k-o-r-r
cappucino…I am a big Weller fan of all era’s going back decades. The rest I think most of you can put two and two together, and at least two people who I know are here know. I’ll leave it at that.
I do not know who you are – should I or anyone else really know you ??? Are you that famous ???
I am nobody.
The „problem“ with the Third Man release is that…(people) buy multiples, and sell them at an inflated price privately, too. This has gone on for years and the only practice that gets called out by everyone is the disgusting profiteering that goes on at Ebay.
The real problem with this new limited release was, that the real fans had nearly no possibility to get a copy through the net. I assume that most copies were sold in the London Third Man Shop and you had to be there to get one. Also I think that nowadays the record shops which are able to obtain copies do not sell them for a real price, but put them on EBAY or DISCOGS. On DISCOGS there is the following comment on the record listing site „release a single where 99.9% of your fans have no chance of getting it & watch the greedy b&st&rds cash in, weller you should treat your fans better than this.“. It could not be said better. I will check in the near future, if the price is dropping. But if not, I will not buy a copy. There are many gaps in my P.W. collection, I am able to accept that this is another one.
I’ve been reaching out to many at Third Man for nearly two months and I can tell you they’ve been rather wonderful. Most copies were NOT sold in London, other than the yellow copies. The number of that particular pressing is unknown and unknown by nearly everyone at Third Man. The only person who is probably aware of the actual number is the press operator, who makes about $15 US per hour. All numbers of those are based on estimates from people who were there on the day of release in London. Whether the staff at the London store counted the numbers they received, is unknown by me. They may have and told people, but I’m not aware if that did actually happen. The estimates are about 300. Quite frankly, that number is obviously very low, but someone else pointed out that there if anyone queued up in London were able to walk out with a yellow and black vinyl version of the single and the impression I get is they were limiting it to one of each per person. That doesn’t stop people from coming in with other people who could care less about Paul Weller or simply getting one to put on Ebay for a quick profit and Third Man would have no way of determining that.
As far as the black vinyl releases I can tell you with certainty that Third Man stocked them in their shops in Detroit with 100% certainty. Obviously we all know the shop in London did as well. Their other shop, in Nashville, I’d bet did as well. Matter of fact, I’d put what little money I have that they probably have stock still sitting in the bins. I also know that the Third Man website sold them, although I know they sold out of them and I don’t know how quickly. Other shops around the world I’m uncertain of the quantities and numbers they received, if at all. I do think it could have been handled better to give real fans a chance all over the world an opportunity to obtain a copy online, but this isn’t the first time we’ve all been through this. As you say, you have gaps in your collection and I can assure you that I do as well. It was impossible for me to get the In Another Room release and I think that was just as bad as the Third Man release. People bought multiple copies thereby denying others the opportunity to get one. Loads ended up on Ebay at out of reach prices for many real fans and it still continues.
What I can tell you is that not everyone was out to think of only themselves, make a quick profit or hoard them and no one should be angry at Third Man Records.
It’s all so funny, too, because some of the press releases about it make it sound like a big love fest between Weller and Jack White. There’s been NO indication to me of that in the past, and as a matter of fact I remember Paul saying in an interview about The White Stripes that „he likes melody in his music“ … meaning that he wasn’t too keen on them because they lacked melody. I’ve also never had any indication that Jack ever knew or had any kind of opinion of Weller, either. While I’m not a big fan and know all their material, I’m also in a position to have heard plenty about and know a bit of more local information about Jack and Meg than many others. In my eyes, it had a lot more to do with a marriage of convivence so to speak and that the price was right for Paul. I’ve got NO proof for that, but I think that’s all it is about. Nothing more. Nothing less. Whether that’s him being money hungry or making certain his kids are fed is really his determination.
Those are my thoughts – and not yours. 
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