VNYL is a vinyl record membership club that helps members discover new music. You plug in any accounts that might tell them your musical taste, such as Spotify, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, Last.fm and Rdio as well as your Discogs account so they know what records you already own. They then ask you questions about your favorite bands, what music you don’t like, what genres you’re interested in and what your ultimate record find would be. You get to pick how adventurous you want your subscription to be (how much they should deviate from bands you already love) and you choose a monthly theme called a vibe.
VNYL then has a curator run through everything and pick out three records just for you. I started collecting records a couple of years back and I love exploring new music, so I thought this would be the perfect club for me. Today, I’ll share with you what they sent me.
The records are sent in a sturdy mailer shown at the top of this article. It’s small enough that the vinyl doesn’t bounce around during transport and is labeled with the company logo. It was simple to tear open, so I didn’t have to fight with it.
Inside the box, I found some paperwork. One was a mini-mag that gave a review of the band Day Wave. There was also an ad for their record shop.
In addition to the large papers were two stickers. One was the logo and the other was the company's motto, “Let’s Get Physical.” Also, there was a handwritten note telling me what records they chose for me and why.
After going through the papers, I eagerly pulled out my new records. Included were A Flourish and a Spoil by the Districts, A Coliseum Complex Museum by the Besnard Lakes, and Glean by They Might Be Giants.
I was already a TMBG fan, but I didn’t have this album on vinyl yet. The other two artists were new to me. The letter described the Districts as sounding like Arctic Monkeys, another favorite of mine. They do have some similarities and I really liked the album.
They supposedly sent me the Besnard Lakes because they are from the same Toronto scene as the New Pornographers who they knew I enjoyed from my profile. They’re supposed to have a similar style, but I didn’t really hear it. They’re still a good band and I’m happy to have the record.
I was a little worried when I signed up that VNYL would send me something I would hate, but they did a great job matching my tastes! I’ve since recommended them to another friend of mine who collects vinyl.
VNYL costs $39 per month with free shipping which works out to about $13 a record – not bad! It takes about a month from order date to delivery date, but it’s well worth the wait. They take the time to explore your tastes and help you expand them. Not feeling adventurous? You can have them only send you bands from your lists of loves, but I think getting something unexpected every month is the fun part. If you have a love affair with music and vinyl records, this is the club for you.