Earlier this year Vinyl Me, Please, the once-popular subscription LP service, came under fire for "ghosting" subscribers while charging them for orders that were never fulfilled. That news broke about a year after the company's board of directors fired CEO Cameron Schaefer, CFO Adam Block, and CSO Rich Kylberg, and then filed a lawsuit alleging that those former employees had funneled VMP money into a new pressing plant of their own. Stereogum contributor Zach Schonfeld talked to some ex-employees and customers about the whole fiasco, and those conversations indicate that Vinyl Me, Please had been a bit shady for a long time. In June, VMP was saved from liquidation and acquired by another LP subscription service called VNYL Inc., with that company's founder Nick Alt named as VMP's new CEO. Today, Alt has shared an update with customers. Or something like that.
A user in the Vinyl Me, Please subreddit posted the text from a mass email the company sent out today. It gives a vague outline of what's been going down at VMP since the backlash and says that, although they're still in a "transition period," the subscription service will return this September. That's in a few weeks! In the meantime, they're still working on handling those unfulfilled orders, but they're prioritizing orders from accounts that are still active. Customers who were proactive enough to wisely cancel their subscriptions in the wake of those unfulfilled orders now have to file claims. Seems really, really shitty. Here's the full email from Alt:
Dear Listener,
You are exceptionally patient and we are grateful. I'm writing to let you know changes are coming next month. In September, The Best Damn Record Club retums.
The amount of progress to date is substantial, but transparently, WE STILL DON'T HAVE ALL THE F*CKING KEYS
We have yet to be transferred certain assets that were acquired.
As time goes on, this becomes less of a going concern for two reasons 1.) Clearly, the old way of doing things did not work.
2.) We're resourceful A.F
Here's our progress:
JUNE
Acquired VMP.
Initiated transfer of all inventory, business accounts, and data warehouse.
Hosted a 90 minute "Ask Us Anything" (shoutout to the 2K+ attendees) Introduced ourselves, explained where we're planning to go, answered as many questions as we could. Also #lettomcook
Dropped the ball on posting our own recap, but also thanks to Redditor u/SteveEazy for posting essential recap info.
JULY
Invested in transferring and ingesting 8 of 15 semi-trailers of vinyl. Ingested and mapped hundreds of spreadsheets of historical customer data.
Emily's MacBook perished along the way.
AUGUST
Leased additional werehouse space.
Officially completed inventory transfer of all 15 semi-trailers on Aug 15
This comes out to 10 METRIC TONS OF VINYL.
STILL IN PROGRESS
Finalizing details for unfulfilled orders. Solidifying claims process for non-members.
We said on the June "Ask Us Anything", ACTIVE VMP MEMBERS will be our first priority. Any outstanding membership orders will be prioritized and handled without exception.
Former members along with a la carte customers will be directed to file claims for unfulfilled orders.
I realize there are plenty more questions to be answered here, and the details will be finalized by early September.
Lastly, the former website, www.vinylmeplease.com, is now offline.
The transition period is nearing its end and your wait is almost over,
Yours truly,
Nick Alt CEO
