Obviously a hot topic this week!

Are you a fan of it? Does it bother you if people variant collect? Are you a chart purist? Where do you stand with it in general?

It’s particularly common in vinyl collecting but it’s aso been done with CD’s etc.. too (standard versions, deluxe versions, 1 member of each band having a slipcase etc..)

Do you ever or have you ever variant collected before? If you DO variant collect do you go ALL in and get every copy or do you just buy the variants you like?

Also this is a disclaimer:

If anybody does come forward as a variant collector, please respect them. No insults or name calling will be tolerated (as usual) but seeing as we've had a member already step over this line in one of the chart threads when it comes to this topic, I'm getting ahead of it and telling you all right now that if I or any other moderators feel that a line has been crossed, you WILL be warned and potentially banned.

I like having options. Variants is fine in moderate numbers and organised manner.

What I don't like is when there's too many it's overwhelming, looks confusing, and they are store exclusive, etc..

The most important thing to me though is the contents (track list) and that the discs actually function.

I have quite an extensive collection of Feeder music, they are the only artist that I variant collect. Thankfully, the most they've ever put out is 4 vinyl, 2 cassettes and a CD!

The last album I had the test pressing in my basket, but I didn't end up buying it as I don't want to open that can of worms too...

A BIG motivator for me variant collecting their music, specifically, is to show that there is demand for them to release new music. I'm doing everything I can to encourage more (hopefully) fantastic music!

I only have multiple copies of one other album (on vinyl): THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! There were 2 versions I just adored, and I knew the album was going to be fantastic, so had no quibbles by proving with my wallet that I'm happy to pay for that quality of music/vinyl package (so hopefully encouraging more fantastic creativity in the future)! I got a third because it was cheap with the banquet records ticket. Lol

I ĺike the options, but don't understand the persons, who buy multiply variants.

LOVE IT! Keeps physical sales alive, gives people choice, helps the artist and allows fans to build collections etc...

I personally purchased all of Jade's variants and love looking through them and deciding which variant to play.

It's no different to anyone who collects anything I guess, personally I don't see the hype around stamp / coin collecting but each to their own.

Fans also love supporting the artist as much as possible.

I think in terms of fans buying multiple copies it's not necessarily the album they are buying into it's the experience of each variant and collecting vinyl as opposed to the thought process of buying say 8 versions of the same album.

I understand why it's done, especially in a time when the physical market has collapsed, but I do find that the business model can be a bit exploitative. I'm not concerned about the charts but moreso people with obsessive, compulsive completist tendencies. I think my happy medium would be just a few well curated options rather than overwhelming amounts.

I would never judge the consumer, though. Collecting in general brings me a lot of happiness, so I get it, even if I don't do much variant collecting. Ariana Grande is an exception, as I usually buy her releases on different formats to help out, but even with her it's never more than one copy on vinyl. It's expensive and I'm already struggling with space as it is! The only time I've bought more than one copy of an album on vinyl, without any extras, was Addison as the liquid pressing looked quite cool and I wanted the novelty of one of those in my collection to see what it was like, but in retrospect I probably didn't need it

Im mostly a streamer only, so variant collecting doesnt bother me too much, personally I say its an each to their own situation, if it makes sales look healthier bonus, we all know overall physical media is a dying concept but then we also know digital media has its flaws too

My biggest gripe is more the double standards that people have when its someone they don't like or is really successful with it and their faves arnt

Edited October 11Oct 11 by 777666jason

I have similar views to others in the thread. I like the choice it provides but I am less keen when I think it moves away from being part of an artistic vision to just more variants for the sake of it... I very much appreciate it when an act, or their team, takes inspiration from the project to create variants that compliment the aesthetic of the project (like Blood Records quite often do) or if they genuinely do something interesting to make an extra variant really unique - but those ones where you just get 12 different coloured records across 12 different 'exclusives' are just a bit of a con imo as there really isn't much about them to make it different.

That said, I do have a few albums that I have more than one variant of; although largely I would say that I don't really take any more enjoyment from having them than I would do from just having one copy. There are a couple of exceptions - I definitely prefer having the record store day version of Chromatica and think that is far nicer than the original one I bought when it was first released. There are also instances where I've bought anniversary editions or special club variants for similar reasons. I do get the fan side of having them though, I pre-ordered 3 variants of Grimes' Miss Anthropocene album and that was totally me obsessing as I didn't even end up liking the album that much(!) - although I'd also factor the release date as part of that as was out during lockdown and I really bought a lot of records during that period.

I've always bought the 'special edition' versions by my faves though, and I'd still far rather spend £100 on a specially designed deluxe package than get 3 or 4 of the same thing.

I appreciate that there's way more variety in recent years. It's nice to have choices and determine which particular alternative artwork / colour of vinyl appeals the most.

It's not too often that I've felt compelled to own everything on offer for an album. I think the wildest I've ever gone is with Spice Girls - Spice 25, which involved 6 vinyl, 5 cassettes and 1 CD, and Spiceworld 25 which was 3 vinyl, 1 cassette, 1 CD.

I can't think of any other time I've bought one of everything (in regards to albums that get released in a considerable number of formats). Kylie comes close for me, and I have bought a lot of variants of her recent albums, but not everything.

If somebody has the ability to afford every version of an album, and it makes them happy to have them all, then that's their choice and it doesn't harm anybody else. It's up to them to decide if that's what they want to do and they can justify it. I completely understand the desire to collect. I do agree with Jade, there's definitely people with compulsive tendencies and it may not always be the healthiest thing for them. To an extent I'd say that applies to me. So I am trying to be more careful recently.