How Columbia House made money giving away records, tapes and CDs | Vinyl Community

Before music streaming… Before file sharing… We had the Columbia House Music Club. How did Columbia House make boatloads of money giving away stacks of free vinyl records, tapes and compact discs? I'll tell you in this video -- Part 2 of my look at the Columbia House Music Club.
In case you missed it, here is Part 1: • What happened to Colum...
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ABOUT Channel33rpm: Your channel for #vinyl, gear and more, where I try to put the fun back in record collecting.
ABOUT ME: My goal is to inspire you to grow your music collection, improve your listening experience, discover new music and support artists (and have fun while doing it).
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Rocker by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
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Videos shot live on location near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

[@MrAaron194]

I would get all my free CDs and immediately buy one at full price and quit. Then they would offer me 12 more free CDs if i came back. So I would do it, pay for my one CD immediately and quit again. This cycle repeated itself until there was nothing left in the catalog i wanted.

[@gimcrack555]

This is how I did it as well. Much cheaper doing it this way than visited your local music store.

[@ronbradshaw7404]

I did the same and i loved it!. I had no problems at all!

[@zkman1762]

I also did the same thing, couldn't beat that deal!

[@glfriendliness9793]

@@gimcrack555 yeah but if you were like me, an underground music fan into thrash and metal and pre-alternative stuff, the record store was the place, you were outta luck with that Columbia catalog if you wanted Black Flag or early Slayer and Metallica stuff.

[@ronnieguitar99]

I never quit I would just through their bills in the trash and let them assumed I had died or something. Now that I'm old I send bills from hospitals for the 20% my insurance didn't pay in the trash. Not dead yet.

[@djfingersflores]

when i was a high school kid in the 80's i opened an account with Columbia House in my dogs name and got an extra 12 more cds after already getting my own 12 cds. My dad got really mad at me when he found out and told me not to be using the dogs name anymore. LOL

[@stephenulmer3781]

😂

[@coltheesacker5656]

HAHAHAHAHAHA.....Omg man that's the finniest shit Ive heard in a while. Literally made laugh out loud more than any YT comment Ive ever read. Kudos brother! I fucked em out of a few CDs myself LOL

[@jerknorris2483]

I feel like this was a Simpsons episode hmmm he uses Santa's lil helper on credit card

[@stephaniegormley9982]

@@jerknorris2483 I think that was "Married with Children" too. The dog got a credit card.

[@jharvable]

I opened it in 3 different names

[@vskingkong]

God bless this company, they supplied the entire nation with free music then went broke...... RIP you were heroes

[@darthXreven]

and we the villains benefitted mwahahahahaaaa!!!!

[@ianmeadows956]

@@darthXreven (Mr Burns) excellent.....

[@darthXreven]

@@ianmeadows956 Dr. Evil: laugh with me...mwahahahahaah ,wahahahahahaaa!!

[@ianmeadows956]

@@darthXreven mwahahahahahaha

[@TheGodYouWishYouKnew]

That’s not really what happened.

[@daBEAGLE1017]

Nothing was better than opening a box of LPs in the 80s and staring at the covers for hours.

[@Rantsfromacar]

Oh yes you are 100% correct I remember getting my first motley crue. Poison, ozzy, and judas priest records I thought I hit the freaking jackpot. My parents learned real fast who twisted sister was at the volume of 10.

[@jchow5966]

Except doing itt in the 770s wwas even better. Lol ☮️💟🎹

[@thekelth]

Album art!

[@Heartwing37]

I had the best collection of music...better than ALL of my friends...because they didn’t know about Columbia House!

[@rallypoint1]

Iron Maiden had the best covers!!!!🤘🏼

[@LEGENDCITYest1963]

If it wasn't for the Columbia House Record Club I wouldn't own half the music that I did as a teenager.

[@geraldeh7291]

I loved Columbia House. I started my CD collection with them and took advantage of any discount offers they had. Every delivery to my mailbox was like opening a Christmas present. It was kind of addictive.

[@WhatsWrongWithTheStreet]

You're right. I loved opening the mailbox and there was a cardboard box with Columbia House on it. YES!

[@Calvin-01]

Our mailman hated me, there were boxes on top of regular mail, on the ground under mailbox and sometimes he even knocked and hand delivered them

[@JorshWarshington1]

Right on. I do, however, get the feeling you actually were legit. That's a good thing, though.

[@countfloydschillerhorrorth2090]

Don't forget the book clubs too.

[@WhatsWrongWithTheStreet]

@@countfloydschillerhorrorth2090 Ah yeah. I joined a book club once and liked it. I got 4 free and bought 2, I think.

[@harrywinslow3946]

I don't care what anybody says, Columbia House was the best deal going. I signed up, fulfilled my obligation, and got a lot of good music at a reasonable price. The internet destroyed the music business.

[@SanitysVoid]

Me too. I miss the club. If not for that club I would have never been able to swap all my tapes for CD's. I got about 95% of them swapped out using it.

[@WhatsWrongWithTheStreet]

Me, too. It was a good deal. I recall with Columbia HOuse you got 12 tapes then you had to buy 3 or 4 at retail price in a year. That averaged out to about $3.50-$4.00 per tape. Much cheaper than the record store. That was a good deal. CDs were a little more but tapes and records were my preferences. Tape players were common in cars at that time and CD players were not. YOu could record your records onto tape and carry it with you.

[@moonlitegram]

It destroyed the business? I pay 10 bucks a month and have instant access to 99% of any music I could ever think to listen to. From a consumers perspective this is an absolutely incredible time. Back in the day, if I didn’t own the album I couldn’t listen to the music unless it came on the radio. And on the other end of things, it’s easier than ever to get your music out there as a recording artist. Sure not every artist is going to rake in wads of cash for their music, but they’re also not beholden to getting a label to sign them and distribute their music anymore either. The age of labels and radio stations dictating music and profiting off of massive album sales was basically an anomaly in the history of music brought on by the advent of new technology (for the time) when audio recordings were made possible. Everything we associate with this era of artists becoming massively famous and wealthy off of their music was purely just a product of that relatively short and unique era. And fittingly that age is coming to an end as new modern technology changes the landscape. And really the way things are going now is probably more similar to how the music industry worked for centuries before: with artists making money off of patronage from people that enjoy their music rather than via IP laws granting monopolies to distributors.

[@mrspeigel3593]

I'm pretty sure record execs destroyed the music business (for everyone who's not a teenage girl)

[@SanitysVoid]

@@moonlitegram A hard copy of a CD or I don't own the music. The internet and downloading just sucks.

[@booksetc.6482]

I use to work at their call center and my mom worked at the factory. It is now Sony. When it was Columbia House it employed most of the town. They would bring in carts of cds and let us take what we wanted. It was a fun place to work.

[@crystalhanson1483]

An elderly, disabled woman I used to take care of. . some how SIGNED up for that Record Club. (1980's) I'd get her mail at the Post Office and carry them back to her apartment, open the package! She didn't like most of them, one record I had to put on her record player. With in a day or two I resealed the box and I HAD TO USE MY INCOME TO SEND THEM BACK! ! More records kept coming. . .she didn't like them either? I asked her WHY join that Record Club if you aren't buying any records? She said it was something to do. SHE REFUSED TO GIVE ME MONEY TO MAIL THEM BACK! ! I had to use my meager income to mail them back! I WAS GOING BROKE, so I quit taking care of her ! ! ! !

[@MrHarris73]

I was a Columbia House member back in the 90s. I kept a running log of every CD I got from them and how much I paid for each one - including shipping on the "free" CDs. And the way it worked out, the longer I stayed a member and the more CDs I got, the lower my average payout got. By the time I shut it down I was to the point where I was averaging about one dollar per CD. If you stuck with them, it was actually a good deal. And a good way to build your collection.

[@Rob-ji6cr]

There's actually an episode of Leave it to Beaver where the Beaver gets in over his head with a record club. Season 6 Ep. 9 😉

[@Channel33RPM]

Too funny. I will have to look that up.

[@WhatsWrongWithTheStreet]

Thanks for that. I will look for it.

[@billygunn7180]

Ward was a little tough on the Beaver, last night.

[@bobthebear1246]

@@billygunn7180 *hard

[@bobthebear1246]

Huh. That actually sounds like one of the ultimate anomalies: An actual cool "Leave It To Beaver" episode!! 😂

[@stevecarlsonvinylcommunity9147]

I was an avid Columbia House member from 1974 until they shut down. My god I bought a ton from them. I use to get some much stuff shipped in because I never sent back in my cards. I never did any of the deceptive stuff lol. They use to have a once a year half off box sets that I saved up for every year lol. My collection was built on Columbia House and BMG as I had no record stores by me. Fun video. Steve

[@marcallen6987]

I joined in early Seventies also....after buying enough lps to cancel...they would send out lists of cool records for 79 cents...bought Jerry Garcia, Weather Report, Trapeze and tons of great lps on the cheap.

[@Bigwave2003]

So you're the guy who kept them in business.

[@ToyAddict]

When they called my house my mom would just yell at them, "She's a CHILD! You can't make a child pay!"

[@Channel33RPM]

She had a good point! Those were the days. Frank

[@oveidasinclair982]

LOL, my grandmother use to do the same thing when my dad would get those 11 records for 1 cent, he said he and his cousin must have hit them 5 or 6 times each. He still has boxes of records I never even heard of in his closet.

[@67lilbear]

Not my mom...when she got the call and found out about my eleven year old brother's secret stash of LPs she made him work off the rest of the contract of four more albums. AND - she picked them out :DD

[@ToyAddict]

@@67lilbear Go mom!

[@DonMachado]

Yep that was me too - I was about 13 at the time.

[@koprcord5338]

Still have tapes, cds and vinyl from them. Shit forgot about movies till you mentioned it. Never screwed them seems they did enough of that for both of us. Man I miss the good old days.

[@chasstiles7611]

I have cassettes dating back to 1978,i switched over to CDs in the mid 90s and I still have a lot of cds also, i haven't bought any new music since about 2010

[@MrWhoevr]

I never ripped them off either. I bought what needed to fulfill the deal and quit. Then I would sign up again. It was a cheap way to get a lot of albums.

[@TheNewGranada]

yesssss, i was in the vhs club too, haha

[@HarryBuddhaPalm]

I'd wait until they had a "Buy 1 Cassette, Get 2 Free!" sale and would go crazy. I still have hundreds of cassettes, though I no longer have a cassette player.

[@MrWhoevr]

@@HarryBuddhaPalm Cassettes ere good in your vehicle. Better than 8 track.

[@dusty3913]

People used to give their "dire warning" that it's a ripoff and "whatever you do, don't sign up!" But, I crunched the numbers and it made total sense. As long as you bought ONLY the minimum number of units to fulfill your agreement, it was a big win. Don't even buy a single (overpriced) extra unit or you stop saving. This was CDs for me. You just had to be vigilant about declining the selection of the month-even if it was something you wanted. To my utter amazement, every time I closedy membership, they'd offer me another one??? Awesome.

[@Xsploor]

Yep. Me and my best friend did the exact same thing. I ended up re-joining every time they asked me to, and I kept getting those 11 for 1 deals, then canceling immediately again. I figured they made their cash on the shipping costs I paid, and I saved a ton of cash versus buying those CDs in the store (after paying for the 1 CD, and the shipping for the other 10, the costs worked out to between $5-7 for each CD, versus the $12-15 each, plus tax, that they would have cost in the stores).

[@caseyquinn9282]

I never cancelled but when I ordered my first 12, there was an offer to buy something like 2 more but then get 6 more free (I don't remember the exact numbers, I just remember it being a great deal compared to what it would have cost me at Turtles)

[@battra92]

My then teenaged brother did this as well. He would also order during "sales" and pretty much everyone in the house would order via his accounts. We didn't get stuff day one but he had a great CD collection as did I.

[@cratecruncher6687]

I think I was 13 when I sent in one of those ads for free stuff. Not only did I get EIGHT cool albums they sent me TWELVE more over the next several months before they realized I was just a kid who was not able to enter into a legally binding contract, haha. I still have those albums. Some of the crap they sent me later turned out to be classics. The Police: Ghost in the Machine turned out to be amazing.

[@GeekHour]

Now I know why the commercials would say "NO P.O. Boxes" lol

[@dehydratedwater9806]

I got mine at a P.O. box for years

[@archetypervb]

I do miss this. I haven't purchased a cd in forever, but if these existed still, I'd probably keep buying them. I remember buying albums from the metal section without ever hearing of the band. Since I owned the album, I would really focus on listening and truly hearing the music. Now that it's all so readily available, I believe there is a reduction in true appreciation for full albums.

[@zz449944]

I was a Columbia House member for years -- always in good standing -- and still got amazing deals without cheating the system. For me, it started when I was a little kid of about 12 years old. I perused the Columbia House catalogs that my brothers had. I saved my money and one day, I wrote them a letter telling them that I was just a kid, but I wanted to purchase two cassettes -- The Eagles Greatest Hits volume 1 and volume 2. I sent them cash with the letter. Not long after that, I received the tapes I ordered. I was not pressured to become a member or anything like that. Some kid sent them cash and they sent the albums. It was probably pure profit for them to do that. When I got older, I became a full member and bought hundreds of cassettes and then, later, CD's.

[@Jkrazy83]

Well damn

[@dogslobbergardens6606]

Congrats, all you did was help make greedy scumbag marketers rich while ripping off the artists you loved. The "big secret" about CH simply not paying the musicians is the whole point of the video.

[@charlesbolton8471]

@@dogslobbergardens6606 How could any of us have known that back then? Furthermore, as teenagers we all assumed the well known artists were multi-millionaires anyway, and we were just kids with part-time minimum wages jobs if we even had that. The thought of well known artists not getting paid handsomely never even crossed my mind until Metallica’s fight against Napster started. At that point, I was completely on Metallica’s side. However, in retrospect, I don’t really see how Napster was any different than what everybody with a tape recorder did before the Internet existed both by taping songs off the radio and by making copies of cassette/8-track tapes, CDs, or albums/45s and trading them with friends and relatives in order to expand each other’s music collections. The only thing the Internet did differently was facilitate it to being done on a larger scale. On a side note, does this also mean that Book of the Month Club doesn’t pay the authors for their work either?

[@dogslobbergardens6606]

@@charlesbolton8471 I guess I just assumed that other teens understood there's really no such thing as "free" and that big companies routinely rip off the people who actually do the work. I agree about the Napster thing, the first thing I thought was "hell I'd never have heard of Metallica in '85 if not for tape-trading, what the hell?"

[@dogslobbergardens6606]

@@charlesbolton8471 I don't actually know about Book of the Month club's operations, but if I had to guess, I suspect it's pretty similar.

[@StangQuest94]

I was a BMG guy. I would sign up and take the tons of mailers I received to school and sell my classmates into signing up. I'd have my selections already written on the form. I felt like they character in Fast Times who sold concert tix. I would also cancel my membership after months of refusing the cd of the month only to signup again. Kept my same name and address though. Figured if they mailed me another, they wouldn't care...and they didn't. I miss those days. Also, just subscribed! Great video!

[@markjohnson4962]

During the 70's in college we had back door access to the PO boxes for the students. We would fill out the CH cards with random names and valid PO Box numbers and since the albums did not fit into the PO boxes, they would gather for us to manually retrieve. Engineering students can get very creative.

[@oxxnarrdflame8865]

Actually my experience with Columbia house was a good one. Overall I was able to get music a lot cheaper thru them than locally. Of course I was very diligent at sending the No cards back. I did the same with a couple of book clubs too.

[@mikemumper881]

I figured out that if you only bought their albums at regular prices, then yes you were paying more, especially with shipping. But they usually had some special going on, i.e. buy one get the second at half price, and if you took advantage of that, then it actually wasn't a bad deal. Of course, the discounted items didn't count towards fulfilling your obligation -- just the ones you paid full price for, but it wasn't a big deal since I was buying a lot of music even before I joined their club. So it took some time, but I was able to abide by the contract and also manage not to get ripped off.

[@broeheem2804]

Another issue seldom talked about: When manufacturing vinyl or tapes, Columbia House used substandard (cheap) reproduction technologies, and their recorded media was barely mediocre compared to those of record labels, resulting in poorer-quality sound with lower volume and limited frequencies. Many wouldn't notice, but it was obvious to those that could appreciate quality recordings.

[@JeffN-A]

THAT! Was the first thing I noticed too. I had no idea about different pressings, all I knew is that the vinyl ALL sounded like crap. Great point Broe.

[@BewareofDarkness44]

Man, I used BMG and Columbia House multiple times each to my same home address. It's almost like they didn't want to learn a lesson, and they wanted to give a teenager a bunch of CDs for free. A good 50-60 CDs in my collection where from those services when I was a teenager.

[@albertevers6932]

I don’t feel bad for then, they were relentless at getting people to sign up. They wouldn’t leave me alone. Sure I’m 12, I’ll join.

[@alandesgrange9703]

What an idiot I am!!! I always paid them. Must have been my upbringing.

[@TitoTimTravels]

I always fulfilled the contract and paid them too. I had numerous accounts... but all were paid. I loved it 😎

[@toosweet6046]

Ha ha ha!!! You were raised by Conservatives

[@alandesgrange9703]

@@toosweet6046 Yup. And proud of it.

[@melprophet1936]

When I was a kid in the 1970's what some people did with these clubs was sign up, get the free music and then send the club a letter stating you were a minor and therefore voiding the contract. At the time at least in our state, contracts with minors were not legally enforceable unless they were for goods or services that were necessary. Once you voided the contract, you were under no legal obligation to do anything else. You didn't even have to return the free music. There was nothing the club could legally do. They couldn't even send a collection agency after you. We learned this from a friend's father who was an attorney and it worked like a charm.

[@Channel33RPM]

Interesting loophole... it makes sense. Frank

[@lawnboyfreak]

I do miss getting a package of tapes or cassettes in the mail.

[@chrislair6832]

I never paid for any of the probably 100 albums I got

[@markmarsh27]

I "joined" when CDs were first introduced and cost between 15 and $20. .... So I got 3 - $400 worth of CDs for $1, never ordered or received any more and they never contacted me. ... as HARD AS I TRY now, 25 years later, I am incapable of feeling guilty about it.

[@theflipside-vinylcommunity]

This is one of your best videos ever

[@Channel33RPM]

Thanks!

[@Vince_Tasciotti]

Absolutely

[@festushaggen2563]

I think I did this twice. Never bought one. That was a good deal.

[@thetubesrock]

What is the statute of limitations on this? I'm asking for a friend.

[@Channel33RPM]

:)

[@DP-hy4vh]

Depends on your state. Anywhere from six to ten years.

[@thetubesrock]

I'm safe! I mean, my friend is safe!

[@jasonwojcik]

I was a customer for a long time and amassed a good size collection. when I listened to ALOT of music. They always offered a buy 1 get 3 free type deal. It did not take long before I exhausted the viable options. I was left with Meatloaf, Air Su;pply, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. The story is the same with BMG, which had more desirable artists in my opinion. This was an interesting video, thank you for putting it together!

[@david10006]

As bad as this set up seemed for the business and artists, it was still eons above what the music industry has become now. I grew up in a small town with few music stores so I was a member on and off all through my teens and 20's. I discovered a lot of great bands because there was little financial risk for me and later on would see many of them live and buy their merch. Honestly if they still existed, I would still be a member.

[@ettoredivirgilius8789]

I had long term memberships with Columbia House and RCA Record and Tape Club (which became BMG) from 1986 till they disbanded the business model. Once you fulfilled your obligation, you weren’t required to purchase, but you had to mail in the form and check off NO selection. I’d wait for the sales, buy one get four free, etc. Buy in bulk and my average price per CD after shipping hovered around $5.00. Cheaper than in store purchase. Reasoning behind my madness. Eventually I participated in a promotional deal, purchase the selection of the month at regular price, get three free for life. Guess they expected me to go away, but I didn’t. I amassed quite a collection over the years of CDs. Gave many away as presents too. It worked for me, and I did it legit.

[@Channel33RPM]

Good point -- it was actually a pretty decent deal. Frank

[@kyben99]

I joined, bought the amount I needed to fulfill my agreement canceled my membership then rejoined. I did this numerous times. I never ripped them off. I still have most of the cassettes and records I got from them. I loved Columbia House and really miss them. Cool shirt by the way.

[@ModernClassic]

I joined Columbia House when I was 13 or 14. I got my 11 records or whatever, then my mother found out when the next couple albums arrived (which of course I didn't call to opt out of) and the phone calls for non-payment started. She called them herself and told them the contract was unenforceable because I was a minor. She had worked at Consumer Affairs for years (prior to that) and so knew the laws pretty well. I got to keep my dozen-plus records, never had to pay for anything, and got out of my contract. They just wiped out my membership while she was on the phone with them, and we never heard from them again.

[@JimmyV1530]

I think I said this before but I loved Columbia house because they sold albums on reel to reel tapes, which I could never find in the store. I still have my Akai reel to reel player along with many pre recorded reels from Columbia House.

[@happyhippythevinylguy]

I am guilty as hell of buying their albums under different names back in the '80s and in the 90s I did it with CDs..lol

[@rwieber79]

Yep, I got several free sets of cassettes and then CDs from Columbia House and BMG when I was a kid. I tried to always fulfill the agreements but I probably got a few freebies over the years too. I'd still rather have a physical copy of an Album than just a stream or download, makes me feel like I'm getting more for my money plus I like the Album artwork and the other stuff inside, whether it's on vinyl or CD I still like looking through the booklets, especially on the classic Albums.

[@kerrydavidsadler980]

In the 70's that's how I started my album collection, and than in the late 80's that how I started my cd collection. Not to mention all the cassette tapes I gotten from them also. Wish they were still around.

[@Channel33RPM]

Hi Kerry. This is how I started my CD collection as well. In fact, I ordered the CDs even before I got a player. This would have been around 1989. Those were the days! Frank

[@indianabill5740]

When I was about 20 years old I worked at a Columbia House business that processed the orders. There was a room of about 20 people that compared the original form that the customer filled out by hand with the information that people in another room had typed on company printouts. The position was called proofreader. We would find some funny fake names that people would use on the forms. I remember getting names like Tony Iommie (Black Sabbath Guitarist), Dom Deluise, Santa Clause, lots of Jack Meoffs. If the name was pretty unbelievable, we would throw it out.

[@Onteo1]

I wish they were around today, I’d sign up and pay !

[@Channel33RPM]

Me too.

[@olliecrow3547]

Ditto that!

[@TheGreenDoggoOfWisdom]

I don't lol

[@dan_hitchman007]

If you want Disney and now Fox Blu-rays and 4k Blu-ray's, there is a Disney Movie Club similar to C.H., though not quite as ethically challenged. If you like their DMC exclusive classic titles, they're the only way to get them to own on Blu-ray.

[@emedel5772]

In high school in the 80s, I used Columbia House to mass a collection of tapes when I had little to no money. In the 90s I used Columbia again to mass stacks of CDs to listen to while on deployments in the Navy. I still have most of my collections today. Columbia House was a great way to get mass music fast and easy.

[@chuckwhitson654]

Every Teenager of the 80s and 90s were all getting music

[@taco2k3]

And 70’s😎

[@InfectiousGroovePodcast]

LOVE this one. Really cool follow up to the original Columbia House video. I've always heard bits and pieces about how they actually made money, but is was sweet to have all the info in one spot!

[@Channel33RPM]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@metrodraft]

I must be the only honest person commenting here. I always bought my other records or CDs in full after my freebees. I know, I call it honest, others call it stupid. lol

[@olliecrow3547]

You're not the only one. I was a legit customer as well.

[@tremoloman]

I was honest and purchased the albums at their prices afterwards as well. Not all of us are thieves!

[@BakedRBeans]

Same here! I joined Columbia Record Club in 1966-got 6 free LPs, and bought 1 a month for the next 12 months. Then I quit. In 1976, I joined RCA Record Club, got some free LPs,made cassette copies, and sent the LPs back. Still honest!

[@onslaughtmp]

I was a legit customer too... my cat, however, was not so honest.

[@mikewmike]

I was in the program for years : I’d take the initial free cd’s & honor my contract… Once completed they had “bonus” programs like BuyOneGetOne, BuyOneGetTwo, and maybe a get 3…. (Called Double Bonus Month or Triple BonusMonth)… I did resign for the whole deal once or twice, but eventually just stayed on and would only purchase during the double or triple bonus months. Got a lot of CDs over the years…..Sometimes took too long for them to get brand new cds & I eventually started downloading or impatiently buying the CD at the store.

[@ldchappell1]

I signed up for this one time and got my shipment within a few days. They sent all the selections I wanted and then a week later they sent a letter indicating they had made an error in my approval and demanded I send back all the CDs unopened. Yeah, right. Like I got a box of CDs in the mail and just let the box sit around the house unopened for a week. I played most of those babies the day they arrived. 😄

[@TitoTimTravels]

Columbia House was where I got almost all my music in high school. I ordered all the free albums, bought the few required, then made a new name and joined again. I did the same with the Science Fiction Book Club! Great bargains, and there was no internet back then... 😎

[@Redfivee]

I have NEVER laughed so hard in my life watching this...comedy video of the year.

[@seand67]

It was AWESOME receiving that box of music back in the day

[@seaturtledog]

I played by the rules with them. On the first group of 12 they sent me a wrong album. I returned it quickly and they never could get me the right one. When they called about more payments I would just say contract void until you get me my original order.

[@mauchkimberly]

Dang. Didn't really consider whether the artists were being paid; i was dumb about such things back then. But I really appreciated that service. I lived in a smallish town and that service gave me a chance to get music I couldn't get it in stores near me. I fulfilled my purchase obligation though. It was useful for a time.

[@WhatsWrongWithTheStreet]

When you did it right the average cost was $3.50-$4.50 per tape. Much cheaper than the record stores near me. I did it over and over.

[@ThriftyAV]

In the early 1990s, I would sometimes bring in a stack of BMG compact discs to "CD Warehouse" to trade in for some new titles, and the clerk was frustrated by the lack of UPC codes. He couldn't "scan" them in to the system and had to look up each one by artist and title.

[@Angel-rq3pi]

Omg me too!!!

[@vincentrathbone26]

Ttt

[@joerich1629]

Some places wouldn’t and still won’t take them

[@Malryth]

Maybe they had a Kinder and Gentler version of Columbia House up here in Canada. A bulk of my 90's CD purchases came from being a member of it. I also bought out and completed my obligation eventually when CD's finally started coming down to a "reasonable" price. Hey, that's how the old cats did it before MP3's came along.

[@andrewyoung2796]

I fulfilled my agreement. I can't be the only one

[@carljohnson4691]

Me, too.

[@thereallantesh]

I did too.

[@BakedRBeans]

Another honest person here- I never swindled them.

[@ericscottstevens]

My older brother joined Columbia House (15 years old) without asking Mom and Dad. But when the records started arriving at the house that was an interesting episode of my brother getting yelled at for several days. So during the transition of cancelling the membership all these cool LP's started to arrive at our house and could not open them as they were being sent back. Most notable I remember a KISS Dynasty LP arriving and just looking at it as it was being returned in the mail. I wanted to rip open the plastic and play it. Epic fail on my brother's part.

[@ritchiebabcock3358]

it was always nice coming home and finding that Columbia House box filled with the audio goodies !!! alas the times we live in now not so great with streaming but oh well maybe a Columbia House substitute will eventually come along again Frank !!! LOL !!!!!! keep on spinning!!!!

[@Channel33RPM]

Getting a box of music -- especially as a teen -- was great. Thanks for the comment Ritchie. Frank

[@stevebragg4256]

Was it just a coincidence both biggest clubs (BMG & Columbia House) were both located in Indiana? (My home state)

[@johnlovesbridge]

I sent in the card you taped a penny to. Selecting 10 albums and then looking around for tape and a penny was fun. My mom called and canceled once the bills started showing up.

[@StamfordBridge]

I’m still grateful to Columbia House, as it started my music collection off with a stack of vinyl. I still remember so many of the albums I got with that first shipment.

[@alanw505]

In the late seventies my brother joined Columbia House. He received his 10 albums for a penny...then never ordered another album. He joined the Navy and told my sister to write them and tell them that he died. Ha!

[@42yearoldboy5]

Fond memories of Columbia house. Didn’t have much money so getting 12 cds for next to nothing was fantastic!

[@kellykerr5225]

They never came after me. I was only 12 without credit to ruin. I have WAY more Kiss albums than I wanted lol

[@treadbangerr]

I once picked a bunch of cassettes that my friends and I didn't like and had them sent to an unsuspecting friends address. He was so excited when he first saw the box containing the tapes that came in the mail, until he opened it and pulled out The GOGOs, Culture Club, Ronnie MIlsap and mostly country music. Funny thing is his mom loved them all and every time she drove us somewhere she would play the tapes in the car to aggravate us. Such good times in the 1980s

[@JaminJim2010]

Early 70's used the name of all the people in Deep Purple

[@Datanditto]

What?

[@chasbodaniels1744]

By the mid 70’s, Deep Purple had run thru over a dozen members.

[@Pops1970]

I did this so many times thru the 80's and early 90's. I still have them all.

[@racerj2.03]

I guess that I was the only one who did not cheat Colombia House and just worked the system to my advantage. You can do that if you are smart.

[@LoveClassicMusic0205]

I fulfilled my obligation as well. It wasn't that hard or expensive.

[@walterstuart5805]

I too took advantage of the half off, 2 for 1, 3 for 1 and any other offer they would send. But i alwatys fulfilled my part of the agreement. Stopped a few times and got even more offers for free Cd's. I used to get coupons every month and had so many I couldn't use them all because they ran out of titles I wanted. Between RCA, BMG and CH, I purchased 342 Cd's and payed an average price $3.65 each. I used to keep track on a spreadsheet. Still have the spreadsheet and uploaded all that music to Google, now KZbin Music, so I have access to it anywhere and everywhere. Hard to remember the last time I actually listened to a disc.

[@peacearchwa5103]

Retail store distribution of reel-to-reel tapes ended in 1974, except for a miniscule specialty label called Barclay-Crocker. Columbia House continued offering their selection-of-the-month titles in reel-to-reel tape format until 1986. At one point I acquired a bunch of these along with a working R2R deck. Unfortunately, the rock and pop titles were at a meager 3.75 ips speed, and sounded kinda flat. However, the classical titles were at full 7.5 ips speed: the dynamic range, tonal spectrum, stereo imaging and detail were phenomenal, some of those stick out in memory as among the very best 1% off all recordings I've ever heard. Also, retail store sales of 8-track cartridges ended in 1982, but Columbia House continued offering selection-of-the-month titles in 8-track format until 1989! Unfortunately, those 1980s 8-track releases were on ultra-light-weight cartridge shells, the mechanical rollers were cheap, they didn't sound all that great, but they certainly are collectible today!

[@bobqualls257]

Now I don't feel so bad about not paying them for all the LPs they sent me. They still got a lot of my money.

[@vinylsolution2522]

My friend joined, got the huge catalogue, and I used it to order the entire RUSH catalogue for my 11 free cds. Radness. Think I only bought 2 cds. Then quit. They offered me another 10 or so free cds if I stayed, so I ordered the entire Sabbath catalogue through Mob Rules, bought a cd or two... Quit. Fun times.

[@Channel33RPM]

Rush and Sabbath... good collections to have!

[@conrad4667]

Liked just for using the word radness.

[@ArgonTheAware]

They took advantage of people's laziness to not cancel the membership when it started costing them and it racked up huge payments. A milder version of what drug dealers do with the first hit free then people get addicted to it and keep coming back

[@phubans]

That "first free hit" is a meme. I have never been offered free drugs nor do I know anyone that's been offered free drugs, and I've known a lot of drug users.

[@ArgonTheAware]

@@phubans obviously not as many as you think you know since it happens in schools all the time

[@manofaction1807]

Memories.... What great times!

[@trevorbullock292]

I love this video! I don’t know if you watch the Goldbergs or not but there like a sitcom and they have an episode about this

[@Channel33RPM]

I have not seen the Goldbergs, but I will check it out. Cheers, Frank

[@wubuck79]

I still have most of the CDs I got from them in 1994 when I was 15 years old. Still listen to some of them, actually. I got my ten free CDs or whatever it was and then just forgot about it. Never paid them a dime. I remember wondering how they could stay in business since I assumed everyone else just did the same thing I did 🤣

[@shawnws1641]

1994 is when I first ordered too! GIN BLOSSOMS, SHERYL CROW, WARREN G, BOYS II MEN, AND ACE OF BASE!

[@mfar3016]

Kinda don’t even feel bad for ordering those CDs under Wilma Flintstone. 😆

[@MidnightBanshi]

I remember subscribing to those people many times. I'd cancel after I fulfilled my obligation, and then they would send a "sweetheart deal" to come back to them again with no commitment, so you'd just get better and better deals. After a while of cancelling, they'd consider you a "new subscriber" again, and for me, it wasn't terrible, as I did get some good music to add to my collection.

[@MuvoTX]

I did the BMG CD club... 9 CDs for a penny. I actually bought a couple CDs too, they werent cheap but still I came out ahead overall. At the time I was converting my vinyl collection to CD. After spending some time with those CDs I started to realize they all sounded like fart... compared to my vinyl originals. They compressed the snot out of those BMG copies. Certain artist recordings it didn't matter, but there were others that were awful. At the time I was into marilion, pink floyd, yes, rush, frank zappa, alan parsons, moody blues, dixie dregs, jethro tull... transparent music where the empty space in the recording is just as important as the played/sung notes themselves. Those BMG cds took everything and made it a flat wall of sound. I was a young teen at the time, and had heard enough. So when the mandatory, "must purchase" CDs were sent, I just wrote "refuse, return to sender", and dropped it in the blue mail box on the corner. I returned one with a letter, stating I wasn't happy with the quality of the CDs and it would be in everyones best interest they just dropped me from the club. They wrote me back and granted my request. I was 14-15 at the time... lol. I miss the 80s. I sometimes go to my local goodwill store, and see the little white "BMG" logo on the disks, it brings back memories of my youth.

[@Rantsfromacar]

Lol I was a master at ripping them off as a teenager. Ok maybe only a master in my own mind. But it would boogle my parents how a child who was to young to work and had no money had hundreds of LPS

[@PhuckHue2]

I just told them I never got the shipment. They didn't use tracking numbers

[@JBurney]

@Jamey Lane Ha I was 12 or 13 so a bit more worried than you, thought they might try me as an adult. Actually I never purchased a single one, just got the 10 up front and never heard a word from them.

[@annetteslife]

Me too! I was a rebel back in the 80s! I think I forged some of my parents checks to buy those cassettes! Sorry mom

[@REPVILE]

The entire thing was a scam, not once did I ever see a legitimate collection letter from an actual collection agency, just their own fake letters addressed to all my fake names

[@kem2112]

I signed up dozens of times for ColumbiaHouse but I did fulfill. It helped me build a collection.

[@Albee213]

Now streaming is fleecing the bands, things never change! I always wondered why music club releases had no bar-code. Makes sense now.

[@kimberlytaylor8550]

Former subscriber...loved getting multiple CDs in the mail!

[@ardalla535]

coupla things not mentioned: even if you sent in the card saying you didn't want the selection of the month, they would send it anyway and bill you for it; and even when you fulfilled your yearly quota (whatever it was ... something like 5 albums) AND you tried to cancel, they would send you a notice that you had NOT fulfilled your quota and could not cancel.

[@TitoTimTravels]

I always sent back the card, and never got sent the automatic selection. (On the rare occasion I forgot to send it back... I got it). 😎

[@wjatube]

My brothers and I all did this. And we were around ten years old. We cleaned-up. We never paid a cent for anything. We moved to a different city and started all over again! It was a great education to us of how to scam.....little did we know we were scamming a scammer.

[@monomonster]

Another music club was the Musical Heritage Society. It specialised in jazz and classical recording.

[@johncale814]

Damn do you remember that "New Tape Smell"? Loved it

[@Channel33RPM]

Yes!!!

[@jackedkerouac4414]

I can close my eyes and still smell it from memory

[@kensims4086]

I just opened a 40 year old reel-to-reel tape... It smells soo good..

[@coxgary9267]

I lived in the country where there was no record stores. Colombia House was a blessing.

[@GoddessLadyRei]

I remember the excitement of opning up the mail box and seeing that my Cds were there. 😊😊😊

[@jpotter2086]

I remember the hassle of telling them 'no' every month. Hard to believe this was all done by mail. A few times they "screwed up" and shipped me something I had rejected. Screwed up on purpose I suspect. Trying to get people to passively pay for things they hadn't ordered. So I returned it, and the account should have been credited. For whatever reason, one time it wasn't, andthey sent me a bill, plus a $4 late charge. I called them, yelled at them, they said they credited the account. Another month or more passed and I started getting collection calls .... demanding the $4 LOL .... they credited the album price but not the "late fee" they wanted for my not paying for the thing they shouldn't have mailed in the first place. I had a LOT of fun with those collection calls :D

[@tritontransport]

Yep all done by mail. I forgot a time or two and received sone dumb album I had no use for 😂🤣. Now I got to pay a bill of $20 for soemthing I’ll never listen to because they made the return process a complete pain in the ass, most likely on purpose but it’s not like you could go on line and make a return request and then a minute later email you a return label 😂🥴. It was all done by snail mail

[@ced1106]

Most antagonistic win-win-win ever. Thanks for the videos!!! 🎤🎤🎤

[@zappasmustache]

I've only discovered this channel recently. Frank, Thank you. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed. Love it!

[@DandyDoesIt]

You would get your initial order then they would send you stuff you never ordered and try to charge you for it and strong arm you to purchase your required lps when you still had almost a year left. No wonder they got stiffed so much. They were total jackholes!

[@rocky-o]

hey frank...nice in-depth reporting there...i do remember belonging to both columbia house and rca record clubs back in the 60's...my favorite part was the catalog you got in the mail every month...i would salivate over those pages and pages of different albums to choose from...and i would read them over and over and over again....it sucks to hear that it screwed the artists, but like you said, it certainly did give them exposure, especially artists you may not have tried otherwise....excellent video my friend...stay well...rocky

[@Channel33RPM]

Hey Rocky-o! Like you , I remember pouring over the ads and catalogs. A much simpler time, for sure. Stay well, Frank

[@turntableone4356]

I kept a few of those catalogs from back in the 80s and they even sent a deluxe catalog that I still have. The 80s catalogs CDs were new and the price they charged were extremely high.

[@michaeljay9019]

Smoked a lot of weed listening to great tunes.

[@WhatsWrongWithTheStreet]

Still do.

[@WhatsWrongWithTheStreet]

Still do.

[@michaeljay9019]

@@WhatsWrongWithTheStreet me too!

[@realamericandragon4286]

I have since the late 80's still do

[@robdeezy420]

Yay e yay

[@celestinomagana4347]

I remember for the first time receiving a large package from Columbia House with 12 CDs in my mailbox

[@dpsamu2000]

So their business model relied on most people being honest.

[@joeblow9374]

yeah, idiots like me who fulfilled their obligation.

[@clara-cookie119]

I was part of BMG's music club in the early 2000s. I think I got 6 free albums with the agreement of paying for one at full price. Then I received $7.99 coupons for additional CDs. Every few months or so I would use the coupon and then get an offer for 3 free CDs plus more discounted coupons. Something like that. It was fun except for the phone calls.

[@killer408cid]

We moved so many times when I was a kid, I attended 14 different schools by the time I graduated high school. The one silver lining was, I probably did Columbia House at least 10 times. I had a nice tape collection.

[@tinostabile3256]

Hi Frank, Very interesting. A part of me missing this incredible feeling of choosing 12 titles and then waiting to get that box of goodies in the mail. Ah.... the good old days. Almost as great as shopping in a record store. Thanks for the lesson, Tino