Vinyl

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:idea: The VALUE of Vinyl :idea:

I would say as of now, they are gaining immense value and will continue doing so with every passing year...

What I see as proof:

A number of CD reissue programs including my beloved Collectables halting a number of artists whom a reissue program had "just started" and reissuing stuff that's long been in catalog by their original labels even with the new ownerships acquired...

Also my latest Collectables catalogs, both in "snail mail" and e-Mail, online seem to devote their attention to DVD's, though with them being movies with added "bonus features" and even classic TV show series (though a lot are still in the first one or two seasons) that can be an advantage with TV not quite into re-runs of stuff (even with the increasing number of the many cable channels) as back when it was syndicated into network TV that wasn't of "the Big 3" or "Big 4", which the series' have first aired...

I wonder, too, if Collectors Choice and a number of import reissue labels plan to put out more stuff by some artists whom I've seen some of their works reissued, but still not "everything"...

Add to it the fact that a number of record players and GOOD record players are no more... Usually to get a good long-lasting piece of equipment to play records or vinyl on, anything in the used-market can also increase in value and hopefully you can still obtain a good needle for...

(I have--from Here: www.ewsaunders.com --I should'a started a Thread called "The New Needle Blues", as that was what I was singing before I found out (--er, someone TOLD ME) about this dealer based in Georgia and rush-ordered a couple SHURE Cartridges for my turntable from...)

Of course, the above is just my opinion, but none-the-less what I have experienced giving that the 12X12 format gives me ideal-sized artwork and preserves the originality of the artwork and with exception of the few CD's I do have (shoved into some of those old album covers replacing my worn-out wax, or just being a desirable format for the sake of programming or rearranging tracks) and having my stereo set on PHONO and having to get up to change album sides...

And let's not forget '45's... Which I still buy if I don't appreciate the artists' original album from or if a certain song is only available in that format--seeing as how some CD reissues out there still omit them as "bonus tracks"...



Dave
 
In 10 years, I think there will even be more emphasis on condition concerning the price of lps. In the following three catagories, I am referring to lps in solid near mint to mint condition only......

In ten years I think......

the more common, easier to find lps will be worth less than today

the lps with decent collectibilty will be worth 50 to 100% more.

Rare collectible lps (like jazz lps on Blue Note, Prestige or Riverside or classical lps like certain ones on RCA or select lps on Mercury) will go thru the roof.
 
'Course at this point, w/ the way down-loadable media is starting to take over vinyl's original replacement, the CD, the future of its value is starting to be in question...

Other than the nostalgic fact, that at least whatever old time artists there are out there touring, they still enjoy seeing it, & (most of the time) signing what they'd long-ago made...


Dave
 
Here's a snapshot of the current market...

I'm working on a project regarding record stores, and came across some information based on retailers who have been in the business for a long time (decades, most of them). In the current market, most CDs are losing value since downloadable music is more attractive. You see fewer college aged (OK, 18-25 year olds...some of us old fossils still go to college :D ) purchases these days, especially in college towns. One store locally reported that the number of college students they sell to is only a small percentage of shoppers, as opposed to a decade or more ago. Plus, many shoppers are voting with their gas tanks and buying used CDs online, where it is easier to locate a rare title than spend half a day and $20 in gas searching out one or two CDs.

Overall, that is good news for used CD shoppers. Rare items will always command a higher price, but the bulk of used CD purchases will probably drop in retail price due to the declining demand for them.

LPs, however, are gaining in value. There is a current mass market fascination with records, a wave of vinyl nostalgia that (IMHO anyway) is going to pass. But overall, this is helping to drive the value of records up at legitimate music stores. Even the sub-par market (such as thrift stores) is starting to pump up the pricing on vinyl, although their employees are clueless as to grading and condition. Collectors are still buying as before, but we're also seeing more collectors fed up with CDs dust off their turntables and head back to the stores, either out of disgust for the horrible suonding CDs being released these days, or lack of product. (We A&Mers know, better than anyone, how many unreleased titles there are in the back catalogs.) The audiophile market is also seeing a lot of fantastic sounding reissues (and new releases) showing up on LP, so the overall effect after the mass market tires of it will still be in a positive swing.

My own gut feeling is that demand for LPs dropped in the mid through late 80s as everyone attempted to jump on the CD bandwagon (with many selling off their LPs), but has been steadily improving since then.
 
Certain vinyl continues to gain in value year after year. A few years ago you could still get things like The Beatles 'White Album' in the original mono 1st UK pressing for around £40 or £50 in VG condition. Today the same LP will be around £200, maybe £300 or more to the right buyer. Same goes for a lot of the old original classic rock (Stones, Hendrix, Zeppelin etc), if it's an original 1st pressing in good condition it can only continue to gain in value as vinyl collectors worldwide clamour to complete their collections. Jazz & classical music enthusiasts will likewise pay top dollar for orig 1st pressings of certain titles, and I don't see it slowing down.

Certain LP's that only ever had a short-run original pressing, like Moby Grape songwriter Skip Spence's "Oar" LP, or maybe records that were released and quickly withdrawn (Sex Pistols lone A&M 45 for instance) will easily fetch thousands of £'s if they turn up for sale, despite the avalanche of reissues, legit or otherwise, on the market. An increasing number of privately-pressed records are becoming serious collectors items too, often more to do with limited pressing runs rather than the music itself, sometimes there's no explaining why certain records skyrocket in value after being passed over for years...

Of course there's bazillions of old records out there that you just can't pay people to take away. Go to any thrift store and see if you don't lose count of all the Jim Reeves LPs, or Lawrence Welk LPs, or Liberace LPs that aren't going anyplace soon, not even at 10c a pop. An awful lot of vinyl ends up in landfill sites, and refuse dumps, but thanks to the internet and sites like ebay or Amazon, the collectable stuff will remain sought-after.

I paid the last couple of years off my house by selling vintage records, it doesn't surprise me that certain items will always remain sought-after... Supply and demand!
 
You've got it there, Mexicat! So, would you sell a first-state butcher cover for $1 or $1000? :D

The dollar bins at the record shops are filled with endless copies of "High Infidelity" or "Eagles Greatest Hits"...or even "Whipped Cream & Other Delights." I don't even bother with those anymore.

One problem today is with sellers. A lot of misguided eBay and retail sellers have this impression that 1) vinyl is popular, which makes 2) all vinyl rare and expensive. So you'll see common titles, usually trashed, selling for far more than they should. I've heard of one thrift shop recently that changed its pricing from the standard $1 per LP to prices they found online...somewhere...making the price of all the items way too expensive. And you know how bad 90% of all thrift shop vinyl is. Just about all I've seen over the years are LPs that rarely ever saw their album jackets in their lifetime. As those sellers sit on those items for months, you'd think they would start to get a clue.

There are some titles on LP, even common ones, that fetch big bucks. The key is in the pressing. If there is a known good pressing out there, collectors who want the bets sound will seek it out. One of my next quests is to find the good pressings of Steely Dan's "Aja" on ABC, and the first couple of Led Zep albums on Atlantic.

The current audiophile reissue titles are worth some money also, mainly due to their limited run. Some titles from the past (early Mobile Fidelity, Nautilus, Super Disk, DCC, etc.) are fetching handsome sums of money.

Savvy collectors like us know the difference between the good and the bad. :agree:
 
OK, if you have a 'butcher cover' LP for sale I'll take it for $1000, cos I'd be flipping it for $2000 to $2200 within hours and flying someplace warm with the proceeds! Temperature hasn't made it above 0 for days here and it sucks.

Whenever I sold on ebay I always chose the 'auction' option and started every LP at 0.99 with no reserve price so yeah if I was selling it online, I would put a 'butcher' LP up for sale at $1. It wouldn't sell for that though...

Those first two Led Zep LPs are pretty easy to find, even in mint or close-to-mint condition. You could probably snap 'em up today online or by 'phone, no need to even leave the house. Just depends on whether or not you're prepared to pay the going rate for them, but the longer you leave it the more expensive they will become!

'Aja' on the other hand... I've never been a fan of those 70's ABC pressings. The mastering is great but the vinyl is often thin so the cut isn't deep enough and doesn't do the music justice. If you're prepared to buy a non-US copy then get a mint condition late 70's German or Japanese pressing, the sound reproduction is superb and they're relatively inexpensive. The collector in me always wants an orig US or UK 1st pressing, but the audiophile in me will choose a JPN or GDR pressing every time. I'd never buy a reissue over an original except to DJ with, but that's another story...

I'll give you my address so you can send all those 'butcher cover' Beatles lps that you don't want, don't hesitate you know it makes sense etc etc...
 
So I guess the days of butcher covers in the dollar bins has long passed... :D

For the first few Zep albums, I'd have to check the matrix in the runout to make sure I get the copies I'm looking for. Ditto on the Aja--there are one or two early pressings that some have found to be good but you're right, most of the rest of them are crap. I saw an ABC label that, rather than the usual logo, had a music note up with the logo...which I'm taking is a "reissue" logo. ABC was probably still better than MCA, which used recycled vinyl that I've heard even had bits of label in it. My first Steely Dan purchases were on that Platinum Series reissue program via MCA, and most did not sound good...dull and lifeless, in addition to sometimes noisy vinyl.

Maybe they used the vinyl from all of those KISS solo albums that, as industry types said, "shipped gold and returned platinum." :laugh:

The thinnest LPs I've found are the RCA Dynaflex. And, a Cal Tjader album on Fantasy (called "Tjader") that was pressed by RCA during that Dynaflex era. Any thinner and they'd have been "sound sheets" you could tuck into the pages of a Time Magazine issue!

Weather's cold here too, but not single-digit cold. We do often get a cold snap in mid December where we get highs in the teens during the day. Now I know one reason Harry moved south. :D
 
Ha, yep them $1 butcher cover LPs are loooong gone, went the same way that cheap gas went and probably around the same time too...

I'd forgotten about the dynaflex and recycled vinyl days! I remember buying Isaac Hayes' "Black Moses" LP and the vinyl was thinner than the cardboard sleeve it came in and it sounded dire, might as well have been pressed on a cereal box sound-sheet. But that Cal Tjader LP is real favorite, nice version of 'Fresh Air' on there 'I Showed Them' also, great LP. Had to get a German pressing to make a decent needle-drop CD of it though...

Those Zep albums, ask any dealer for the matrix info upfront, they should be happy to provide you with stuff like that. If not, walk on. Unless the LPs are $1 each of course but you know that already...

Right, gotta go. Temperature made it to 2 above freezing today, need to go open some windows around here, can't have my tequila getting all warm...

Stay warm dudes,
M
 
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