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In Reply to: RE: SEND NO MONEY: The rise and fall of the Columbia House record club — and how we learned to steal music posted by Poles Apart on November 11, 2011 at 09:06:34
Consumers for music they didn't order and didn't want, musicians for royalties never paid. I never fell for it. I know that Book-of-the-Month Club books were not the same physical quality as the bookstore editions, and are virtually worthless on the used market. Does anyone know if Columbia House vinyl was inferior to the standard issues?
Follow Ups:
as far as their physical qualities, and the case for them being worthless (to collectors) can't always be assumed." Finally, many booksellers assume that most BOMC editions are inferior in quality to their trade counterparts - this was and remains most definitely the case with the BOMC's primary competitor, the Literary Guild - but it's not often understood that BOMC editions were different animals in this respect. Even after the BOMC took over publishing themselves (July, 1930), with few exceptions they adhered to a policy of producing books that were equal in format and quality to the original publisher's books. In some cases, in fact, binder's boards were superior in quality. And talk about complexity - there were instances when trade publishers ran off their own editions simultaneously with BOMC's in the same plants! And here - how does one even begin to nail down edition state??? But even when trade and BOMC books were printed in different plants, great care was taken by the BOMC to duplicate trades. This is an important point to keep in mind because in part it explains why collectors find BOMC editions of collected authors desirable and, conversely, Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, et al editions not. "
Edits: 11/12/11
I read in one of Lawrence Block's 'Burglar' books, approximately: Collector asks for a certain book. Bookseller says he has a book club edition. Collector: "What would I want with a book club edition?' Bookseller: "I suppose reading it is out of the question.' I wonder how many vinyl collectors buy them with the intention of never listening to them, in order to preserve the mint condition. Different set of attitudes from (some) book collectors. Again, thanks for the info.
and, IIRC, at that time it was simply "Columbia Record Club". I found them to be mostly identical to the regular issues. Perhaps something changed with the adition of "House"
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
I got a few of those record club pressings. They were often inferior to the regular ones. If I recall correctly, there was somewhere on the jacket or on the deadwax part of the record that said where the records were pressed. They were often from Mexico or Canada; not the typical domestic pressing.
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"In this land right now, some are insane and they're in charge. To hell with poverty, we'll get drunk on cheap wine."
Hi Sordid,
As a college freshman in 1960 I joined the Columbia House Record Club for their intro offer. I don't remember any different markings on the jacket or label with those. It does seem like the records had a sealed plastic sleeve (rounded at one end like the record, square at the other end) rather than the usual paper sleeve but if so, I changed those long ago so now I can't tell.
I think the offer was choose to 10 or 12 records for $.01, then agree to buy 5 or 6 more at the regular price. I got out then so only received 15 to 18 in total. My player at the time was real crap but I never noticed any sonic issues years later as my systems improved. Not sure I could identify all of those today but I still have most of them.
I also have a few used Columbias purchased years later that are labeled Columbia Special Products. Could those be the ones you are referring to?
"For a nominal service fee,
you can reach nirvana tonight."
1. Different mastering, - the records sounded different....
2. They did not have the label's ID codes in fine print surrounding the sticker.
3. The stickers were often askew and misapplied and/or wrinkled.
4. The vinyl itself was actually thinner sometimes....
"In this land right now, some are insane and they're in charge. To hell with poverty, we'll get drunk on cheap wine."
None of the ones I bought had stickers on the jacket or record label.
"For a nominal service fee,
you can reach nirvana tonight."
is a sticker....
"In this land right now, some are insane and they're in charge. To hell with poverty, we'll get drunk on cheap wine."
...how were they made worse? Were they recorded from 8th generation copies or something? Crappy vinyl?
many 45s used recycled vinyl - paper labels and all!
rw
.
.
"In this land right now, some are insane and they're in charge. To hell with poverty, we'll get drunk on cheap wine."
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