Announcement Coming “October 9th”

[That Dude]

existential disquietude: 

price? 635 dollars.  

 

[jengd]

1 hour ago, Karol Oliveira said:

I non-ironically would want the Longview doorbell 

Same

[That Dude]

Entry.  Submitted.   

X Ray Hamburger is you.   

X Ray Record is me.  

X Ray Hamburger Tonight! 

 

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

I require the fish, please. 

[roquer]

When I found out yesterday I couldn't stop laughing. I showed to my girlfriend (who doesn't like Green Day) and she laughed too.

I wish I could "buy" the All By Myself music box. Now you could "masturbate" to hear the song!

[Saviour]

Cool idea, fine - but why "enter for a chance to buy"? 

Why is everything a transaction? Are these dudes retiring and trying to squeeze every penny out of fans before they go or something? 

If these are fairly low value, and very limited edition, just make it a competition for fuck's sake. Give a little back to the people who have handed over £1000s over the years. 

[Mollyluna]

Why do they squeeze every penny out of fans here? You don’t have to pay until you win the chance to buy an item. And the prices are not that high in my opinion.

[stories and songs]

@Saviour I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying? It’s free to enter for a chance to purchase super rare items for a very low cost. They did it in this way so everyone who wanted to buy something made in very small quantities would have an equal chance at getting them instead of random people scooping them up and putting them on eBay for $1000. This was done in collaboration with an art studio, who I imagine will get back most of the (very minimal) profits for coming up with the concept and executing on it. Everything sold will amount to like less than $5k so I seriously doubt the band will make much of anything from this. 

I guess if you’re suggesting they could’ve done this as a giveaway instead — yes, I suppose that could’ve been another option, but I also don’t think giving fans the opportunity to buy a collector’s item for under $50 is especially capitalistic of them. Even though they’re silly lo-fi items, I think we all know these things could sell in online marketplaces for a shit ton of money because of their exclusivity.

[Cris.]

I quite agree with @Mollyluna and @stories and songs , the price is not high at all - most items are cheaper than a tour t-shirt, which you can buy by the bulk. And yes, if any of these items end up on eBay they can for sure sell by more than 10 times their price. Weren't there people re-selling the city-specific concert patches for up to 100$? And those are way less rare.

Also, I did the math (I swear I don't have as much free time as this suggests 😂)  and unless I've made a mistake, everything sold will amount to less than $4K. I'm certain they are making zero money off of this. Actually most likely they threw money at this. I don't see how $4K might be enough to cover the manufacturing cost for something done in such small quantities, or for paying the salaries of the people who worked on the conception of the idea, recording of the videos, design of the website, etc. 

And ultimately, these are things no one really needs to be able to enjoy their music. I'll complain forever about the absurd amounts of overpriced VIP tickets they sold for European shows, and about ticket prices in the US, because those are things fans need to buy to enjoy their music (live at least). But this, deluxe editions (as all the new songs/demos are being released on spotify, youtube, etc., anyways), coffee, pickleball, etc., these are all optional. 

[Cali89]

I think this is funny, but also a bit random. They're running out of ideas  

[pacejunkie punk]

I'd rather see unique fun stuff like this being sold than dozens of colored vinyl variants of an album. That's manufactured rarity. These really will be become rare items to own.  Also, do we know exactly how many of each item they are selling? Limited quantities could be 10 or 50 or 100 or more. We can't really calculate how much they'll make without knowing that, but certainly the artists and marketing folks need to get paid.   

[stories and songs]

@pacejunkie punk Under each item, they do list how many have been made. There’s only one of the bear, doorbell, and fish, three of the HitClips, etc. Some of the cheaper items have slightly higher quantities — there’s like 50 of the floppy disk, and I believe that’s the highest quantity. @CristhyneS did the math in their lil spreadsheet! 

[Cris.]

24 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

I'd rather see unique fun stuff like this being sold than dozens of colored vinyl variants of an album. That's manufactured rarity. These really will be become rare items to own.  Also, do we know exactly how many of each item they are selling? Limited quantities could be 10 or 50 or 100 or more. We can't really calculate how much they'll make without knowing that, but certainly the artists and marketing folks need to get paid.   

Yes, you have the number of units for each item when you inspect them. I put everything in the spreadsheet I linked above to calculate for how much everything would sell.

The teddy, the fish, doorbell, the toothbrush and the answering machine are only 1 unit of each. The floppy disk has the highest number of units, with 50. The rest are in the range of 3 to 25 units.

But for example, take the music box. 10 units at 19$ each, that's 190$. I have a friend in the music box business, so I just asked them about the cost of producing the music boxes. You need to make the mold from which the piece with the notes is made. A couple years ago they had a costume made mold that cost them 400$ to have made, afterwards the cost of each music box is not too high, but it really might vary with the quality. So I highly doubt the 190$ is covering the cost of making those 10 music boxes.

 

[pacejunkie punk]

1 hour ago, stories and songs said:

@pacejunkie punk Under each item, they do list how many have been made. There’s only one of the bear, doorbell, and fish, three of the HitClips, etc. Some of the cheaper items have slightly higher quantities — there’s like 50 of the floppy disk, and I believe that’s the highest quantity. @CristhyneS did the math in their lil spreadsheet! 

 

1 hour ago, CristhyneS said:

Yes, you have the number of units for each item when you inspect them. I put everything in the spreadsheet I linked above to calculate for how much everything would sell.

The teddy, the fish, doorbell, the toothbrush and the answering machine are only 1 unit of each. The floppy disk has the highest number of units, with 50. The rest are in the range of 3 to 25 units.

But for example, take the music box. 10 units at 19$ each, that's 190$. I have a friend in the music box business, so I just asked them about the cost of producing the music boxes. You need to make the mold from which the piece with the notes is made. A couple years ago they had a costume made mold that cost them 400$ to have made, afterwards the cost of each music box is not too high, but it really might vary with the quality. So I highly doubt the 190$ is covering the cost of making those 10 music boxes.

 

Thanks to both. I just played the videos for each item I didn’t notice all the detail. I’m really interested in the process behind this whole thing. I’d love a BTS video for how it went from concept to reality 

[nopride84]

My question is is it just a gameboy game or do they send the gameboy too. I just want a gameboy

 

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

4 hours ago, CristhyneS said:

And yes, if any of these items end up on eBay they can for sure sell by more than 10 times their price.

Right, it's basically an investment!

 

1 hour ago, nopride84 said:

My question is is it just a gameboy game or do they send the gameboy too. I just want a gameboy

It says system not included. Boo.

[luketrebilliemike]

This is quite useful in keeping Green Day in the news from a PR point of view. I have seen news posts ranging from niche Nintendo news sites,  IGN and other major music news sites. Most of the comments on Reddit and facebook has been positive about the idea of the project ( though some dont like it being only in the US or a chance to buy) 

[Montclare]

Yeah, the r/music sub had a lot of comments on it yesterday, almost all positive, and you figure most people there are more casual fans.

[Cris.]

3 hours ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

Right, it's basically an investment!

Whatever we need to tell ourselves

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

 

[Mega Man]

First and foremost it's an art project. Being released and shared with fans is just a bonus. People have tried to calculate cost and whatnot, but the price pretty much serves to offset the cost of production and to help ensure these have the best chance of being offered to actual fans and not scalpers. It's an interesting concept as a functional piece of art, so I'm supporting it (fingers crossed).

Putting on my art critic hat, I think the concept isn't too cryptic. These are obsolete mediums that explore how we interact with music, and question what it means to be obsolete. In the modern music world, we're used to everything being remastered and presented in the best possible quality modern technology permits. This project rejects that premise outright and seems to make it a challenge to see how distorted you can make the original sound with technology that was once commonplace. It's also pretty existential that a landmark anniversary of an album is juxtaposed with technology that has been widely forgotten with the passage of time. The phonograph cylinder was invented about 136 years ago; will Dookie still be as widely lauded after that amount of time, or just a curiosity of the past?

[Saviour]

19 hours ago, stories and songs said:

@Saviour I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying? It’s free to enter for a chance to purchase super rare items for a very low cost. They did it in this way so everyone who wanted to buy something made in very small quantities would have an equal chance at getting them instead of random people scooping them up and putting them on eBay for $1000. This was done in collaboration with an art studio, who I imagine will get back most of the (very minimal) profits for coming up with the concept and executing on it. Everything sold will amount to like less than $5k so I seriously doubt the band will make much of anything from this. 

I guess if you’re suggesting they could’ve done this as a giveaway instead — yes, I suppose that could’ve been another option, but I also don’t think giving fans the opportunity to buy a collector’s item for under $50 is especially capitalistic of them. Even though they’re silly lo-fi items, I think we all know these things could sell in online marketplaces for a shit ton of money because of their exclusivity.

Exactly this. Look, first and foremost - it's a good idea. Bravo to the studio.

BUT, everyone banging on about how these aren't high priced items. OK, if that's the case then why don't the PR agency / label / whoever front the cost of them and give them away for free instead of passing the costs on to the consumer? I dunno, call me a rabid socialist cuck, but everyone still has an equal chance and yet they don't have to part with this so-called nominal amount of cash. It's total chump change for these guys earning millions from the band.  

The sad reality is, a LOT of fans won't be able to part with $50 and thus will be dissuaded from entering in the first place. 

And to your first point, if you think some die-hard long time supporters of the band who get these items won't be putting this stuff on eBay... Then you're far less cynical than I am. 

Maybe I'm just getting on a bit and remember the good old days of Idiot Club giveaways, but it does feel like a lot of the joy of supporting acts has disappeared over the years. 

[DeJennsitized]

4 hours ago, Saviour said:

Exactly this. Look, first and foremost - it's a good idea. Bravo to the studio.

BUT, everyone banging on about how these aren't high priced items. OK, if that's the case then why don't the PR agency / label / whoever front the cost of them and give them away for free instead of passing the costs on to the consumer? I dunno, call me a rabid socialist cuck, but everyone still has an equal chance and yet they don't have to part with this so-called nominal amount of cash. It's total chump change for these guys earning millions from the band.  

The sad reality is, a LOT of fans won't be able to part with $50 and thus will be dissuaded from entering in the first place. 

And to your first point, if you think some die-hard long time supporters of the band who get these items won't be putting this stuff on eBay... Then you're far less cynical than I am. 

Maybe I'm just getting on a bit and remember the good old days of Idiot Club giveaways, but it does feel like a lot of the joy of supporting acts has disappeared over the years. 

I think it’s to try to balance between just anybody entering and fans who are willing to pay those prices entering. They can’t stop all of them being snapped up by a chancer and put on eBay obviously, but putting a (quite low IMO considering the rarity) price on them I think is an attempt to keep it as fan-only as possible. 

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

That fish will be among one of my most prized possessions when I win it!  No eBay here!

[Cris.]

Do we know when the draw would happen? / when people can expect to be notified?

54 minutes ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

That fish will be among one of my most prized possessions when I win it!  No eBay here!

Not if I win it first

I went ahead and put a last minute bid on the fish as well. I kind of didn't want to to bid on anything over 50$, but in the end the chances I win that are so small that if it happens it's because the gods wanted it so, and really who am I to put a price cap on the gods' wills? And yeah, if I won it and you ever saw that on eBay please consider donating to my GoFundMe, because it would be mean I already sold a kidney and a part of my liver and still need more money.