Metallica Launch Exclusive New Vinyl Club
The band say members will be able to get their hands on “rare cuts, demos, rough mixes and live rarities.”
Metallica have opened membership sign-ups to their new vinyl club. Those in the band’s Fifth Members fan club have until March 31 to register and they’ll then have access to a variety of special releases throughout the year.
Metallica say: “It’s another first for us… our very own vinyl club! As huge music fans ourselves, it’s been super exciting to see the resurgence of vinyl and how much enjoyment we all get collecting, exploring and connecting with other fans mining for lost treasures.
“Those of us who love the look, feel and sonic warmth of vinyl are sorta in our little exclusive club, so with that in mind, we thought it would be fun to start adding to our collections on a regular basis.”
Metallica report that vinyl club members will be able to get their hands on “rare cuts, demos, rough mixes and live rarities,” adding: “Who knows what we’ll dig up! Obviously they’ll all be cuts that have never been released on vinyl before.”
Each subscription comes with a personalised membership card, four 7-inch vinyl records and “select releases throughout the year will include additional collectibles – this could be anything from exclusive stickers to picks or even posters!”
The band concluded: “We’re excited to kick off this new endeavour, and whether you get the subscription for yourself or a friend, we hope you have a blast collecting some good-old-school vinyl.”
Metallica have been on top of the vinyl resurgence since they remastered and re-released their back catalogue on their own Blackened Recordings label in 2014. Vinyl has also been an integral part of their super-deluxe reissues, which have included many previously unreleased recordings available on LP only.
Four years ago, the group assumed the mantle of Record Store Day Ambassadors, for which they made an eight-minute clip talking about their love of LPs and record stores. They also played a special “old-school set” at the Berkeley location of the San Francisco record store chain Rasputin Music as part of their ambassadorship.
In a 2018 interview with Classic Rock, drummer Lars Ulrich waxed poetic on why vinyl mattered so much to him. “I still have all of my old records,” he said. “I still occasionally take them out. I would be lying to you if I said there was no nostalgic undertone to the whole thing. It’s just nice to be able to sit down and listen to music for no other reason than to sit down and listen to music.”
Listen to the Best of Metallica on Apple Music and Spotify.
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