The global vinyl business is booming. Vinyl sales in the US alone topped 9.7 million in 2018 according to an end of year BuzzAngle music consumption report, up 11.9% on the 8.6m sold in 2017.
One of the most interesting aspects of the format’s revival in recent years has been the re-emergence of subscription-based mail order record clubs.
Record clubs were huge money makers back in the ’60s and ’70s.
In 1963 the Columbia Record Club division of Columbia Records accounted for 10% of the US recorded music retail market.
There are several companies operating in this space today, for example ‘record of the month club’ Vinyl Me, Please and Los Angeles-based Vinyl Moon, a monthly subscription service founded in 2015 by Brandon Bogajewicz.
Subscription rates are similar across the board, and most companies offer variations of the same service: limited edition records and exclusive editorial content.
Limited edition merch, whether that’s T-Shirts, hoodies, or vinyl, as we know, is big business for pop stars.
What we haven’t seen much of, apart from the likes of artist-curated services and in-house record label mail order clubs like the Third Man Records Vault, are artist-led vinyl subscription services featuring one artist’s entire catalog exclusively.
That was until this week: The Jonas Brothers have launched the Jonas Vinyl Club, a vinyl subscription service starting at $399, with the Limited Edition Deluxe Club tier costing $599.
“This is the first time the band has allowed their music to be released on vinyl.”
The Jonas Vinyl Club
According to the FAQs, The Jonas Vinyl Club “is operated under license from Nick, Joe and Kevin to Vinyl Moon, LLC, a California company that has been making amazing vinyl records for years”.
The $399 subscription will get you eight albums, 10 singles, and other merch, like posters, a slip mat and photobooks.
For an additional $200, the Limited Edition Deluxe Club version (limited to 1,500 members) gets you those same albums in different colors, plus five more exclusive records on colored vinyl.
Records will be sent out in four shipments (five shipments to Deluxe members) over approximately nine months starting in August 2019.
“This is the first time the band has allowed their music to be released on vinyl (other than a few picture disc singles released a decade ago and a limited-edition fan club release of the band’s very first album, It’s About Time),” states the FAQs.
Individual records are not currently for sale.Music Business Worldwide
