Mail Order Albums

[victorbrunswick]

Re: Mail Order Albums

Another K-Tel advert from 1974 -- this time for the German market.

[WhiteChristmas]

Re: Mail Order Albums

I think memories are getting mixed up here (my own included, in all probability).

The K-Tel and Ronco compilations were never mail order only - they were very much "Woolworth fodder" - something to entice people into the record department; a forerunner of the "Now That's What I Call Music" series. They aimed for 10 or 11 tracks per side so the cut quality was quite poor and the songs were often cut short.

Britannia was a music club. You bought albums at full price and accumulated points which could be traded in against another album. I seem to recall this working out at about one "free" album for every 4 or 5 purchases, but it was a friend who was a member. They were the ones who took out full page ads in the glossies with introductory offers where you could buy any 3 albums at 50p each or whatever.

The "not in shops" ads on telly and radio never really took off until credit cards became more common in the 80s. The big players were Time Life and Tellydisc; the former is still going strong. I think n3llyo's longed-for punk compilation is unlikely; they have always tended toward the more conservative end of the spectrum with their rock and country compilations, but tracks being licenced by the rights holders is the real limiter on what they can use.

[themilkman]

Re: Mail Order Albums

I think memories are getting mixed up here (my own included, in all probability).

The K-Tel and Ronco compilations were never mail order only - they were very much "Woolworth fodder" - something to entice people into the record department; a forerunner of the "Now That's What I Call Music" series. They aimed for 10 or 11 tracks per side so the cut quality was quite poor and the songs were often cut short.

Britannia was a music club. You bought albums at full price and accumulated points which could be traded in against another album. I seem to recall this working out at about one "free" album for every 4 or 5 purchases, but it was a friend who was a member. They were the ones who took out full page ads in the glossies with introductory offers where you could buy any 3 albums at 50p each or whatever.

The "not in shops" ads on telly and radio never really took off until credit cards became more common in the 80s. The big players were Time Life and Tellydisc; the former is still going strong. I think n3llyo's longed-for punk compilation is unlikely; they have always tended toward the more conservative end of the spectrum with their rock and country compilations, but tracks being licenced by the rights holders is the real limiter on what they can use.

I agree with you there, you could buy K-Tel & Ronco from the shops. Britannia was definitely mail order, I was a member at one time.

[battyrat]

Re: Mail Order Albums

I used to order box sets and albums from one compony or other back in the early 80's.Which company it was I can't remember now.Too long ago.
They seemed to have a good selection of what I classed as common music in bulk which was fairly cheap.I suppose by the time I added postage I could of done better down our local music shops.

[Richard1978]

Re: Mail Order Albums

In the late 1980s I guess they did good business from people who were changing over to CDs & wanted a cheapish way to get their old favourites.