NewsDavid Bowie team ‘sorry’ as Brilliant Live Adventures campaign falls short
“Worst release in history”
Frustrated David Bowie fans, who feel let down by the rather shambolic Brilliant Live Adventures campaign, were sent an apology today by the Bowie web team, acknowledging that many had suffered what they called a “poor shopping experience”.
Fans have been damning on social media about the way the sales of the six live albums, and the associated (empty) box sets, have been handled and many people have been left with half-collections due to later volumes (five and six, specifically) selling out in less than half an hour!
The campaign was announced in October last year. Brilliant Live Adventures was the banner for a series of David Bowie live albums, with material recorded between 1995 and 1999.
Universal Music’s direct to consumer site is uDiscoverMusic.com
All well and good, but in an attempt to keep all the spoils for themselves, Parlophone chose to do this entirely in-house, side-stepping traditional retail channels entirely (independent record shops and large unit-shifters such as Amazon and HMV). These releases would only be available from three places online: Dig!, the recently rebranded UK Rhino ‘D2C’ (direct-to-consumer) website; the official David Bowie shop; and the US Rhino webstore. The label would take the sales, manage fulfilment and customer service.
The dark clouds of discontent gathered overhead almost immediately, when the first release, Ouvrez Le Chien, was announced and the promised empty box sets to house all six volumes disappeared from sale in the blink of an eye! A flustered Parlophone promised there would be more, but that fans would have to wait until the very end of the campaign. Uncertainty hung in the air like a bad smell.
In truth, the first few releases came and went without too much fuss, but it was when number five, Something In The Air, sold out so quickly (half an hour) that the fury and frustration started to build. The general feeling was that limited editions are one thing, but this was turning the process of buying physical music into the same kind of lottery as acquiring tickets to concerts. And as with gig tickets, there was a suspicion that these weren’t all ending up in the hands of the fans but rather going straight up on eBay!
David Bowie aficionados were left to contemplate half a collection of Brilliant Live Adventures releases, or resort to paying over the odds to resellers.
The Dig! shopping experience on 19 March 2021, as the site crashed.
Number six – At The Kit Kat Klub (Live New York 99) – was the last in the series and this is where things really fell apart. Now alerted to the fact that these were going to sell out quickly, fans descending en masse to the Dig! store on 19 March and the site promptly crashed just as customers had items in their baskets. Some made it through the checked process but were left in limbo, without the expected confirmation emails, while other stressed fans abandoned Dig! and headed elsewhere, only to find the required items unavailable.
Five months on from the original promise, some box sets became available again, but not consistently across all three sites. Such was the uncertainty, some ended up hedging their bets and placing duplicate orders on different sites in order to make sure they got the product they needed. This of course accentuated stock availability issues.
But such fears turned out to be well founded. Rhino US took and confirmed orders for empty CD and vinyl boxes two weeks ago, only to inform some people yesterday that “due to a technical error” the boxes had been oversold and they wouldn’t be getting them after all! All these disappointments caused one fan to conclude that Brilliant Live Adventures was the “worst release in history”.
It seems like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Back in October 2020, Parlophone didn’t produce enough of those empty boxes to satisfy demand. So they produced some more, but that still wasn’t enough to satisfy demand!
Something In The Air (#5) became available at 9am GMT in both Britain and America when it went on sale. So when UK fans couldn’t buy it due to the lack of stock, guess what? They headed to the Rhino US store and ordered from there! American fans were in bed asleep, totally unaware that their counterparts across the Atlantic were pinching from ‘their’ allocation! Probably as a result of this, the final offering, At The Kit Kat Klub, went on sale at 4pm. But that wasn’t communicated in advance by the Bowie team, leaving fans to spend the day stressing, on high alert constantly refreshing the online stores waiting for stock to become available.
Add to all this, the slightly dubious concept of asking fans to buy the empty box in which to store their Brilliant Live Adventures Collection and it becomes easy to understand the lack of goodwill from consumers. The cost of UK shipping for the six vinyl releases, added to the price of the empty box gets you to a figure north of £50. That’s before you spend £150 on the actual records (if they’ll ‘let’ you buy them…).
Why didn’t they have an option to purchase all six albums together in a box, in advance, at the very beginning – which could be delivered together when the sixth album became available? That would cost no more than £10 to ship via courier (in the UK), saving the consumer around £30. And remembering that by selling direct-to-consumer, the label are keeping the cut normally earned by a traditional distributors and retail, surely there’s enough profit from £150 worth of records to ‘give’ fans a cardboard box to keep them in? Did the label and estate really need to squeeze Bowie fans until the pips squeak?
Today’s statement from the official David Bowie store is as follows:
Dear David Bowie Fan,
We are aware that a number of fans have had a poor shopping experience during the ‘Brilliant Live Adventures’ campaign, and for that we are very sorry.
We also recognize that, unfortunately due to the unexpected demand, many people have been unable to purchase certain titles and subsequently missed out on the opportunity to complete their collection.
In the coming weeks we will provide you with further details on how and when we will be making these titles available to you again.
Once again we apologize and thank you for your patience and continued support.
David Bowie web team
So it certainly looks as if they intend to make more copies of the individual Brilliant Live Adventures releases available (and perhaps some more boxes too). This is good news for those that missed out, but serious questions remain about how the record label allowed the borderline farcical situation to occur in the first place.
What do you think of the Bowie Brilliant Live Adventures campaign? Tell us of your experiences by leaving a comment.
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228 thoughts on “David Bowie team ‘sorry’ as Brilliant Live Adventures campaign falls short”
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Worst thing is, I bought these CDs and the box in the first round (super stressfull as outlined above) and then listened to them only once or twice… The set lists are all samey from the 90s concerts and IMO it is a missed opportunity to not include a 2CD with one of the early Sound + Vision shows. It’s the only Bowie tour of which not even 1 (!) song has been officially released as a digital download, video, b-side or any other physical release.
I have to admit I sidestepped these releases because I’m mainly interested in 70’s (and studio recorded) Bowie. But from what I’ve read, it appeared to be quite a debacle .
Still, in response to the Bowie fan who concluded that Brilliant Live Adventures was the “worst release in history”, I’ll submit that IMHO the worst farce of a release I’ve personally encountered in recent years was the Rolling Stones “Carnaby Red” vinyl reissues. And I think anyone who tried to get any of those would concur. To my knowledge there were only something like 1000 of each title pressed: half sold in the Stones store on Carnaby St., and the other half (for the rest of the world) sold online D2C. And good luck with that. Underpressed. Sold out from the moment they appeared online. Oversold (with payment taken upon ordering, not shipment). You name it – they did it wrong.
First ordered from the http://www.davidbowie.com site yesterday. After placing the order I asked them if I would have to pay customs duties and fees as I’m in Belgium and the records are shipped from the UK. They said it would be very likely. So I asked them to cancel my order which was done very swiftly. Then I reordered from the Dig! Store only to realize that I was saving 90 euro vs the Bowie site !!! Records are cheaper on Dig! and also shipping costs are much much lower. But I’ll still have to pay for customs duties I guess. Just a shame that Warner can’t think of a scheme to ship orders from mainland Europe which would prevent these customs duties. Also release dates between the 2 sites are different.
Available to re-order any you’ve missed…
https://lnk.to/DB-BLA
the real and true scandal was to sell an empty card box for the price of a cd
about 6 months ago (time flies when you are not gaving fun) ,,Warner did post a communique on Bowie’s web site asking people to register to get posted on the records reprint. since then nothing has happen.
was it just com to cool people down till they have their minds busy with BA box, or do they still plan to fix it? maybe Paul can investigate?
In stark contrast to the Bowie debacle, may I offer my thanks to Big Bear Music of Edgbaston, Birmingham. I was after the first album by swing / jazz upstarts King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys on cd. It’s never been released on said format, but a guy named Charlie at Big Bear Admin kindly copied the audio files to cd and enclosed cover art for the total cost of £5 including postage! Renewed my faith and confirmed that not all music companies are fleecing, money grabbing baskets! Shame on the Bowie estate!
This is disgraceful. I bought these albums, at great personal expense as I had to import 3 if them from the US, as I believed they would be “limited” as originally stated. I can’t get the Five Years boxset as its sold out, and fetching huge sums online. Will Parlophone reissue it for me? I also missed out on the coloured vinyl version of the Mother Calls single, which is also on sale for obscene figures on resale sites. Will they re-press that if I complain about it? If people were unable to get the records first time around, that should, basically, be a case of tough luck. Instead, the value of the collection I put in a lot of time and effort to collect, is going to be diluted. The best I can hope for is that the reissues are identified as such.
I understand what you’re saying. But what about those of us that also put a lot of time, money and effort in, but were left short through no fault of our own. I ordered most of the albums from Dig UK, I live in NZ, so the postage was significant for each edition. I ordered each edition as soon as it was available to purchase. It meant setting alarms and waking up in the middle of the night (being 12 hours ahead) to place the order so as not to miss out. The first two issues were easy enough to buy, but as the resellers started getting involved it became harder. I missed out on BLA 6 from Warner Australia, then both DIG UK &the Bowie store. Finally the same day as the release I managed to purchase one from Rhino USA, only to have them contact me in April to tell me that due to a technical error my order had been put onto back order. Then on 8th May I received the following “ While we will be making the Brilliant Live Adventures series available again, at this time, we are regretfully canceling back orders”. They refunded my original purchase.
So yea. I get your point. But there are a lot of us that invested more but were left without copies of certain albums that we purchased. I’m guessing the new run will be a new lot of pressings, catalogued different to the originals, which is a bummer for people like me but at least we get to complete the set that we spent months of time and hundreds of dollars on.
Normally I would be outraged if I bought a ‘limited edition’ and later found it was being reissued. But in this case, with the process being bungled as badly as it was, I have no problem with additional copies being offered. My experience with the Brilliant Live Adventures was perhaps atypical, in that I bought all 6 CDs from Rhino without a problem. The box was a slap in the face to begin with, so I didn’t bother. Despite being one of the lucky ones, I’m happy to see a second chance for those who got jerked around.
Will Soul Tour 74 LP, ChangesNowBowie LP and the Five Years LP box set be repressed as well as I didn’t get them. I did get the Live Adventures set (LP & CD) without the box at some considerable expense. But I am never going to pay for a box.
Although the prices for the vinyl are still high on eBay, the cds and the cd box prices have plummeted (that’s actual sales not listed price), in some cases selling for less than the bowie store cost (once you factor in six X p&p).
So apparently Warner Canada dropped the ball on getting BLA6 out to some customers.
It was was supposed to be shipped as of April 23rd and my account had shown no updates since my initial purchase.
I sent them an email inquiring as to the delay.
This was their response:
“After communicating with the warehouse it turns out we only received a portion of CD boxes. We will be receiving the remaining stock by May 24th 2021 and your order will ship immediately.
We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.
Best Regards,
Customer Service Team”
What the heck? So now Canadian customers are also getting the runaround on this.
I also still do not have any answers from the Bowie store on the fiasco on BLA4 (yes 4) that I went through.
What a truly frustrating experience.
I have nothing bad to say about Warner Canada, I bought the box and all 6 cds from them and I in fact just received BLA6 today (looks like it was delayed a week in Canada) so I can finally fill the box.
Without going into too much detail, I have received emails regarding a free live 6 CD from Dig.
Then the vinyl version turns up, then a CD turns up, then another CD turns up.
Unbelievable that they told me payment wasn’t taken and my order was cancelled.
You cannot make it up.
Must be nice. I have to wait until June or longer to receive mine because Canada is waiting on boxes.
Meanwhile the Uk Bowie store has refused to help with my issues surrounding BLA 4 & 5.
I’m truly disgusted by this whole thing.
Apologising for BLA is one thing, but there are also issues with how the Bowie Estate handled the recent Mother 45 as well. I think the marketing committee managing these releases on behalf of the Bowie Estate need replacing. Put a couple of fans on the committee. You’ll get better results.
Up until now the Bowie Estate had done a pretty good job with RSD titles. We all appreciate the ‘hunt’ associated with RSD, and there are rules that help make it a fairer game. BLA reverted to the ‘law of the jungle’. A lot of resellers have done really well out of the last few titles.
After missing a few of these titles, I am not playing this game anymore. It isn’t like there is a shortage of other artists releasing managing their archives better. Added to that, I have discovered something over the last two years…… there are new artists releasing new music that I am enjoying more. True! Anyone doubting this can start with The Moons album Pocket Melodies, or if you’re after something a little more freeform, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard with their album Sketches Of Brunswick East. Ask for them by name!!!
Hi everyone i got the cd box today , put the 6 cds in and had to admit that this expensive boxset (190 euros) was worth it , beautiful (tour dates are printed on all the box) and (to this day ) rare and limited
I think i will upgrade it with an article or a sizable poster of my own .
Jus to say that i ordered all the items (unless Something in the air from Bowie store without any ordering problem)
Now it’s done no more stress and computer watching; Hope everyone will get missing copies
And finaly I get the empty box today, so I can put the 6 cds into it. I am happy now. Hopefuly there will never be a way like this to get a release from Bowie AND other artists too !
Just received an unexpected copy of live at the kit kat club cd from dig. It doesn’t look like I have been charged as yet. If I hadn’t already bought one for £30 from an ebay scalper (and I don’t think that was near what some people paid) I would be elated. As it is there is still a bad taste left in my mouth. But they listened at least
Dear all, is there any news on possible repressings of these albums? The prices being asked for ‘Ouvrez le Chien’ and other cd’s I’m missing from my BLA collection are quite frankly ludicrous…
I was one of the ‘have I? haven’t I?’ Dig! customers for Kit Kat/BLA6, who got a PayPal receipt but no confirmation from Dig! and, like others, a rather drawn-out e-mail conversation with Dig! customer service which didn’t seem able to say whether I could expect a CD or not. I’ve just now (The 15th April) had a dispatch e-mail from them – I won’t count my chickens ’til it makes it through the letterbox, but this may be an encouraging sign for some other posters below…
I’m in exactly the same situation.
A bizarre twist, I purchased The Width Of A Circle (2CD) / Man Who Sold The World (P/Disc) deal. I had problems with PayPal, so I paid by card. I got an email confirmation and the invoice number is identical to the original Kit Kat/BLA6 CD transaction. The email confirmation of the dispatch of the Kit Kat/BLA6 contains a completely different invoice number! Are we getting the CD for free?
I guess that Parlophone/Rhino are only getting enough CDs to honour the aborted / cancelled transactions!
As you say, only when the CD actually gets delivered, can we breath a sigh of relief or …
… What about my 2CD/Picture Disc? Hmmm? Original invoice number!
I received the same mail. Interestingly I managed to secure a Kit Kat Klub and box at cost from a nice person on the SH forum, who managed to order two by mistake and only lived down the road from me. They arrived with me last week.
So if I get an extra Kit Kat Klub now I have an absolute moral dilemma.
The whole thing though has left a very bitter taste in the mouth, and the fact I still can not use PayPal on the Dig website is their loss as I look for alternative sources in the future for things.
And I’ve now just had another e-mail from Warner Customer Services actually explaining that, sorry for the glitches on March 19th, we’ve investigated it and good news, you HAVE got a CD, it will be sent out by the end of this week and you’ll get a dispatch mail (which actually came first, last night – fair enough, that ‘wrong order of receiving e-mails’ is surprisingly not unusual with quite a few mail order operations – I subscribe to one part-work magazine that often send a ‘your latest issues have dispatched’ alert mail about 2 or 3 days after the package itself has rocked up). So, looking good…
And it’s arrived, safe and sound, delivered by Hermes.
My Kit Kat Live CD was delivered today. I only got the one email saying that my order had been dispatched. This order (with the completely different order number) isn’t showing up on my Dig account.
It’s pleasing to get a copy directly from Dig, although I did buy one from eBay as I didn’t believe that they would repress the CD so quickly.
I hope that everyone in the same situation (failed / cancelled transactions) manages to get a copy. If this is the case, then at least there is a semi-satisfactory conclusion – this shouldn’t have been allowed to happen, but it did – they’ve partly redeemed themselves and as long as there’s no more pressed than is necessary, then it’s still a reasonably exclusive release (to please those who are concerned about that).
From a musical point of view, the era was probably my least favourite era, but having listened to all the six live CDs, I’ve definitely warmed to that era now!
I missed the whole campaign right from the start as the first volume(s) were sold out and so the empty box aswell. I just didn’t like the fact that they couldn’t somehow find a way to release these things on normal routes and shops. I would have liked to have complete set on cd or lp but now I just don’t have it. Besides, I think there were really problematic and costly postages too.
If I can’t somehow get these to my collections, then I think I will just stream them or buy from someone who doesn’t ask sky high prices..
So succinctly put, Paul. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I think this has been shocking from start to finish and am glad I had no part in it. I’m not normally one for buying live recordings although I appreciate the value they have for other fans, so the concept of this never resonated with me. However I am a Bowie fan.
I’ve become really disillusioned with how his estate are managing the overall Bowie image, with poorly and badly organised music like this and the increasingly bizarre collection of merchandise – I mean, which Bowie fan is really interested in socks? Flip-flops, jigsaw puzzle or wash bag anyone?
Is it now just about the money and bleeding fans dry? I really don’t know what the man himself would make of it all.
Interesting that on the list of RecordStore Day releases for this year there’s no Bowie. Would be the first year in a long time (ever?) that there hasn’t been one.
That really struck me as well. No Bowie for RSD? It’s like the end of days!!
AND IT GETS WORSE!!!!
parlophonies’ are releasing MORE copies of the Bowie albums!!
So after setting up a very limited release driving up eBay pirates prices forcing the true fans to pay massively stupid prices …. the message is we are going release more ! So those expensive limited editions are now forth sweet FA
Surely this is questionably unethical if not unlawful?!?!!
Just got the 6 th cd Kit Kat Club this week, now waiting for the cd slip case . Speaking of poor shopping expérience we too could speak of very poor shipping expérience: ordering through Burning Shed or SDE when you receive your item you often get a postcard or a coaster (burning shed) or a handwritten “etiquette” (SDE) but with BLA expérience NOTHING !!! just the cd in a poor packge and nothing else .. shame on them it ‘s PARLOPHONE
I did get the 6th cd today so I am only waiting for the empty box. And I hope the next releases will be better promoted. Come on, do it for the fans !
I bailed on this sham after I couldn’t get the box and then watched dozens of copies at 5 times the price end up on Discogs and Ebay. You reap what you sow.
Tsk, what a sad mess!
And to think they did this with (to) DAVID BOWIE?!?!?!?
One other thing to add to the list.
The versions of Life On Mars? on the Kit Kat (New York) and Something In The Air (Paris) discs are both the Paris version.
This error dates back to the original Virgin Records promo from 1990 that the 2021 Kit Kat club release is a copy of.
The promo from 1999, I think you mean. Gah! That’s just the icing on the cake for this fiasco release. Why couldn’t they have given us the full Kit Kat show as well. It’s just a straight duplicate of the original promo release it seems.
I’m not bothered that this limited release is not so limited after all. I’m just annoyed about paying postage seven times for a 6 album set that could have been sent in one go. The amount of carbon footprinting from this release is off the scale and I’m not the sort of person who ever brings up carbon footprinting.
All those involved should be ashamed of how they constructed this campaign when it could have been made so much easier with a bit of thought.
If they’d have just have released this as a normal boxset I would have bought it no question, but even when they first announced the release with the empty box I started thinking it sounded too much hassle. Glad I didn’t get involved in the end.
Is it just me or are the CD sleeves getting smaller and a tighter fit as these releases have gone on? I know you don’t want them to fall out and get lost but the Something in the Air CD I had to practically drag out of its sleeve and put in a spare plain CD sleeve, otherwise I may never have got it back in and out again.
On the upside – no Bowie RSD 2021
@TheKinskiFiles I pretty much agree with everything you wrote. If this set gets re-pressed the why not all the RSD LPs and the 5 years box sets? And the David Bowie Is Live In Berlin. I feel mugged that I put the hours in and bought this set because it was limited but now isn’t. Whereas all the stuff I missed isn’t going to re-pressed. I don’t care for limited editions either. These 6 LPs should have been proper releases ala David Live, Stage etc. rather than a stress inducing 6 releases.
I feel doubly screwed again after the news about the post-releases. First the whole releases are limited, provided with the reference that it concerns a limited one time pressing. Then I buy single titles at very expensive prices at second dealers, because I am a huge fan. And after I as a huge fan have spent a big chunk of money, they tell me “April, April”, we sell the titles again. Really screwed repeatedly. I also want the titles to be made available to the masses because I don’t understand all this limited shit anyway. But just make it better on the next release. This time just released similar to the Sound & Vision box a jewel case version with all 6 titles in it for 50€ and everyone who is missing one or more titles just buy this total box for the same money. So simple it is. Then at least the Die Hard fans who have now invested a lot of money still have a unique and do not have to feel completely like idiots. I am also missing many other limited titles from the past. For example we could re-release the Starman 40th anniversary picture vinyl. Or the limited versions of the David Bowie Is exhibition. There would be some missing for me. Or the Blackstar clear vinyl variant, which was also only limited but not numbered. Since we could also press some again. This all makes slowly no more sense for me…
The supposed “unexpected demand” is highly spurious. Anyone with a bit of an idea of limited releases/highly collectible artists would question this from the outset. I feel it’s only a step or two from Parlophone suggesting they are “victims of our success” but perhaps they are. A significant issue though is that does such an awful campaign have a lasting impact on future releases. I suggest not if there’s enough die hard fans out there.
As something a little less than a diehard fan I was interested in only picking up one or two of these as collecting every live albums by any artist is not what i’m into so personally the frustration is minimal.
Collectible items have to be expensive by nature and if – like in this case – the items are designed to collectible due to the limited quantity, it should not be a surprise if their price escalate significantly shortly after release. The real mistake here was to underestimate the appeal of such a release and limit the amount of physical copies, Bowie is a mainstream artist, with a devoted fan base, this release should have been more widely available and maybe it will eventually be at a later stage (which will piss off who paid a lot on eBay). Then the disappearance of the traditional physical buying places makes the rest, purchasing on internet does not work for limited availability items (see concert tickets) it’s all in favour of secondary market. I remember similar marketing approach for Andy Partridge demos or Adam Ant reissues, but that was for artists with much less appeal and fan base compared to Bowie. Luckily I’m not interested in this case but I’d be extremely annoyed if a similar mess would happen for one of my favourite artists….
To be fair, the Andy / Adam boxes didn’t follow this Bowie model at all. Partridge’s Fuzzy Warbles campaign had already wrapped when he announced the Official Collectors Edition. You had the option to buy the complete box or, if you had already purchased all 8 volumes, you could just buy the empty box along with the Hinges EP and booklet. As I recall, the empty box was reasonably priced, too. The Adam Ant Remasters box was preceded by the 3 Ants albums and the box, in effect, came free with the 3 Columbia-era solo albums and the Redux demos collection. There was no cloak and dagger, no misdirection and no false jeopardy involved as has been the case with BLA. Plus – and this is the clincher – they were all available to buy from your local bricks ‘n’ mortar, friendly neighbourhood disc emporium without all the fannying about with online store exclusivity. Having purchased both, I can attest that, compared to BLA, neither was what you could call a frustrating customer journey.
Actually Andy’s release wasn’t like this at all-you could get the box with the last two releases plus the bonus disc separate as well as the complete box with all the discs. It was handled pretty well. I know I bought it after having bought the first 6 volumes.
As a Bowie fan who saw many of these shows in the ’90’s, I’m happy these recordings are now released.
I find this post buy Paul to be a bit of sandbagging as it was published after the fact. I was made aware of all these releases before they came out (including the boxes) from a reissue blog in the USA.
Make no mistake I enjoy the SDE blog and have purchased many items from Paul’s online store (in the USA) and I mean no disrespect, but the SDE blog provided little or no info on these Bowie reissues before the release dates.
I got everything I ordered from the Bowie site or the Rhino site (never used Dig)
and I’m very happy as a result.
Paul, it’s your blog
ignore, delete or comment but I think you were late to the party on this reissue series.
Again all respect.
When you say ‘late to the party’ does this include the detailed post laying out what was going to happen before all six releases came out?
https://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/brilliant-live-adventures-parlophone-announce-six-90s-era-bowie-live-albums/
Let’s look at the evidence:
* Only 6,000 copies of each release in a DB Limited Edition collectible series available.
* Up to 7 lots of P&P if you’re lucky enough to want/get the entire set.
* Crashing websites.
* Boxes sold separately.
* Some Boxes released initially and then run over to the end of the campaign.
* Product oversold.
* Orders not fulfilled. Or are they?
* Boxes shipped in Padded Envelopes.
* An apology from the Record Label over how badly they have handled the entire process.
So basically the worst delivered release in years and you think Paul is “sandbagging”? I would say all he’s done is “spotlighting” widespread dismay at this abysmal campaign.
Tsk, I don’t think anyone is blaming David Bowie himself!
Anger & frustration.
I just went for each one on CD and a single copy for myself. Numbers 1 to 4 were pretty easy to get on DIG UK, just a bit annoying having to pay separate postage. I wasn’t bothered about a box for £12. I kept refreshing the site on day 5’s release, but missed it, probably by minutes. Despite having signed up for the email reminders I never got a single one. I was gutted missing 5. After seeing the price at about £25 plus postage on ebay, I thought it wasn’t worth it, plus someone pointed out the Paris 1999 gig had been filmed, so I figured it may get a BluRay or DVD release at some point. I spotted number 6 after someone posted about it and bought it from the UK store without much problem. The CD seemed to be available for a few days. So I’ve got everything but 5. I would be pleased if they reissued them for fans. I don’t care about making a limited release less limited. They weren’t numbered. I can’t stand the scalpers though, buying all the copies and selling at more than double the price. I wish they’d found a way to avoid that. A pre-order then manufacture to order or a series subscription might have worked. Proof of having bought just one copy of some previous releases of BLA would obviously be a way of identifying true fans. TO PUT THIS RIGHT the best thing they could do now is give definite details about how and when they will be re-issued. This may save fans feeling they have to buy from scalpers and have the added bonus of the scalpers getting stuck with stock that they can only sell at face value and therefore make a loss. Bonus!
Speaking as a neutral – not being a particular Bowie fan – selling an empty box to be fulfilled later could be seen as somewhat on brand… for anyone who remembers Bowie Bonds.
I wanted one from every “era” & missed out on the “Something in the air” one so I really wanted the final one. I knew the day of release, got up at stupid o’clock to check for it, nothing, on & off all day until 5pm & then that took an hour & a half on Dig as it kept crashing & the Bowie site sold out in no time. Eventually got one but it took me 2 & a half hours of time I’ll never get back to secure it!!
Fair play to them for issuing an apology, they’ve really cocked up so hopefully they’ve learnt a few lessons.
The one I play the most is “No Trendy Rechauffe”.
Looking forward, I’d love the Meltdown show he did in 2002 when he was touring the excellent “Heathen” album.
The CD Box is back in stock (Thurs 4/1/2021)
https://store.davidbowie.com/product/X3AMDB337/brilliant-live-adventures-cd-slip-case-box?cp=null
NOT AN APRIL FOOL’S JOKE
Don’t know how long the Bowie site will have it, but get one if you need it
Yeah, I got suckered into this campaign too. I picked up the first 4 discs pretty easily, making sure to preorder as soon as I got the announcement email. Before the debacle with the Depeche Mode “MODE” box, I would never have preordered anything, let alone music. But, since we now live in a world where you can’t really go down to the local record shop on a Friday night and buy a new release anymore, I figured this was the only way to get the CDs. And then came the 5th release, which was sold out almost as soon as the email came out, though I admit I waited until later in the day (or the following day) to try and buy it. Because the previous 4 had not been difficult to buy, I totally underestimated the demand for these things.
So the 5th disc I bought on Ebay for a premium price from a seller in the UK. I was lucky to check my email (and it came into the spam folder, no less) right around the time that the announcement for the 6th disc and the box arrived. Rhino was completely sold out, but I managed to find the 6th disc and the box from Bowie’s website. I got a shipping notice yesterday, so hopefully it will actually show up and be undamaged.
Overall, I agree with everyone that this was pretty poor. I don’t understand why this couldn’t simply be bought in one set. Anytime a company opens the door to resellers and scalpers via some ill-conceived distribution scheme, they’re asking for bad feelings and lost profits in the future. And I don’t get where there’s any profit incentive for them.
For example, if Rhino sells someone 5 copies of a CD at $20 apiece, and that person sells all 5 for $100 apiece, Rhino doesn’t see any of that money. What it indicates is that Rhino’s missing out on selling thousands of copies at $20 apiece, because there’s obvious demand, enough to cause customers to pay 5 times the retail price. Are their accountants that ignorant and stupid that they would be unaware of this?
I think the labels cottoned on to that for RSD 2019.
A lot of the items were much more expensive than equivalent products from the year before & had decided to charge ‘straight to eBay’ prices. They probably reckoned if someone was happy to pay £60 to an eBay seller for a £30 album they’d be happy to pay £40 on the day. I didn’t blame them to be honest.
In 2018 there seemed to be more items in the 5000-10,000 area for production numbers which cooled the prices in the resale market with some items still available months later. I know what policy I think makes more sense.
(RSD 2020 seemed to see more ‘normal’ pricing but having three/four/five of them (including Love Record Stores) in a pandemic probably accounted for that.
I didn’t know how quickly #5 sold out and was fortunate enough to order a copy through Rhino. Must’ve been in the right place at the right time. For #6, however, I never even received an email stating that is was being released like I did for #1 through #5. Never cared about the empty box, but I do feel badly for those who purchased one and have an incomplete set. What a weird way to release this stuff. Perhaps next they will just release the physical disc and then sell the booklet and the cardboard sleeve seperately!
I don’t understand why the record company couldn’t do this on a subscription basis: they pre-announce the collection, you are given the option to buy all of just select titles and empty boxes. They then know about half of their market. A few months later your records arrive and nobody gets upset. Late arrivals have the option of taking on the Ticketmaster type lottery on day of release.
I was lucky enough to have bagged all 6 CDs and the box without any problems at all. However, to paraphrase the Dame himself, a glass eye in a dog’s ass can clearly see that this whole exercise was massively flawed. I know there are a lot of people that will be disappointed to see the collectivity of these releases diminish as more are pressed. Personally, as one of the lucky few, I say balls to collectivity – Parlophone should flood the place with all 6 albums and the boxes, thus rendering the “services” of all the scalping bastards redundant. Not so smug when they’re saddled with 50 empty boxes that can’t be shifted, plus out of pocket to boot!
Interesting comments and we have all lived for the 5 and 6 cds the same bad expérience .
The matérial announced in October was exciting 6 cds of one of the most artistic périod of Mr Bowie ! Good
The first four cds were ordered through Bowie Store without any hurry some of them being avalaible for a long time. Sent by Bowie Store from the USA through APC Carier THEY ARRIVED IN FOUR WEEKS TO ME (NEW JERSEY WAREHOUSE KENNEDY AIRPORT PARIS ORLY NICE FRANCE ) ; it was good to have new music every four weeks.
I couldn’t get the 5 th cd (Paris 99) from the site so i got it from Ebay for 20 euros plus the price and IT ARRIVED IN ONE WEEK TO ME !!!!!!!
For the sixth cd i got adverts and i ordered it and the cd slip case in 5 minutes at 4 pm the friday afternoon 19/03. Résults a 6 cds box set without book or memorabilia for 195 euros ….Arghhhh
This is a terribly executed campaign, certainly. However it would have gone al all right if the market for vinyl records had not completely exploded in the last couple of months. We are all familiar with the Craft recordings debacle. And recent releases from MOFI, have disappeared quickly as well. The Bowie people were probably taken by surprise just as the rest of the vinyl community was. It’s nice of them to try to rectify matters. The CD’s and boxes can get done but vinyl pressing plants are running at full capacity and my best guess is that any new orders won’t be filled until 2022. And unless they take preorders and then place the order, they run the risk of scalpers hitting any new offering as well. I wish them luck.
You can’t say it hasn’t been interesting. Happy to have received my complete box set. Hope everyone gets theirs.
Great write-up of the situation.
I think I was one of the few who actually enjoyed this adventure. I managed to buy just one each of all six records and the box from the official UK stores the moment they went on sale. I also enjoyed getting one record each month and having the time to absorb each release.
Parlophone based the limited numbers on previous sales figures and the first release confirmed that by being available for at least a few weeks after it first went on sale – as was “Is It Any Wonder” which some people seem to think sold out immediately – it didn’t! Then as the prices for BLA began jumping on Ebay etc. it sees almost everybody started buying too many copies just to cash in, or to trade, or to keep sealed. Every message board I look at people claim to have multiple vinyl and cds – the folk who bought more than one copy each messed this whole campaign up big time not Parlophone. There would have been enough copies for all of us interested if everyone had just bought one copy for their collection.
The career box sets are the only success that the record company have done
The coloured releases are supposed to be bricks and mortar releases but are available everywhere – my local record store has given up on them
Conversation Piece was really good.
Loved the ‘Is It Any Wonder?’ CD EP that was released, and count myself lucky to have got one of these. Also the ‘Loving The Alien’ box set was even better than I hoped it would be, following on from the other career box sets. This new campaign is just an absolute farce, start to finish.
Rule #1 : there is no bad publicity
Rule #2 : there is NO bad publicity
I m bowie junkie and i can only laugh with the whole story. Soon all 6 lives will be availiable to streaming services and probably the cds and vinyl with pre orders. If you ask me i would like cds of all the conserts availiable with pre order gradually.
Here’s a thought: these are 6 live Bowie albums that appeal, really, only to Bowie diehards. The average person who is aware of Bowie probably knows none of these songs – or at least not very well. Now, what Parlophone offered us here were 6 ‘limited edition’ live shows, from 3 albums of new material. So, there was going to be a lot of overlap. You’re looking at 2 live albums from each studio album. That’s already kind of overkill, unless you’re a live-show completeist. Others have said the shows offered were truncated, and weren’t of the best sonic quality. Throw in the sale of the slipcase box before and/or after the albums were released, and watching scalper prices increase on ebay and discogs.
Let’s be honest, had Parlophone flooded the market with 6 different 90’s-era Bowie live albums, how many of us would have gone out of our way to buy them all? Would we have rushed out to secure copies of all 6? Or none of them? Or only the ones we really wanted? And how many of us would be saying to ourselves ‘hey they announced Bowie era Box 5 coming soon, and those boxes always have at least 2 non-truncated live albums in the box’. And there it is. Do we not expect at least 2 ‘full-show’ 90’s-era Bowie live albums coming soon in Box 5? Isn’t it possible, likely even, that one or more of these ‘truncated’ BLA releases will be released – in full – on Box 5?
I may not even look to purchase any of the reissues, thinking upon this more. Why is Parlophone rushing to sell us 6 of these live albums now (other than greed)? What are they afraid is going to happen if a few thousand people don’t rush to buy these?
Has anybody received their slip case from Music Glue recently? Mine was despatched on 26th March but hasn’t turned up yet. Are Royal Mail delivering these in the UK?
Mine arrived yesterday delivered by Royal Mail.
Was in a jiffy bag with no fragile comment on the front,or extra protection,sums up everything really doesn’t it?
This has been a dog’s dinner of a release for sure. I gave up after the quality of the second one proved disappointing. Whilst the mess-up is clearly owned by Parlophone (and your suggestion of purchasing all 6 in a box at the start should have been an option to save them and us hassle and disappointment), a share of blame must fall on Bowie’s Estate too. Who is overseeing the release schedule and its diminishing quality? Managing a major artist’s reputation after their death is a vital role in adding value. The abrupt ending of the 40th anniversary picture disc series for example and recent dependency on not-great live recordings and random colour vinyl editions, suggests Bowie is being badly let down by his representatives. Collectors don’t just want limited editions of any old crap, they want items of quality that are in keeping with their artists’ ethos and imaginative trajectory. No one more so than David Bowie.
CLUSTERF#CK‼️ The Bowie Estate has done a pretty shameful job with his reissues. STOP releasing stuff in such limited runs. The “Mother” single from February is another example. I had 3 orders canceled. Not going to pay $100 on ebay for that single nor anything else in his catalog. I’m curious if he stipulated in his trust to make sure his fans get SOAKED on all future releases?
Let’s look at what went good and bad.
Good:
-The individual albums and empty box actually WERE limited (for now)
-Fans get newly released live music from one of the world’s biggest pop stars
Bad:
-Empty boxes had to be paid for (should have been sent out for free with first cd)
-CD 5 and 6 were impossible to buy
-What seemed to be limited may now not be limited anymore?
-Fans who were lucky to get all discs or who paid lots of $$ on Ebay to get the empty box and CD 5 and 6 get a kick in the teeth when all that becomes readily available again
Conclusion: the Bowie estate has to walk a fine line between making money, engaging fans and not screwing them. The recent Tom Petty “Wildflowers” Super Deluxe box debacle reminds us how a greedy estate can miss the mark and leave fans furious and frustrated. In this case, greed was the first mistake. Paying for an empty cardboard box is an underhand practice when fans will pay full price for the next 6 live vinyl and CD discs.
Potentially this was a good idea to engage fans but certain safety measures should have been in place to ensure not all stock ends up with scalpers. It seems scalpers with bots got the entire CD 5 and 6 stock. The bot practice could have been avoided by making these purchases bot-proof.
My final and sad conclusion is that the people who run the Bowie Estate are amateurs. They should not have sent out a half-ass note hinting at what may be coming because you cannot remedy this without doing more damage. If you sent out an apology note, you either apologize and move on promising to avoid these mistakes in the future or you offer a remedy. A remedy is simply not possible here without pissing off even more people. What about the fans who did everything right, got all albums and paid perhaps a little extra (or a small fortune) for CD 5 and 6 on Ebay? They will be upset if this set, or pieces of it, are readily available again after the promise of a limited run. The only right thing to do here is to apologize and promise lessons were learnt and they will not be made again in the future. Don’t make this even worse Bowie folks.
I know I’m only echoing what others have already said but anyway …..
I bought 1 to 5 from Rhino US as I didn’t realise there was a UK store. However, although they notified me via email of the others in time to pre-order I got no notoification of The Kit Kat Club at all and so appear to have missed the chance. Ebay sellers are already selling pre-order copies and I hope they choke on ’em! A box would have been nice but isn’t essential for me, but people who bought all six titles should get on for free as a matter of course.
I agree that a complete box set should have been offered as an option. Alternatively, Rhino have details of those people who’ve bought them all and should have made sure those people got first refusal. It amazes me that a simple spreadsheet seems to be beyond Rhino or any of the others involved!
So much for sticking with one outlet throughout the campaign – my thought that maybe they’d know what was going on and be keeping records was misplaced. Loyalty to customers is obviously a long way down their list of concerns.
As a response to people who wonder how many of these shows will be played again by people who bought them I can say from my perspective that they’re all fine shows and will stand up to repeated listening. There’s so much live stuff available from the 70s as well two live sets from the 80s (in the LTA box) but the 90s has been a bit sparce so it’s a hole that needed filling, especially around the 1:Outside era which, up to now, has been filled with semi-legal radio broadcasts. As a person who likes to collect CDs and vinyl rather than downloads, I welcomed these released but, as ever, the ‘limited edition’ tag worried me. Just press as many as people want and stop sodding around! After all, it’s not a very goood business model to deliberately sell less than people want, is it!
Andy x
Practically every release from the Bowie estate (or whoever owns it) since his death has been pointless (ie nothing new) and just a way to fleece fans out of their hard earned cash. Great marketing to make fans ‘need’ to buy later releases as they form part of a set. Instead of telling fans they over ordered, why not just make more of them to fit the orders. I think that is what has happened with the Ringo Zoom In Red vinyl, they put it down to production line delays but really they didn’t press enough. I’m so glad I am not more than just a casual Bowie fan purchaser and I don’t have to put up with this kind of shit form record companies / deceased artists estates that don’t give a crap about the fans or disappointing them. if they have say 5,000 to sell surely when 5,000 are sold it should go out of stock and unable to purchase, right? They have cocked up big time and it’s the fans as usual who are let down. I hope for your sakes they do the decent thing and repress them and you all get your orders. But as outstanding orders have been cancelled and refunded it’s not likely to happen. The only reason these pointless Bowie releases are issued is to make money. The only winner here is the scalpers – AGAIN!
I did get a mail yesterday that the empty box is on it´s way to me. So I am lucky to get the box AND the 6 cds. I hope for all who didn´t get the chance to get the items that they release them in a normal way and not in this super duper limited edition. Come on, Bowie camp, you can do better !!! For David.
I bought 4&5 on CD. I was put off by the empty box initially. The first 3 titles had been available earlier in different formats, 1&2&5 via streaming and 3 via bowienet. All of the concerts weere edited. This could gave been much better…a lot better. They also could have made more money if they had just sold the complete set. They basically did not have confidence in the product, and sold it like leftover scrap, resorting to gimmicks. I get the sense that these shows were just intended for streaming and that they had not planned on ever releasing this stuff physically. Kit Kat was just a rehash of a promo CD. There seemed to be little effort to present anything complete, leaving the crass option to resell all of this again in unedited form at a later date. So yeah, this whole cycle felt like a bit of a scam.
Bowie was very careful about what was released during his lifetime – very limited outtakes and live materials. Now anything goes – I’m just holding out for the 7″ of Bowie in 1992 scratching his arse with Morrissey talking in the background (but only if it’s on blue splatter vinyl). I bought the Bowie RSD 70s live albums as it was interesting in hearing ‘polished’ bootlegs of famous concerts but I don’t play them very often. Can I ask the people buying these “Brilliant” albums, how often do you play them? How many times do you want to hear the same song played live? When you consider how many of Bowie’s live concerts have been recorded, when do you stop buying?
This might actually be viewed as a success by the record co given the most recent Bowie RSD records were among the last to sell out – would these have even sold to the same numbers if they hadn’t made them a limited edition?
I would definitely not have bought all 6 of them if they weren’t limited maybe one, maximum 2, probably 0. That said, I play them a lot, especially 1, 2 and 5. And 3 actually has some of the best versions ever heard in the studio or live. Eg ‘I am deranged’ on liveandwell.com is for me the best think Bowie ever recorded. But maybe I am deranged ;)
Totally agree with you on this one – It certainly feels weird given Bowie’s reticence with releases and curation etc that it suddenly seems such a free for all. Most Bowie RSD releases are freely available and at no increase in costs.
It looks and feels like a shambles – I held off on this one and hindsight being 20/20 am glad. I picked up a couple of the live picture disc’s from Townsend Music as they were cheap at £20 and would hardly play them anyway.
Once I heard about the charging for the box it just felt like a cash in and so it has become the record co won’t care – they know in a similar situation it will be the same again with willing buyers
I echo the sentiment of the article and many of the experiences listed here. For some reason, in spite of signing up for the email alerts from both Dig! and the official Bowie store, I was not notified of anything going on sale, so had to play catch up. As such I had to order two of the albums from the US bowie store, two from Dig and then one from someone on eBay.
I did not succeed in getting a copy of the KitKatClub release as the Dig website crashed repeatedly even though I had the blinking thing in my shopping cart and in the end sold out once I could complete payment. A disaster.
Parlophone should make good on this, but I don’t see why they would feel obligated to. Bowie fans are as blindly loyal as those of many other artists and as such ripe for exploitation, and indeed lay ourselves willingly open to it. That’s sadly the way of commerce and fandom. It’s a never ending story!
That doesn’t make it ethical or right though.
And as for the Box – do the right thing and ignore it. It’s entirely unnecessary and complete landfill – why on earth do we need it?
To add Insult to Injury and P*** all over it at the same time the box has just arrived in a Jiffy bag with no markings as to whether it is fragile or to be handled with care so /Mr Postie has just shoe-horned it through the letter box!
Spending $40au on a cardboard box is absurd. The stores should’ve kept track of who had ordered full sets, and offered the boxes free of charge at the end of the campaign. Or, had people send proof they’ve got all 6 and send them the empty box. Either way the box should have been free. That’s the worst part of this whole ordeal.
I didn’t have any issues until the 6th one. As I’m in Australia I had to wait till 3am the following morning for the last album to become available. If I had known it was going to be that time, I wouldn’t have spent the previous 18 hours refreshing the page every fifteen minutes.
I had no problems with this campaign as such. All limited editions tend to create a submarket for resellers. I am grateful as a fan to obtain so many official Bowie items.
Has anyone here purchased every single official Bowie reissue released since 2010?
If so, have you any change from, say, £ 5,000??
Hello, I’m French and a Bowie fan.
I was able to quietly order the first 4 volumes of the campaign, but the 5th volume ‘Something In the Air’ (end of February) when I logged in was already sold out. That surprised me. And I bought it from a record store site on March 12.
As for the last volume ‘Bowie Live At The Kit Kat’, I don’t know if I will have it, because when I order on Dig! , payment has been made, but I have not received any confirmation, I have an order number that I sent to the Dig! but still no response from their management center.
And I wouldn’t pay on Ebay, 80 or 150 Euro for a cardboard box.
They could have put the fans who bought the first albums, priority for the last ones as well as for the boxes.
It would have been better, if the Brilliant Adventures series of CDs, etc, etc had been organised in the following way … allow 5 days or 1 week for people to pre-order the item or items. Then close the window. Hence the manufacturer would know how many copies to produce …and if there has to be a rounded number manufactured, they could be sold as an exclusive at a later date. This, I strongly feel would allow sincere fans to purchase what they deserve not fake fans who are only interested in exploiting the unlucky ones …who like all of us, acted like hungry animals in order to secure a copy! It was pathetic and quite sad …and certainly so far away from the David Bowie Musical Environment!
It would have been better if they’d just released it the traditional way – everything already boxed up and ready to go. Buying, collecting and listening to music is supposed to be an enjoyable experience. Expecting people to jump through hoops and releasing limited quantities (an ever increasing practice) removes much of that enjoyment.
I have to say the who Brilliant Live Adventures has been a masterclass in mismanagement and underestimates.
First up who came up with 6000 as a number to manufacture? The benchmark in this area is the Grateful Dead which Daves picks and they are limited editions of 25000. I would argue David Bowie has a bigger worldwide appeal than the Grateful Dead.
Second is the box which you rightly point out has been a shambles.
If it were me I would be offering some form of pre sale for each to judge actual required quantity, and incentives ingredients the purchase of the whole set in advance with the box.
The inxentivised buyers get the full set still over the 6 month period with a box. While the casual buyers still have the opportunity to buy in advance the live discs.
The bean counters get their money. The fans are happy.
I speak as a person who managed to get a purchase confirmation from PayPal but got the error message from Dig! And still don’t know if I’ll get a copy of 6 and completely missed out on a box because of the software used to limit the sales to one per customer and having an order stuck in some interface.
This was totally of the record companies making and completely avoidable.
Bowie’s team clearly got caught out manufacturing too many of the Alien box sets. They had to come up with a way to test the market interest in this live series and this was obviously the safest way they deemed. It is definitely a deliberate strategy to piss off fans so there is talk/hype/forum discussion about the box set however negative. They’ll be sitting back now assessing how many more to manufacture to safely meet demand and not get caught with 1000s of overstocks.
Them suggesting they are sorry?? Hahaha!! This may be your best April Fools story yet Paul!
At least the tote bag is still available.
My 2 cents.
As for this ‘boxset’, I never bothered as I knew it was a shit show waiting to happen from the very get go.
From what I can make out, Bowie spent up to half his fortune buying back the rights to his music, I would say between $100-$150 million U.S (And he still had another $100 million to give to his family in his Will) – the point being that future royalties and such went to his 2 children and now 2 grand-children (And hopefully counting)…This being the case, it makes me wonder how much Duncan casts an eye on what is going on with his Father’s legacy.
Duncan was asked on Twitter about this ‘mess’ and said he knew nothing about it – to me, that’s rather odd, a passing interest on what is being released would seem normal, but maybe the family thinks everything is in the best hands possible. Personally, I still can’t get over the ‘Heroes’ fuck-up on the 3 major boxset…I just can’t believe how that shit got pass quality control and no one took responsibility for it (I had to buy ‘Heroes’ as a separate cd to get a proper version of the song). Did I know David Bowie? of course not, but as a life long fan, I just feel he would not be down with this at all – the Master deserves so much better that this, and so do the long time faithful.
Why don’t they just allow you to buy the entire box set as an ‘unlimited’ pre-order? ie they press **as many as needed based on pre-release sales**.
Everyone gets a copy, the label isn’t left with unsold stock – and the scalper market should be reduced (although it won’t go away completely – there’ll always be someone who misses out on the pre-sale or comes to Bowie a bit later).
Seems obvious, really.
The email I received came from nylonmerchandising.com they ‘represent’
many bands. It seems strange given their experience that they would accidentally f*€K up so badly. I ordered from the Bowie U.S. site and Dig! U.K. site, the US site seemed to process orders much more effectively.
Unfortunately I had to buy each item individually with separate postage, so the CD box and final CD from the U.K. store, and the LP from the US store.
If Parlophone are trying to emulate NylonMerch perhaps they should go down the route of subscription magazines (like the Dr Who magazine that come with figures). Sell the initial 1st issue (a CD and the box to put future ‘issues’ in) via bricks and mortar retail shops, and have an online subscription service to deliver each issue directly by mail. Limit sales to regions so U.K. only, E.U. Only, Americas Only etc.
If boxsets are limited number to low figures then number them, otherwise decide on a pressing run and stick to it.
I think Parlophone and the ‘Estate’ has had it’s image tarnished far more than Bowie himself. To charge £12/17 for an empty box must have been run passed the ‘Estate’. Both it and Parlophone come off now as just grubby.
Meanwhile, in Heaven, Bowie’s probably laughing his tits off.
I had the first one on order, but after the debacle over the empty boxes I bailed out and requested (and was granted) a refund – I just hope when the next full era boxset comes out that it’s not the same clown who is in charge of the release, either than or they learn the lessons from this one.
I got the first 5 and the box from Dig with no problem. I can’t even be bothered to go into all the problems l had trying to get #6. Only to say l still haven’t got it. I’ve fired emails off, lve had the odd answer back. The prices on eBay are a joke. I’m refusing to pay them. Will hang on and see what the outcome of all this is now.
I’m actually impressed that those in charge managed to create a buzz around what amounts to niche releases from a not-very-interesting chapter of David Bowie’s career. The job of a record company is to sell records, and that’s what they’ve done.
It’s an indisputable fact that if these six live albums from middle-aged Bowie had been made in unlimited quantities, they would have been stuck in bargain bins for years to come. Instead, they’re hot property and set up the buzz for the next career box set very nicely.
It’s good that they’re potentially offering more stock – I missed out on Ouvrez – but I think the demand for this means that Bowie material is still desirable, and with a few tweaks to improve the customer experience this could be a model for future projects.
Also, I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that the empty box offer isn’t a exactly new thing. Off the top of my head. Suede did exactly the same thing for the final three singles (Positivity, Obsessions and Attitude) before their initial split.
Wasn’t the Suede box free?
One example from 20 years ago of a band in decline is hardly a model template/typical concept.
And Suede’s (arguably) closest contemporary, Pulp, also gave away a free box for their fanclub members in 2002 to house the three CD/DVD versions of their last single Bad Cover Version.
Just from a cursory look around my library I’ve got free boxes from the following artists when they did piecemeal issues; Deacon Blue, REM, Gun (x2), Iron Maiden (x2), Marillion and Def Leppard.
The box ‘offer’ from Bowie, coupled with my struggles to get the 2nd disc meant I bailed on this campaign in the early stages.
As I’m a Bowie fan, but not a collector I can live without these releases but I do have sympathy for the fans that went all in on this campaign.
The whole thing is summed up best by the comments that note ‘collecting is meant to be fun, but this wasnt’
That’ll be a “not-very-interesting chapter of David Bowie’s career” in YOUR opinion. Others absolutely love it, find it interesting as all heck.
I don’t mind the 90s studio albums.
But there’s an imbalance when there are only one or two live albums from the more interesting and/or ground-breaking eras of his career, and six albums of 90s gigs with a lot of duplicated songs.
Like I said before, this would all be quickly-forgotten bargain bin fodder if these were released in unlimited amounts. Your average Bowie fan isn’t going to play Look At The Moon over Stage or David Live. Your superfan might do, but I doubt anyone else would.
‘I doubt anyone else would’ is another way of saying ‘in my opinion’. Which is all it is, it isn’t fact. Which is fine, but your original post used ‘not very interesting’ in the definitive, rather than qualifying it was opinion. And in your opinion on these would be bargain bin fodder and in your opinion the ‘average fan’ (whomever that might happen to be) wouldn’t play it over stage or David Live. But they’re just opinions, you don’t have any basis in fact outside your own experience. And presenting it as a choice between earlier live albums or later live albums is nonsense – I choose both, as evidenced by my record collection.
On the point of the releases themselves, as digital recording became more prevalent during the ’90’s it became easier for band to record every show in high quality format as a matter of rote, and so there are going to to be more shows available overall from that period onwards – before then the technology was analogue, unwieldy and expensive (reel to reel, then cassette, then DAT, minidisk and a smattering of other formats in-between), relied on outboard equipment and not every artist was fussed about investing in multiple recorded shows.
I think it’s wonderful, miraculous even that we have so many brilliantly recorded shows from artists that I love from the 60’s until the digital recording age (the archiving of king crimson and Zappa remain a delight). These were recorded in spite of the limitations of the technology and remain precious artifacts. But there aren’t going to be as many of them for that very reason – nowadays every show is recorded by every artist as a matter of course – sound engineers don’t have to press a record button, it can be set up to capture automatically, and generally is, even on low end digital desks. If they released every show from the Ziggy tours would I buy them? In a heartbeat. But you can’t release what doesn’t exist, and it’s no use bemoaning the existence and prevalence of that which does.
Anyhoo, have a great Easter – look after yourselves one and all!
Totally agree probably the mist interesting period since the 70s for me this was a period of Bowie at his best, having fun with music.
I agree the -99 shows aren’t very interesting, but the -96 and -97 are great, a very underrated period of late Bowie.
I managed to get them all, except Liveandwell, which I already had the original release of. Didn’t bother with the empty box. Waiting for Kit Kat to arrive.
I managed to procure a whole set (only one via third party) but the whole debacle of having to pay separate postage and packing for the box and the sixth CD as they appeared at different times was even more annoying than having to pay a scalper for buying a product that they had no interest in other than a quick profit.
I’m guessing now that having had to individually order and pay P&P for 7 products those of us who have a repetitive strain injury from up to 16 hours of refreshing will feel additionally aggrieved if new copies become easy yo procure as a set. The Bowie web team will now be damned if they do and damned if they don’t now.
I do have a suggestion though as it isn’t just campaigns like this where product goes “straight to eBay” but record store day (online and offline) and other things which only seem to benefit bedroom traders.
Why not, when offering a limited release, open a pre-order page for a period (for example 2 weeks) to allow fans to order product. Once closed these products can be pressed and released maybe a month later. Only at that point should the number of copies placed be made public. In my mind this would not destroy the third party collectible market as there are always people that discover an artist or suddenly find the need or the means to become a completist. This model could work with Independent record stores as well without it becoming a Mecca for eBay merchants. I’ve given up on Record Store day now as it assumes you have transport and are available on a given day. It has defeated the object for me sadly
I managed to get the first three CDs (although the third took over a month to be dispatched) but #4, #5 and #6 were a BUST. By the time I had the money for #4 it was gone. So I decided to prepare for #5 and #6. Waited and waited and waited for #5 pre-order to go live, but by 9 AM (Australia time) nothing had happened. I had to go grocery shopping, got back at 10:30, all gone.
#6 was worse! Woke up at 4:30 AM and saw an e-mail (from only a few minutes earlier) that #6 was ready to order. So I tumbled out of bed and stumbled to the kitch…er, computer to place an order. I hoped being unable to sleep that night was going to be a lucky accident, but alas, #6 was all gone within minutes of getting the email.
So this is good news! I just hope this applies to Warner Music Australia (where I bought them from). I’m tempted to get the box – especially if I manage to complete the set.
I’m not bothered that they’re breaking their ‘promise’ of one-run-only. I much prefer seeing people able to buy what they want. Music should be for everyone to enjoy, not just collectors. My heart goes out to people who felt the need to spend ridiculous amounts to eBay/Discogs flippers. I had considered buying from there myself, but the prices were just insane!
Wowie! This puts all the McCartney iii versions to shame.
To describe this as a “poor shopping experience” is also an insult. As well as the shambolic, disgraceful and exploitative practices cynically devised to push out this series that are already documented so well here, I also had a terrible experience buying from the Dig store. I purchased a vinyl/CD bundle of the first release, only to discover there was no CD when it arrived. After contacting them I received no response for over a month, when they eventually replied with nothing more than a dismissive email stating that the CD “should” have been shipped by now, rather than actually sorting it out and sending it.
Anyone purchasing from the Dig store in future please be warned of their neglectful customer service and may well be advised to pay with PayPal, as this was the only recourse I was left with to get my money back. Never again!
I’m thinking for the next rapacious disaster RZO & The Estate have planned, I’ll be keeping the torrent sites on stand buy. What a display of pure incompetence and greed.
Imagine my pain if you will.
After managing to get 3 of the releases (2 – 5&6) I have been watching the prices on Discogs slowly crawl up for the other 3 over the last month or so. Yesterday I relented to get one before the pice got too high. Only to receive the email in the afternoon regarding the re-release. Im just lucky I didn’t relent to pay the stupid prices being asked for the other 2 I need.
Theres even on person in the UK selling the empty vinyl box for 135 GBP!!!! This is where a huge amount of the discs and boxes ended up.
Other than the fiasco of purchasing the box from the off, I managed to get all the CDs at the first time of asking with the exception of the last release which I did manage to get from the US Rhino store (along with the box). I got the confirmation email stating my order was on the way yesterday. Agree that the whole campaign left a lot to be desired.
music be it david bowie or any other act is for everyone not for selling off in limit editions for e-bay rip offs to buy and sell on acd vinyl or whatever format should be in a shop/mail order for everone to buy and at a affordable price thomas
We all have better things to do with our lives. The fleecing of the fans of dead pop stars has been going on since, well, Elvis Presley. Rhino/Parlophone have made so many blunders in trying to mine a less commercial period in Bowie’s career. Fans will give up and find the music other places or just not worry about it. There is now quite a history of Bowie RSD releases and demo recordings which aren’t his best or most interesting music being sold at ridiculous prices. The label could make more sales over the long term by being transparent and honest with fans.
This is all quite dreadful..the way it all turned out. I had never received announcement on cd 6. I feel extorted. Shame on me for buying into a program with no end result promised. I really knew better. Cheated? Yes! Clearly a Stain on the Bowie Legacy. Let’s face it, the real music he wanted us to hear was release prior to his demise, at this point it is just the bank looking for cash. Never bow down to the ebay flipper. It is not what the Artist would have wanted.
Being in Australia I was already copping the higher shipping costs because anywhere outside the US or UK don’t seem to be a consideration. Didn’t like the staged release schedule which cost me more than I really wanted to pay for shipping. That said, had no dramas getting the box and the first 5 releases…it was the experience around the final release that was a total piss-take. I woke up to the alert that the release went on sale during the middle of the night and of course it was sold out! After scrambling to find copies and through reading FB forums I did manage to get the last release from Dig with confirmation of success. But really, this is not a buyer experience I want to go through again – I avoid Record Store Day for this very reason – and more consideration needs to be made for the fan if they choose to undertake this again in the future,
Based on the comments here, it looks to me like the Brilliant Live Adventures mailorder fiasco has succeeded in making people forget the New Career In A New Town shoddy mastering fiasco.
Score one point for the PR team?
I didn’t forget. Get mad every time I look at that damned box.
A subscription model would have been perfect for this release. Pay a flat fee and get them as they are released. Any remaining are sold to the public. The way they approached this from the start turned me off the entire series.
Putting them all in a box and flogging them at an appropriate price would have been the perfect “model” for this release.
Being a HUGE Bowie fanatic, I was super excited for the live box set Brilliant Live Adventures.
I was lucky to have gotten the first three volumes – on CD and LP – with zero issues.
The problems erupted when Volume 4 was in my cart and then disappeared and sold out. However after hitting refresh multiple times over a few hours, I managed to acquire the CD.
Volume 5 I wasn’t even emailed about and when I did get onto the stores, all I could find was the CD.
Volume 6? Well. I followed the Hoffman forums for updates and found out the Canadian Warner store would be onsale at 9am – but this was through deduction and guestimation in the community, no hard facts.
I was lucky enough to get Volume 6 on both CD and LP as well as the CD box. The LP box was sold out.
However I was able to get on the Bowie UK store and I found an LP box, Volume 4 on LP(!!) as well as his very limited birthday vinyl single. I quickly threw them in my cart and went to pay – only to have the site tell me these items weren’t available anymore. ♂️
I tried repeatedly and was unsuccessful for the LP box and Volume 4 – but I did manage to get the single. Strange.
A few days later the Bowie store emailed me telling me my cart was about to expire- with these no-longer available items! ♂️
Today, I got an email from the Bowie team stating they will release an official statement rectifying these situations, in a few weeks.
I feel lucky I didn’t spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars to try and get BLA #4 and #5 on LP but I’m glad I may have an opportunity to fix this error.
This was the worst experience ever initiated for the Bowie estate and has harmed his brand. Why break it up when we all would be happy to buy the complete set? I missed out on every release from this series. Bowie would not approve of this if he were here today. I really could not be bothered buying these now if they were available.
I missed the fifth in the series and had to pay over the odds on Ebay to complete the set. All the resellers have no shame. The box is arriving soon, but is there a booklet or anything or just empty ? Be glad when the final one comes and I can stop worrying about it all.
It was a damn mess, no doubt. As you say in your post, Paul, the first four releases were not so bad (apart from no box being available), but I was caught completely unawares by “Something In the Air” selling out so quickly. Exactly as you mention, having become aware of the mess, I managed to purchase “Kit Kat Club” by sitting on my computer all day (also snagged a box). Out of desperation to complete my collection – I paid 3 times the initial sales price to get my hands on “In the Air” (which is an excellent live show, IMO).
So here I am today, having spent a small fortune on this collection, but chuffed that I’m one of only 4000 to own each LP, and probably even less to own all six and the box to put them in. Then I learn they are going to release more copies. What?
I get that people want copies and were upset they didn’t obtain them -but let’s face it, when you release only 4000 LPs for an artist of David Bowie’s popularity, thousands of people are not going to get a copy – and yes, they are going to end up on eBay for a king’s ransom. So I’m sorry people didn’t get copies, but that was always going to be the case.
I’m a huge David Bowie fan, and I’ve opened every copy and listened to them – so I love the music, but I’m also a collector and owning something which is limited is part of the package. Deciding to release more copies immediately after the campaign ends is a slap in the face.
This does not apply to people who got hosed by not being able to check out or having their orders later declined. I’m fine with some process by which more copies are made available for them – but I fear they’re going to mass produce this thing, which totally dilutes the claim it was limited to 4000 copies from the beginning. I think they just need to learn from their mistakes and leave well enough alone at this point.
The point of the this is scalpers with bots bought them all up so no fan got them unless you were lucky and I mean lucky and fleeced Bowie fans to high heaven.
Like several people on here, I bailed out from the start at the idea of buying an empty box. But mainly I bailed out because Parlophone and the Bowie have previous form. No other artist’s fans have been treated with such contempt as David Now he’s. Plus they think we’re all millionaires.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Dodgy Demos scandal from a couple of years ago: when a decent CD’s worth of primitive demos was spread over 4 single and albums “limited” boxed sets, costing £168 for what should have been no more than £20.
How old do Parlophone think David Bowie fans are? My favourite quote regarding the above was the veteran-collector fan who simply said “I’m too old for this s**t.”
Add on abandoning the picture discs (themselves a rip-off) before finishing the series, and you get the idea that Parlophone really do see it as “shilling the rubes”.
The only product I’ve bought from them for years was “Conversation Piece”, where for once they got something right.
Instead of the “David Bowie Web Store Team”, the communication should have been signed by the person who signed-off on the project’s distribution method. The artwork for the whole series is reminiscent of FM broadcast pirate releases.
I’ve bought every Bowie box that has come out so far, but when I saw the farce that was attempting to buy an EMPTY box for the BLA releases, I mentally checked out and never looked back.
Even at this point, if they just offered a complete set in a box (in line with the rest of their releases), I’d be back on board.
That said, it’s a good time to be a music consumer. There’s a lot of stuff out there to purchase and I’ve often gotta make choices about where my money’s going to go. That being the case, I’m not jumping through a half dozen hoops to collect PORTIONS of a release or pulling the online equivalent of pushing someone’s Granny out of the way during a Black Friday sale. I’ve got other things to do with my time and money.
Overall, the whole thing feels kind of disrespectful. Forget “long time fans,” how about acknowledging that everybody has a life to live. Making folks stay up late just to hopefully score a copy of a CD feels more than a little pointless and manipulative.
I’m not normally in favor of this kind of thinking but, in this case, I’m going to endorse the “don’t **** with the formula” mentality.
I am totally disgusted with how Rhino and Parlophone has handled the Brilliant Live Adventure releases. I was able to acquire the first 4 record sets but not the box for the vinyl LP’s. I was happy to learn the boxes would be made available with the sixth LP. But with the fifth release, it all fell apart. I received my email to purchase number 5 at 4:15 am CST. Come on, who is up at that time in the central time zone. I saw the email at 7:00 am CST but by that time everything was sold out. REALLY!!!!
The sixth album email reached my mailbox at 11:01 am CST. I saw the email less than 2 hours later and still all records and CDs were out of stock. REALLY!!!
And then the box, I never received an email to purchase one though they were all sold out when I logged into the David Bowie US site and Rhino.
Parlophone and Rhino are selling David Bowie product, not some one hit wonder’s recordings. David is one of the biggest names in music and especially since his passing. It does not take a genius to figure these albums will sell. Why not print as many as the fans will purchase?
I wanted to call the David Bowie service desk but did not think that would be a good use of my time since I would just get an apology and lip service.
I was so upset I told my wife I was through buying Bowie product, not because I was mad at Bowie, but at his record company, management and family to short change the fans. David always made his music available to those who wanted to purchase it. This limited edition crap needs to stop. The music industry cries they are not selling enough product and then they pull a stunt like this.
Hopefully they stand by their word making the records and boxes available to those fans that missed them through their near-sitedness.
Thank you for letting me vent!
“not because I was mad at Bowie, but at his record company, management and family to short change the fans”
You really think Iman, Duncan and Lexi had a hand in this?? Get real! Undoubtedly releasing material from this period would have been part of the legendary “five year plan” db left behind, but I doubt even Bill Zysblat knew what Parlophone had planned in terms of marketing. It’s Parlophone that fully deserves everyone’s ire.
Sales/Marketing cock-ups aside, the actual choice of material is profoundly mediocre. London Astoria 1999 was the best and longest show from the Hours mini tour. Second night at Shepherds Bush was the best, most complete set from 1997, and either of the first two nights at Wembley in 1995 would have represented the Outside tour more faithfully. All of those shows were professionally filmed so professional sound recordings will exist too. And let’s hope no one forgets that this year marks the 50th anniversary of Hunky Dory…
I feel like that’s why they staggered the releases and didn’t tell people what album was coming next. If I had known what all 6 shows were going to be in October last year (or that many weren’t full shows), I wouldn’t have bothered starting the BLA collection.
I didn’t bother when I saw the approach. I’d have considered buying a full set, in a box, but paying for the box separately is mad. Especially with individual postage charges for each bit of the box.
There are concert recordings, especially radio broadcasts, easily accessible on youtube and for download on other sites. I just don’t see what is special enough to part with any money for this ‘budget style’ release.
I think the suggestion of taking pre-orders before deciding on the amount to manufacture is good. I’m thinking of more interesting future releases here.
Also, why do these need to be limited editions? Sainsburys are selling limited editions of fruit flavoured Coco Pops at the moment. They’ll be gone soon. I’m not buying them for a different coloured box and a slightly different version of standard Coco Pops. If they were any good then why are they only being made available for a limited time/in limited volumes?
The cynical part of me certainly thinks this is to make money for people/organisations, and has no artistic integrity behind it. Surely I’m not right.
I didn’t have a problem, but I’d have preferred to “subscribe” to these releases.
In the end, I think, it was a strange experience. Bought in full tranquillity the first 3 bundles from shopthisdig in uk, I discovered the 4th too late, when only the cd was available
Ok, I’m an “all or nothing” collector, so, I decided to sell the LPs and put them on separate auctions on eBay… in practice, with the proceeds, I paid for everything I had already spent and the next 3 boxes included. I’m a Bowie fan from his Labyrinth era (when I was a child) and I consider this box as the most experimental and interesting Bowie time. If the LPs will be all available again, probably I’ll buy to add them to my collection. There’s no cure for this.
Thank you Paul for all your efforts in this amazing page
I managed to get all 6 CDs and the box but agree it was a stressful experience particularly getting discs 5 + 6. I love collecting physical music but this was a complete turn off.
What I found strange was they let anyone buy as many copies of the CDs/LPs in one transaction as you wanted but restricted you to buying just one box at the end. Could they not have imposed the same restriction for the CDs/LPs as the boxes as this meant the box was available to buy for at least a few days and didn’t sell out in just 4 mins!
It was obvious from checking the sold listings on ebay that some sellers had literally bought 50 or more copies of each CD or LP and were just selling them at higher prices every day. The markup was huge – starting at 100% and rising to 400% within a few days on Ebay.
I also think the idea these will be released again is the final insult given they were advertised as such a limited edition. Yet this it exactly what I would expect from the same charlatans who devised the original campaign to renege on their word again.
Colin, I could not agree more with this statement: “I also think the idea these will be released again is the final insult given they were advertised as such a limited edition….” I feel exactly the same way – like I wasted the last X # of months getting my hands on these LPs and could have just waited and bought the whole shebang at once.
Fortunately for me the campaign immediately had the smell of greed and rotting flesh on the first day.
The supposed center piece boxes were unavailable and oh yeah, they wanted money for the box.
Super glad I decided to back off as it only got worse. Feel bad for the genuine fans that got smoked.
Absolute lottery….
Managed to get 1-4,No 5 sold out & yes I tried within minutes of receiving my email advising of the new CD
Purchased 6 & a very expensive empty box off the USA site BUT…no confirmation email so in limbo.
BOWIE is And was HUGE worldwide star,someone who was part of my childhood in the early 70s.Hunky Dory onwards and this has been a dreadful way to treat consumers.There is clearly still a huge demand for official BOWIE product.FFS sort this mess OUT !!!!!!
At least you got an Email. I didn’t. Had been checking twice a day for a couple of weeks and missed out on number 6. I feel ripped off and let the Bowie Team and Rhino know about it. Sadly, no remorse from either.
Instead to sell 6 live albums from 1995/96, last year was the 50th Anniversary of “The Man Who Sold The World”, a major album, an interesting transion album ! One of my favorite ! And no Boxset, no demos, no outtakes,….A (Great) remix only with a new title ! A Boxset like “Conversation Piece” was so fantastic ! Instead we had live recordings from 1995/96 with a very bad campaign. Please, more respect for David Bowie, his discography and fans ! Ok for give you our money but please, more respect ! ps : and please, don’t forget the 50th Anniversary of Hunky Dory this year ! Not 6 Live recordings of 80’s instead !
Where to begin? I try to keep my comments positive when posting here – I hope I manage in the main – but this campaign has been a hot mess. Hard to know where to begin in unpacking it all. The thing is, I’ve sometimes found that the symptoms of slyness and cluelessness can often look almost identical. It’s still my theory that this is a campaign that began with high-marketing-concept strategy cleverness and ended up with the house of cards collapsing around Parlophone’s ears when their incompetence at handling what they had conceived and stoked, in the execution, came back to bite everyone around releases 5 and especially 6. [Paul your screen grab of a crashed Dig! store site is exactly what I experienced, many times too, and like you mention, I got to the end of the checkout, paid by PayPal, got a detailed receipt from them with a genuine Dig! order number.. but no confirmation from Dig! and repeated bland ‘we’re looking into it’ replies to my e-mails asking – am I getting one or not, please?].
I think the ‘running out of boxes in minutes in October’ was contrived – I work in a market research and consulting agency and we have a behavioural science division, and I know a little about that world, including creating ‘scarcity effect’ to drive sales. I think that’s what the tiny release of a few of the boxes in October was about. Sell a few, reassure the disappointed ‘more are coming at the end of the campaign’ whilst creating the desired anxiousness to buy into the program and buy up every release along the way. Smart ‘pressure-cooked’ loyalty and, hey, I joined in as much as anybody. And it will have created a buzz along the way on social media for DB and Parlo. The marketing industry, much like advertising and design, is chock full of awards ceremonies and I seriously wonder if the architects of the BLA campaign didn’t have an eye on creating a narrative around this for future ‘most innovative/effective music marketing campaign’ gong value. Trust me, such a thing will certainly exist. I’m not sure Parlo were ‘flustered’ at that point; I think self-congratulatory smiles might have been breaking out, that everything (at that point) was very much ‘to plan’.
Fast forward 6 months – the scarcity of product and boxes at the end was, I believe, not manufactured (no pun intended) but down to Parlophone not having the back-house chops to cope (stable sites and servers, intelligently modelled stock predictions for which, by month 6 and after the warning shots of release 5, there was no excuse for).
The question of ‘now what can Parlophone do?’ is really tricky. They’ve arguably backed themselves into any number of corners where it’s going to be terribly messy to dig (no pun intended) themselves out. What do they do about getting people a fair chance of completing the collections they bought into building, in good faith? Press up more quantities? It looks like that’s what they are doing and in my case, it’s increasingly looking like I’ll need that if I’m to get the Kit Kat Club release. But then what do you tell the people who did manage to get all 6 plus a box, but maybe spent over the odds on eBay panic-buying the one or two they were missing? It’s going to be hard to be fair to one set of people without seriously being ‘off’ towards the other. And then there is the question of goodwill gestures. Again, tricky – what can they do? Offer everyone who (say) bought 4 or 5 releases one of their missing ones for free, to say sorry? But can you imagine the complexity of processing so many screen-grab proof of purchases being e-mailed in? You could even offer a discount off future orders of DB merchandise at these sites – but then, how much do you offer – say, £2 off for every CD you did manage to buy, up to £10? How do you martial that fairly and accurately? Complex web operations are, they have comprehensively proved, not their strength. And which of the 3 sites would have to take the discounts ‘hit’ – all mine came from Dig!, but I had to buy the box from MusicGlue, and I suspect lots of people will have had to buy, say, three of the discs from one of the sites and the others from another. I think maybe their best bet to be uncomplicated and ‘fair’ as possible might be to issue a random T-shirt for free from the range of BLA T’s (I suspect they will otherwise be stuck with a mountain of some of those for years) – but again – literally, one size won’t fit all and they won’t want the headache of administering that. You could refund the box (or send out a free one to those who couldn’t get one) – but a headache to administer, again.
I’ll be glad to complete my collection when they finally reveal what their plan to make good and make stocks available again – because in spite of all this, I have really enjoyed the actual music on this series. But I can’t help but feel, like many, David Bowie (innovator as he was) would not have wanted to see his fans treated like this.
Absolutely brilliant post. Thank you.
Just had a thought, it seems there’s a lot of comments about this from Bowie fans in the UK and US but was any thought given to fans in other countries? Or were they left having to “import” into their countries with all the associated additional costs?
Paul, this debacle is almost worthy of one of your booklets. I’d buy one!
I’m in Canada and certainly got frustrated beyond believe with #4, #5 and the process of obtaining #6.
If Paul did this as a booklet it would be in 6 parts with a free cover in week 1 and 6 which you couldn’t get for love or money.
Brilliant!
I missed out on #5 because they didn’t bother sending me an email, even though I signed up for them. I will certainly buy it if they make more available, but I don’t think they ought to unless they put it in a different sleeve or something. I was never in the market for a box that you had to pay extra for.
If they ever do something like this again I will ignore it & just access the concerts through streaming services.
Hot topic for sure. I was able to get each of the CDs but what a headache. Being on the West Coast in the US by the time I would see the emails about the last couple CD releases they were already sold out on all but one site. The vinyl was already gone. By mid-day the CDs were also gone.
Big question is what will happen next. They announced more boxes which they delivered but the same thing happened with them, sold out near instantly. Won’t be surprised if the same nightmare repeats again once they produce more of these.
Hi Paul
Your description of the disaster is pretty much straight on.
I just want to add one thing.
The official EU Bowie store is located in the UK, So is Dig! If you live in the EU and order from an official EU store you expect that what what you buy will be shipped from somewhere i the EU.
When I ordered the 4th CD, before I could get it from the Danish mail, I had to pay Danish VAT and fees for paying the VAT, that totalled more than the price of the CD and shipping, making it more than double in price. For the 5th CD I ordered it from the Dig! store just to see if it was different, that one was shipped from Germany, even though it says they ship from the UK on their website, I wanted to do the same with the final CD, but as we all know Dig! had problems and I ordered that one from the EU Bowie store. The CD and box are now on the way to me, I don’t know if I will end up paying double again, and I don’t know if they are send as one or two parcels, they don’t provide tracking, I off course had to pay for separate shipping, the CD and box had different release dates, that changed after I had ordered them, and they send them to me on the same date! It’s a mess.
They should have a EU store in the EU, or be set up so we can pay the VAT when ordering so we don’t get slapped with extra fees to pay VAT.
I will never add up the numbers on what I ended up spending on this box set including shipping and fees, I know whatever it is, if I had seen it in a store with that price on it, I would have had no trouble leaving it in the store.
I feel your pain, being a brit living in Romania I am dreading collecting my disks form the post office. I had to oder the birthday single and disk 5 from the states and disk 6 from the UK. I need to go pick up the birthday single this Friday (I know, the delay in postage got me worried at one point) I have no idea what taxes I am going to have to pay and if it would jusy have been cheaper to buy it form discogs after the release. We will see.
I’ve had it with this nonsense. I just want to buy records from artists that I like or a tunes that I wouldn’t mind listening to at home when I choose to and I do not want to jump through hoops to do this. If there is one thing that COVID has taught me it’s that life is to short. So I’m done with jumping through hoops trying to buy what is at the the end of the day a very average Live Bowie album . I’m done with trying to get the first edition of something limited to 300 copies to see it the same day appearing on Discogs at twice it’s retail price and I’m especially done with RSD where the shop I buy my records from every week has such a queue that I can’t get in and then sells off the rest of the stock to the otherside of the world at 5 o’clock to people that will never set foot there. From now on if it isn’t in the rack I’m not buying it , just like it used to be when I started out on this racket.
I’ve been lucky as I’ve had the time to make sure I more-or-less got all I wanted (would have liked a complete set of vinyl but… ). It’s a shame for those who haven’t been as lucky and yeah it has been a bit of a sh*tshow. All of this distracts from the releases which have all been pretty good, well, I’ve not listened to the last release yet but overall I’ve been very impressed.
Let me say – I bought all 6 CD’s, and the empty box, without issue (assuming the 6th disc arrives). But the madness of doing it was a bummer, and to tell you the truth, I’ve not played any of the discs. The process just turned me off the entire thing. This was especially true of the later discs – it was hell. I don’t even want to see the damn things. Surely this isn’t what they had in mind.
Not to mention my solidarity with those who missed out. Yes I got what I wanted, but if this is not brought to attention, I’ll be the one missing out next time they decide they want to punish Bowie fans. In fact, I *did* miss out out on Is It Any Wonder? because of a stupid dales process. THIS IS DAVID BOWIE – put it into the retail chain! How hard is that? Are they really this desperate to earn an extra dime?
This whole campaign was bad. I can tell you – the last Vinyl album showed as sold out 4 minutes after they went on sale at Dig (I’m in the UK). I know, because I saw it happen. The flippers on Ebay went into overdrive. Thanks a lot Parlophone.
This was a bit frustrating. No problem getting the first three. The fourth one was sold out the minute I got the email but I checked back everyday, hoping for a miracle. When the 5th one went on sale, there was a link for the fourth as well and I snagged both. Just waiting for the last entry in the series which shipped today and I’ll have the set. I’m not fussed about the empty box which, at these prices, should have been thrown in gratis.
Being a hardcore Bowie fan who has a ridiculously large collection of his material (both official and not), my experience of buying the six releases and box has done something that I thought was impossible: it’s made me realise that unless something truly incredible sees the light of day, I’m done with buying more Bowie.
Record collecting is meant to be fun, but this certainly wasn’t. Spending all day refreshing the various official websites, not wanting to go ‘pay a visit’ in case I missed out, even postponing my first Covid jab by a couple of days as it coincided with the day the sixth part went on sale – and then, to add insult to injury, and despite spotting the KitKat Club sale was going live as it happened (first there was just the CD, then the vinyl got added, etc), I ended up in the awful payment loop others have mentioned, and missed out on both physical formats.
When I compare this experience to going down to my local independent record shop years ago, or browsing record fairs, it is just ridiculous. The Bowie Estate should be concentrating on keeping the fans they have, rather than upsetting them; after all, the fanbase is only going to diminish in size as time goes by, and the financial return on the music will dwindle similarly. They won’t be getting any more money from me; I’ll just play my old records, remember the times I saw the great man live, stream anything new on Spotify, and move on. This isn’t fun any more.
Postponing your jab? Man, there are priorities!
This whole campaign, was, as everyone else said…bad. I mean, from the ‘box’ being offered first (and then being sold out) to the total lack of ability to get release #5. I was hedging my bets on these that there would be a reissue, and thus, only bought ‘look at the moon’, cause it had my favorite mix of songs from my favorite of his 90’s albums. I -am – happy that, if they offer a complete box set, I can buy it (if I decide I want it enough), but I -am – upset for the people who stayed up past bedtime to get these (especially the later releases). I do agree, this should have been a subscription-type offering, print to demand, not force demand to flood the websites based on a previously known limited amount of product. Ridiculous.
I agree with most of what has been said here. The whole thing was managed very haphazardly. But although I had to order 2, 3 and 4 from the US, with the associated higher overall costs, I sucked it up and chalked it up to experience. After that I kept a close watch on release dates and times. I got 5 and 6, and the slipcase, with very little effort. But I disagree with issuing more copies. They were meant to be limited editions. All that will do is stunt the future pre-owned market price. I’ve lost count of all the 12″ singles, picture discs, coloured vinyl, special sleeves etc, that I missed out over my 45 years buying records. But I’ve also capitalised on rare records I’ve owned and sold on many years later for a handsome sum.
I just hope, as a fan of many bands and artists, that something like this never happens again.
The Bowie cardboard box puts Marshall Cavendish to shame.
I got lucky. While not something I would normally do, not where Bowie is concerned anyway, I chose to skip this from the beginning and wait and see if maybe later on they would release the box set in its entirety at a later date. I’m too old and my blood pressure is already too high for that kind of stress, trying to chase down releases as they trickle out over a long period. To me it sounds like it was made for a customer service nightmare from the beginning. Glad I skipped it. Sure would love a Tin Machine box though (all released as one please).
I got a mail from rhino and it says that they bring more cds and emty boxes in the near future and my order is still ready if I want the item or I can cancel it. It says that the item as back order.
Must say I’m disappointed in the series.Now being told they will release more of the releases.After paying £35 off ebay for no.5.
I’ve streamed some of the music via Spotify and was underwhelmed. Seems the time and effort spent by the team should have gone to something less unwieldy, like hammering out the Tin Machine box set.
Just wondering, would parlophone have sold as many units already, if the releases weren’t advertised as limited one run releases?
So it’s fine to call it limited, fine to overcharge on individual postage, fine to charge for a box and fine to then press some more. Err no it isn’t. They’ve reached Ratner level – when he said his stuff was crap he wasn’t joking.
The whole campaign was a shambles from the start, which shouldn’t happen with any artist, certainly not David Bowie!
I sadly couldn’t get ANY of the CDs, let alone the empty box – same story with the Birthday single that came out in January.
Hope this teaches them a lesson. I would like this set in full!
selling a CD carboard box at a price higher than a CD was already an insult to the fan being milked.
Things got worst with vol 3 to volume 6 which was a total fucked up.
I spent 2 hours on dig UK trying to pay and looping back to check out. That was an unbelievable stress. My IP got blocked by VISA for multipayment attempts with ALL my Credit Cards !!! Still dont know if it’s unlocked now.
The project manager at Warner should be fired straight away for that shit.
I bought the CD BLA6 from the US it cost me 10£ more on shipping to FR. still have to recieve it.
I never intended to buy the box. I’d like to get fucked but only medium size dildoes.
I’ve had little problem buying the first 5 as Rhino sent emails each time and I purchased immediately
Not a damned thing was sent about #6 (Kit Kat Klub) and I’m very tempted to sell off the ones I have if they don’t make more available for sale
What a freaking train wreck this entire experience has been
I am glad I did not get too worked up about the box itself. I ended up getting 5/6 – and Kit Kat Club is pretty much a rehash of 5 (I think there were three different tracks). I would get it, but it was poorly conceived. It is a shame only one was a double (which was at least the right one to be a double in my greedy opinion). Even if not Bowie’s ‘best’ era – which I could argue does not mean it was not worthy, as all Bowie’s live output (even the mid 80’s) is of value to fans – they certainly could have made the limited in a multiple of 4 and it would have sold out. It was poorly handled (no marketing geniuses here – contrary to the comments). If there was that poor expectations why even bother? Considering how Bowie was one of the first artists to see, leverage, and use the internet, it is pure amateurism how this was handled.
This is a page directly out of the Saint Etienne store shenanigans. Really there has never been a more frustrating band to collect. They have done this year after year. Christmas cds, limited boxsets 7″s and what not all gone to scalpers while their aptly name “greedy bag” store crashed time after time
I stopped being a fan and just chose not to follow them anymore in sheer frustration..
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. I’m sure that devotees of this site “like” the concept of Limited Editions, but when releases become constantly nigh impossible to purchase (excluding the number on Discogs/eBay etc) then fans quickly get to the point of thinking “well, if I can’t get these releases, then I might as well not bother collecting the artiste anymore” And does this push fans onto streaming options – quite possibly.
If this charade was organised by a home-produced indie outfit with limited funds, then it may be understandable, but one of the Major Labels? Unforgivable.
An apology from record labels successfully fleecing the people that pay them??
There’s a heck of a lot of people on this thread not realising this is just tomorrow’s column posted early…
Very well written Paul. I’ve been collecting for over 40 years and can say, without hesitation, this was by far the worst campaign in music history. I’ve been very vocal on Twitter and have sent numerous emails directly to Rhino, Parlophone, the Bowie web store, etc.
Like others have stated, what good does new stock do for those who, at the time, fully believed the only way to complete their sets was to surrender to the scalpers? Nothing. This is a continuation of the scam. They know the additional demand exists from those initially turned off by the whole thing from the start and they see $ signs. It’s pure greed and it’s so transparent.
I’m one of those who received a PayPal confirmation but nothing from Dig. Very interested to see if my order will show up. This whole thing was a complete shit show from the start.
I don’t see why it’s so complicated. Take preorders for a predetermined amount of time, then manufacture those orders. We’ll wait. They make the max amount of dough and all those that want one get one. Why dream up these crazy campaigns where no one wins??
Way to make me feel even worse, Parlophone. I navigated the ridiculous purchase process, swallowed the outrageous shipping charges, and paid for an empty box, feeling queasy about my conditioned response. Now, with a full set, I am trying not to feel aggrieved that those folk who have missed out may pick the set up for less, and with less hassle. Good luck to them, I guess. The music is great and it would be a shame for fans not to get to a chance to have it. However, to Parlophone….get tae…….
I don’t know whether I’ve had a poor experience but it has certainly been expensive. I only managed to get the first couple of LPs and CDs from the official shop and was unable to pick up the boxes. After that I have been lining the pockets of eBay dealers. I don’t feel that I have a right to buy whatever I fancy but the Bowie organisation certainly knows how to press irritating buttons for his fans. Blind sales of black/coloured vinyl for other albums once again inflating prices on eBay followed by this odd campaign which has essentially pitched fan against fan in competition to chase scarce copies. Why is it necessary to release limited editions of such a hugely popular artist? The Hendrix estate have made a few bespoke albums on their own label available through their website and seem to be able to press enough to be in stock for months/years before they sell out. Unusual for there to be an apology and very welcome it is in an age when “never apologise, never explain” seems to be the prevailing business mantra.
I missed out on Phoenix 97 and Live at the KKK, attempting to purchase the latter was stressful. The scalpers have had a field day with this campaign. Nice to see the label admitting fault.
I am glad I sat this one out. This whole campaign was poorly thought out and poorly communicated to Bowie’s fans. Changing the subject, would they ever consider repressing the Five Years set from 5-6 years ago? It’s so expensive now on eBay or Discogs. I regretfully missed out on that one (but have the other three album sets).
You are looking for cd or vinyl edition?
Looking for the CD.
In one shop in my country they have 1 item in stock,price is 170€,I don t know if they ship international,I can send you link.
I was able to get a CD copy of all 6 of the releases in this ‘campaign’. Admittedly I didn’t bother to pursue the empty box since Parlophone was charging for it before anyone could even own any of the intended contents, and having to pay postage for each of these releases along with having to use 3 different vendors to actually be able to purchase each CD in the series has certainly made me feel like I should know better and save my money versus falling for something like this. The ‘false scarcity’ angle and knowledge that some of these releases were not even the full shows recorded only adds insult to admittedly a self-inflicted injury.
I wouldn’t have made this effort if it wasn’t David Bowie’s music, and the last laugh appears to be Parlophone’s as they ultimately got all their projected income for their efforts. We all know any publicity is good publicity, but any goodwill this company thinks it has with fans & purchasers of David Bowie’s material is effectively gone. I still want the next installment box set of the Bowie studio recordings but I think I’ll either wait for a price reduction after its eventual release (regardless of price point), or just let it go ‘out of print’ and have mild regret.
Paul, constant thanks for your posts on all things physical music media, even when it’s topics like this that aren’t always positive.
Maybe they learned their lesson from the eBay resellers who parted out and sold the individual Loving the Alien pieces and discs, making more than the sealed box set was going for ……
In Australia I had reasonably easy time gettimg the first 4 from Warner Australia and they went onsale on the Fri mornimg local time here. Then frustrated fans started buying from Warner Australia from overseas. Spent all day Friday for the last one refreshing the website, eventually gave up at midnight, checked again at 4am and sold out! Putting onsale here at 3am by looks of it meant I am pretty sure no aussie fans got a copy!
In future how bout a subscription model by preorder so they know how many are wanted to begin with? That way no one misses out.
The Titanic of all marketing campaigns,ever
Just waiting until this is a normal product in a normal shop for a normal price.
In the meantime, I can’t say I’m short of Bowie music …
This was easily the most shambolic, and consumer-hostile, record selling strategy I have ever seen. The Estate now have to eat humble pie. My suggestion?
Refund postage charges for people who bought multiple editions of the series (i.e. if you bought 1,3,5, or 1-6, or 2-6) because we definitely shouldn’t’ve paid 6 sets of postage charges because of their approach. Especially if those who buy the extra stock get it all for 1 postage charge.
Refund the empty box price to people who bought multiple editions. Make it so that nobody who participated over six months is one penny “Out” compared to those who buy later. We shouldn’t be charged a premium for loyalty.
Also, they should ship – free of charge and post – a bonus CD of an unexpected and unreleased live show FREE to anyone who bought any of the initial BLA1-6/boxes as a goodwill gesture.
And finally, NEVER do this again. If I’d’ve known how terrible my BLA experience would have been, I would simply have refused to take part. The only way this SHOULD have been sold is as a subscription box for six months, with an order window, and printing to meet demand. Having to randomly jump on and spend £50-£100 at random times at least once a month was abusive, hostile, and unfair.
I’m only collecting the CDs & have ended up with 3 vinyl copies and a few t shirts I wouldn’t have chosen as buying a bundle was the only option I had when I was buying.
I suspect that’s a common story with most fans, it’ll be interesting to see what their solution is. These are great releases ( I think the artwork has been fabulous, especially the Twix wrapper colourway for the NEC Big Twix Mix show) & hopefully I’ll be able to complete my collection now. As for my vinyl spares, I’ll keep them & give them away as presents. My own thoughts are mass market cd boxes and black vinyl versions, if people want to buy coloured vinyl and limited editions at daft prices that is up to them, but the physical content should be easily available to all. I think the estate are largely getting it right, the Conversation Piece box is perfect & the spin off boxes did eventually come down in price and are still available, hopefully this will make them think a bit more about how they sell and not what they sell, as the music certainly isn’t the problem. I remember that Alan Partridge type explanation they gave to justify the period of time between the big box sets, marvellous nonsense, it’d be interesting to know who the decision makers at the estate are.
If this set was readily available to purchase I would buy it. As it seemed problematic from the outset, I didn’t even try to purchase any of the live CD’s because I knew there’s no way I’d be able to complete the set with ease and didn’t want the stress of it all.
Once all the CD’s become available, I hope a 6CD box set reissue becomes available to purchase and for those who need to complete their set, some kind of way to complete sets.
Picked up the first 4 copies easily. No box though, which I came to terms with early on. However bu the time I was notified (by the Bowie website) that the 5th & 6th discs were on sale all copies had sold out.
I regrettably went straight on ebay where there were loads of copies available at triple the original price and purchased copies to ensure I could complete the collection. I know that people like me are part of the problem in paying over the odds. But knowing this was a limited release I didn’t expect additional copies to be made available later and expected prices to only go up.
Anyhow, it’s put me off buying limited releases from the Bowie store in the future.
Maybe they’ll make the new editions slightly different to the originals (see Neil Young box), thereby not upsetting the fans that bought these the first time around.
A godawful exhibition of incompetence and greed.
This sounds as stupid as Record Store Day where fans of an artist are expected to jump trough hoops to buy physicals media. Resulting in unnecessary high prices and frustrations. This doesn’t make collecting albums fun. If this market dies these companies have themselves to blame.
Apart from all the shambles I must say this is the best posthumous Bowie release by far. Amazing versions – often better than the original. Number 5 is probably the nicest concert as a whole – very I intimate. I expect to have all 6 of them. I did buy the 6th twice on 2 different sites. One confirmed my order.
+ What’s also weird is that dig and db.com had very different shipping rates and combo deals. With dig being much cheaper. Which is probably why everyone went there first and made it crash.
I managed to purchase all 6 albums (in CD versions – the last installment has been shipped last Friday, still awaiting delivery) and received the message from DB store today BUT:
– these CD’s ain’t cheap (and the added price of P&P for each release has to be taken into account);
– worse: the price of the positively ugly empty CD storage box (it looks like a 70s Music For Pleasure bargain record) selling at €15 (roughly £12) + P&P is a real deterrent. I would never consider buying such a cheap looking artifact at such a ridiculous price!
Ugly as it is, it should be sent for free to people who ordered the whole set: that would be fan loyalty recognition!
Number 5 and 6 were a disaster and i had to go to ebay for them
as being a collector what use would 4 of the 6 be? i paid well over the odds
now Parlophone decide ” sorry we will make some more” That’s fine but can i have the money i overpaid back in that case? Disgraceful and the final straw for me with these jokers .
If Parlophone had released a six-album box set of live material from Bowie’s least commercially-successful period via the usual retail channels, a lot of fans would’ve passed and it would be a regular on SDE’s deal alerts. As it is, they’ve managed to sell 10,000 copies (and counting with the repress) and everyone is talking about it.
Like or not (and I don’t), it was a shrewd bit of marketing.
Lol, yes, you are quite spot on, Nike are doing a bacon version of their Airmax 90’s, my godson is so desperate for a pair he’s just locked on to every sneaker site waiting for them to drop, I guarantee that if he had seen them in a shop for £90 he wouldn’t have looked twice. I guess the question is are Parlophone that smart?
I was able to buy all 6 cds and the cd box (finally, the day after the presale of Kitkat). I now have at home in hand the first 5 cds and the box. Kit Kat still has to be released and sent to me.
I think the recordings are great, especially Liveandwell.com and Phoenix 97, but the total cost is way too expensive due to the box and the shipping costs for each cd apart and the box. I’m lucky that i haven’t had to pay customs but that would have made this box the most expensive box set i’ve ever bought.
That said, i still have a paypal reservation to pay for the last cd, whose order blocked after the payment. Hopefully they don’t take that money and hopefully they don’t send me a second copy of the same cd.
I know Bowie for all of my live, only visited 2 concerts of him, i.e. Torhout ’96 and Werchter ’97 and he blew us away. Since then he has a special place in my heart. We visited the Hansa Studios. We have more than 100 cds of him. Am i a fan? Yes. Am i a collector? Yes, but not a completist. But this release was a pain in the you know where to obtain a complete box set.
Leaving aside the strategy, the releases themselves are pretty poor, with the possible exception of the Phoenix Festival show. BLA 6 is missing at least five songs from the performance
It’s odd with the limited nature of the sets that the contents and choices weren’t more niche.
A release of one of the pure drum n bass shows, one of the better Outside shows when the band were a bit more experimental, could a deal not be struck with NIN to release a full set?
The only one that I got was the Phoenix 97 set as it was a genuine surprise, the complete show- the rest seemed a little half hearted.
The whole campaign seemed like a misfire the moment those empty boxes went on sale. At that point they should have realised the demand – not six months later
Meh! Been collecting the other box sets and I was tempted by this, but since I missed out on the empty box at the beginnning and these were just live albums, I decided to give this lot a miss. I think I made the right choice!
the last release was a pain to buy cause time was not clear.
had to buy it from the US store…
Let’s see what they ll put out on sale.
I cannot spend hours keep refreshing to buy a cd honestly…
‘…due to the unexpected demand…’ they say.
Are they having a laugh? I’m a Bowie fan since the 70’s but wasn’t interested in these and now I’m really glad I wasn’t. And I know for a fact that as someone who always cherished his fan base, Bowie would be furious about this if he were alive. Disgraceful exploitation. They knew what they were doing from the outset.
Well written article, Paul.
I managed to get the first five without too much problem but the final one was a disastrous experience that took me about 90 minutes to get nowhere, trying to decipher bizarre website error messages or stare at spinning wheels of impending doom (which sounds like an 80s Black Sabbath track). I was less fussed by the final release as it’s pretty similar to the previous one but with fewer tracks. Still, would’ve been nice to have the set.
Throughout I was most frustrated by the inability of anyone in charge to let people know when the flipping things were going to go on sale. The most recent one said it would be on sale “later this afternoon UK time”. Well that’s not an actual time in the UK or anywhere else! If I scheduled a meeting for “later on, UK time” I think I might get short shrift. Clearly they would have known when it was happening that close to launch so why not tell people? Was this some attempt at creating a buzz? How did that work out for you Parlophone?
Ultimately, the whole concept was a bit of a rip-off. I would never have chosen to pay as much for the six albums as a whole box set as I did individually but decided to go for it as I wanted them and they were limited editions. Others may not be able to afford that choice and it’s a shame they’re priced out for tactical record company reasons. And I was never going to pay for an empty box on top of that…
Brilliant!
“Spinning wheels of impending doom” is definitely going to be the title of my next out-takes collection…
Brilliant!
The last time I purchased from Rhino US, I bought a pre-order LP. Rhino added a free sticker to the order, they shipped the free sticker, but then didn’t fulfill the LP because it was oversold. The worst was that they refunded the LP price but still charged me shipping for the “free sticker”. That was three years ago, and they will never get a dollar from me again. There have been a number or releases from them that I would want but I refuse to give them any of my money or time. Hopefully the Bowie folks will sever this relationship and work with customer-friendly labels.
The first 4 releases appeared online just after 3pm uk time, yet for some reason the 5th release appearsd at around 10am with no warning. Knowing this, i was refreshing my screen ALL DAY for the 6th release., from 10am. Waited till 3pm… no sign of it, then around 4pm POW, the items appeared and the website crashed. I then spent a further 2 HOURS or so, trying to place an order for the cd/ vinyl bundle. FINALLY, they took the money via paypal, THEN a message sprung up saying order cancelled. I am STILL trying my best EVERY DAY to get a refund for the “unsuccessful order.
PARLOPHONE, HOW ABOUT COMPENSATING US MUGS/ BOWIE FANS WITH AN EXCLUSIVE RELEASE FOR FREE, TO MAKE UP FOR HOW YOU COMPLETELY WASTED OUR TIME AND MONEY???
Collecting Bowie releases has been a part of my life for nearly 50 years and what a joy it was until Parlaphone started not this rediculous campaign,but the previous ‘Is It Any Wonder’s ep that again was a limited edition that sold out quickly,or the dubious lottery of the coloured vinyl release.
This though was the pinnacle of their folly,where people quick enough could resell on eBay or Discogs at a healthy profit.
Please get back to releasing my Hero’s music normally,or use a subscription if you must go down the limited rout again.
Collecting music should be a pleasure Parlaphone,and you have made it stressful.I hope lessons have been learned
And finally charging for an empty box is taking the piss…
Same old story.
We just have to wait a bit and everything will be published in a massive and economic way. Like almost everything. There are dozens of boxes considered as unique that then come out in economic format even after many years. I do not exclude seeing in a while also the Dylanian Cutting Edge in another form but just as complete. I repeat only patience it takes. What drives it all is the market and the money. It suits them to do so. a random example. Neil young with Archives Vol. 2
I said to you before, it was one of the most unfun music buying experiences as a whole. Although yeah I had a trouble free run getting the first four volumes, I was rather annoyed at the start the slip cases were sold out before I knew what was happening.
And yeah it call kicked off with volume 5. I was up early enough so I was ready for the quiet update of the store for the pre-orders to go live. Volume 6 was the worst since the hours passed and nothing was happening until 4pm. And worse still the album went up but the slip case didn’t for several minutes, causing me to make two seperate orders and wasting money on shipping.
I am glad that I managed to succeed in acquiring the whole set, but I never want to experience this again from any of my music heroes. I was a little mentally exhausted.
Shoddy Retail Adventures (2020-2021).
The content of the discs was an eye-opener for me. I never really got in to the Outside/Earthling/Hours period, but these live shows are great – even though apparently for the die-hard Bowie fan who collects bootlegs etc they’ve been previously available in similar quality. Really made me appreciate the albums a lot more. Bring on the next installment of the career-spanning boxsets!
But the rest of this campaign was just a pain in the ass. And I’m afraid that now they are going to put up complete boxes with the discs already in there, meaning that all the money I spent on postage getting the boxes and the discs (both vinyl and CD) has been for “nothing” – not even mentioning all the time wasted on refreshing the damn websites when a release went on sale.
I’m glad other fans will hopefully be able to get their hands on these releases though.
I missed out on the box initially as I was in a hospital appointment & they sold out within the hour! Hopefully have managed to get the box this time around but have had to take a chance on eBay to get the last disc. An absolute farce, the least they could do was to set up some sort of subscription with the first purchase so that you could complete the set or drop out if you wanted to
Thanks Paul for an excellent summary of a very dark episode for us Bowie fans. Right from the start the solution was a simple one: sell a package of all six releases which included the box in advance of the campaign. That way you know how many boxes to make and records to press. Then you make a few extra boxes just in case and press another round of each release for those who don’t want them all.
I was doing okay until the 4th release. As a Canadian I buy mine from the Bowie US store. I typically buy two copies of everything: one for me and one for a friend. But when I tried to buy two copies of the 4th release, the system blocked me from buying two. I had to create a second account linked to a different address in order to buy the second copy. The 5th release went on sale just after 5:00am my time. Thankfully, I am an early riser and I saw the release announcement and was able to purchase my two copies. For the 6th release, I was up at 4:30am and I hit refresh on the website every 5 minutes until they finally went on sale at 12:00pm. Frustrating.
From beginning to start, from the first cd to the last the 6th cd a flop. Yes I did get cd 1 to 4 until today and cd 5 and 6 are on there way to me as they told me. Also the box should be coming, I say should, cause today I get this mail ( see above like Paul get one too ) and it says: no you won´t get the cd 6 and the empty box. That is 12 days AFTER I ordered them. I contacted rhino and they didn´t reply today. What a frog !!! A shame !!! Would David act like this with his fans if he still lived today ? I dare to say no.
They’re hinting at a repress, which is really rubbing salt into the wound for a lot of the collectors.
Unfortunately, as we have seen with some major labels, the promise of single run limited editions isn’t worth the press release it’s included on. They will happily repress copies or ‘find unsold stock at the back of a warehouse’ if it means raking in some more cash.
Hopefully Parlophone (and others) will realise this sort of sales model just doesn’t work, especially with high demand artists like Bowie, and do it a bit more traditionally in future
Yeah, a lot of us thought each release would be a one and done pressing and had to buy from the scalpers on eBay to complete their box sets. Whilst it would be cool for a repress to allow more people to complete their collections, if they don’t end up on eBay as well, it would be another kick in the balls for those that had to spend premium prices on those auction sites.
I can’t see Parlophone/DB team doing the right thing to real fans to make it right, after all they were the very same that came up with this campaign in the first place (I’m surprised they said sorry). Whatever they do will make the campaign even worse and more painfully drawn out.
The only positive that will come out of it would be this will be a wonderful case study to teach marketing students on how to disenfranchise a loyal fan base of a brand.
So basically all of the hours put in, waiting on my phone, constantly refreshing the web page, to get the items i wanted, ended up wasted time, as these “limited runs” are now to be repressed?
I managed to get all of the cd and vinyl releases i wanted, except for the last vinyl release, as their site crashed (it didn’t stop them taking the money for a cd/ vinyl bundle though, and I’m STILL waiting for it to be refunded.
It wouldn’t surprise me if parlophone ended up selling complete boxsets at a knockdown price, just to make even more cash.
At least i didn’t pay £300 for an empty box several months ago!!!
I certainly wont fall for any more of their tricks…
WOW! That seems really short sited and naive. I am just a casual Bowie fan but I am a collector so I do genuinely feel for all the fans that were really let down by this marketing disaster. I do hope you all manage to complete your collections.
As big a Bowie fan as I am, I decided not to bite the bullet on this collection as soon as I saw the ‘pay to buy a box to house the collection’ aspect. That turned me off immediately.
It seems like that was just the opening salvo in a very shoddy campaign.
I’m really sorry for the fans that really wanted this set – there is nothing worse than having a incomplete set if you are a collector/fan of a particular artist.
I feel that things like this also damage the artist’s legacy – Bowie and his fans deserve better!
My experience is as an observer watching from the sidelines while almost every Bowie fan I saw on-line got shafted by the campaign. Very few fans, a lot of them seriously hard-core, have been got a full set with box. I’m glad I’m not a Bowie collector at the moment otherwise I’d feel as angry and frustrated as they do. Is this a reason for Parlophone to released the whole set, in box, soon for one price? I can’t see that going down well with the fans who’ve jumped through hoops and paid over the odds for this set already.
It’s market forces I know , however the fact that a very high percentage of these are bought to profiteer is bloody shameful . I’d rather pay to be in a bowienet type club and get exclusives (like liveandwell) than this farce. They need to find away around this
This campaign started off badly enough but the last release and the issues around ordering that took the biscuit.