Amazon cashes in on the vinyl resurgence with record of the month club
For $25/month, you'll get a classic album from the '60s and '70s every 30 days or so.
Amazon is targeting newbie record collectors with its latest subscription. If you sign up to the Vinyl of the Month Club, you’ll receive a new record for your collection every 30 days or so.
You won’t know what records you’ll receive as part of the $25 plan until they show up at your door, but they’ll be classics from the “Golden Era of Vinyl” — the 1960s and ‘70s — chosen by curators at Amazon Music. You’ll receive vinyls from the likes of Pink Floyd, Aretha Franklin and ABBA, so if you’ve been collecting records for a while or your tastes fall outside of the mainstream, this might not be for you.
Still, as Rolling Stone points out, the subscription can be decent value for money. Amazon quietly rolled out the Vinyl of the Month Club plan over the last few months. In that time, subscribers have received the likes of Pink Floyd’s The Wall and The Clash’s London Calling. Those cost $47 and $32.56 on Amazon respectively, so you’d save a bit. But given the mystery bag format, there’s no telling in advance whether you’ll get an album you actually want.
You can return a vinyl as long as it’s sealed and unused. If you’re unfamiliar with the artist or album, it’s maybe worth checking it out on a streaming service before tearing the plastic wrapping off. You can also skip a month or cancel at any time. Shipping’s included in the $25/month fee and you don’t need to be a Prime member to sign up.
Vinyl has steadily grown in popularity again in recent years as more people embrace the classic format. Streaming accounts for the biggest slice of the music industry pie by far, but in 2020, vinyl sales grew 29 percent from the previous year to $619.6 million in the US.
Amazon offers a number of subscriptions, such as Prime Video (which is included with Prime), Amazon Music Unlimited and Audible Plus. Given the upswing in interest in vinyl, this seems like a smart way for Amazon to expand its media-centric plans.
