Remember receiving cassette tapes or CDs in the mail and paying just a penny for them? Only to be hounded every month to buy more at the regular club price? If so, you probably remember the names Columbia House and BMG. If you don't, and you would like to learn how your parents got their music delivered through the mail, this is the episode for you.

In this episode, host Milo Denison revisits the glory days of mail-order music, when a penny could buy a stack of albums and a long-term commitment hidden in the fine print. All for the low, low price of one cent. Terms and conditions apply.

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Episode theme by Kerry Chen

Sources

Wikipedia, "Columbia House" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_House

Grunge, "What Happened to Columbia House?" - https://www.grunge.com/1128021/what-happened-to-columbia-house/

AV Club, "Four Columbia House Insiders Explain the Shady Math Behind 8 CDs for a Penny" (2015) - https://www.avclub.com/four-columbia-house-insiders-explain-the-shady-math-beh-1798280580

Spin, "The Club You Don't Want to Join" (2021) - https://www.spin.com/2021/06/cd-clubs-columbia-house-bmg/

Mental Floss, "It's a Steal: How Columbia House Made Money Giving Away Music" - https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/28036/its-steal-how-columbia-house-made-money-giving-away-music

Tedium, "Columbia House: The First 12 Cost a Penny, But..." (2015) - https://tedium.co/2015/06/11/columbia-house-history/

NPR, "8 CDs for a Penny Company Files for Bankruptcy" (2015) - https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/11/431547925/8-cds-for-a-penny-company-files-for-bankruptcy

Live@Leeds, "The Rise and Fall of the Columbia House Record Club" - https://steveleeds.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-columbia-house-record-club-and-how-we-learned-to-steal-music/

Stereogum, "Columbia House Is Finally Going Out of Business" (2015) - https://stereogum.com/1823177/columbia-house-is-finally-going-out-of-business/news

CBS News, "After Napster, the Music Industry Winds Up Humming" - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-napster-the-music-industry-winds-up-humming/