwaltz/Mondo ;-)

chiefbrody wrote:I am concerned at the cost of releases to be honest, without being too moany. I can live without them, so I have some perspective, but at what point did £35 for a single LP become the norm? I bought F13 Part II for about £18, and that wasn't so long ago.

Tell me about it. I can't remember the last time I bought a Mondo/Waxworks record; I just can't justify paying those prices for the stupid fetish objects these releases have become.

Silva Screen, Milan, Invada, Finders Keepers etc. are where it's at for me.

zuko wrote:
Tell me about it. I can't remember the last time I bought a Mondo/Waxworks record; I just can't justify paying those prices for the stupid fetish objects these releases have become.

Silva Screen, Milan, Invada, Finders Keepers etc. are where it's at for me.

It's just a fad. People care more about what item looks like rather than how it sounds.

I try and balance our releases out for instance some of the Italian stuff we release has up to three licensers so it is always going to be a little expensive but say with Contraband I'm able to do it for $25 and Originals tiles are $22 tops we tried to keep Twin Peaks affordable and were lucking because we pressed so many . Pricing is always super tricky for labels especially when they are doing crazy packaging like this, I mean I am sure The Thing will look immense in hand, I bet if they just pressed a bare bones version they'd get heat for it not being bells and whistles.... very tricky to traverse.

I couldn't help myself from messing with some of those guys on the Facebook page. The sense of entitlement some of these clowns have is ridiculous jfc.

They sold 1500 copies of the deluxe and while it may look like a lot on went ebay, I'd wager less than 100 copies were flipped. Well over 90% of the run went to collectors, but it's impossible to get through to them.

Good points all around Spencer, too often i get the sense that people on Facebook and other social platforms forget the business aspect of this stuff and what you, Moe, Kevin, Suzie, Seb, Chad and others actually have to do to put these releases out. It has been so long since a release generated this kind of vitriol that I think people should remember the days when EVERY release felt like this. (The old F13 days, or even...the Fog hahaha)

I am super psyched for this release. I bought the deluxe but I will admit I waited about 15 minutes before I actually purchased it. The price definitely had me questioning if I wanted to spend that much for a single LP. It is the most I ever spent for a new LP that was only a single slab of wax. Down the line I am sure I will be happy with it and forget about the cost but it did sting a bit.
I looks amazing in the photos, that's for sure.

Thanks for chipping in Spencer. I don't think any of us on here want to see any of the labels take a bath on releases. It's easy to appreciate that deluxe packaging costs more and licensing will vary, one release to the next. It's becoming a more expensive choice than it used to be (certainly in the UK), but it is a choice - a personal decision for everyone what it's worth and how important it is.

I picked up the standard version of this (thanks to Transmission) and - with some shame - I confess that it's the most I've ever paid for a single LP. I suspect that's low for the STBC crowd, but I'd usually rather buy 2 'standard' releases for around the same value than one 'deluxe' (not even deluxe in this case!). I make a point of having a few 'grails' as I can - this was one of them.

Spun out of control wrote:@chief
@bez

Heh, heh. The spirit of @mateo is strong in you two :)

deathwaltz wrote:I try and balance our releases out for instance some of the Italian stuff we release has up to three licensers so it is always going to be a little expensive but say with Contraband I'm able to do it for $25 and Originals tiles are $22 tops we tried to keep Twin Peaks affordable and were lucking because we pressed so many . Pricing is always super tricky for labels especially when they are doing crazy packaging like this, I mean I am sure The Thing will look immense in hand, I bet if they just pressed a bare bones version they'd get heat for it not being bells and whistles.... very tricky to traverse.

Appreciate your insights and transparency, DW. It's interesting stuff. Thanks for weighing in.

I'm sure the last thing WW want is for fans to be upset.

Pressing numbers are difficult to get right at the best of times with a release like this it's nigh on impossible!

Vinyl is definitely going up though, Brexit is going to kill us in the UK over the next few years, I saw Sonos just increased all their prices across their range by 25% as a direct result of Brexit and Kim is seeing all imports rising 10-15% right now and one can assume it is only going to get worse.

It all depends on the title I think. I remember people lost their damned minds about the price when Looper came out. That was something like $60 for a double LP in a movie prop quality canvas bag with gatefold, mirror embossing details and a 7" in a picture sleeve... Not sure how many got made but suspect mondo still has hundreds of them in a warehouse. Arguably much cooler (and expensive!) to physically produce but didnt have the hype of a title like Thing. Still one of the most badass physical releases in my collection.

http://waxworkrecords.com/blogs/news/the-thing-update

Very sensible points they make, though I'm not 100% convinced that they're not making some money on the $50 shipping costs...

I also don't understand why they're not just straight up about their pressing numbers (especially when it's fairly evident in their system). I remember 3-4 years ago when they started and the glow-in-the-dark Re-Animator limited to 110 copies hadn't sold out after a few weeks. I got a copy but that was of course also randomly inserted, although it appeared that people from STBC were "lucky" to get the limited variant :)

^^ That's great. Bet that wiped the smirk off their face real quick once they had to refund their buyers on ebay.

Really good response from WW on this. I'm impressed by them tackling the flippers, and are clearly keen to make sure everyone can get a copy in the long run, and to be as fair as possible. Very cool.

To change the topic from gripes and Brexit woes (and woes-to-come), I am looking forward to getting this a lot. It's unbelievable that it's been out of print so long. For me, the classic Carpenter scores (ie to Carpenter films) should never be out of print. They should be like Kind of Blue, Purple Rain or Pet Sounds - it just shouldn't happen!

@chandler - Based on the Waxwork blog entry you just posted, it sounds like the deluxe version plus packing material and shipping box could weigh over three pounds. If so, the USPS First Class International shipping rates (least expensive option) is $49.50 to the UK. There is just no way around it, and UPS and FedEx are even more expensive than that. I'm not sure about DHL, as I tend to avoid them at all costs.

@Bez - Do you ever order DWRC releases from Tranmission? It might be worth looking into to save some money.

For anybody who still hates everything about this, you could find an OG copy on black vinyl for $30-50 USD depending on condition. The prices might even drop a bit now. Just be patient and you will find one.

Kudos to WW - they really handled this situation well.

And this gives me the chance to reconsider if I want to shell out all that money for the deluxe.

Well done, Waxwork.

I'm in stitches -- "shut the fuck up, kenneth!" Bahahaha

Go fuck yourself, Kenneth.