Twelve CDs for the Price of One
The face of music is changing. There have been a myriad of trite columns about how the iPod is killing the record store. I have written some of them. I am no longer stuck in the past. I begrudgingly got an iPod last year, and it’s one of my favorite things. My computer is hooked up to my stereo, and I use iTunes almost exclusively. However, I still prefer buying a physical product. I love going to record stores and thumbing through the racks. I am tremendously proud of the two huge racks in my room. They are a reflection of my manhood, or something.
I’d like to say that most of my collection came from a hip record store like the Sound Garden or Reptilian Records. As I scan the titles of my collection, I have a confession to make. Half of my collection came from the BMG Music Service.
I joined BMG in November of 2004. I was looking for a cheap way to round out my collection, and was seduced by the idea of getting 12 discs for a penny. My first shipment contained U2, Queensryche, Mötley Crüe, Megadeth and Led Zeppelin. There is something very satisfying about coming home to a mailbox full of CDs. I was quickly converted.
Four months into my membership, I learned the cardinal rule of the BMG Music Service. If you don’t decline a featured selection, you will receive it at full price. BMG was great for buying CDs in bulk, but the list price for a single disc was ridiculous. A latter-day Scorpions record is not worth $21.77.
I would buy from BMG depending on the sale they were having. My favorite was the two-thirds off sale, because it included free shipping. I would usually buy more during this period, with a couple shipments every month. I filled out my collection with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin and Ryan Adams. BMG enabled me to buy complete catalogs without spending obscene amounts of money.
Three years ago, I noticed that the selection was starting to shrink. Dylan, The Clash and Springsteen were no longer available. Then The Replacements, Prince and Miles Davis left the fold. I still bought some stuff, but it wasn’t the same. In December, BMG announced that they were discontinuing their Music Points program and would not be accepting new members. I wondered how much longer the club would exist.
Last week, I got the e-mail. BMG Music Service would be ceasing operations in June. I immediately went on a buying spree, grabbing box sets for next to nothing: James Brown, Hank Williams Sr., and John Coltrane. I will repeat the process until the company closes, not just because I want to get a bunch of cheap music, but because it’s saying goodbye to a way of life. There are many positive aspects to our iPod driven music culture. It’s really cool to be able to carry your entire collection on a device the size of a deck of cards. With that convenience we lose some simple pleasures. BMG had its flaws, but a generation of kids will never experience the joy of coming home to a huge box of records. iTunes can’t compete with that.
