1. A lot of the grumbling has to do less with the product itself and more with the experience of owning the product. More copies doesn't change their physical box set but it does change the context of the set and their personal experience, which in turn changes the meaning. It'd be interesting to hear about whether a band is ethically and/or legally responsible for delivering a specific experience or meaning to it's fans through product.
2. I've heard a lot of parties make comments that suggest they 'earned' the privilege of not having the box set made more available because they stood in line or did some digging/extra work. I think this is pretty flawed and only looks at the situation from one's own narrow perspective. Plenty of people waited in line for hours and didn't get the box set. I'm sure people walked into a slow store and easily grabbed the box set without a fight. I'd argue that luck is more of a factor in why anyone was able to receive their box set from a physical store on RSD than effort. If you lived far from a store that had a copy, you could have waited in line for 4 days or stood on one leg and sang the Animaniacs capitals song...your effort wouldn't have produced the privilege to own a Cake box set. It was mostly the fortune of being near a shop and then camping.
3. People who bought on eBay have to accept that they crossed the ethical picket line and it is going to seem very silly to everyone if you decide to cross back over and join the angry Cake fans who didn't go looking for flipped product.
4. There are a lot of interesting collector pet peeves about color, numbering, etc. that I think are totally valid to have as serious collectors but I'm not sure every release has to abide by those preferences. If Cake wanted to release a serious collector's only release, they shouldn't put it out on RSD or on their site. They should release tickets through some darkweb IRC channel so that civilians, like myself and most Cake fans, don't even get the privilege of knowing the release exists!
5. The "bathed in tears" post is great.
6. LOL at Cake fans who want the band to fix their marital spats over the use of money to buy the set or other interpersonal personal problems that have nothing to do with this release or Cake.
7. My last thought is that it's kind of sad that an experience as wild as being a crazy dude or lady camping out on Record Store Day 2014, an experience and activity that carries its own priceless value and uniqueness and scarcity (it can never be replicated...like ever), can become so easily invalidated or tarnished...and by an action whose intent is so well meaning. Some claim that this is a well orchestrated conspiracy by the band but unless there is some proof of an inefficient, expensive, time-consuming, low reward plan to screw over strangers, I have to look at it as a positive move to make their fans happy.
That experience being so easily ruined makes me think that some parties aren't looking at their pretty awesome experience at RSD as a self-fulfilling moment and qualifying it as only being 'worth' it if there is some illusion of an exclusive or element. That kind of sucks if that is how experiences work. I personally wish I could have gone to RSD and participated in the hobo line lifestyle and picked up something cool. Instead I woke up late and went to a store at 3pm and got the Deer Tick and Chad VanGaalen 7' that no one cares about. Don't take that experience for granted. It's not all about the t-shirt or material token you get at the end (or how rare the token is).
11:42PST right when the newsletter went out, right hours after y'all got yours here. Still listed as back order.
