Since the shipping of Vault package 44 is delayed until July, we wanted to make some De Stijl-themed products available to y'all while you're patiently waiting at home (thank you again for your patience, by the way)!
The wooden jigsaw puzzles sold out lightning-fast, but there are still quantities of the shirt, tote bag, and socks in stock (as of writing this post, at least) on the Vault Novelties store. Let us know what you think of these Vault 44-themed offerings in the comments below!
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From the desk of Ben Blackwell:
When we first went out on the road for De Stijl, I was selling one measly t-shirt design at the merch table. The first night, in Milwaukee, we sold more than half of the shirts we had printed. Which begat a moral quandary…do you want to sell out as fast as possible? Or make sure that you can get some West Coast representation with those sly peppermint print t-shirts? Fortunately for you folks, we’ve printed a few more of these items than we did of those original t-shirts. Think of these items as all the things I WOULD have been selling at the De Stijl merch table if we’d had the time, money, know-how or space in the van to carry them.
Sincerely,
Ben Blackwell
White Stripes Roadie since 1997
A tote bag for 45$!? A tiny puzzle for 75$!?
You need to get your feet back down on this earth, you’re overdoing it, but just an incy-wincy-teeny-tiny bit.
This has absolutely nothing to do with “offering exclusive items to fans”…you’re ripping them off, daylight robbery I recollect would be an adequate description.
When’s the next Vault package being announced?
I’m saying hey back to the basics after. I’d like just album releases and not all the other stuff for a more reasonable price. Sell all the trinkets separate
Raw’s moaning is all over the place, it’s nonsensical.
Why would they get rid of the Vault? It’s all preorder “bespoke” production. People pay, then they make the product. There is no financial downside. If fewer people order, they make less. It would have to drop fairly significantly for scale to be a problem here, especially since they have a pressing plant of their own. The vault has always been an optional thing and you can come in and out based on your opinion if the package. While I’d be into a John Prine tribute, there’s no need to rag on Billie Eilish. She’s not my favorite, but people who don’t like her music are in the minority. This is a business and they need to have commercially successful albums with wide appeal to be able to offer those deep cuts with a more limited appeal. Don’t begrudge a company for making money, unless it is at the expense of providing quality. Here they do both and I love them for that. My only complaints are usually design oriented and that is only because so many things they do are so thoroughly well designed that it is noticeable when things aren’t.
Please don’t get rid of the Vault, for many reasons. Different people want different things, but there’s always a place for an entity that creates a sense of community along with just selling records.
This is the problem the is going to hit TMR hard. They have started to run out of things and have been rehashing for awhile now. The fact the a lot of people lost jobs or had their spending money decrease. TMR will need to start over. For one, get rid of the Vault. It had its time and did its job. It got a lot of people back into vinyl. It for sure was a huge push. But the fact releases have been becoming more stale and the same things over and over. Also, focus on real music. I’m sorry, Billie Eilish?!?!! Instead of something like that garbage, the should be next in something great, like a John Prine tribute album. Also, instead of forcing a release every quarter…let it come organically. The small odd gimmicks that come with the Vault Releases…honestly most people don’t do much with them. Yeah sure, a few things like a patch or something can be put on jacket. I think why not just sell that seperate. I only have so much space to put all that stuff. I’d rather just have a great album put out when something unique comes up. And price it $20-30 with no membership. You could do pre-orders this way you know how many to make but overhead cost would go wayyy down. I think the fact the Vault went up and everything going on, the Vault sales will suffer going forward. Like I said, I think it had its time and place but something new is needed in my opinion.
I got it. I don’t hate the back. And I’m not saying the idea of a tour shirt was bad. I don’t need the cities, but they’re fine. My issue is that a tour shirt shouldn’t just be the cover of the album either. If I was at the merch table at this show, I’d skip the shirt. Album cover by itself in a little square on the shirt has always been a lazy design. I’m sure they were going for the vibe of a concert shirt of the time. But even at that time there were better shirts. And after 20 years, they could have done more. Even if they just took something akin to what the tote did on the front. People may love and want this. But I don’t and they asked for feedback. So here’s mine. :)
It’s a mock tour t-shirt with dates on the back, Milkman.
I love a puzzle. So I’m totally on board with that. The fact that some are going to be randomly signed is exactly the kind of thing I’ve always wanted for the vault store to be. Exclusive merch, limited run novelties. I mean, isn’t that why you called it the Vault Novelties store to begin with? I’d love to see more like the puzzle. I love some socks. The tote is fine, but I have SO many totes and never use them. A larger tote that works as a grocery bag would be a nice change of pace from the small record tote. Who is really popping over to a friends house with a couple of records anymore to the point where the 100 totes they’ve already got aren’t sufficient? I’d really be on board with a T-shirt. But this one seems lazy. De Stijl is one of my favorite albums, but this is just the album cover on the front. This album is named after an art movement. So many ways to go and we get the album cover with no alterations printed on a shirt. It takes the nice gesture of giving us some exclusive merch and makes it feel like a lazy cash grab. The puzzle doesn’t feel like that, but the shirt does. So, thank you for the thought and effort. It’s a good start.