Yourmusic
I've always been a price conscious record buyer. One of the most ecstatic materialistic experiences of my life had to be the day when my initial shipment of 13 LPs from the Columbia House record club arrived at my doorstep in Broomall. I was in highschool and had spent hours tabulating prices and costs of the 13 albums for a penny deal Dick Clark was offering me via a full color circular in the Sunday Inqurier. The deal seemed legit. I can even tell you most of the albums in that initial set. On top of the pile was Earth Wind and Fire's Greatest Hits. Foreigner's Double Vision and ELO's Discovery was in there. I think there might have been a Styx album. The Doobie Brothers Minute by Minute. Kansas Leftoverture. For a sheltered suburban kid, it was a motherlode of classic rock and pop. An orgiastic spume of groovy vinyl. Many of the albums had that intoxicating new vinyl aroma. It was the beginning of a long love affair with pop music. When I wasn't thumbing through record club catalogs, I was headed over to Plastic Fantastic in Bryn Mawr to stock up on 99 cent and 2.50 albums. I built my collection on scratchy rejects and cutout bin throwaways. It was kind of a way of life. Looking in every store for the right albums at the right prices. Today, value conscious listeners have plenty of choices. There's iTunes, which has driven album prices down to about ten bucks a throw. There's Kazaa type downloads, which I don't have the patience to put up with (too much viral clutter for my taste). There's public libraries with freely available collections to be raided and ripped. There's friends to share and swap. And yes, the record clubs are hanging on somehow too. BMG's latest incarnation, called Yourmusic.com, actually tempted me to sign up. You commit to buy one album a month for 6 bucks. Shipping and handling are free. You can unsubscribe anytime. You browse the catalog and add CDs to your queue. Every month they take the first in line, ship it to you, bill the card. Anytime you want, you can buy anything in the catalog for 6 bucks per disc, again with free shipping. I figure six bucks a throw is a good way to fill in gaps in my prog rock and classic rock collection. Plus there's plenty of essential jazz and classical albums still to be found. At six bucks, they're beating iTunes in the price war. This is pretty much what CDs should have been priced at all along.
update...: In 2007, yourmusic.com raised their base price to $6.99, and I promptly quit the club. Seven bucks is more than I'm willing to pay for a CD, especially since the increasing popularity of music downloads (for free and for pay) should be putting market pressure to make CD prices lower, not higher. One reason a person might want to stick with yourmusic is that you can get still get dualdiscs and SACD discs from the BMG catalog at a price that beats the record stores, but you should carefully compare the overall costs to that of joining the BMG music club (12 for 1 deal). The hitch there is that the BMG club doesn't make a lot of their dualdiscs and SACDs available until after you've joined the club, so caveat emptor.
posted by James @ 11/20/2004 12:12:00 PM
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20 Comments:
I was excited by the $6 per CD price when I first saw it. It is a good idea if they allow you to signup and cancel whenever you want. That way I could buy one CD every few months, as I don't buy that much music. The problem, though, is that this is essentially still a music club and they don't have the newest titles.
If I recall correctly, this will actually cost a person more than the 12 CDs for the price of 1 deal. $4 shipping per CD, $18 for the full price CD, and you're up to $62 for 12. With the $6 and no shipping scheme, you're paying $6 flat out and $72 for 12 CDs. An obvious advantage is that you never have to shell out $28 for the first 7 CDs, $22 for the full price CD, and $16 for the last 4 CDs, you're just shelling out $6 at a time.
As stated on another blog, this does seem like a better club model. Also, the old club model sent featured selections that people never wanted and had to pay for if they didn't respond that they didn't want it. This new model doesn't do that. Though they will charge you $6 regardless of whether there is something in your queue.
That's my take on it. People will continue to illegally download the newest music or hopefully buy it on iTunes. If you're looking for something released a few months ago because you can wait or forgot to get it in the first place, this may be a good deal.
Yourmusic.com may not have the latest but for that price it's worth waiting. I want the physical CD and for $6 and free shipping yourmusic.com is the best place to get it.
jacobs' calculations are accurate for theinitial BMG offerings. But after you are a member there are usually "specials" that reduce the per CD cost, with shipping, to about $9. So thee is still a savings with the new service. However, many of the "special" deals do require jacobs' calculations are accurate for theinitial BMG offerings. But after you are a member there are usually "specials" that reduce the per CD cost, with shipping, to about $9. So thee is still a savings with the new service. However, many of the "special" deals do require buying the monthly offering which I don't usually want.
Also, if you get an automatic shipment that you don't want it can be returned unopened or you can request to optout of the automatic shipment arrangement.
Since I'm more interested in older music, I'm going to take alook at yourmusic.com.
YourMusic.com is no deal. It's simply a way for BMG to guarantee $6 out of you each month and not have to pay return postage for CDs that members to their old club didn't want.
If you join the old club and get 12 CDs for the price of one - and order your one during a month when you get 2 or 3 CDs for the price of one - then you actually get up to 15 CDs for the price of one. Even with the ridiculous shipping and handling fees, the CDs come out to under $4.00 each. That's about a third less than what you pay on YourMusic.com.
Cancel your subscription at that point and rejoin to do it all again. You won't pay more than $4.00 per disc.
Both clubs work off the same list of older releases - though the old club actually has many more "club member only" releases of popular newer and older music that cannot be found on YourMusic.com (look up the band Evanescence on both sites and you'll see what I mean).
For me, the savings is worth logging in each month to the old club's site to decline the selection they want to send me.
All in all, YourMusic.com is brilliant from a marketer's standpoint, but a bad deal for consumers. Don't fall for it.
Thanks to everyone for the useful and informative comments. I joined both clubs and "crunched the numbers." BMG came out at $4 and change (I did not take advantage of any special offers when I bought my required one CD, which would have knocked the per disc price, as Ryan has noted). Yourmusic's CD price is $6 and change, something like $6.25.
So if you're diligent, it's wisest to join BMG, select your required purchase on a good month, quit ASAP and rejoin. If you're patient and persistent, you're going to save money.
The problem with BMG is the hassle. You've got to remember to turn down the monthly selection. Then good luck trying to quit the club. I had to search the web for their toll free customer service number, which is shamefully absent from the BMG club website. I had issues with shipping too. Part of my initial shipment never arrived (was returned to sender it turns out) and they had to reship (this is where the customer service number came in very handy), but all this took time. "Give it another 4 weeks to make sure it doesnt' come..." and that kind of thing. I also wasn't sure how soon I'd be able to rejoin the club after quitting; those worries were effaced after receiving junk mail from BMG about a week later inviting me to rejoin for the sweet 12 for 1 deal.
So yes, if you are able to put up with the hassles, BMG is the better deal. Yourmusic has its advantages, however: namely, simplicity (no need to quit and rejoin constantly, no need to turn down or return monthly selections, and no hidden shipping fees).
Both clubs are good deals compared to retail stores ($15 to $18 per disc). They even beat used CD prices at stores in my area. And they beat iTunes music store (usually $10 per disc).
Where the clubs fail us is in the limited catalog offerings. New releases are slow to make it into the catalog, so if you absolutely can't wait for that new Beck CD, you're going to have to buy it somwhere else and pay more. They are also woefully limited in indie music and stuff on the fringes.
So you have to be a smart consumer about these things.
Here's my basic strategy: use BMG (and/or yourmusic) for loading up on classic stuff, replacing albums in my vinyl collection, and newer albums that I'm willing to wait for. Use iTunes music store for individual song downloads (when you don't need the whole album), and obscure releases that aren't likely to ever show up in the BMG catalog. Use retail stores for "must have" instant gratification of new release lust, and for CD's you can't find anywhere else.
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same idea for books
I got an email from www.zooba.com and signed up - same thing as yourmusic but for books. It's $9.95 per book and you have to buy one a month. It's from the folks who own Book of the MOnth club. It's also free shipping. Worthwhile if you read a lot.
Having been a member of all the record clubs numerous times over the years, I find that Yourmusic is different and better in respect to much more than the final total cost per cd - here's why:
You can get certain cds at the $5.99 price that you cannot get for your intial free shipments in the club.
Plus you can get really good deals on 2 cd sets and box sets and purchase them anytime, while the prices are higher in the clubs when you factor in s&h.
There are the deluxe editions setsw such as Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On" or 'the Harder They Come' deluxe edition soundtrack,which are only $11.99 and free shipping - you are not going to find these sets any cheaper elsewhere. I also have always hated plunking down for the first shipment of free cds, whereas $5.99 per month is easier to lay out. So perhaps over the long haul the clubs save you some money, but for the quick fix and great price on 2 cd sets, yourmusic makes more sense...
Do not order from this company. They canceled my membership because I ordered TOO MUCH from them!! I was beginning to replace some of my older cassettes with CDs, and I also ordered some gifts, because their prices were good. However, they did not want me to order this many products from them. I would advise that you not do business with this company. The woman who sent me an email from this company is Barb Jansons, Customer Relations Specialist and her number is 317-542-6221. For someone in Customer Relations, she has done a horrible job and she will not return my email or phone messages.
I ran into a problem also ... they changed the CD I was ordering from a CD/DVD to just the CD without telling me and when I saw this they said if you do not want it cancel it. no sorry nothing acted like I did something wrong I asked them to fix or just credit $6 so it worked out and nothing after I had already bought over a dozen CD they would not do a thing for me even though they did bate and switch.
stay away or get in and then get out. you have a problem of any sort they will act as if it you fault. I have never gotten any help when I had a problem.
Have any of you tried cancelling from yourmusic. Can I do this after getting just one CD. Thanks.
As the original poster put it, yourmusic.com is the perfect place to fill in the gaps in your classic rock collection. I've purchased about two dozen CDs from them, including half a dozen box sets. The box sets in particular are a bargain, at 1/3 to 1/2 the price of buying them at Amazon, and they include the full boxes with artwork, liner notes, etc. I've got enough selections in my queue to last at least another year with them before wanting to cancel.
Here's an FYI for those of you reading who REALLY care, at least somewhat, about the artists that you enjoy:
The record clubs have always been a swindle for every artist that's ever appeared in their listings.
A band generally signed a contract in which they, the band, agreed to pay the label cash to produce "Promotional" copies in their own, the record company's, plant! Then the label would 'recoup' this cost from the band as/if they started selling. Here's the slimy part:
"Promotional" units can NOT be sold BUT, through a loop hole that big money kept open, the labels were able to sell "promo" units thru these clubs, and still do. At greatly inflated prices selling units it cost them virtually NOTHING to produce!
So in effect, when you buy music from a record club, you are helping them DOUBLE-Screw the artist:
The label was paid by the band to produce the physical item, and likely the recording of it, and then YOU pay the label for an item subsidized by the artist while NOT buying it from retail where the artist got a, VERY meager, cut of the sale, at least, to put in their pockets - after they'd paid of the label!
So if you've ever seen a cd or LP with a sticker that read:
"Not Available From Record Clubs", now you know why.
Once I learned this, after relasing my band's stuff, although tempted, I've never hit a record club since.
BTW: I totally agree with someone's previous statement about cd's being overpriced. They cost less to press and package than a cassette. Fekking labels brought this downloading craze, and shittier quality, down on themselves and us.
Later
WMB
I thought the price at YourMusic.COM was fair but after using the site for a couple of weeks it blocked me out. Now I can't log into my account or contact customer service. Every time I try to get on the site I get a message to "enable cookies". The problem isn't at my end and I've found this site regularly pulls this stunt. I'm not sure why though.
I can still get into Overstock.com and Amazon just fine and I'll stick with them from now on. YourMusic was definitely not worth the frustration to me. I'll just contact my credit card company and tell them not to honor any charges from YourMusic.com and will mark return to sender on anything they send in the future. It's a shame because there were a lot of old jazz/blues and rock CD's I would have bought.
Anyone know the point of this scam YourMusic pulls? I can't understand their angle. I ordered probably a dozen CD's before I got blocked.
I’m also having difficulty contacting to Yourmusic. I’ve been trying to login for four weeks now, thinking there was something wrong at my end, making adjustment and waiting. There is a disclaimer on the only screen I receive from the site that tells me I don’t have cookies enabled--which of course I do. I’ve checked three times!
At the bottom of the screen is a link to their Customer Service, but when you click it all it does is refresh the currant screen you’re already on. The problem, whatever it is, is not being generated from my computer, but rather being transmitted from their system. For what purpose I can’t imagine, but I know that everyday customers can’t login is another day Yourmusic is losing money.
I actually paid extra for CDs in Jan that were never shipped. I keep emailing customer service and they keep saying they're looking into the problem. Then I tried to go on today and my account had been canceled. Bad site very poor customer service. I don't think I'll ever get my $22 back or the CDs. :(
I had good enough results with yourmusic, until I got my wife a gift subscription at Christmas. They have not shipped any of her CDs as of March 14, and claim some kind of system problem.
On Monday I'll try to contact the SC Attorney General, BBB and others to alert them to the magnitude of this problem.
I have been trying to log onto yourmusic.com recently as well. For some reason it says I need to enable cookies. At the bottom of the screen, there is no telephone address but only a physical address. I'm beginning to think that the website is down.
Your Music is my favorite store which provides free shipping on all music CDs.....!
I've been a Youmusic.com customer for 3 years now and have only had success with them.
In the beginning, sometimes CD's would arrive with a broken jewel case. I would e-mail customer service and within a week, a new case was sent out. They have been excellent in taking back music that I no longer wanted (without opening it) and crediting my account. They even forgot to charge me once. I e-mailed them. They appreciated my honesty and gave me 2 free CD's. The terms and conditions state that you cannot buy more than 2 of any one disk. So those of you buying a multitude of disks from them probably have them on alert. Yourmusic.com is a simple way to buy CD's at a price much less expensive than a retail store. I have over 40 CD's from them and am very satisfied.
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