
Vinyl Me, Please saved from bankruptcy, will relaunch under new ownership
Vinyl Me, Please is set to relaunch under new ownership after going into liquidation earlier this year.
As reported by Variety, the Denver-based vinyl record subscription service will now run under VINYL Inc as one of three integrated services, alongside VinylBox and VNYL. According to new Chief Executive Nick Alt, “this isn’t about reinventing Vinyl Me, Please. It’s about restoring its true form as the ‘Best Damn Record Club.’”
“Vinyl customers deserve a white glove experience and that’s far from what they’ve gotten recently,” added VMP’s inbound President, Emily Muhoberac. “We intend to do that by getting back to the fundamentals of VMP with a great customer experience.”
In addition to doubling down on the quality of service and improving subscriber communications, VMP will also now utilise a proprietary technology. Taking in streaming and other record sales data, the system can identify trends and then tailor which record pressings are ordered, improving efficiency.
“Our philosophy is simple: not every collector is the same,” said Alt. “Some customers want a Blue Note Anthology box set. Others are counting the days until the new Reneé Rapp LP drops. We’re building different clubs to serve different types of listeners—with pricing and curation that actually match their needs.”
The news comes after a torrid 12 months for the 13-year-old VMP. User reviews plummeted while complaints rocketed due to unfulfilled orders and allegations of ignoring customers. Problems can be traced back to a previous change of ownership that saw the original founders depart and standards begin to slip, leading to last month’s announcement of liquidation.
Prior to this, the company appeared to be in rude health, with a pandemic-era boom in 2021 seeing active subscriber numbers climb to 80,000. The following year, the firm unveiled plans to open a pressing plant in Denver, Colorado, which would have been used for manufacturing and production, and live events.