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Record Clubs!

Were You Ever A Record Club Member?

  • Damn Right I Was!! C'mon, 12 records for a penny??? It was a no brainer!

    Votes: 138 84.1%

  • Hell No! Momma didn't raise no fool!! What, you think I was born yesterday?

    Votes: 26 15.9%
  • Total voters
    164
pioneervato

pioneervato

Lunatic Member
I was going through some records and running them through my RCM earlier today when I came across Bryan Adams' "Reckless" album. What got my attention on this one in particular is because the factory shrink wrap was still intact and it had never been open. It was as new as the day I got it. Cool!

The other interesting tidbit is that there were no price tags, no stickers of any kind, just the album still sealed in its shrink wrap. Then I got to thinking about the album's origin of when and how I got this album. And it is for this reason that I thought of doing this poll.

You see, I purchased this album way back when Columbia House and/or BMG Music would entice you to order somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 albums for a penny plus the cost of shipping of course. You also had to agree to buy an minimum number of albums within a certain time frame, at which you could then cancel your membership, etc. etc.

I admit it. The one cent deal was just too good to pass up and I enrolled in Columbia House's record club. The Bryan Adams album was one of my selections during my membership and yet the record, for some reason, escaped ever being played for all those years until today. It is one of the quietest records I have heard in a long time including some of the MOFI Master Recordings I have purchased over the last couple of years. You would be hard pressed to hear a click, pop, or any other surface noise.

So now, how many of you were suckered...er I mean enticed, at one time or another, to enroll as member of any record club like Columbia House or BMG Music back in the day?
 
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I did it in the late '70's. Averaging everything I paid for records and shipping, I made out pretty well. I stopped after a year because the RCA Record Club did not carry enough of the labels I had really wanted (no Warner or CBS families).

Tom
 
I did it with Columbia House back in the 80s and got mostly cassettes. All in all it wasn't a bad deal. I think the cost per tape ended up being about $3. After the initial contract obligations were met, some of the deals were pretty good. I just had to be vigilante about sending in the "don't send me this month's "pick." It worked pretty good as I lived in an area with no music stores and two top 40 (really top 10) radio stations mad up the listening choices.
 
The majority of my early records came from Columbia House. It was a no brainer for me. Sometimes I would notice coloration marks on the vinyl, but they always played quietly. Even today, with a better stylus, those same records sound absolutely new. I always figured they would be seconds - or rejects, but I guess not?

Rob

If this post is really long, does it count as two?
 
pioneervato said:
I was going through some records and running them through my RCM earlier today when I came across Bryan Adams' "Reckless" album. What got my attention on this one in particular is because the factory shrink wrap was still intact and it had never been open. It was as new as the day I got it. Cool!

The other interesting tidbit is that there were no price tags, no stickers of any kind, just the album still sealed in its shrink wrap. Then I got to thinking about the album's origin of when and how I got this album. And it is for this reason that I thought of doing this poll.

You see, I purchased this album way back when Columbia House and/or BMG Music would entice you to order somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 albums for a penny plus the cost of shipping of course. You also had to agree to buy an minimum number of albums within a certain time frame, at which you could then cancel your membership, etc. etc.

I admit it. The one cent deal was just too good to pass up and I enrolled in Columbia House's record club. The Bryan Adams album was one of my selections during my membership and yet the record, for some reason, escaped ever being played for all those years until today. It is one of the quietest records I have heard in a long time including some of the MOFI Master Recordings I have purchased over the last couple of years. You would be hard pressed to hear a click, pop, or any other surface noise.

So now, how many of you were suckered...er I mean enticed, at one time or another, to enroll as member of any record club like Columbia House or BMG Music back in the day?
Click to expand...

It's funny that you mentioned that album Jess I listened to it today. after owning it for years without ever playing it and it was also sealed ... weird.

And I will +1 on how good the album sounds clean and clear.
 
I was a member of BMG (then RCA) Record Club during the 1970s and Columbia House during the 1980s.

The Columbia House pressings were, for the most part, surperb. Very quiet!
 
I was a member of Columbia house way back, got a lot of my LPs from them. I've only had one or two that I didn't think sounded good, I always wondered about their quality and how they are actually manufactured. They claim "Manufactured under license by Columbia House," but everything about the product except for that imprint seemed the same. As I said, I only had one or two that seemed less than excellent, from the other posts it sounds like the quality was generally good.

Later I joined BMG and got a lot of my CDs from them, but by that point my tastes had become less mainstream and there were few titles I wanted. Also, buying used CDs is very low risk (compared to LPs), so I could usually find what I wanted for less on Amazon.

Now BMG has discontinued their service, but I get emails from "Your Music," or something.... I've yet to see what they're all about.
 
Does anyone remember Record Club of America?

I was a member in the mid '70's. They charged you $5 to join then sold their LP's for 2-4 dollars each. I bought my first two LP's from them (ELO's "II" and the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night"). They went bankrupt.
 
Yea I was a member of BMG for years. They just ended a couple of months ago and referred all of their customers over to yourmusic.com. This is still a good deal, but I am into vinyl more than cd's now so I did not join this new service.

I also was a member of Columbia way back in the 60's, then RCA. Still have all those albums. There still sounded great.
 
I belonged to all of them and bought records, cassettes, CD's and even reels! I would fulfill my enrollment agreement, then they would woo me back by offering me bigger deals like 16 albums for $6.99. Build up my music collection rather quick that way.
 
Hell, I started out in the Columbia House 8-track club then I joined the record club while I was in the Navy. Still wish it was still around!
 
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