Are psych/prog RECORDS losing value?

Psych pretty well always was a good bet.
But now I'm reading that prices of rarities are falling across the board (in most genres, apparently with the exception of certain punk).

Of course demand records like orig Sabbath and Zeppelin will likely always go up, or at least stay steady.

We read how pandemic times have caused the opposite to happen - in general collectables are on the rise (with trading sports cards exhibiting an nigh unprecidented boom. (I remember in the 90s my friend had a store that was mainly into trading cards and the floor fell out on the game).

0.5% interest and the sorry stock market have people investing in the Tangible like homes...and, it would seem, ferkin' playing cards.

But why not vinyl?
Or am I wrong.

.................
Please keep on subject. Contrary to my words above, this post is not about pandemic economics.
Its:

Are psych/prog RECORDS losing value?

 

Not if you want to buy one.

 

I would say some of the more esoteric & whimsical psych records have plateaued, and in a few cases have gone down a little bit. Prog on the other hand seems to maintain its value and is even going up still. I don't think for example that Genesis on the UK pink Charisma label or the many UK Vertigos are going to be going down anytime soon.

Many classic coveted 1st press records have plateaued after hitting the 100 to 200 mark. Used to be years ago many could be had for 30 to 40 but those dried up. Plus many have been reissued and that seems to fill the bill for newer collectors.

 

Brilliant, and true.

My local store wanted $40 for Pink Floyd's Collection of Antiques and $75 for Rupert Hine's proggy second album. I see no records being sold at a reduced rate, top dollar every genre every time. The decline in value of Prog and Psych records will come soon enough though. Raunchnroll's post also makes a lot of sense.

OP where are you seeing such things? Say hi to Mike the next time you're at Records on Wheels.

 

Which Rupert Hine- Wildest Wish To Fly?

 

1973 release. I have the Line repress. The OG Purple records release is quite rare. Porky stampers too.

 

Not sure about Psych, or even prices come to that, but demand for Prog has been decreasing for a couple of years, most of the serious collectors have what they want, a lot of Europeans seem to have left the market and people under forty who are driving the vinyl market generally aren't into Prog beyond the more obvious titles, it still sells, but the bigger pieces are definitely slower moving, that's what happens to music that specifically appeals to just one generation, Prog will likely go the same way as Rock 'n' Roll, Doo Wop and Merseybeat.

 

Don't see it! A freind just paid £500 for ELP's 'Fanfare' box set. He said that was cheap to what sellers are asking for on Ebay & Discogs.
Prog & Psych will always be collectable. I once owned lots of early Genesis promo's that I wish I had kept. I think I gave them away. I did hang onto the YES ones though, including the 'banded' Tales & Relayer.
I have loads of Punk albums & singles that I bought back in the day; need to do valuation and get 'em sold as they have little value to me! Cant see how they will have much value as they only had a small market to begin with.

 

After decades of progdom you still discover new stuff. I "discovered" Bubu the other week. Top tier stuff and amazing that this record is not better known. A quick trip to the place I where I never buy records, Discogs has a couple starting at 1k plus. Recent limited reissues $250.

 

"Fanfare" has only got close to that price once on Discogs, it generally fetches just over £300, it has fetched more on eBay, but is usually around £300, what prices people ask and what things sell for are often very different, I'd agree that Punk is quite a limited market.

 

Where exactly are you "reading" this?

With all due respect, please do some simple research on what rare Psych lp's have been going for recently.

The very rare psych, especially ones in amazing shape are hitting absolute higher sales numbers than ever before.

 

I'm curious where you are reading this information as well.

Perhaps they are not gaining value and look as if they are not getting more valuable due to the more famous artists albums rising in value. Those famous artists are Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, the fabs, Eagles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and pretty much anything you still hear a lot on classic rock radio. While there's a bazillion pressings of their famous albums, I think because there's a lot of new people getting into vinyl, they want what they already know about.

I work at a store and when a rare psych album comes in, it just sits there. Granted, we're not in a big city so that niche buyer doesn't really come around too often. But if it's one of the famous artists, it's guaranteed to be gone by time the weekend is over. Obviously we can put a higher price on those items. Some psych I will put a lower value price on to give that niche buyer a deal. If it doesn't sell in the store, it has to go online. That could be another reason why... more competition from stores that can't sell in store. Anyways, no one ever comes in and asks where the Bull Angus record is. They want Rumors, dang it!

 

Just looked on Ebay and the cheapest Fanfare is over £600

 

Just watch and see if any sell for that price.

 

That's interesting! I was an occasional visitor to Record Fairs prior to lockdown and those famous albums by Fleetwood Mac & the Eagles where always in abundence. Classics by Led Zep & The Who where quite rare to find though; especially those in excellent + condition.

 

I'm in midwest America. I'm sure tastes are different elsewhere. Round here, people like what they've heard a bazillion times on the radio and think every Elvis record is worth a million dollars.

 

Collectors will want what collectors want.

For for those of us who just want the music -- there have been a number of pretty terrific reissues in the past 5 years or so. And niche labels are targeting rare psych/prog albums, so many of those otherwise unobtainables can now be found. As a result, the music is out there and the desire to pay premium prices is not what it once was.

But... collectors will still want what they want.

 

Yes, Tull, Genesis, etc., just don’t command the prices that Zep, Sabbath, Floyd do. ELP has long been a screaming buy, they are essentially a gas guzzling car abandoned on the highway. Krautrock has fallen. Other than Vertigoes and a few others most have dropped, Fluid Druid $10-15 nowadays, etc., US West Coast psych is dropping. The knowledge nor the interest is there. Yes, stores that don’t do volume will hold onto these and try to eek out every last penny, but if the store is healthy these are dropping in value to get rid of them.

 

there was a seller on ebay 6-5 months ago selling a large record psych/prog lp collection. the final sold price for many of the titles were much higher ( 2 to 3 times more) than the average high price

 

Wait a minute, I have Elvis Moody Blue on Blue vinyl, you can't tell me that isn't worth a fortune. Seriously though, if Prog seems a bit on a down swing price wise, and I'm not seeing that in the Northeast USA, prices seem steady or up a bit, but if it is trending down, it would make sense. The big collectors of top dollar stuff, either have bought everything they want, or are in a holding pattern. Not sure which way the wind is blowing. Uncertainty is the biggest factor most likely, uncertainty about anything really. I think when things seem more "normal" wallets will open, and the search will continue. Eventually, unless more, younger prog type bands emerge, it will only make sense that genre will dry up someday, as the original wave of collectors leaves the game.

 

It also depends on whether the item is a superb condition first pressing, which I don't see losing value anytime soon.
A lot of this stuff will wind up like jazz titles, a niche market, subject to some undulations over time. But over the long run its value is not going to plunge I suspect.
Too, a lot first pressings never sold that much to begin with, so they were rare then, and even more rare as time goes on with loss and attrition. It only takes a couple people amidst the millions of world wide music fans to drive or keep the price of a nice orignal record up.

I used Genesis as an example previously. Sure, one can go find a nice clean playable original copy of Tresspass for a reasonable amount i.e. $15 or so. But try to find a NM UK pink Charisma 1st pressing. I have a good hunch that sort of thing will keep its value.

 

As I said, what people ask and what it has actually sold for are two different things, the information is readily accessible on Discogs and Popsike, the majority of copies have actually sold for £300-£350, the two or three above £500 are outliers.

 

There are a select few eBay sellers who achieve top prices for certain genres, they can sometimes achieve two or three times what other sellers get, it may have been one of those sellers, likewise a good provenance/story can have a similar positive effect on the price.

 

This is a very interesting question. I think the answer is yes. How many of the teenagers today are listening to psyche from the 60’s and 70’s? Some of them are, but not as many as the people who stops buying these records. It is always about supply and demand. The early hard rock and heavy metal will continue to be sought after I think. Maybe not the obscure psychedelic records. This is what I believe!

 

I hope so. I have been searching for some slightly obscure 60's psych records recently but they have been out of my budget.