Columbia House, the legendary mail order brand, is staging its comeback only a few months after its parent company, Filmed Entertainment, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, effectively ending the brand's 50-year run of bringing the masses large quantities of albums and later movies for as little as a dollar--or so we thought. Under new ownership, the brand is set to relaunch as a vinyl record delivery service.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, FEI CEO John Lippman bought the remains of the brand at a bankruptcy auction for $1.5 million when no other potential buyers showed up. Lippman told the WSJ that the recent vinyl boom is proof that consumers need more options for purchasing the records online: "For a category that is meaningful and growing rapidly, you don't see a whole lot of choice."
Lippman stressed to the WSJ that the revived Columbia House will be more like a book-of-the-month club than a traditional store where consumers can cherry pick what they want, but asserts that subscribers will have "some ability to choose the records, genres of music and possibly other types of media they receive."
Other details regarding Columbia House's all-vinyl revival are yet to be seen, but in the WSJ article Lippman hinted that the brand's relaunch will scale-down the company's old promotion schemes. In other words, don't expect to get stacks of vinyl records for a dollar.
As Billboard points out, one important question that Lippman has yet to address about the new venture is where the company will source its vinyl from. Because vinyl record sales have been booming, the increased demand has put extra pressure on the limited number of LP pressing plants. According to Billboard, it sometimes takes months for labels to get their vinyl orders in.
The brand's revival will be joining a few other companies already in the hands-off vinyl record delivery business. VNYL sends three new albums every month for $36. Vinyl Me, Please sends out one new album plus original artwork and some other perks every month for $23.
To learn more about the company during its hey-day, watch this film made by a NYU philosophy grad when he worked as a production manager for Columbia House, below:
The Target Shoots First from Chris Wilcha on Vimeo.
