Might be a good business move but doesn’t seem consistent with the Third Man Brand. Maybe it was just a matter of time. Obviously Third Man Records is growing. There are fewer and fewer record stores. It just doesn’t seem special and Third Man is special. I just feel sad about it.

Props, Dunksaroo.

Exactly Aqua… people trying to make sense of things again… I always seem to forget that it is the longest standing debate on the planet

Stop making sense. ;-)

I am not going to be dramatic, but I think everyone can agree to one timeless truth:

When a product goes from limited scale production to a mass market, artisanship often suffers at the hand of demand.

Sometimes this doesn’t happen, most of the times it does. I think the fear here is that this is a sign of the times. I mean is it wrong more people are exposed to vinyl and TRM? Nope. But are we that blind to think this is a move to spread the good word; or is it a move to monetize & capitalize on the resurgence of vinyl?

Don’t get me wrong I love TMR and what it stood for, but I feel like over the past two years the Vault, and the TMR experience has drifted away from their original mantra – Your Vinyl Player is not Dead.

I dsaw a few comments tht said bringing it to the masses is not a bad thing. I would agree that exposure is never a bad thing, but oversaturation is. I don’t think we need to keep the vault under lock & key, but I don’t think we need to cheapen it by selling this at Whole Foods.

I mean if TMR is so for brick and mortar shops, why dont they work all well-known shopsthat are registered with RSD and have TMR sections in them. For example TMR at Amoeba, or at Princeton Record Shop would be great!

Anyways while I don’t think its the end of the world, this just doesn’t settle right with me :\ oh well at least it wasn’t urban outfitters haha.

[reading comments] what da hell is going on?

Thank you Stacelings…. just let me know when the turntable starter kits hit my outlet… I got nieces and nephews to appreciate with gift certificates…. get back on topic you myopic fiends

Oh,and another PS: The coolest famous person to run into in the Blue Room is the boss, Mr. White…sorry I can never talk to you Jack, guess I don’t want you to think I am a gold-digger type and there to take advantage of you for all of your riches. Someday I’ll get up the guts to say something…maybe offer to clean the restrooms for free in exchange for a guarantee to get into the Blue Room for shows. Darn those shows can sell out too fast!

I thought up a PS: I met a guy named Seymour Duncan when I was 18 and he was 23 and we became friends because we both have a passion for music. Seymour and his second wife (I met him when he was married to his first wife)started Seymour Duncan Pick-ups (for guitars) and has been in business for something like 35 years now. Seymour Duncan sells guitar pick-ups to everyone and anyone all around the world, from amateurs to some of the best guitar players in the world (for example Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, who just happen to be Seymour’s friends). Another example of great success in a music business is Tom Jackson Productions. Once I started hanging out in Nashville I thought I would take up songwriting as a hobby (since it seems like just about everyone in Nashville is a songwriter and it would be a good way to make new music friends in the Music City). When I learned about Tom Jackson, who used to be in a band and toured a lot and now teaches “live” music methods, I deiced to go to one of his bootcamps. So there I was without an instrument or a song but I was just as welcome as everyone else in the class that was there to get help for themselves to improve their music career. Just before that bootcamp Tom had been working with The Band Perry who have skyrocketed to success since then (Tom has also worked with big money maker Taylor Swift). After that bootcamp I met some guys in an army band and they told me that after basic training, in their AIT (Advanced Individual Training), they watched dvd’s of Tom Jackson’s “live” music methods to help them improve on their “live” performances. Tom Jackson productions works with everyone from amateur musicians, church people, military bands to the well know recording artists and bands. In conclusion: It’s not about the haves and have nots. It is about getting out good products and sharing them with the whole world. For me it is exciting to attend a show in the Blue Room that gets recorded and is made into a vinyl record that is sold all around the world. Anyone can buy those records from the haves to the have nots. It’s a win/win situation for Third Man Records to have lots of customers from all walks of life. It’s pretty cool to go to Third Man Records, and being a nobody, run into famous people. After all we are all just people.

“It wouldn’t be Third Man if there was ever an announcement that wasn’t met with furious complaining.” And ass kissing praise, as well. There’s a pretty even balance of both, if you really step back and look at things. There are also a lot of people in between who praise some things and question others. It was the same when the Vault was on Modlife, this is nothing new. And that’s the way it should be. Third Man would become complacent as hell if every single fan loved every single thing they did. If they’re smart people, which I can’t help but imagine they are, then they read both the complaints and the praise objectively, without the excessive sensitivity that some of their fans display, and try to learn something from both (I’m lookin’ at you, Mr. Blackwell, with your “complainy plainerson” comments that are now being mimicked here). What do you want, Third Man— Fans who express all the passion they feel about what you do, for both good and bad, or just a bunch of sycophants constantly stroking your egos?