In the year of our lord 2025, the vinyl revival has taken a bizarre turn: fans are paying top dollar for 'collectible' editions of albums that are, in fact, incomplete. The latest offender? Charli xcx, whose collaboration with filmmaker David Cronenberg on 'No One Lasts Forever' - the closing track of her chart-topping album *Music, Fashion, Film* - is missing Cronenberg's spoken-word contribution on the vinyl version. Because nothing says 'artistic integrity' like shipping a product that's missing the part the critics called 'the heart of what the album is really about'.

Charli admitted on the *Tape Notes* podcast that the vinyl deadline came before they could get Cronenberg's recording, leaving fans with a 'different version' - one that's apparently not the version anyone asked for. Fan Animesh Khare, 27, from Paris, put it succinctly: 'Artists and labels owe it to fans to communicate these differences upfront.' A radical concept, we know.

Charli isn't alone. Olivia Rodrigo's *You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love* shipped with unexpected edits across six tracks, including missing bridges and outros. Raye's second album arrived without its final mix, prompting her to offer the delightful consolation that the unfinished vinyl might become a collectible. Because nothing says 'collectible' like a product that was rushed out the door.

The trend is simple: fans pay the highest price for the most 'desirable' edition and get an unpolished version of the music. The Weeknd's *Hurry Up Tomorrow* had only 11 of 22 digital tracks on its first pressing, and Beyoncé's *Cowboy Carter* was missing five songs - because why not? Labels are churning out variants (Rodrigo's album had at least a dozen configurations) while vinyl plants need six weeks' lead time, versus Spotify's five business days. So the physical product gets whatever's ready, and the digital gets the finished product. It's the music industry's way of saying 'we value your money, but not your patience'.

Ben Savage of Skeleton Records warns this could lead to 'buyer exhaustion' and a bubble collapse. But hey, UK vinyl sales hit 7.6 million LPs last year - up 13.3% - so why fix what's making money? Just ask the fan who was told the vinyl 'was received as intended' and denied a refund. Because 'as intended' apparently means 'incomplete'.

So, dear artists: if you're going to sell us a half-finished album on wax, at least give us a heads-up. We're not asking for much - just a little transparency before we drop our hard-earned cash on a product that might not be the 'full-length' experience we were promised. But hey, at least the colored vinyl looks pretty on the shelf.