Special edition vinyl albums cause some fans delight – but others suspect a cynical marketing ploy
In fact, physical sales are so healthy that HMV has risen from the ashes and returned to its flagship store on Oxford Street.
- In fact, physical sales are so healthy that HMV has risen from the ashes and returned to its flagship store on Oxford Street.
- According to Lawrence Montgomery, the managing director of Rough Trade record stores, Swift owes her success in part to appealing to a younger contingent of fans by turning her albums into collectables.
- She has done this through the release of multiple alternate album covers or disc colours.
- A few days later, another special edition, with a fourth bonus track, was made available.
The special ones
- Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine album, released in March 2024 came in five CD and six vinyl variants, as well as a deluxe edition.
- Perhaps the most troubling aspect of all this is how children are being targeted as consumers of these expensive products.
- Researchers have observed that Swift’s 2019 album, Lover, was focused on a “tween identity”.
Cross-generational collecting
- Millennials like me are also being suckered in by the allure of special editions.
- I’m a Beatles and Pink Floyd fan, and I’m not oblivious to the numerous re-releases both acts have been party to over the decades.
- I have three copies of Abbey Road, three White Albums, three versions of Let it Be, and more editions of McCartney than anyone rightfully needs.
- And yes, I’ve bought them, even though I already own more than one copy of each.
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Glenn Fosbraey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.