A once outmoded form of entertainment, vinyl records have seen a resurgence in the years comparable to the yo-yo in the ’90s. Like the wholesome toy, LPs have found a new home in a generation not even old enough to have nostalgia for them.
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Of course, with the return of physical music comes responsibility. Not just to keep your turntable and records mint, but to care about capital “M” Music in a way that streaming does not demand. In the world of vinyl, $20 doesn’t buy you infinite songs for two months—it buys you about 12, usually by one band, for a lifetime. If you’re going to spend your money wisely, you have to do your research.
If combing through music blogs to find the next purchase-worthy album isn’t for you, you’re in luck. For annual fee of $284, the Boulder-based service will be your hassle-free music guru. The subscription service ships you a record of their choosing every month, and as founders Matt Fiedler and Tyler Barstow emphasize, there is only one criterion: quality.
“We look for records that, from when you hit play until the end, itap awesome all the way through,” Fiedler said.
Each album must be unanimously selected by Fiedler, Barstow and the only two other Vinyl Me, Please employees to make the cut. Not only does this ensure their roster is up to snuff, it also works as a safeguard against labels who might try to ply them with gifts.
Though Vinyl Me, Please has trended toward contemporary indie releases — February’s pick is Father John Misty’s new album “I Love You, Honeybear” — no genre or era is off limits. The company’s archive of past selections confirms this. Scrolling through the last year of releases reveals albums from groups as disconnected as indie rap collective Sisyphus, jazz legend John Coltrane and power punk rockers Diarrhea Planet. The service offers an exchange for any album a customer doesn’t like, but despite the massive gaps in style, Fiedler and Barstow say few customers take them up on it.
“Itap been surprising because people get something they would never buy and it ends up being their favorite record of the year,” Fiedler said.
Fiedler and Barstow developed the idea of a mail-order record club after meeting as co-workers at a tech start-up in Chicago. In 2013, they quit to focus on Vinyl Me, Please, ending up in Boulder over New York or L.A., where the business would just be one of many others like it. Both say it was almost accidental that they ended up in the Front Range — Fiedler led the way after visiting a couple of times — but that itap been a great fit, citing the area’s strong music scene as a key factor. Whether Boulder has anything to do with it or not, business has picked up since the move: Vinyl Me, Please currently has over 7,500 subscribers and counting, up from 300 just a year ago.
As the brand has grown, so have the benefits of being a member. Along with The Standard, a members-only music newsletter, albums come packaged with custom art work by a featured artist and a cocktail recipe tailored to the record of the month. Many of the records themselves are limited edition re-issues, pressed on a special color variant only available through the service or with an an added extra (January’s pick included a lyric book written by the artist), adding a little extra value and ensuring that even if you already have an album they send, it won’t be the exact same. And—and!—they’ve added one perk you won’t need a membership for: a monthly vinyl listening party at Denver brewery Our Mutual Friend.
Still, itap early days. Fiedler and Barstow run the business out of a basement with a very small staff, and only recently took on their first intern. (“Letap just say J. Crew hasn’t offered to sponsor us yet,” Barstow jokes.) But with record sales climbing ever higher, prospects look good. There may even be a physical Vinyl Me, Please space in the future, a combination listening room-storefront.
Building new record stores in this day and age might sound crazy. But as the service’s customers have come to appreciate, Vinyl Me, Please invites you to trust them. After all, music is their business.
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Dylan Owens writes album reviews, essays and features for Reverb. You can read more from him on , or the comment sections of WORLDSTARHIPHOP.
