bickster Posted February 19, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 19, 2022 You people that used to work in chain store record shops Were you all thought to be that stupid that you couldn't distinguish between the record company's barcode on the actual product and the Stores barcode for sales purposes? Why didn't the shops just use the record comapny's barcode anyway? Yes, I'm sticking all my CDs in Discogs and I'm spending more time peeling off ancient record store price stickers so I can scan the real one than actually scanning the things If you hear of someone going postal in HMV this weekend, it's likely to be me 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrusr Posted February 19, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted February 19, 2022 10 minutes ago, bickster said: You people that used to work in chain store record shops Were you all thought to be that stupid that you couldn't distinguish between the record company's barcode on the actual product and the Stores barcode for sales purposes? Why didn't the shops just use the record comapny's barcode anyway? Yes, I'm sticking all my CDs in Discogs and I'm spending more time peeling off ancient record store price stickers so I can scan the real one If you hear of someone going postal in HMV this weekend, it's likely to be me I definitely know that pain. One of the 2nd hand retailers from Amazon does that as well but I can never remember which one. Really p*sees me off! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 12 minutes ago, bickster said: You people that used to work in chain store record shops Were you all thought to be that stupid that you couldn't distinguish between the record company's barcode on the actual product and the Stores barcode for sales purposes? Why didn't the shops just use the record comapny's barcode anyway? Yes, I'm sticking all my CDs in Discogs and I'm spending more time peeling off ancient record store price stickers so I can scan the real one than actually scanning the things If you hear of someone going postal in HMV this weekend, it's likely to be me Ex Our Price and Virgin worker here. We only generated barcodes when the product didn't have one. Usually indie 7"'s. Proper indie 7's not that mainstream tut. HMV employed idiots. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 19, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 19, 2022 6 minutes ago, Seat68 said: Ex Our Price and Virgin worker here. We only generated barcodes when the product didn't have one. Usually indie 7"'s. Proper indie 7's not that mainstream tut. HMV employed idiots. It's not just HMV there is another unidentified retailer that did it too. I hope they've gone bust 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 Virgin was the first place I was ever offered drugs. Some guy sidled up alongside me and quietly asked if I wanted any grass. I said no, and he moved on. I was stood there, absolutely dumbfounded, wondering how on earth he could think I wanted some lawn. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 Just now, chrisp65 said: Virgin was the first place I was ever offered drugs. Some guy sidled up alongside me and quietly asked if I wanted any grass. I said no, and he moved on. I was stood there, absolutely dumbfounded, wondering how on earth he could think I wanted some lawn. It was **** bluegrass. Bluegrass!! Bloody hell. I got the sack for that. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 19, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 19, 2022 15 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: Virgin was the first place I was ever offered drugs. Some guy sidled up alongside me and quietly asked if I wanted any grass. I said no, and he moved on. I was stood there, absolutely dumbfounded, wondering how on earth he could think I wanted some lawn. Swat appens in the dub section 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 2 hours ago, bickster said: Why didn't the shops just use the record comapny's barcode anyway? The pricing structure and any campaign info was tagged on. The shops tended to get discounts on prerelease to get product on the shelves. That product would get a C for Chart on the label. After a spell the title wouldn't be Chart rated anymore and the C would turn to B for Back Catalogue. The shop would be paying more now, and so would the punter. A little bit further down the timeline the record labels and distributors would be willing to offer deals to shift units. These were called campaign titles and if the promotion required a multibuy, ie 2 for £10, the HMV label would tell the till to make the discount. HMV stores were also able to sell titles by acts local to individual stores, they'd get an L. You could actually shoot the barcode on the product, it would be recognised 99.9% of the time. Then the till would ask the operator how much was to be paid? This was frowned upon as it could be abused. Doing it could bring questions later for the operator signed into the till. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 19, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 19, 2022 8 minutes ago, Xann said: The pricing structure and any campaign info was tagged on. The shops tended to get discounts on prerelease to get product on the shelves. That product would get a C for Chart on the label. After a spell the title wouldn't be Chart rated anymore and the C would turn to B for Back Catalogue. The shop would be paying more now, and so would the punter. A little bit further down the timeline the record labels and distributors would be willing to offer deals to shift units. These were called campaign titles and if the promotion required a multibuy, ie 2 for £10, the HMV label would tell the till to make the discount. HMV stores were also able to sell titles by acts local to individual stores, they'd get an L. You could actually shoot the barcode on the product, it would be recognised 99.9% of the time. Then the till would ask the operator how much was to be paid? This was frowned upon as it could be abused. Doing it could bring questions later for the operator signed into the till. All that makes sense but it doesn't explain the need to put the store barcode directly over the product barcode which quite frankly has me searching for a flamethrower on Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 14 minutes ago, bickster said: All that makes sense but it doesn't explain the need to put the store barcode directly over the product barcode which quite frankly has me searching for a flamethrower on Amazon It did tend to be campaign titles that labelled over the barcode. Making it a little more awkward to return a cheaper item at full price. To remove labels I press them against a radiator until the glue softens, without the media in the case/sleeve, obviously. Hairdryer could do a job in Summer. To remove a lot of labels... Talking of sticky stuff, sniffing some glue is maybe preferable to watching Villa right now? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 19, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 19, 2022 22 minutes ago, Xann said: It did tend to be campaign titles that labelled over the barcode. Yeah, I'm a cheapskate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted February 19, 2022 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 19, 2022 Perhaps a slight tangent, but what music publications did/do everyone read? I can’t offer anything particularly unique, but here goes. I used to to buy the NME on a semi regular basis. I remember thinking even back then that the golden era had passed (which I always had the impression as being circa Nick Kent). Still, when I did read it, late 90’s to mid 00’s I mostly liked it. I remember a drop off in quality when they the size of the magazine shrank and the cover became glossy. I would often buy Kerrang!, but looking back I don’t know why as I knew I wouldn’t be interested in 95% of the bands covered. I must have been buying on the off chance that the 5% of artists I was interested in would be heavily featured that week. Melody Maker, I think I bought a couple of copies, including the last edition. Despite my indifference, I remember thinking it was a big deal when it stopped. The monthlies Q, Uncut, Mojo, Classic Rock, Rock Sound, I’ve bought sporadically, mainly when there’s a band on the cover I like. I have a sense I’d probably appreciate Uncut and Mojo more these days. I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a copy of Rolling Stone or Billboard. One magazine I was particularly fond of and tried to pick up whenever I saw it was The Fly. Even discounting the fact it was free, I thought it was often more than a match for it’s rivals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 I started with Number 1 magazine, when I was 13. It was like Smash Hits but weekly. I went on to Smash Hits at 14 but was also buying it at 13 but wasn't committed. I then went on to Sounds. Sounds was my main music paper until it went. Loved it. On addition to Sounds I read NME and really after Sounds it was everything I wanted until really they went all in on Oasis and post Brit pop it just got a bit shit. When desperate I would read Melody maker but wasn't truly committed to it. In addition to these I have dabbled with various country music magazines. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 I’d have read the NME once in a while but it wasn’t any sort of regular subscription thing. To be honest I probably used it for clothes adverts back then, I was mesmerised by going to London to get stuff nobody else had. You’ll have to take may word for this, but I was well in to The Face magazine, I had some quite early ones before it was easy to pick up in Smiths. There was a magazine that I don’t think was around for long, called The Ticket, and that had some stunning free cassettes or CD’s attached. Now, maybe a couple of times a year I’ll pick up Mojo in a train station. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 NME, Melody Maker and Sounds, late 80s until the mid 90s. Sound On Sound with the occasional Future Music through the 90s. Music Week 91-13. The internet has ruled since the millennium. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 19, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted February 19, 2022 (edited) Back in the 70s, Melody Maker, NME, Disc & Music Echo, Sounds, and the single biggest influence on my musical tastes to this day (until it sadly went punk), the mighty ZigZag: Edited February 19, 2022 by mjmooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 19, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted February 19, 2022 In the 80s, Q. From the 90s to now, Mojo, Uncut, Record Collector (nowadays all on Readly). I did have a subscription to R'n'R, but I let it lapse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 20, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 20, 2022 I started off with NME, Sounds and Melody Maker with NME being the obvious leader of the pack Then like Xann I read the business magazine Music Week. In the magazine era, Uncut and Mojo are the main ones but there lots more niche magazines like Record Collector, Shindig, Electronic Sound, Under the Radar and I used to like Long Live Vinyl before it folded But with all of them I just tend to dip in and out of them as I see fit with my Readly subscription 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 (edited) In the very early 90s I regularly read Raw, Kerrang, NME and Q. then I read Select, which had some cracking free CDs - still have a few of them! used to flick through Mojo and Uncut to read album reviews up until a few years ago but now use Twitter etc and ADM to identify new music. Edited February 20, 2022 by theboyangel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 20, 2022 Moderator Share Posted February 20, 2022 Word magazine was probably the best. Best articles and most definitely the best cover discs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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