Vinyl variants...

[Vimo 1,781]

So basically, vinyl variant covers are the photoshoots we used to have in a cd/vinyl booklet... But now we gotta pay 40+ dollars for each shot and booklets exists no more...

[NUTELLA 30,399]

An embarrassing trend

Makes artists look greedy

& makes customers look insane

(clarifying that I'm not personally a vinyl consumer, but I HATE that the "superior" artwork is usually relegated to a throwaway/alternative product, & will therefore be less "remembered" once this trend *hopefully* ends)

[onTheBrink 1,728]

I don't really like it. It makes the vinyl you own meaningless. Your collection should mean something. It's not supposed to be Pokemon collecting them for collecting's sake

[Bronco 27,819]

I like having a variety available. Some people are absolutely milking it. 
But vinyls are collectibles effectively, and I love being able to get coloured/special LPs that match the colour scheme and vibe of an album. 

People who buy 20 variants of a single album etc need to just go to therapy.

[Cherry Blues 578]

12 minutes ago, onTheBrink said:

I don't really like it. It makes the vinyl you own meaningless. Your collection should mean something. It's not supposed to be Pokemon collecting them for collecting's sake

👌 Absolutely, it should be summarized in the booklet.

[loveandpeace 2,135]

I'm glad I never got into this trend...

[Duella Dvil 12,024]

I still have no idea how I ended up with 4 deluxe vinyls of A Star Is Born. I bought 1

[EART HL I NG 1,562]

Honestly buying into this trend ruined my collection because big chunks of my shelves are taken up by two or three albums. I've been considering picking one of each to keep and selling the rest

[gagzus 24,988]

I honestly think we should go back to tri-fold vinyls and have the artwork within the tri-fold at LEAST. 

Variants work for me only if it does two things; it has new artwork and it has at least TWO new songs on it minimum. But also they should slash the prices by half too. But like more than 3 vinyl variants is absolute overkill and greed imo.

Edited 12 hours ago by gagzus

[HotLikeMexico 6,735]

2 hours ago, EART HL I NG said:

Honestly buying into this trend ruined my collection because big chunks of my shelves are taken up by two or three albums. I've been considering picking one of each to keep and selling the rest

I just buy the one I like. I don’t by multiples of the same album. I literally just force myself tO pick the one I like the most, or can easily get and move on with my life. 

[StrawberryBlond 15,685]

I remember getting Christina Aguilera's Stripped album and because it had 20 tracks and they all had lyrics printed, the booklet was so thick that I had to mindful of how I put it back into the CD  case and the edges were a bit frayed from trying to jam it back in one too many times. Now most albums are lucky to have a 2 page booklet and no lyrics. If you get pictures, you won't get lyrics for sure. But I don't really care about that stuff anyway. If a photoshoot exists, I can look at it online, I don't need to own the image to display.

Getting multiple vinyl copies is nonsense to me, the idea of variants is you're supposed to pick the one with your favourite art on it (even if it's not the standard meaning that the official cover art becomes redundant and people won't know what album it is). The need to buy vinyl despite not owning a record player and just having it for aesthetic value is a social contagion that needs to be studied.

[Vimo 1,781]

1 hour ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I remember getting Christina Aguilera's Stripped album and because it had 20 tracks and they all had lyrics printed, the booklet was so thick that I had to mindful of how I put it back into the CD  case and the edges were a bit frayed from trying to jam it back in one too many times.

YES! THAT PART! I miss sitting for a first listening with the booklet in my hands, reading the lyrics ans enjoying the visual packageing. Putting back the booklet in place omg. Millenial chore memoey unlocked. 

[EART HL I NG 1,562]

1 hour ago, HotLikeMexico said:

I just buy the one I like. I don’t by multiples of the same album. I literally just force myself tO pick the one I like the most, or can easily get and move on with my life. 

That's what I should have done from the start but I'm kiiinda vulnerable to collectability 💀

[Juanlittlem 49,647]

11 hours ago, Bronco said:

People who buy 20 variants of a single album etc need to just go to therapy.

Well therapy is as expensive as 20 vinyls so Im keeping the vinyls.

[Helxig 45,668]

12 hours ago, NUTELLA said:

An embarrassing trend

Makes artists look greedy

& makes customers look insane

(clarifying that I'm not personally a vinyl consumer, but I HATE that the "superior" artwork is usually relegated to a throwaway/alternative product, & will therefore be less "remembered" once this trend *hopefully* ends)

Totally agree. But the problem here, is that people keep f.ucking supporting the system and buying them up. I have no idea why. I need a psychologist to explain to me why collectors obsessively buy 15 of the exact same album with different cover art at massive prices. It's like shredding money and filling landfill and supporting capitalistic greed all at once. There's definitely some kind of addiction and/or need for social validation online at play here

Edited 2 hours ago by Helxig