Vinyl so expensive rant

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by cawley1980, Nov 19, 2020.

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  1. cawley1980

    cawley1980 Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    Ok bit of a rant here. I usually get my vinyl from record shops and friends house clearances etc but during lockdown I signed up to Discogs as I heard good stuff about it. It's a good data base but that's about it.My god some of the prices for used records are criminal. Especially for somebody who grew up in the 80s .when all that stuff was new it wasn't that price. Not to mention the 90s and 2000s when this vinyl was a few pence each in some cases. I'm not talking about rare records either, I'm not a Smiths fan really but their 3rd album the queen is dead was one I don't have, on average £25 on Discogs and many not even NM. I found the same with U2, the Beatles and the stones, I'm not talking about original presses which granted are rare, but even 70s and 80s represses now are a crazy price. Crappy later represses of 'Dark side of the moon' and 'wish you were here' by pink Floyd which were often on discount back in the day, over £20 on average on Discogs.Again not the best condition copies either, VG and VG+ mostly. I'm guessing all of this is due to greed with the resurgence of vinyl and because a lot of the youngsters are into this music now..mark my words the hobby will die a quick death again with this kind of nonsense going on. Even a few yrs ago it was way cheaper to go used with a given album than to buy the crappy new digital repress. Not so anymore for the majority of stuff. Thanking the lord that I built up most of my collection when nobody else was buying records ,I can't imagine the average person building up a collection nowadays without re mortgaging the house. Greed greed greed spoiling everything as we see a lot these days. I see eBay is the same, I used to buy a ton of used stuff on that site back 10 yrs ago. Yes overgrading was a thing but at least I didn't pay a lot usually.
    Thank you for reading, any comments.
     
  2. Hicks

    Hicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    People have been saying the vinyl “bubble” is going to pop for around 5 years now.

    That hasn’t happened and isn’t going to in my opinion, the vinyl resurgence is still growing and pulling in young people.

    So yeah welcome to the Record Store Day vinyl market, the days of buying a $5 or even $10 VG+ of DSOTM or Thriller aren’t coming back anytime soon.
     
  3. WHMusical

    WHMusical Chameleon Comedian Corinthian & Caricature

    1st World Problems!

    It is simple: Supply and Demand.

    Back in the 1980s and 1990s there was plenty of used records and low demand, as most folks were aswitching to Cds.

    Now...

    There are (X?=7+?) times more people wanting to buy records that have already been mostly bought up in the past 20 years...especially records from the early 1990s--(vinyl production nadir)

    So the supply and demand is reversed. Too many Buyers not enough Records (a finite sum) whereas the record buying populous keeps growing, as folks flock to a physical medium that sounds warm and inviting... not tin ear whistles thru ear bloods...

    BUT!!!

    Conversely, many Olde Record Collecting Addicts (see Steve Bushemi in Ghost World) art dying off, leaving more and more Lp collections hitting the markets these daze.

    Sum wise kids and spouses take the time to find the worth of these Olde Codger Collections, but most end up at the Local record store, paid pennies on the pound, and then the Record Store puts them on-line... rarely, now a days does the cool rare record actually make it out into the stacks...

    Least ways round these parts.
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2020
  4. Archguy

    Archguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond VA
    On the bright side, that one'll make a fan out of you. If anything will.
     
    black sheriff, Rob6899 and cawley1980 like this.
  5. culabula

    culabula Unread author.

    Location:
    Belfast, Ireland
    Lots of records available on Discogs that I want. When I check them, if they’re too expensive or over-priced I have this mad idea ... I don’t buy them.
     
  6. cawley1980

    cawley1980 Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    Your spelling gave me a headache!
     
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  7. George the Cat

    George the Cat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brighton
    Started buying Cd’s late 90’s as new releases on vinyl were not being issued, but when you could get a new release on vinyl it was cheaper than a Cd. Nowadays you pay twice as much for a vinyl new release if not more. The one thing you do get is proper heavyweight vinyl whereas the quality in the 90’s was poor.
     
    cawley1980 likes this.
  8. WHMusical

    WHMusical Chameleon Comedian Corinthian & Caricature

    Snot Thee Queenś English!

    Surrey Gov´Ner...

    Ta Ta!
     
  9. culabula

    culabula Unread author.

    Location:
    Belfast, Ireland
    You now in a daze ?
     
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  10. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Forum Resident

    Location:
    North West England
    The whole record buying business is a shambles.

    Going back to the early sixties, jazz albums were around £2 that's nearly forty quid in today's money I don't know how that compares with contemporary prices as I've not bought a vinyl album in decades.
    The record companies always ripped off the public. When vinyl was replaced by CDs the production costs fell dramatically, but the record companies hiked up the prices instead of reducing them.

    I do buy second-hand vinyl from the fifties and sixties or a bit later occasionally for one or other of my two jukeboxes. I have found Discogs a bit cheaper than eBay.
    I've bought a few around $10. each.

    But sellers are aware of the rareity of their stock. I'd like a copy of Evie Sands, "I can't let go." I could get twenty of the same tune by the Hollies for what that would cost.

    However I was pleasantly suprised to get a new single from Colemine records for $7.99 a few months ago. Mind you postage to the UK was "an arm, and a leg."

    What also naffs me off is the "accepted" description of the quality of second hand records.

    Believe me "V-Good" isn't. it means well worn.

    Having put one or two records on my Discogs "want list" I kept getting e-mails offering me totally different records by the same artists, all at £75 each.

    So I "unsubscribed."
     
  11. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    There are surprising numbers of titles being reissued on vinyl and unlike 5 to 10 years ago most of them are decently mastered. Even digitally sourced versions. You would be pretty daft to overpay on used U2 for instance as the latest remasters stack up against the originals well and it's not 'audiophile' sound. However something like DSOTM hasn't had a really great reissue apart from the 30th Anniversary edition, though only the earliest pressings are really worth a decent amount of money (if you can find a nr mint copy). It can be almost impossible to find clean copies now of some titles but it was always difficult. However you can't now buy a few cheap copies and pick out a good one. Most sellers don't have a clue about grading unfortunately.

    With discogs it puzzles me that the median and max historical selling prices are usually less than current copies being listed. Are many people actually buying these other than true collectables and rarities? The majority of used records I've bought of late resulted in me returning or getting a refund, no questions asked (you are better buying on ebay in this case). My experience of selling really top condition records is that mostly they don't move quickly and take multiple re-listings on Ebay. Also have to drop prices well below what Discogs suggests. However I don't flower up with long descriptions relying on decent photos and 100% feedback. Discogs is good if you are selling a rare / expensive pressing, but don't expect them to go for the top price even if listed for a considerable time. It's also good if you are hunting a particular pressing of maybe not so in demand titles.
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2020
  12. vinylontubes

    vinylontubes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy, TX
    The OP makes gripes out of his own folly. He had 20 years during the '80s and '90s to buy these records. I'm of the same age. I bought the records I wanted over those years. He had the chance to buy these pressings when they were first issues and many chances thereafter at very reasonable prices either used or in close-out. I've bought records from Discogs for over a decade. And the prices people are paying is what the market bears. Keep in mind records are no longer sold locally, they are shipped world-wide. The internet has provided for this. And it's not just Discogs to blame. Records stops have had to become internet savvy to weather the lean years to remain profitable during the '90s and '00s. There is no coincidence that Record Store Day and the resurgence in vinyl has increased the value of records. This the twelfth year of RSD. And if there was to be a decline in the interest of records, the Covid-19 pandemic has surely delayed it with people now being reconditioned to find ways to entertain themselves without stepping outside the homestead. If the OP thinks prices are high now, he's in for a shock over the next few years. We still aren't out the pandemic. There are current talks of vaccine that is 90% effective. But, it doesn't take a math major to know that 10% is an unacceptable risk when human life is at stake. There are upward of over 7.5 billion lives at stake and 3/4 of billion would still be at risk. And with the ability of a virus to mutate you can't have 1/10 of the population incubating the mutation. The demand of vinyl isn't going to recede anytime soon. We're stuck at home for time being and vinyl records are one of things people are using to occupy their quarantine.
     
  13. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    There are a lot of people who went CD from 80s to 2010+ that are trying to catch up or replace collections. Hence the demand v supply situation. Yes they were foolish to be sucked in by the claimed superiority of CD. My advice is probably to buy new vinyl where there is a decently produced reissue unless you are a collector. You can still get a lot of Lps for around £10-£15 plus postage. The best time to buy was when Ebay was young. Plenty records I bought that didn't turn up in stores or record fairs in good shape. Last 10 years more of sellers market. Never was easy to find used records in good enough playing shape. All these people staying at home for the Pandemic aren't getting the same income so I can't see that being a factor for price increases in the medium to long term.
     
  14. cawley1980

    cawley1980 Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    I never had a problem with 90s vinyl apart from warping, but some of the new 180g releases are ATROCIOUS for warps
     
  15. cawley1980

    cawley1980 Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    Yes same here, thats why i began to notice because ive been buying vinyl online only recently really. I did get plenty of stuff back then and have a decent collection, back in circa 1994/5 there were still plenty of mint first pressings of late 70s/early 80s stuff knocking about if you knew where to look. however i couldnt be expected to buy EVERYTHING, obviously there are still records I want. So you no longer buy records then, because you made sure to buy every single release in the '80s? Kind of a stupid comment to be honest. I understand coronavirus means/will mean an increase in prices but are you telling me seriously that vinyl on discogs was dirt cheap before March?
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2020
  16. cawley1980

    cawley1980 Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    I was never really taken in by the CD to be honest. I still have a few hundred though which I'm getting rid of. CD is the new vinyl in the sense that it's really hard to get decent prices for them and I end up just giving loads of them away. Hope there won't be a CD resurgence in 20 years, I'll kick myself !
    I hated the CD not because of sound quality, which lets be honest is often better than vinyl, but because I couldn't stand those cheap plastic cases which often broke only days after buying them. I hate also how the plastic cases get scuffed so easily too. I suppose the main reason i stuck with vinyl was the big artwork, album art cant be appreciated on cassettes or CDs. Vinyl is the format album artwork was intended for. Also, lets be honest, i like the ritual of playing a record...i have always found it fascinating, probably because as far back as I remember listening to music there was always the CD, which just seemed less appealing to me.
     
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  17. cawley1980

    cawley1980 Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    I never buy VG after being insulted to put it mildly, three or four times. I dont know what discogs sellers think VG stands for , not 'very good' anyway!
    Its only rock stuff thats expensive and i suppose a few other genres. I still get MOST classical stuff dirt cheap, the revival hasn't touched the prices of those kind of genres for the most part yet.
     
  18. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    2 days ago in an exchange store in northeast ohio

    bruce springsteen's new album:

    CD - 9.99

    vinyl - $35.99

    yes, vinyl is ridiculously expensive, and the record companies got it right they want it. the old guys are spending 3 to 4 times as much for vinyl, both new and old, something the record companies have been trying to get them to do since they sold their vinyl the first time for CD's.
     
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  19. George the Cat

    George the Cat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brighton
    Storage is something that needs to be mentioned, if all my cd’s were vinyl you wouldn’t be able to get into the room.
     
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  20. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    I'll sell you records at 1980 prices, if you'll sell me your house at its 1980 price

    [​IMG]
     
  21. sharedon

    sharedon Forum Zonophone

    Location:
    Boomer OK
    So much for "records are your best entertainment value." When I had very little cash, I could still afford records, back in the day. Ah, but times change...
     
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  22. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    You should have seen ebay in the first 5 - 8 years. Tons of Smiths originals for what seemed like high prices, originals for $25 to $35 in super condition. I grabbed the German green vinyl pressing of "The Queen is Dead" because I heard it sounded good and certainly looked so cool!!! That album will run you $60 when it appears in NM condition. But this is 20 years later after I got mine for $23 or whatever it was. 20 years to keep this in storage for you - is not that bad with inflation and the falling value of a dollar. I am sure you can find a NM copy of the standard pressing for $25 - $30 no?
     
  23. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    VG is horribly trashed, even VG+ can be pretty bad unless you know the seller and ask a lot of questions. I stick with NM-, NM, M, and SS when buying online.
     
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  24. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Yeah, lots of folks are unhappy that they were not around in the 80s and first half of the 90s when the pickings were much better, and prices were fun and exciting. I used to go to the record swap every other month or so with an $80 to $90 monthly budget and walk away with a large stack of cool imports and hard to find items. Had I had it to do over again, I'd have blown $200 monthly on those records. I passed on some really nice things because I was trying to stay within a strict budget. I'm regretting not investing more in top quality records on the used market 20 years ago.
     
  25. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    I think one of the answer to it is "Come on., make up your mind"
     
    quicksrt likes this.
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