Columbia had one and so did RCA and Capitol and few independents. Columbia Record Club was the biggest, by far.
They lured you in with a "20 albums for a penny each" deal (plus shipping) and then you had to buy a minimum amount to fill your obligation over 2 years or so. Just look out for the S&H charges b/c they were hidden in small print somewhere in the brochure....and they were per LP!
You also had to choose your favorite category of music b/c they would automatically send you a new LP every month or so. If you didn't like it, you could send it back.
Odd thing then was that you could never get any RCA LPs from the Columbia club and vice versa. They held on to their own stuff until later years when they realized it was in their best interests to sell as much as they could to anyone.
They had pretty good selections of Jazz and Swing...as long as your personal collection was not too big yet b/c they mainly stocked good selling titles.
The clubs were actually a pretty good deal, especially if you lived out in the sticks where there were no record stores. And even then, the clubs offered some way low priced deals that brick and mortar retailers could not match.
I got a Vince Giordano Nighthawks LP for $1.89 once and this was deep into the 1980s.
Even when I was in the record business, club deals could be worked out where their prices were even better than wholesale.
Some deals were ridiculous and you had to go for them. In the mid 60s, the Record Club of America appeared (it was RCA owned, it turned out) and their "introductory offer" was any record for a dollar! You could choose something from the big catalog they sent out or you could simply write in the catalog number on an LP you wanted. Wow!
I was in the 8th or 9th grade and I had a dollar, so I wrote in the catalog number on the coupon for a fancy 5 LP set by Glenn Miller. I took a shot....and they sent it! A buck!! I sent in another coupon with my friend's name and address for a different 5 LP set by Miller....and they sent that. Glory....and the beauty part was their deal said you never had to buy anything else. Wunderbar! They went out of business fairly quickly.
The clubs had their own secret racket going b/c they knew that a huge number of customers would never return their "Selection of the Month". They'd just bite the bullet and keep it unopened for decades. You can sometimes spot an old record club purchase in an older person's collection b/c it is frequently still sealed after 50 years and has little to do with their listening interests...or it was a present from someone. I got a great Buck Clayton LP sealed that was trapped in a rack of MOR Columbia stuff. MOR was 'middle of the road' aka 'Easy Listening'.
There was also a persistent rumor that "record club pressings" were inferior to the copies that went into retail stores. I never saw the proof.
Anyway - those were the record clubs of days gone by. I still have a few of the ads that they used to get you to join. They are masterpieces of salesmanship. LPs flying thru the air, pretty woman at your feet listening to your fabulous musical choices on some killer hi-fi machine. There would be a couple or two dancing in the background and then off in another illustration - a drawing of you sitting in a comfy chair with a big stack of LPs by your side, a drink in your hand and sophistication seeping from you every pore. You were a god for only a penny an album and 4 more "at regular club price over the next two years."
Thanx for listening!
