What's going on with Mobile Fidelity?

With the big resurgence of vinyl and very limited pressing plants, projects have been pushed back.

I agree that the wait has been longer than normal, but MOFI has always done this. The Pretenders album took well over a year to release and that is just one of several.

Who are you pre-ordering from? Music Direct never charges your credit card until it can ship the title. I know some retailers do charge your card...those are the ones I avoid.

Yes, I am frustrated, but what can be done. I would much rather have a great reissue, than one that was forced through due to time constraints and was mediocre.

I just received notice that the Rickie Lee Jones LP has shipped. So they are catching up a bit...slowly.

Mofimadness,
I usually get my new vinyl from soundstagedirect as they have free shipping if you spend $30 or more, if I recall correctly. I bought a few records when I purchased Santana III, and they charged me upfront for the entire purchase.

I totally concur that I'd rather wait longer for a good quality pressing than have it sooner at the cost of lesser quality. So it's not so much the wait time that annoys me as it is MoFi's habit of listing a particular album in their catalog that they don't have the faintest idea as to when it's going to be available. I don't see any other record companies do it. Just don't list it at all until you know it will be pressed within a month or two. Surely a company with such an extensive experience, renown, and resources as MoFi should be able to have first rate management team that can implement basic project management strategies and tools to know what and when they can deliver. And if they don't, then they should not be listing an album in the first place. It's not rocket science.

As far as the pressing plant, their records are pressed at RTI. It is possible that RTI is backed up with orders given the resurgence of vinyl, but again, either don't list it, or contract with another quality plant to spread the workload. In my opinion as a consumer, a wait for a mass produced product, which records are, for more than 3-4 months after being offered for sale is absurd and simply incompetent. We're not talking extremely rare, limited releases here with the demand exceeding the supply tenfold. It's a commercial product from an established company specializing in that product. Ok, rant over.

Not to mention Kiko by Los Lobos

Go get the K2 HD "Kind of Blue". I can't imagine the MoFi could be better. It is simply "Live".

I am thinking that there are a limited # of pressing plants. OTOH, I think that MFSL is 'testing' the buyer market w/ their pre-order system. Not much interest = longer wait times.

I just bought the MOFI SACD Hybrid of Dylan's 'Blood on the Tracks'. It sounds analogue to my ears but I'm only hearing the CD layer. It was worth the $25.00 with a trade in. I would purchase the MOFI vinyl as well but they refuse to release mono pressings and I only have a mono cartridge.
A friend lent me a few MOFI CD's that he had transferred over from vinyl and they sound better than I expected but not quite as good as the SACD. Anyway, what is with their stubborn defiance to release mono recordings? The Beatles mono releases were a hit with Beatles fans.

I agree with Actusreus. The practice of pre-releasing but not committing to a definite release date, or stating a release date and then backing off from that needs to stop, IMO. Several of the Miles Davis LP's have gone this route.
MOFI under Music Direct needs to release a title if and when they know that it can be produced, quit with the 'BS' marketing.

Goofy...MOFI has released, (or will release) a few mono lps. Granted, not very many, but a few.

There are a couple Frank Sinatra, one Ray Charles, a couple of Miles Davis and I thought I had read that a couple of the upcoming Dylan would be mono.

I agree they could do more, but I'm pretty sure that the master rights are separate for stereo and mono tapes, so MOFI would have to pay for each version. I bet the stereo LPs way outsell the mono reissues. It's probably an economics situation.

Mofimadness, I agree with what you've said. One can just compare how many mono cartridges are sold to that of stereo to understand the logistics behind the said marketing. I'll be looking forward to the Dylan mono pressings with great anticipation.

I cannot recall the source but I recall reading about Acoustic Sounds having trouble getting their vinyl pressed because the Big Boys (Rhino etc) were hogging the pressing plants. These plants would give the Big Boys preference and I dare say big money would sway the pressing plants to push back the small guys orders and steam ahead with the Big Boys orders.

Acoustic Sounds ended up tooling up and built their own pressing plant "Quality Records" just so they could get their own releases made.

So I would think it reasonable to think that MoFi is also a victim of having their orders being pushed back by the pressing plant. I'd assume MoFi have the masters ready for pressing but cannot get them done and that is most likely the main reason their vinyl is so long on pre-order. Not because it is some kind of marketing strategy.

I'm going to have to recoil from my enthusiasm surrounding the possibility of a Dylan mono vinyl pressing from Mobile Fidelity. I didn't realize that those amazing JVC Mobile Fidelity vinyl remasters were strictly a thing of the past. A friend told me to skip on the newer vinyl MOFI and to stick with the SACD Hybrid's.

Isn't MoFi one of the Big Boys? If they are not, I don't know who would be.

This issue is not new and it happens to all companies considered specialty since they really do not own the rights to anything they press. The record companies special products or services gives a limited licence for a reissue company to release a certain album. The reissuing company makes some test pressings then make some early batches with cover art get ready to release and the authorizing record company suddenly decides for whatever reason to revoke the licence.
Albums by MFSL in the past that were announced but never released.
Janis Joplin: Pearl, Journey: Escape & Steve Winwood: Arc of a Diver to name a few that we know of never mind others we do not.

Hevac1,

I seriously doubt this could ever be the case. If it were, no company in their right mind would ever pay for a license that could be revoked at will since a lot of money could be completely wasted with absolutely no way to predict it or take steps to prevent it. No sane company would operate like that. Music licenses have a definite period of time so they can't be revoked "for whatever reason."

For the sake of the argument, if what you wrote is true, that makes an even stronger argument for not listing an album in the catalog until it is being pressed and about to hit the market. In my opinion, there is absolutely no good reason for what MoFi does. If they use pre-orders to gauge the interest without actually fully committing to releasing those albums, shame on them.

Back in the day I order every MOFI and got them from same. Yes I have every MOFI released including the ones I listed and a few others as test pressing. Every see DAYS of Future Past UHQR.
Story:I went to order a second Escape and was told by MOFI that they lost the licence and could not release any more. The think the same happened to Ry Cooder Jazz that's why there are not a lot of them around either.
I do not know how it is handled now as the same people from back then are no longer there anymore.
I think this preorder stuff is them gauging the interest in a release. If the interest is not high then they come out with it in LIMITED EDITION since they are already committed.