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Topshelf Records 2018 Vinyl Subscription


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19 minutes ago, swb said:

It's a bummer when labels struggle with managing their subscriptions. I ended my Tiny Engines sub this year after they trimmed back what is included while increasing the price and I might have to do the same for my Topshelf and Joyful Noise subs. Joyful Noise is pretty much a guaranteed cancel as they've forgotten to ship out my order for the last 5+ months. It is a bit annoying to drop a few hundred on a subscription and then, every few weeks, have to check a label's website and Discogs to see whether there have been new releases that have been sent out for others but not you.

Curious to know what you think Tiny Engines trimmed back this year? Looks to me like it is the same as last year, maybe 1 or 2 releases less, but that is not really their fault, right?

I did the (international) sub last year as well, but had to drop out this year because it makes more sense to pick up half a dozen releases in one go because of customs.

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19 minutes ago, mesi said:

Curious to know what you think Tiny Engines trimmed back this year? Looks to me like it is the same as last year, maybe 1 or 2 releases less, but that is not really their fault, right?

I did the (international) sub last year as well, but had to drop out this year because it makes more sense to pick up half a dozen releases in one go because of customs.

They included all their cassette releases (and CDs) with the vinyl sub last year. This year, they removed the cassettes from the vinyl sub and created a new cassette specific sub and the price for the vinyl sub went up (not sure about whether they are still sending CDs to vinyl subscribers since I didn't really care about those). Makes sense from a business standpoint since I think they're upping the # of cassettes they're putting out in 2018 but, in the end, existing subscribers were asked to pay more for the sub while receiving less and I decided not to renew. As far as customer support and shipping on time goes, Tiny Engines were awesome though. Everything came when it was supposed to and I wasn't accidentally skipped on any of the months.

Edited by swb
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1 minute ago, swb said:

They included all their cassette releases with the vinyl sub last year. This year, they removed the cassettes from the vinyl sub and created a new cassette specific sub and the price for the vinyl sub went up. Makes sense from a business standpoint since I think they're upping the # of cassettes they're putting out in 2018 but, in the end, existing subscribers were asked to pay more for the sub while receiving less and I decided not to renew. As far as customer support and shipping on time goes, Tiny Engines were awesome though. Everything came when it was supposed to and I wasn't accidentally skipped on any of the months.

Thanks for your reply! So you don't get the additional cassettes and CDs with the releases anymore? What about the ones that only came out on cassette like Long Neck for example? Customer support from them is stellar, I agree.

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10 minutes ago, mesi said:

Thanks for your reply! So you don't get the additional cassettes and CDs with the releases anymore? What about the ones that only came out on cassette like Long Neck for example? Customer support from them is stellar, I agree.

They have a proper cassette sub now, so all cassette only releases are part of that. Not sure about the CDs and whether they are still sent with the vinyl sub and/or have their own sub level. Not a huge deal but enough to dissuade me from renewing at a higher price. I'll probably wait until a holiday end of year sale and buy all the stuff they've put out in 2018 that I especially like in one order.

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31 minutes ago, swb said:

They have a proper cassette sub now, so all cassette only releases are part of that. Not sure about the CDs and whether they are still sent with the vinyl sub and/or have their own sub level. Not a huge deal but enough to dissuade me from renewing at a higher price. I'll probably wait until a holiday end of year sale and buy all the stuff they've put out in 2018 that I especially like in one order.

Ok, thanks!

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On 5/29/2018 at 4:01 PM, swb said:

Joyful Noise is pretty much a guaranteed cancel as they've forgotten to ship out my order for the last 5+ months.

In defense of Joyful Noise, I haven't had any problem whatsoever. In fact, the shipping has been lightning fast (arrives on or before release date) and it's a CHEAP FLAT RATE to CANADA when most labels are trying to charge twice of three times as much for shipping (yeah, like I'm ever gonna pay $25 USD to ship a single goddam record, pffft, I don't care what it is).

 

Does anyone know how Canadian shipping factors into the Sacred Bones subscription? I haven't received an answer from them yet. 

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2 hours ago, creepy old guy said:

In defense of Joyful Noise, I haven't had any problem whatsoever. In fact, the shipping has been lightning fast (arrives on or before release date) and it's a CHEAP FLAT RATE to CANADA when most labels are trying to charge twice of three times as much for shipping (yeah, like I'm ever gonna pay $25 USD to ship a single goddam record, pffft, I don't care what it is).

 

Does anyone know how Canadian shipping factors into the Sacred Bones subscription? I haven't received an answer from them yet. 

Totally. If they hadn't forgotten to send me my orders for the past half year (as well as sending my previous 3-4 orders at the end of 2017 to a wrong address and not knowing how to prevent/fix it), I'd be super happy with them. Their roster and releases are great and I like the people working there.

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20 minutes ago, linksisfromcanada said:

No, and it's been months since I've received an email about anything. 

Looks like both the GG and Tricot LPs were delayed and started shipping 1-2 weeks ago, according to their reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/user/topshelfsquad/comments/  They also acknowledge not responding to emails in one of the comments, for what it's worth.

 

So, hopefully, we should receive that set of LPs in the next week or so. Still no update on the delayed final 2017 shirt/sweater/SE tape box. I imagine they are going to ignore emails about it until they ship out, if ever, if their protocol is to not reply to individual emails about delayed items.

Edited by swb
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7 hours ago, tlr said:

I got my sub package in yesterday but they shipped it to my old address. It came from Awesome Distro, had both tricot albums, G?G!, special explosion tape, and a tshirt in it.

So confusing. I feel so left in the dark with this subscription and the last and I'm real annoyed about the 2017 subscription because 2018 is almost halfway over. Like how do you know if your shirt is from this year or last year's subscription? I haven't gotten a package recently but I guess I'll see if there's anything from 2017. Topshelf was really good with everything up until this and now they don't send any updates but they're pumping out music like crazy this year.

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31 minutes ago, N8TRU1 said:

So confusing. I feel so left in the dark with this subscription and the last and I'm real annoyed about the 2017 subscription because 2018 is almost halfway over. Like how do you know if your shirt is from this year or last year's subscription? I haven't gotten a package recently but I guess I'll see if there's anything from 2017. Topshelf was really good with everything up until this and now they don't send any updates but they're pumping out music like crazy this year.

The delays are more understandable knowing they are trying to move all their inventory to a distribution/fulfillment service on top of dealing with pressing delays. But I agree that another "state of the sub" email would go a long way. The last time they sent an update to all subscribers was in December, as they were trying to convince people to sign up for 2018. They gave a really detailed breakdown of what packages to expect and played up how much they appreciate our patronage and feedback in that email. Bummer they didn't extend that level of communication and transparency once we renewed.

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35 minutes ago, Bladewillisisdead said:

I remember back in the day people were asking Topshelf to do a subscription and they said (on this board I think) that they'd never do one because it would present a lot of problems.

Yeah. I think it sounds cool on paper but, after doing a few subs the last 2 years, I think I'd rather buy the records individually and get them when they are released and get customer support on individual releases, if needed. As a label, I bet it's nice to get a ton of cash upfront in January but then it's June and most if not all of that money is gone and you still have to pack hundreds of orders every few weeks that you aren't earning new revenue on. If I ran a label with a handful of employees, I wouldn't do a sub.

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I got Tricot's AND & THE today and a yellow exclusive variant of Giraffes Giraffes which is sick. Also got the pink Special Explosion tape and a blue Topshelf logo shirt which is nice. No notes or anything so I sent an email to Topshelf asking for an update on 2017 things and I'll post here if they reply.

Oh and awesome Merchandise wrote "vinyl S" on my receipt lol. I just noticed my Order # says "Subscriber 2017 & 2018" so maybe that's a good sign.

Edited by N8TRU1
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