vinyl geeks pay attention! (1 Viewer)

[mjp]

Jack wouldn't want someone paying more than the $5.00 original value!

If that was true, Jack would make 10,000 of them, not 300. Then they couldn't be resold for a profit.

He knows full well this stuff will end up on eBay, and if it sells for some ridiculous amount, people will talk about it. They'll talk about his record company. It's marketing. You can wrap it up in a wacky gosh-aren't-we-counterculture package, but it's really nothing but marketing. That's all any limited edition anything is. You are giving something a value that it wouldn't normally have by making it scarce.

There's nothing wrong with that. But it shouldn't surprise you.

 

[chronic]

I'm holding off on buying one until they put out a triple-decker with cheese.

 

[d gray]

i'm pretty sure this ones comes with cheese...

 

[nervas]

If that was true, Jack would make 10,000 of them, not 300. Then they couldn't be resold for a profit.

mjp, the sarcasm font was intended on that one.

 

[mjp]

No sarcasm there.

When someone who regularly sells more than a million copies of his albums releases 300 copies of something, what would be the expected result?

Point being, someone who sells a million albums could release 10,000 copies of something and it would still be limited. It would still be unusual. But everyone who really wanted it could get it without being screwed by an eBay middleman.

Making this thing a lottery or a contest or a subscription service only adds to the gimmickry of it. If you told me it was $5 a month I might have a different take on it. But he's charging outrageous prices and fucking you over if you want to hear all his music as well.

It all feels like some perverse rich guy hobby he does to amuse himself. If he really gave a shit about you he'd make sure you had access to everything he did. He wouldn't dangle it in front of you and say, "Isn't this awesome? You can't have it."

 

[nervas]

No, what I meant was, I am the one who intended sarcasm by saying Jack didn't want anyone paying more than 5 bucks....I'm certain he doesn't give a shit about what some fan in the middle of Nebraska or California is paying to hear, or collect this stuff.

I know he knows what he's doing by creating and making them such limited editions. I just don't get, why even as a marketing scheme this makes more sense? Let's say they did make 10,000.00, and still sold then for 5 bucks a pop, and they all sold, gross profit is somewhere around 50K towards his record company. So they make 300 at 5 bucks a pop generating 1,500 in gross profits. Now is the word of mouth, the talk generated really bring in the extra 48,500.00 that could have been generated?

I hate that third man records chooses to do it this way, but I am happy when I get my hands on one of these for a reasonable price. But I don't get it fully, because it seems he'd make more money in the end by just making it available to everyone.

 

[Gin Soaked Boy]

I dont think its about money. As u nervas, and mjp say, its marketing. The music on the album is probably shit but that doesn't matter since he gains all this cultural capital in "hip" circles from producing something new and "groundbreaking". The absence of financial profit on this record he'll gain when he produces an ordinary album that people actually can afford. The dude plays at the white house - he's not really in any kind of financial craphole.

 

[Mark73]

[SARCASM]People, wake up and see who Jack White really is. He's collecting all the money for charity projects.[/SARCASM]

 

[hoochmonkey9]

Jack White hits ebay, gets flak, fires back.

link.

(and if you have time, check out the 100 Records story below the Jack White one. pretty ambitious project.)

 

[mjp]

It's funny that someone making limited editions complains that they don't make any money from them. Or not enough money, apparently. As if he didn't know there would be a secondary market for that stuff. Sure.

The problem for him is that a few of the records get onto the market and sell for an inflated price, and that makes the entire run seem more valuable. But it's not. If he puts out 100 copies of something and 5 of those copies sell on eBay for $250, that doesn't mean he could sell all 100 copies for $250 each. The rarity causes those secondary market prices, he knows that, he's using that rarity as a marketing tool himself!

So his argument doesn't make sense. If he wants more money to go to him and the artists, increase the price. Sell those 100 copies for $50 each and be done with it. The secondary market will still be there, but the company and the artists get a bigger slice of the overall pie.

And while we're on the subject, I wanted to post this when I heard about it, but decided not to. Now it seems relevant though, so how many of you bought the $500 White Stripes record player?

If you read the description, basically what you're getting for that $500 is a 7" single. Oh, and a bunch of boxes and a $9 Chinese record player.

And to think that people used to look down their noses at KISS for selling transistor radios and trading cards. How is this any different? (Hint: it isn't. Oh wait, the KISS radio was probably $7, so there's that.)

The 100 records thing is cool.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I had a KISS lunchbox in grade 5.

 

[mjp]

I'm surprised Black hasn't tapped that market yet with a $250 White Stripes vinyl lunchbox.

 

[bospress.net]

I had a KISS lunchbox in grade 5.

me too. Plus I had a bunch of their albums on 8 track...

Jack White hits ebay, gets flak, fires back.

link.

What a twat this guy is. He exploits his fans and then complains that he is exploiting them to keep others from exploiting them. Twat.

 

[reasonknot]

Yes.what a twat.I would never buy that pak.
But i bought two things yesterday.Milk and Mineshaft stuff.and a third attempt from bosp,still waiting on confirmation on that.
Sweet.

 

[nervas]

I have gone both ways on the Jack White thing, for a while now. When I get the email about things like 100 glow in the dark records, or the triple decker record, or the $499.00 box set above, it just pisses me off. I know there are bigger fans, and definitely fans with more money than me. But I still consider Jack White and anything he's connected to as a favorite of all time, really only behind The Beatles, Iggy, Pearl Jam, Conor Oberst and The Ramones. But jesus man, when I saw what came in that $499.00 thing, I thought what the hell is this? I think the real overall value is about $100.00! The 7" is a re-pressing, you can get the original for about 100 bucks on eBay. I just kinda lost interest in trying to collect this shit anymore. I mean, I wasn't collecting Kiss stuff in the 70's, but I've always thought that stuff was available to anyone who wanted it. Oh well, whatever I think doesn't matter, Jack keeps doing it, and it always sells out faster than the last thing he put out.

Ah, screw it.

 

[james]

re: the 100 records project, yep, very cool. i've been a fan of sonny and the sunsets for a little while now. everyone should check 'em out when they get tired of complaining about mr. white....

i meant to quote hooch when he mentioned it but i guess i screwed up.

 

[nervas]

I hope they find me...