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You sign up for 3, 6, or 12 months and a track that you're interested in (Essentials, Rap/Hip-Hop, or Classics) each month they select and Album of The Month for that track. It began as only one track "Record of The Month" but that became Essentials when they added the other two tracks. So, for each month you're subscribed they send you the record they've selected. Essentials had typically leaned Indie or Alt Rock, but that's has changed since they added the other tracks (now it can be anything from Jorge Ben to Queens of The Stone Age to Miles Davis to Artic Monkeys). Rap and Hip Hop is obvious. Classics are Jazz/Soul/Blues albums from before 1980. The records are always a VMP exclusive pressing. What that means varies. Sometimes it's just a colored variant of an album. Sometimes it's the first time it's been pressed on vinyl. It's often the first pressing in a long time. Last year, for example they pressed Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik and it was the first time the entire album, the full tracklist has been pressed. They also did Tical... which was just a colored variant of a widely available release. With the Classics track, it's almost always something that's been out of print for a long time.
Their product is always top notch, great sounding records. If you don't like a record of the month you're scheduled to get, you can swap it out for a past ROTM or for something else in their store. The store is a combination of their ROTMs, other albums they've done exclusive pressings of (usually less that 2000 copies pressed) and some other commonly available records. They do a lot of exclusive pressings. Some for up-and-coming artists, some for new releases (usually a colored variant). Some for rare and/or our of print records. Some of those go really fast and end up selling for a lot on the resale market. For example last year they pressed De La Soul is Dead.... limited to 1000 copies I believe and it sold out in minutes. Resale price is around $80. Sometimes they press really cool stuff.
That being said, in late November/early December they upgraded their web platform and it has caused a massive shitshow that they seem to finally be recovering from. People weren't getting their orders, were getting things they didn't order... one person was sent 25 copies of their exclusive pressing of The Infamous while other people who ordered it were told it was sold out. Like I said, they seem to be getting a handle on that now, but the next few months might still be a little shaky.
I've been a member for going on 3 years now. And I don't see Phrenology as being sold out. You should be able to "add a track" from your membership page for $23.
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"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."
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