Metallica offers new e-commerce service for vinyl music fans

The latest subscription retailer is a legendary Bay Area thrash metal group.

Metallica is launching the “Metallica Vinyl Club,” an online retail subscription service. To join the club, subscribers must first become members of Metallica’s free Fifth Member fan club. 
The subscription contains four vinyl records (including rare and otherwise unavailable songs), a seven-inch vinyl single, a digital download card, physical membership card, and additional releases of collectibles such as stickers and posters. Subscriptions cost $49 per year, with the option of receiving four separate shipments per year or one combined shipment at year’s end. Both options contain the same merchandise.

Customers can join the club for the 2020 subscription period by Tuesday, March 31. Afterward, they will not be able to join until the 2021 subscription period opens. Metallica is capitalizing on the growing trend of vinyl music sales, which according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) rose 12.8% in the second half of 2018 and 12.9% in the first half of 2019.

In addition, Metallica is launching a subscription club as the format is becoming a popular e-commerce option for retailers in verticals including apparel, beauty, health-and-fitness, and quick-service food. Rock bands are a less common participant in the subscription space, but famous groups are increasingly exploring the retail vertical. In the past year, both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have opened limited-time, physical pop-up stores in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.