What's going on with Mobile Fidelity?


I like this label a lot for the generally very high quality reissues and a great catalog that is continually expanding. But what is up with the crazy wait time for their pre-orders? I've had Santana III on pre-order since February, and was told by MoFi reps they expected to have it released by mid-March. Well, it's the end of April and still waiting...

I noticed quite a few of their advertised pre-orders are still in that status after more than half a year of being featured on record retailers' websites. Rickie Lee Jones, several Billy Joel albums, already mentioned Santana, a few Foreigner albums, Miles Davis "Kind of Blue," just to mention a few. I understand creating a buzz around new releases that are in the pipeline as a marketing strategy, but if you can't get it to market in half a year or more, I find it somewhat incompetent and almost tantamount to false advertising. I certainly do not appreciate paying for a product that the company seems to have no firm grip on delivering in a reasonably timely manner. Anyone else frustrated by this?
actusreus

Showing 3 responses by actusreus

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.
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.