I remember being 12 years old and signing up for this. I had no payment information to provide them, but they sent me CDs anyway.
My dad quickly found out and made me cancel (by writing "Return to sender. Do not want" on one of the packages and putting it back in the mailbox.) I never got another cd from them.
But I still don't understand why they would send me anything before they had a way to charge me? Chalk it up to simpler times, I guess? This was still an era when you could fill up your gas tank THEN go inside and pay.
I did get Sugar Ray's Floored album out of it…which my brother subsequently blackmailed me out of by threatening to tell my parents about my "Parental Guidance" cd.
The first cd was full price which was usually an inflated full price, after that you paid the shipping for each "free" CD. After the introductory period it was a rip off, if you were smart you cancelled but they likely made money from people who forgot to cancel.
Pretty much the same model all subscription services have now.
I still never understood how this business model made money
Because you were required to buy a certain number of albums/cassettes/CDs after getting the 10 for $.01, and those were shipped to you automatically unless you returned a card each month saying you didn't want that month's album. And they were inflated prices.
Half my CD collection in HS was from BMG. All I did was get the 12, pay for one full price, cancel, sign back up with a slightly different name. They never even cared about the address being the same.
It was 8 (or sometimes I swear it was 12) CDs for a penny, then buy one at retail, so you ended up with like 9-13 CDS for less than $30.
Columbia House was much more strict. BMG was the one I exploited at will.
but you're missing the tactics that made it work.
It was get the 8 or 12 for a penny, with an agreement to buy a certain number at full price (or even higher than full price). Then they also mailed a 'featured' album once a month, again priced high, and would do so unless the customer sent in the postcard declining that months featured album.. something clearly many people never did.
I was in the pre-cd era, which means I got my 12 cassettes for a penny. I wish I could remember more about the 12 selections, but I think there was a 38 Special cassette in the mix.
This thread has me thinking... why would a record company do this? Maybe they made enough money off people who paid monthly to make it work. Perhaps they produced way more cassettes or cds than they could distribute to Soundwaves, Sam Goody, etc., and they used the unsold inventory as a way to push their artists? Either way, it was a concept that lasted longer than it should have.
Whatever the reason, I have decent memories of the era. It was a lot of new music at a crucial time for me as a teenage, and there was always the underlying fear that "they were going to come after me", a fear that re-emerged in the aftermath of Napster.
Right but clearly most of us on this thread were not the dumb ones and we got in and out and resigned, so let's say I did it 5-6 times, then that is like 60 CDS or the price of 6.
I guess the answer is that the people who never bothered to learn the system paid for those of us that did.
Same with Internet/mobile phones. I just redid my deal and got a ton of stuff which is paid for by all the people who just never check their bills and just blindly keep paying their bills long after the "deals" have expired.
I was in the pre-cd era, which means I got my 12 cassettes for a penny. I wish I could remember more about the 12 selections, but I think there was a 38 Special cassette in the mix.
This thread has me thinking... why would a record company do this? Maybe they made enough money off people who paid monthly to make it work. Perhaps they produced way more cassettes or cds than they could distribute to Soundwaves, Sam Goody, etc., and they used the unsold inventory as a way to push their artists? Either way, it was a concept that lasted longer than it should have.
Whatever the reason, I have decent memories of the era. It was a lot of new music at a crucial time for me as a teenage, and there was always the underlying fear that "they were going to come after me", a fear that re-emerged in the aftermath of Napster.
I was in the cassette era, as well.
I know one of my 10 cassettes was Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album.
This thread has me thinking... why would a record company do this? Maybe they made enough money off people who paid monthly to make it work. Perhaps they produced way more cassettes or cds than they could distribute to Soundwaves, Sam Goody, etc., and they used the unsold inventory as a way to push their artists? Either way, it was a concept that lasted longer than it should have.
According to the article linked below, Columbia House was originally designed to sell records to rural customers who lacked access to retail outlets.
Then, because they manufactured their own media and paid no royalties to the artists for the giveaways, they had lower costs so it was a profitable venture. Once they got good at marketing, they had enough paying customers to ignore those who took advantage.
Fun fact: Hootie and the Blowfish sold 13 million units of "Cracked Rear View," but 3 million of those were record club giveaways where they earned no royalties!
Right but clearly most of us on this thread were not the dumb ones and we got in and out and resigned, so let's say I did it 5-6 times, then that is like 60 CDS or the price of 6.
I guess the answer is that the people who never bothered to learn the system paid for those of us that did.
Same with Internet/mobile phones. I just redid my deal and got a ton of stuff which is paid for by all the people who just never check their bills and just blindly keep paying their bills long after the "deals" have expired.
The whole thing is a good watch, but the 5 minute mark has a few key things;
*Columbia House licensed master tapes and pressed their own media. *Negative option billing - many people did not return the card by mail skipping the monthly featured album. *The free cds they gave away were not considered sales, they were considered promos. So they paid no royalties for them. So they weren't losing really any money from those who bailed even though those individuals thought they were being sneaky.
But look at today.. negative option billing tactic is literally still in use;
Free 1 month trial at the gym, or the public storage, or for HBO/netflix/Disney whatever.. They rely on many people forgetting to cancel. If they get at least that first full charge, they probably just made their money back.
And remember, this was 30-40 years ago.. people weren't checking their credit card charges daily or weekly. They got the bill in the mail and would have to find that charge to remember 'oh yeh.. I need to cancel that!' There was no grabbing your phone and canceling that service with a few clicks. There was a phone call, or a trip to mail box with a stamp, or whatever.
Sign up for subscribe and save for 50% off your first order is another.
