- Thu Nov 24, 2016 5:27 pm
#89064
Hey, Guys. It has been a while!
We wanted to clear up some concerns about the upcoming 2017 Subscription.
First, thank you so much for the support. Seriously. It means everything. We wouldn't be doing this without the support of you guys, and we truly know it.
Regarding the 2017 Subscription Service, it's going to be an amazing year. The titles, along with everything else that comes with the upcoming 2017 Subscription, will certainly make this one the best, yet.
A concern that we noticed some people are having is the drop in the discount for subscribers from 18% to 10%. There are numerous reasons why we did this. For the 2015 and 2016 subscriptions, we really wanted to offer a generous discount that no other label was offering. An 18% is a very attractive and a great discount to use for anything Waxwork releases for an entire year. After a subscription sale ends, we supply subscribers with a private subscriber discount code and we are very explicit that the code is for you and you only. Unfortunately, some subscribers have abused that incentive, and have given their discount codes to their friends and other non subscribers. In 2016 alone, the discounts tallied up to over $30,000. So, as you can imagine, we lost a lot of money there. We can see who uses the discount codes, their e-mail addresses, names, contact info, addresses. It's unfortunate that folks that paid money for the subscription also gave their private codes away to non subscribers. Some have even posted it here on the board, recently. So, we are developing a way to prevent this from happening again.
Another reason why we dropped the discount from 18% to 10% is because of what goes into making our products. Unlike other record labels, we refuse to outsource manufacturing of Waxwork products to other countries in return for price breaks or cheap labor. We tried out working with a pressing plant abroad in 2015, and it was a disaster. Shipping rates were astronomical, the quality was poor, and there was little to no quality control. We couldn't get anyone on the phone and had to work with brokers. After a very small handful of releases in 2015 pressed abroad, we quickly circled back with Erika Records (a minority / family owned pressing plant that has been doing this for over 30 years). It's great being able to speak directly with them, and even visit the plant to check out production of our releases. We also have all of our print materials made at Stoughton (jackets, inserts, etc.), another American company that is family owned and have been leading the industry for over 50 years. We do this because we want to offer a superior product. Products that we, ourselves, would like to own. Products that we can be proud of.
We don't cut corners, ever. To offer a deluxe product, and to also offer a generous discount to subscribers, we must look at our bottom line and reduce the discount percentage. We believe that subscribers will be getting an incredible product, and also receiving a fair discount on anything and everything available from Waxwork in 2017.
Someone recently mentioned here that "Waxwork is becoming one of the big boy labels" and losing our "DIY punk credibility". That couldn't be further from the truth. The truth is exactly the opposite of those statements. To this day, we are still an independent, small staffed, record label. No bigger company owns Waxwork (and that can look bad on us when trying to work with some folks in the industry). We have never wavered, weakened, sold our company, partnered with a bigger company, gave up operations, etc.
Waxwork operates at a truly DIY independent level while being a staunch competitor to other companies, period. We don't have 20+ employees, deep pockets, or behind-the-curtain operations funding our label unknown to our fans and customers. There are also no safety nets. We 100% rely on sales from our awesome customers.
The Subscription is only slightly more expensive for 2017 than in previous years. When you see what will be going into the packaging and other bonus items, you'll understand why.
Waxwork is evolving and growing, and it's because of you guys. We work extremely hard everyday and this is all that we do. Waxwork is a lifestyle for us. At the end of the day, we honestly couldn't do it without the support of our fans that are so dedicated.
We hope this clears up a bit of the concerns about the upcoming Subscription, and will hopefully answers some questions. If you have any other questions, we're here to answer them.
We wanted to clear up some concerns about the upcoming 2017 Subscription.
First, thank you so much for the support. Seriously. It means everything. We wouldn't be doing this without the support of you guys, and we truly know it.
Regarding the 2017 Subscription Service, it's going to be an amazing year. The titles, along with everything else that comes with the upcoming 2017 Subscription, will certainly make this one the best, yet.
A concern that we noticed some people are having is the drop in the discount for subscribers from 18% to 10%. There are numerous reasons why we did this. For the 2015 and 2016 subscriptions, we really wanted to offer a generous discount that no other label was offering. An 18% is a very attractive and a great discount to use for anything Waxwork releases for an entire year. After a subscription sale ends, we supply subscribers with a private subscriber discount code and we are very explicit that the code is for you and you only. Unfortunately, some subscribers have abused that incentive, and have given their discount codes to their friends and other non subscribers. In 2016 alone, the discounts tallied up to over $30,000. So, as you can imagine, we lost a lot of money there. We can see who uses the discount codes, their e-mail addresses, names, contact info, addresses. It's unfortunate that folks that paid money for the subscription also gave their private codes away to non subscribers. Some have even posted it here on the board, recently. So, we are developing a way to prevent this from happening again.
Another reason why we dropped the discount from 18% to 10% is because of what goes into making our products. Unlike other record labels, we refuse to outsource manufacturing of Waxwork products to other countries in return for price breaks or cheap labor. We tried out working with a pressing plant abroad in 2015, and it was a disaster. Shipping rates were astronomical, the quality was poor, and there was little to no quality control. We couldn't get anyone on the phone and had to work with brokers. After a very small handful of releases in 2015 pressed abroad, we quickly circled back with Erika Records (a minority / family owned pressing plant that has been doing this for over 30 years). It's great being able to speak directly with them, and even visit the plant to check out production of our releases. We also have all of our print materials made at Stoughton (jackets, inserts, etc.), another American company that is family owned and have been leading the industry for over 50 years. We do this because we want to offer a superior product. Products that we, ourselves, would like to own. Products that we can be proud of.
We don't cut corners, ever. To offer a deluxe product, and to also offer a generous discount to subscribers, we must look at our bottom line and reduce the discount percentage. We believe that subscribers will be getting an incredible product, and also receiving a fair discount on anything and everything available from Waxwork in 2017.
Someone recently mentioned here that "Waxwork is becoming one of the big boy labels" and losing our "DIY punk credibility". That couldn't be further from the truth. The truth is exactly the opposite of those statements. To this day, we are still an independent, small staffed, record label. No bigger company owns Waxwork (and that can look bad on us when trying to work with some folks in the industry). We have never wavered, weakened, sold our company, partnered with a bigger company, gave up operations, etc.
Waxwork operates at a truly DIY independent level while being a staunch competitor to other companies, period. We don't have 20+ employees, deep pockets, or behind-the-curtain operations funding our label unknown to our fans and customers. There are also no safety nets. We 100% rely on sales from our awesome customers.
The Subscription is only slightly more expensive for 2017 than in previous years. When you see what will be going into the packaging and other bonus items, you'll understand why.
Waxwork is evolving and growing, and it's because of you guys. We work extremely hard everyday and this is all that we do. Waxwork is a lifestyle for us. At the end of the day, we honestly couldn't do it without the support of our fans that are so dedicated.
We hope this clears up a bit of the concerns about the upcoming Subscription, and will hopefully answers some questions. If you have any other questions, we're here to answer them.