OK, we are back from CES, and after my first real night's sleep since last Tuesday I have a little more time and active gray matter with which to address the recent minor eruption of discussion about the new series, price increase, special offers, the purpose of the forum and our responsibility to the high end audio community.
Firstly, regarding serial numbers and charter memberships:
Yes, the idea with a charter Subscription is that you were assigned a serial number between 20 and 100* that we guaranteed all tapes of Series One would bear when you purchased that subscription from us. A Charter subscriber is given the right of first refusal with regards to carrying that serial number over if they decide to take a full subscription for Series Two. Right of first refusal means that there is a time limit to how long a Charter subscriber has to exercise the option to acquire a Series Two subscription - obviously we can't hold that number indefinitely as we have to sell subscriptions to survive. So we have set the date of Feb 28, 2009 through which a Series One Charter subscriber can acquire a full subscription to Series Two and lock in the same serial number as for Series One. And we are offering a special rate for Series Two subscriptions through Feb 28 as well, as a thank you to those who supported us with Series One subscriptions.
Xavier has pretty much hit the nail on the head about our (Paul, Michael and I) intentions with the Project and my intention in what the forum would be used for.
This is not making CDs. It's not pressing LPs. It's not offering high res files for download. It's not even high speed duplicating of 7" 1/4 track tapes. This is making a master dupe - something that up until now you could not do legally without spending many thousands of dollars. And even then it's not likely a label would grant you a license for a single duplicate of one of their masters. I thought this idea was cool because in meeting Paul and Michael so many years ago I found a way to access that experience of hearing master tapes by hanging with them at the studio when they had one there to master. It kind of ruined me for anything else and we thought it would be cool if we could create the experience for others.
Hopefully folks get that this is what we are offering, not just a pre-recorded tape, but a master dupe done with as much exacting care and taking as much time as necessary to do it right. And done by guys who actually need to be doing something else - making money to pay the light bill. We don't take a paycheck from the Project. Michael just stayed home from CES and spent 70 hours last week working through the weekend on another packing run. He would have been better off in terms of his income if he had spent the time working with a client, a job for which he gets to keep some of the money the customer pays. That's because we are committed to this thing, and we are going to make it keep happening without complaining even though we might feel like we are working harder than ever and just catching flack. Hopefully our subscribers will understand this, and maybe when the urge comes to post for the third time in three days that they are still waiting for an album, they can help us keep up our attitude by holding off from complaining, too. It would be a shame if we decided we had to end the Project because we felt that folks didn't see it as a labor of love and understand that it takes time to do it right with the same level of care and exactitude for each subscriber.
OK, enough flowery sentimentality. The forum is for posts about the albums, tape recorders, and anything related to the experience of listening to the open reel format. It's not really a customer service link. You guys have our phone number, you have our e-mails. If you want to know what's up with your subscription, just shoot us an e-mail or call us. We may say it's going to be a while, that's just how custom making something this labor intensive works. But as always we will give you all the info we have. I initiated and have agreed to post production info when it is available - in fact I just told you that Michael is shipping a bunch of orders today. I will post whenever I have info about completion of another run and subsequent shipping.
Our business may or may not be run by someone else's notion of how it should be run. But then again, this is the only business like this on the planet. If folks went out and bought houses they couldn't afford and the auto manufacturers made more cars than the bubble could float and the economy is hurting because the guys on Wall Street are greedy bastards with a short term view, that has little bearing upon our need to increase our price when our costs increase. We are not Wal Mart, there are no loss leaders, and we have to cover our costs in order to fulfill the request of our subscribers that we continue it long enough to build a catalog that justifies their investment in the format.
OK, preachy mode off. We truly appreciate the support of those who came to us and bought a subscription from us. And obviously, we do read and listen to what folks have to say about the Project and always consider these opinions when we make our choices about how the Project operates.
* Shawn just asked what we did with 1 thru 19, and I realized everyone will want to know. Paul's set is #1, mine is #2 and Romo's is #3 (we prioritized by age). Numbers 4-19 are being kept in reserve for our families' inheritance.
