I think that is the case and isn’t. Variants aside there’s often times an excess of records pressed and you’ll find plenty of records going on heavy discount because nobody will buy them. And I think this especially goes for big label releases.
Now, I think labels get sneaky with selling variants because often times they’ll advertise something as “limited edition” or a one off pressing. And then it gets repressed the same exact way sometimes right down to the exact same variant. Technically, most times they’re right because 300 copies of a particular e.g. splatter variant, will only be pressed once ever. But then a few months down the line they just release another variant. And then a few months later….etc.
At first, these pressings will go for a lot on the second hand market because they’re only pressed once right?? So flippers will buy out the next pressing to sell at a ridiculous amount. And then it happens again. And again. Until there’s an oversaturation of said record. Then nobody cares anymore and doesn’t want to buy it.
While there surely are people who do try and variant collect, I think a lot of times labels, or whoever, are responsible for creating FOMO hype to make every variant desirable.
I think having enough records to go around is always a good thing though. But like, damn, the world doesn’t need 500,000 copies of the next taylor swift album.
That Adele is a funny case, and doesn’t really feel like the standard. It broke records when it dropped, sold very well, but the label pressed an absurd amount of copies or something - it sold over a million physical copies in the 2020s, Sony/Columbia seriously messed up somewhere along the way if the surplus of them is as bad as the Internet suggests.
Taylor vinyl is interesting. Since you posted a reddit screenshot, you should take a look at r/TaylorSwiftMerch or r/TaylorSwiftVinyl sometime. I get it suggested to me a lot because it’s insane and I keep clicking on it, but people are still buying and selling variants of her 2020 album for over $100. FOMO is definitely a thing record labels are trying to foster, but some artists and collecting scenes are utterly bizarre and keep this variant mania alive far beyond the initial drop.
As someone who owns a few limited vinyl releases (and keeps track of their value on Discogs), I’d say it’s quite fun to own something valuable. I would never sell them, though, because I enjoy listening to them as well.
What’s really sad are the scalpers. People who aren’t fans but buy these limited releases just to resell them for ridiculous prices.
Sometimes I also think about the older generation who threw away so much vinyl when CDs hit the market. I’ve met a few who really regret it.
These days I prefer editions that come with a DVD. If the content on the DVD is not officially uploaded by the band on Youtube I’ll pick that over the version with extra tracks.
Man, I feel like it’s a matter of time before they start having variants where you don’t know the tracklist and it essentially becomes gambling/lootboxes to collect all the new songs or whatever. Lmao
I thought about this for a long time, but I finally came to a conclusion.
I mainly collect DVD versions. I used to collect these versions because the videos were unavailable. Many MVs online had watermarks covering half of the screen (like this one my personal favorite XD)
Or were just MV spots that showed a few seconds and after that never upload full version (I’m looking on you, Mamireta with Shiin Kurashi).
Two things more which made me this way.
Few years ago, I didn’t have a problem with music piracy ( i know it’s bad now) and the general ease to access to this kind of things, so versions with not available videos was more appealing for me than extra tracks. Now i’m still buying DVD versions, because… that’s can be difficult. I often get the impression, for example, A type single is the entire creation and the song to B type is additional. And this B type song ruining the intergrity of the entire release because i feel it is additional. A type is a core release in my eyes.
No yeah the Adele example was just an extreme case. But like you mentioned the overpressing of variants is still widespread. I get in a lot of cases it’s in an effort to generate buzz and I too can’t understand this “hype” lasting years after an album’s launch (for album’s that had a lot of versions to begin with)
But an example that still eludes me is King Gizzard…’s “Polygondwanaland”. Fun idea making it open to whoever wanted to press a version, but who in the hell is buying all these different versions? Even if there was one person buying just a single copy, there’s so many pressings of it and NO way there’s that much demand for it (400+ entries on discogs across tapes, vinyl, cd, etc.) There’s an entry as recent as 2025!
I just realized this topic is under general discussion. In the relm of K-POP there are variants of photobook and visual concepts. Then there are also variants of different packaged items(such as magazine size, DVD size, mini disc or just a digital link). Each one may contain different items suchs as photos, chekis and other fun stuff.
I think some Japanese releases also has shop bonuses but they are normally just merch and not music specific.
It is a good thing VK tends to stick to one outfit per release cycle otherwise they could go in that trend of releasing different packaged items depending on the visual concept they want to portray.
we need more artist who give you a collection of MVs in one DVD. I always will prefer to pay less and get one bonus track then to just get one additional piece of plastic/DVD to get just one single 3-5 minute video
For me I buy my CD’s from Mercari. As variants are usually sold together, I tend to collect them. It doesn’t bug me, and if I was to given the option and means I don’t mind collecting variants. As for an extra track versus a MV, I suppose it would be a case-by-csse decision.
And for my favorite releases I prefer to have all the types
i know it’s bad now) and the general ease to access to this kind of things, so versions with not available videos was more appealing for me than extra tracks. Now i’m still buying DVD versions, because… that’s can be difficult. I often get the impression, for example, A type single is the entire creation and the song to B type is additional. And this B type song ruining the intergrity of the entire release because i feel it is additional. A type is a core release in my eyes.