RIP Columbia House

Most people reading this blog remember the good ol days of searching through a catalog, placing the order, paying "cents", and then waiting for a stack of new music to arrive at your doorstep.  I am [of course] talking about Columbia House.  Whether you were a DVD buff, or a music guy like myself and my family, you were always happy to see the next list of albums up for grabs.  To be honest, I believe the first album I owned was purchased through Columbia House (aka my dad bought me Nirvana's From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah).  I remember a grin on my face from ear to ear for well over a month, and pretty much wearing out the CD in that time frame.

(Logo courtesy of Columbia House, and Quimba)

So glossing over Rolling Stone this morning, it seems that Columbia House has filed for bankruptcy.  Well, the parent company Filmed Entertainment Inc. has filed for bankruptcy. The group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York yesterday.  While it does not come a surprise that the group is bankrupt, I am more surprised that Columbia House has stayed in business this long.  I mean, the digital age of streaming has been well underway for many years now.  And even though I continually advocate for people to purchase physical albums, hey too have been on the decline for many years now.  That was one of the main reasons why CH has ceased operations, according to CH director Glenn Landberg

"This decline is directly attributable to a confluence of market factors that substantially altered the manner in which consumers purchase and listen to music, as well as the way consumers purchase and watch movies and television series at home." -Landberg

I am not sure how I feel on this matter.  It is a shame that a large part of our love for music resided with CH and other mail order companies, but I still remain convinced it was only a matter of time before the plus was pulled.  Reading some of the comments being generated online, there were parts of the business I am reminded of, such as the automatic mailing of albums and DVDs with the intent of you purchasing them.  Remember you had to send them back or else they would charge your account the full(over inflated) price?!  How shitty was that!  There's no way you're convincing me to pick up that 2003 version of Hulk simply by mailing it.  Lame!

Anyways, I just had a massive flashback of memories to my youth when this was all the rage, and wanted to share the little RIP with you.  I have to give it to CH though, since they managed to stay in business since 1955, and peaked sales at $1.4 billion annually back in it's prime, and to this day (well, yesterday at least) had 110,000+ members.  Unfortunately, like most media companies of the physical format world, they failed to get ahead of the curve with the introduction of online and streaming.  Thus ends another chapter in the ongoing history of music.