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The concept of having someone hand deliver a bespoke collection of records to your door is an appealing one. As such when Nick Alt launched his 'Netflix for vinyl' service in the US we were naturally intrigued, albeit with certain considerable caveats.
As a fantastic Stereogum essay reports Vnyl's problems haven't just been concerned with the predictable idea of making sure people handle the records with due care and attention. Having apparently amassed 10,000 requests for invitations and vastly surpassed it's original Kickstarter funding (they originally wanted $10,000 but ended up with $36,000), it made two significant errors.
Firstly they discovered that the service they were providing controvened the Record Rental Amendment of 1984 (which makes the renting of vinyl illegal unless you're a public library). So the service had to fundamentally offer a different model - basically the idea of sending out three curated records a month that fitted a particular 'vibe' suggested by the curators.
Which could have potentially worked had certain subscribers not complained about the records they were getting. The promotional video for the Kickstarter prominently features recent albums from FKA Twigs, Jenny Lewis, The War On Drugs, Madvillian, St Vincent and David Byrne.
Through investigation by both Consequence of Sound and Stereogum it appears that the apparently 20,000 strong library of vinyl is actually predominantly used records of a certain vintage. Certain Kickstarter comments backed this up, exemplified by the line: "I received three poor quality 80s metal albums that were likely pulled from a 50 cents bin that in no way approximate my musical tastes." While Alt's original intention to "broaden your pallette" of records to enjoy is a noble one, the idea of posting out a collection of cheap random LPs seems fundamentally flawed.
The main problem is a classic busines one: the service appears to have over promised and under delivered. Vnyl may improve in the future (and may have hundreds of happy customers already) but looking at the feedback online it would appear that many feel fundamentally ripped off. It also suggests that those people who have signed up didn't want to have to crate dig theselves: part of the reason for paying for such a service is the idea that you're going to find a lost gem rather than some cheap Eighties metal LP. The audience want the intense experience of vinyl, without the hassle of investigating a bunch of unknown bands. The solution? Visit your own local store regularly and keep asking recommendations. And if in doubt? Just buy the FKA Twigs album outright.
Read the full essay at Stereogum.
Below: Why does vinyl sound better featuring Paul Weller and Flood
