Always a good laugh when someone claims moral superiority b/c they don't flip product. The virtue-signaling anecdotes are particularly lame. Morality doesn't exist in a free market economy b/c you can't force anyone to buy what you're selling.
As I said, only a very few of my videos are based on comments or topics from here. But I love when they inspire discussions as I see in the comments I get. I have a ton of ideas and a few in the queue
whatever free market wet dream you choose to chase, coming on an audiophile forum to brag about flipping records is particularly lame.
Oh yes it does. And I get give you LOTS of examples, including a few for-profit companies my brother has been involved with. Sorry. There's PLENTY of room for morality in the business world. Not everyone practices it or, like you, even believes in it.
If you think the Bill Evans Riverside box set is jacked up in price, then you don’t own one. I bought mine when it first came out - $550 Many of you lucked into a preorder $600 price - that was probably a barometer on whether to re-release it Acoustic Sounds probably broke even on that one Prices of records have gone way up to manufacturer, huge inflation of costs, not to mention demand and pulling the presses from selling other lps. The Riverside box is priceless and 900 Dollars for 22 pristine 45 rpm audiophile lps and a wonderful box at a great price Try finding a mint copy of the original run online What do they want for that? I don’t buy this one for a second Although Chad has jacked prices on key lps where his stock is getting low And those rare one offs His Classic Records backstock prices is through the roof I have 2 ERCs where the sleeves bowed, I compressed them back out. Never seen this with other premium product. It must be the fancy typeset. you have to be very careful in how you store these I agree with this wholeheartedly The Beatles mono lp box was around for a long time. Plenty of people already had a taste from the mono and stereo cd boxes When the mono box came out it was deemed too expensive by many. It was met with great critical praise for sound and quality. Many people were not into vinyl back then You can still find the poor sounding stereo box Or better yet pick up a reasonably priced Blue Box I bought the Stones mono lp box foreseeing a similar fate, although the supply didn’t last long I really like holding onto a few desired lps - not a hoarder - to trade with other like minded music lovers or pass off to friends down the line. All the best in your quest
But as an old fart, and an influencer of the youth maybe it would be a good topic. While I know you feel all records should be opened, you tend to only buy one of a specific copy. Your still an old fart who I don't think has much of a problem with how others want to enjoy records as well. I never seen you express envy of others because they might have more records than you, or their system cost more, you just want people to enjoy what they have with the same passion as you do, or at least start learning to. I don't know, it just seems to be a trend of trying to belittle and shame others if they don't participate the same way as others do. In fact Melinda Murphy made a vid the other day and clearly it played on her head. 10 Proven Strategies To Acquire The Vinyl Records You Are Dying To Have! #9 Is Controversial!! In this vid she brought up ways to get records that might be hard to get, cost a lot, but basically it was about how to network with other collectors. Just basic stuff most record collectors do, including selling off other records we have to get more records. She put in the title #9 Is Controversial!! It shouldn't be for anyone collecting records, she talks about selling off other records that gained in value since you bought them, to get other records that also gained in value but you missed out on them. It's basic 101 of collecting anything really and improving your collection. She is talking about making money off of records you already own to fund a higher purchase price of something else you really want. She brings up flipping and secondary market to sell maybe $100 records that were bought new at like for $25. So if you sold off 15 of these out of your collection you can go get that $1500 box set. In the reality of the matter doing this, the $1500 box set really only cost you $375 of your money. That said, if anyone thinks this is morally wrong in some way, that you don't love music, your an oger and nasty flipper you need your head examined. However clearly in her vid, she wanted to bring up the practicality and basic collecting skills, but with a ceviat so she wouldn't be shamed in some way for doing it or even mentioning it.
It's the former. He sell audiophile stock at retail. Like most has difficulty maintaining enough stock. The amount he invests in pre owned vinyl is massive and any profit after sorting, grading, cleaning etc is going to take years to realise. I assume his store has a very high turnover otherwise he would be bankrupt. Even can afford to keep the best pressings for his own collection which goes against being there just to flip product.
Some of what is described here, I don’t regard as flipping. I’ve always thought of flipping as an action whereby one buys up a (usually limited) product and then immediately sells it on the secondary market for a profit. And so, in effect, the flipper contributes to the scarcity (by buying up the limited stock) and then profits from it. In egregious cases, the flipper might use bespoke software to outmaneuver humans purchasing in the usual way by buying up online stock. The flipper may pay people to stand in the queue to buy on his or her behalf, only to then ‘flip’ the thing on ebay (this was a real thing at iPhone launches for a good few years). The flipper, in effect, is then capitalising from scarcity, or potentially even manipulating the market, in order to generate a profit. Surely, that definition makes sense of the verb ‘to flip’: ‘he bought the thing, only to flip it on ebay’? I’d regard some of what is described here, selling items above retail years after the thing has gone out of print, is just the nature of what comes with collecting? I’ve sold a couple of guitars at an outrageous profit, way, way, way above retail. I don’t regarded it as flipping, because I had one of them for 10 years, bought it with no intention of selling, and used the proceeds to buy a baby grand piano. As with the Beatles Mono box set, the scarcity didn’t exist when I bought the thing, didn’t exist in the succeeding years - in fact, I was as likely to lose money as to turn a profit at the point I bought it… Well, kinda, I’ve got exceedingly good taste and knew very well what I was buying
gotta call it as you see it. Arent we supposed to question labels to hopefully improve them? I like to point out what i see are flaws and you like to point out conspiracies and hypocrisy of record retailers (aka flippers). We all have things we dont like but thats how it goes. I know your copy of ERC Giant Steps was perfect so theres no way big bad Ingroove Mike the Great Hypocrite received 3 disappointing ERC releases. We all hve stupid stuff to complain about, its pretty much the basis of this forum most of the time. and while i may question how labels do things and can improve them, i dont staunchly say ill never buy from them. I still buy AP releases even if i do think some of the stuff theyve done is questionable. I still buy blue note classics even if they can do better jackets for the price they charge. Still support them even when i disagree.
I like what Melinda does. We’ve had conversations before and she is a relatively new record buyer and collector and that brings a refreshing take to the vinyl community (as it is known on YouTube). The beauty is variety and her genuine warmness comes across. I do have a more direct and snarky approach to my presentations and the conversations I bring up, and there is a segment of watchers who feel I’m hitting directly at them which is really not the case. I’m occasionally introducing those topics just like they are brought up here and the conversation frequently continues in the comments. If someone feels like they are being attacked, they are completely missing the point imho. But these questions are very relevant. Her take collecting and selling is valid as is everyone else’s. Mine may be a little different with the more blatant examples getting a bigger reaction from me. So it goes.
I think it was around 12-13 years ago, some friends of mine and I started to network on another very large site Audiokarma. What we would do is start a thread in the classified section, talk about the RSD titles we wanted. Being the country has different time frames and store open at different times we were able to network getting each other records at cost. Many on the east coast and a few of us on the west coast pulling up the rear. Half the time I would have the records I wanted before my store even opened up at 11 am PST. We were all always able to get anything we wanted, so much so we started to open the threads up to ALL members over the years. The way it worked was people would post their wants in the thread. We would take the list in order trying to get records to everyone at cost. Some people could do more shopping than others, some couldn't make it out at all. Some would help keep the thread organized keeping track of who's next, what's still needed. People would be out in stores posting from their phones asking if something was needed, or saying what they can grab. There were some rules, and some broke them and got banned by us from participating in it anymore. The rules where to be committed in buying what you asked for, and that could be changed like if you found one on your own. In which case you stated it in the thread and that title would go to the next inline wanting one. Also you had to sell them at your cost, there could be a couple dollars differences from store to store and local taxes. You could not sell them at inflated prices you started to see them sell for on eBay, you also couldn't get records from us to then flip on eBay or on the site. This thread would continue for about a week after RSD, because titles keep coming in. Also on sunday the day after I would go to Amebea where I could grab 4 or five same titles at a time to offer up on the site and continue to fill orders. We did this for around 10 years, I'm no longer on that site, and when I left it pretty much stopped. We bought thousands of records for other people filling their dreams of getting a title and never made a dime, none of us. We could see we were selling records to other members we did not know at cost, but it was selling on ebay for $100 more, but that wasn't the point. The point was one hand washes the other, take care of others in need and your good behavior will come back to you tenfold as Karma. A member in this thread keeps bringing up the word Irony without really knowing how it applies or use. I can not believe you used the word empathy right after you posted the above. Now that's ironic... Yes people go to work and put out their own money in considerable sums to help secure records for others with no profit in mind, only to help them out.
LOL That's been brought up................. I run from members who use that terminology here LOL. Really though for you two I see this "New" Vinyl's Community ready to tear their self apart. Fruff76 there is in fighting going on that I ran across one day between male and females, then you have the crap with in groovy guy and on and on. One person does a vid, 12 others do the same thing. They then use there channel to put others down on Youtube and try to divide and conquer. I just see noobs leading noobs around, like the blind leading the blind, sorry Norm not really including you in that statement. But then these noobs come here with the same warped concepts and beliefs. You can almost always tell when someone just started learning about records and HiFi really. That's not necessary a bad thing if they are open to learning. But they are bringing learning from someone who isn't much more ahead of the game than them, and more narcissistic. Anyway enough from me, I'll go watch some Mazzy vids and spin some records.
BTW, If people like the youtube "Vinyl Community" let me suggest someone who you might not know about. The only reason I do was they were participating in a thread here and then decided to post a video review of it in that thread. However they didn't just start yesterday listening to records, they don't spend a lot of time bloviating in the vids. In fact they don't even try to influence anyone as to what to buy or not. He compares what he has and experienced with what he wanted to buy, that's all. Youtube Channel -The Pressing Matters Member here @Vinylfindco For example, a common video.
Im sorry oh great king of records, us peasants cant follow in the steps you determined are the only ones correct. Back to our thatched huts.
I don't know that I would call it morality. I see it as integrity, honor, fairness etc. I would like to see more of these things, for sure.
