Vintage Media Grading (VMG) -- Vinyl records. Is this a step too far?!*

I think I just made that title up, but actually, I'm kind of intrigued by Zeppelin story pulps...

https://ratmmjess.livejournal.com/218848.html

 

It’s an amazing title, real or imagined…

 

This is a pretty dodgy business to begin with, grading a collectible that's meant for listening. They aren't doing themselves any favors with these nonsensical descriptions.

 

Or something to whack the grader, about the head and neck, once you track down him, her or them.

 

:: Maybe for someone could be a good idea but, in the other side, I've been reading, watching videos on YT regarding the Comic Collection community...those guys (don't know if anyone of you are into it so sorry this is just my opinion), those guys practically all their videos talk about "I found this comic book its value is $99 ungraded so I sent it to be professional graded and got it back in a plastic slab (with hologram etc) now its value goes for $99999 and I've been chiecking it's value on eBay so my invest went up for 343%+ and I can sell it for $9,99,99999 etc whatever...they speculate with those, I mean, they got this week's Spiderman, buy 34 copies, never touch them and/or read them BUT then do same procedure: slab them, re-sell them...I mean... this is worse than buy LPs and keep them sealed...but to each their own...

EDIT.- when I was a pre-teen and just before high school I collected Amazing Spiderman, from #6 up til #200 something, I kept them in boxes, later I met a guy who offered me big bucks for them...when I went to college my mom got rid of those boxes as she gave them to charity (old magazines and old posters--she claimed) I never knew about it until later ...but that was different, I read those comics to death, I even used to trace and draw the covers or inside pages of the webcrawler --I was good drawing!

 

They also digitize your item...

"And if you want to keep listening to that unique record – we’ve got that covered too! Using the best audio recording technology available, we can digitize your unique, graded album with ownership encoded, tracked and verified via the blockchain in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT).

You can listen to your album anywhere, with all its unique clicks and hisses. You can play it for your friends. And you can proudly and confidently display ownership of the unique, singular, one-of-a-kind sound of your album in your crypto wallet.

Because buying, collecting, and investing in vinyl records should not be a leap of faith."

..and digitizing that record to your to your specific specs won't be a leap of faith?

 

There’s a previous related thread here
"Encapsulation" - hermetically seal your records for perpetuity - curious new trend....

 

"Vinyl records are works of art designed perfectly for collectors."

No, no they are not. Vinyl records are a way of listening to music, and thats what they were designed for.

 

I don't need to know any more than this to know they are obviously full of sh1t.

 

Just had a thought. Is this service aimed more at collectors wanting to get an insurance value on their collection? Sounds like the grading is VERY generous.

 

I was thinking about 6 months ago that vinyl records have now become something to own for many collectors, seemingly. It's initial purpose to reproduce music and not be a pretty coloured pink vinyl, or vomit inducing splatter design seems to be slipping somewhat. This latest development of rendering your records useless is further evidence of this.

 

"VMG will make a digital copy of your album for you, using state of the art, high-tech equipment to ensure that every subtle crack and pop of your record is recorded exactly as it sounds when played on a turntable. Because your album is truly unique "


Seriously, what are they on ?

They're trying to convince us that the damage our records unfortunately went through is someting artistic and valuable now ? And that it's something that has commercial value ? They sure are funny, those guys

'Hey, buy my 10 years old car ! It has bumps and scratches no other car in the world has ! It's really unique !".

 

Hmm VMG, I can see an incoming cease and desist from Virgin Media Group arriving any day

 

There are actually Excel tools that allow grading of cover and vinyl by an interactive checklist.

 

That probably explains why they don't play them!

Records are for listening to for me, I don't want to own something simply to own it.

 

This will appeal to those that see a record as a tangible asset rather than just a cool album to listen to. World is going to crap in a rather pointless way.

 

oh man, this is sooo pointless.

 

They can grade my pen.s... and for those prices, they can also...

 

And crazy they think they can be credible at this when they've demonstrated right off the bat they don't know how to grade a record.

Unreliability bonus: throughout the website there are pics of records in racks with beat up, feathered covers like you'd see at a garage sale for $1 or $2 each. The new "EX."

 

...but not deep enough to give the impression they were caused by driveway gravel or debris shooting out of the wood chipper.

 

Of course. What you thought was "mint" is now "mega-mint" or "mint+++".

 

I'd say it's about five steps too far.

Odd that what they call a "9" is what most people would call "VG+", and the remaining 8 grades are for various levels VG are below. Clearly intended for people who pay $40 for a beat-up copy of Crosby Stills & Nash and are just getting into vinyl.

 

The narrative appears, to me, to be utter twaddle.

Not grading the cover and vinyl separately, for me, is just wrong.

There’s an ignore button for the website somewhere surely.

And as I said on the other thread, it would have been laughed out of Dragons’ Den.

 

They clearly know nothing about handling or grading records - I use discogs grading, cos I buy much of my second hand from them. The grading is free, makes sense, and you can tell which sellers are honouring the system by their feedback stats. But these clowns are the type who call a record a 'top copy' because it doesn't skip. You see a lot of them on Ebay, maybe selling a copy of Genesis's Foxtrot and calling it "Phil Collins prog - top copy".

 

Vinyl records? Don't they mean vinyls?