Type

why is nobody on this forum moaning about type reissuing a porter ricks album on vinyl and cd? it's also a reissue...

in my opinion most people are frustrated about the price tag and that i can understand... but the way this was reissued (it's packaging, presentation and the amount produced) make's it clearly a piece of art. nobody is forced into buying the vinyl, but i'd rather have something released or rereleased with great care even if it's more expensive then a regular release. after all there mp3 files are still cheaply available...

and i must say this is one of the best sounding vinyls i've ever played. if this is how stephan wanted the release to be then i respect that in any way. btw, if this was only released on vinyl in this expensive edition and wouldn't have come out on cd on 12k before, then everybody would be moaning about not enough copies being produced and again it being to expensive. different formats were and are avaiable (as for many releases) and everybody can choose what he likes most.

the same discussion goes for books and comics in softcover and hardcover editions and for me releases like the eno limited box set on warp a while ago reeks far more as commercialism and cash-cow concept.

because it doesn't cost $100!

so again it's only about the price tag... besides it costs $80.- (and not $100)!

besides that i understand everybodys concern about the price tag. but when holding the object in my hand i see and hear the reason for it.
more and more i'm tending to buy less music but more thought out objects and pieces of art. makes more sense to me...

Sorry loosegrip, what are you doing here if you are more into food? What you say is pretty pointless. $100 as well, I'll ship it to you for 72. Still a big lot of loot, but come on please, why this one-liner hypocrite bullshitting?

Stephan

just saying that I was eager for this release to come out on vinyl but can't afford the premium packaging. I've got a little change after bills (for example, groceries, hence the "food" reference) to spend on something fun but not that much. And the $100, my exchange rate math is off, I apologize. 

I didnt mean to sound harsh, guess I said everything I wanted to say.

@Ralph:

why is nobody on this forum moaning about type reissuing a porter ricks album on vinyl and cd? it's also a reissue...

The Porter Ricks album is an album released 16 years ago which has been out of print for over 12 years on a label that has been defunct for over 8 years. 
I see quite a big difference with an album released about a year ago which was published in clearly to small quantities it being sold-out within 1 a 2 months at the source on a label that still is running and publiishing new music and in doing quite good in that respect (everyone here will have to admit 12K is an amazing label delivering amazing music for years).

(and this is all aside from the part that ASP sounds best on vinyl) 

And fuck that Eno LP on WARP. Seriously a rip-off and indeed commercialism and cash-cow. 

It's of course encouraging to see someone putting so much love and effort into a project like this. But it makes a long-desired Vinyl re-release unobtainable for a good deal of those people, who wanted to see it on vinyl in the first place. It's exclusively for those with a healthy budget. Is this really necessary? I don't think so. Why not do an edition of 400-500 with the same budget, with the design and packaging quality of a  Type-Release? Why only make a few Design-fetishists happy?

why do you think it's only for design fetishts? after all there was a regular cd version which wasn't pricey at all so everybody that wanted to buy it could while it was available. of course i only can speak for myself and stephan might have a different opinion, but for me it's a completely valid decision to reissue it in this deluxe version. makes much more sense to me then just another regular vinyl release...

i for example don't buy any type vinyls and from time to time maybe the cd version of something i like. just fits my listening habits much better... also i assume that most of the people on this forum spend at least $50.- if not even $100.- on music every month? or am i wrong? why not just buy one album for a month instead of 3 or 4 different releases? quality counts and not quantity...

that could also be a solution from the consumer side: buy less different releases instead of wanting the labels/artists produce more copies. maybe minority records hesitated to produce to many copies as it was already available as regular cd version?

seems like it's always much easier to critisice and have an opinion about how things should have been done...

@orphax:

12k repressed the cd version once. in total it sold 1000 copies... i really don't think that's a to small quantity and it's fair enough that 12k decided to release other stuff instead of repressing it even more. otherwise they might be sitting of boxes of copies now and nobody would be interested anymore.

actually i don't see any difference in a reissue if it's 16 years ago or just a year ago. for me the main point is if the initial release is sold out and if it's reissued in the same format/version again.

Ohh, I wasn´t aware they did a repress at 12K. 

and I am guilty of speding >100 euro a month on music. 
But I have an unhealthy addiction which I admit to, which I trying to get passed (and failing on any level so far :-/)
But even if I didn't buy so much 50 euro for an LP is just too much for me (specially if I have the CD already)

Though now I think of it I did spend 45 euro on a Natural Snow Buildings 3x LP + 2 CD + comic once and I also have the Ghedalia Tazartes 5 LP box on Vinyl On Demand, which was about 120 euro (my most expensive purchase I ever did on music).

Aaaarrrggghhhh, I spend way too much... :/

I went through a stage of spending 100 euros a week on records, 100 a month is fine.

Now I have a wife, kid and another on the way I'm lucky to spend 100 a year ; )

"also i assume that most of the people on this forum spend at least $50.- if not even $100.- on music every month? or am i wrong? why not just buy one album for a month instead of 3 or 4 different releases? quality counts and not quantity..."

I have to chime in here, because I, personally, would much rather buy 3 or 4 different releases a month than 1. The reason being that I do believe there is plenty of quality music out there right now. 

On the subject of expensive records - I'm interested, what's the highest price everyone's paid for a record? 

So it seems like £50 (inc shipping) for the A Static Place 2LP is too pricey for most people here, but what would records would you pay a lot of dosh for?  Rarities etc?

For me, it varies - apart from how much I like the music, of course, it also depends on how much I trust the label to release a quality pressing, with quality artwork etc.  For example, I recently spent £20.00 on the new Eleh LP without hesitating, namely because I know that Taiga always have the highest pressing standards and their packaging is always beyond top notch.  In general though, I tend to think that £15.00 including shipping is about the right price for a single, standardly packaged album.

My most expensive purchase ever was the Eluvium 'Life Through Bombardment' set, which was about £100 all in, if I remember right.  But that was for a 7xLP set, with totally lavish, hardcover packaging.  Come to think of it, how the hell did they make that so cheap!!??

I agree that that seems pretty excessive but I believe the price is explained by the fact that each LP comes with an original artists print. When you consider how much prints go for, that price is relatively reasonable. It's far, far more than I would ever spend but I think that series is meant as more than just an LP in a nice sleeve.

I have to chime in here, because I, personally, would much rather buy 3 or 4 different releases a month than 1. The reason being that I do believe there is plenty of quality music out there right now.

I agree with this post... also, I don't listen to / buy experimental / ambient stuff only. Now, about how much to pay and great packagings, lately I've had no problem paying 50 euros for the Syl Johnson box set on Numero Group... their reissues are pretty much always wonderfully packaged.

Never paid more for a record then 20-25 euro (excluding shipping). Simply not necessary to pay more in my eyes. I want new music, and I have a limited budget (as everyone), so I'd rather buy two decently priced and satisfying records instead of one Boutique edition. I'm not a fan of buying "rare" records for 50-100 Euros on discogs or ebay, either. Seems, I'm a rather pragmatic collector. I rarely feel an intense need for a specific record, so it's rather easy for me to fight arising temptations with a little rationality.

Another matter are Box-Sets. The Warp 20 Box was the costiest record I ever purchased. It's just collecting dust.

In response to Hemingways_Cat:

The most expensive record I ever purchased was also Eluvium's 'Life Through Bombardment' set, and I would spend it again for Volume Two if it ever comes out. Simply put, I am a huge fan of Eluvium's work and it is 7 LPs, almost his entire recorded output, and lavishly packaged. And I agree, the price was considerably low when you consider what you're purchasing.

There's been a trend lately where it seems customary for new LPs to cost $30 and it's quite unfortunate because it has resulted in me buying less and less than I ever have before. 

"Life Through Bombardment" is by far the most expesensive release I've bought as well. The actualy cost-per-record of that was really reasonable though, especially considering how gorgeous the packaging is. If I remember correctly, Jeremy from TRL talked at one point about how that release took a few years to come together and was sold at next to no profit, maybe even a loss when everything was said and done. This was anticipated by the label but Jeremy decided it was worth it to put out a seriously amazing item for fans that would still be relatively affordable. Or something like that. In any case the 7-LPs-in-a-hardcover-book thing (probably the best packaging I've seen) justified the price for me but had it been sold with a higher profit margin in mind, I may have held off. TRL is a really well established label with a huge and diverse roster with some blockbuster names on it so I think they can much more comfortably put something out and willingly take a loss on it than much smaller, more niche labels with razor thing profit margins to begin with.

The second most expensive record I've bought was a Tarentel's "From Bone to Satellite" 2xLP. It's on of my all-time favorite albums and I had been trying to win a copy on ebay or buy it on discogs for ages before I finally snagged one from the former for somewhere around $50. It seemed worth it then and I'm still happy I have it. I probably wouldn't do that again, although if I saw a $50 copy of Grouper's "Way Their Crept" I'd seriously consider it.

hmm, must admit I also did some other crazy shopping. 

Six Organs of Admittance & Charalambides split LP on Time-Lag 2nd hand for about 40 euro incl. shipping was quite out there for me. That is my most expensive single LP I have. Also have one Richard Youngs and one 200 Years LP that both costed me about 30 euro incl. shipping (which was actually due to shipping, without they were about 20 euro or so). 
Further there is the double LP Troum - Sen with special artwork which I got together with Thomas Köner - Unerforschte Gebiete picture disc together for appreximately 55 euro, but evetually the mailorder (Drone Records) added 2 CD's to the package because he had shipping wrong. 

All other things that were over 30 euro and below 60 where either 3, 4 or 5 LP's boxsets or books with CD's (or CD's with a book).

But well, yeah. None of these things I did already own in another format (just a few things I have double)

A Static Place is made with some 78s where I payed up to $200 for one. My most expensive 78 was $450 (Blind Willie Johnson, Dark was the night cold was the ground) but arrived cracked, so I got a 300 refund. I sold most of my soul and anything else for early 78s.

wow...

Was going to post the En/Of arguement, but Hemingways_Cat beat me to it!

No one said the life of a record-collector was easy, especially for those of us who are suckers for exceptional art, design, and packaging. We should be thankful that there are labels like Minority and TRL that undertake huge projects, shoulder incredible costs, to offer us works beautiful inside and out. $70+ is a great deal of money for me to spend on a release these days (full disclosure: I sold a bunch of records the day I found out about this to pay for it), and if I don't have the money, I don't buy it... and simply covet it secretly, until I can one day score it from Discogs. Last I checked, record labels aren't putting guns to our heads to make us buy their product, unlike Apple, who do so with subtle commercialism, and at a 500% profit per piece.

I'm willing to pay for ridiculously-priced records, if I can. Bought the Mark Hollis LP, original 180 gram sealed, three years ago for $300. Shouldn't we be directing our ire to labels that reissue valuable records? Thanks to these guys, my Talk Talk, Codeine, and Medicine records are now worthless!

EN/OFs concept always was to make limited editions by top notch visual artists in collab. with just as interesting musicians available at a fair price. Its not a record with artwork, its a piece of art that comes with a record. If you consider what a piece by Tobias Rehberger, Liam Gillick, Olafur Eliasson from an edition of 100 will fetch 'on the market', €120 is nice price. For both my editions I made the audio available for free download immediately with the release, I know many others did this as well.