Is the golden age of record collecting coming to an end? And why I’m selling a load of mine!

Record collecting will never end, one rule to collecting is never sell, great video can't wait to see more of your videos greetings from Australia 🙂

One thing not being mentioned here is that modern popular music has been spinning around and around since at least the mid 1990’s. There’s a lot of “been there, done that” with many people , there are endless reissues of all the Rock heroes that we really don’t need, and last but not least, the prices asked are no longer doable, especially when you consider the tired colored vinyl represses. Discogs has also left no mystery in the joy of discovery, which is what fed the thrill of the hunt. It’s all added up to many collectors getting just plain tired. Tired of all of it.

Collecting since the 1970s. I worked at a record store in Chicago for 10-15 years. I've always culled the herd. Sometimes I regret it. I only supplemented my LP collection 'holes' with CDs. Also, I invested in a Tascam unit to burn LP and cassette to CD. For the last 25 years, very, very rarely do I spend big bucks for any recorded music. I see much of the remix thing as flogging a dead horse. I've concentrated on finding what I've missed out on, in any genre, over the last 100 years. I thrift it. It is amazing what one can find today and also what one has missed hearing along the way, even after fishing in deep tracks. The enjoyment of the search and random find is a very personal experience. The collecting 'world' may change, but the comfort of your collection is lasting. Thanks.

Spot on, since the price of new vinyl has gone through the roof, the 2nd hand market has heated up considerably. So I don't buy many now, but CDs are still great value & found some really good ones in charity shops next to nothing & they are a much more versatile product. But you are right, it's better to curate your collection because your more likely to play more records & enjoy it. 👍

I get what you mean by having too much. The only good side to that is when you go back and listen to something that you have not heard in years or decades, you tend to get a different perspective on the music. I'm enjoying going back through the collection and doing a relisten. very refreshing in most cases.

I’m a massive record collector. I’ve been collecting for around 10 years with a collection of 2,000+ strong. I collect to listen. I have listened to almost everything in my collection at least once.

When Herb Albert’s whipped cream and other delights sells for $12 there’s a problem.

My dilemma. Been collecting for nearly 60 years. Every record I've ever sold I eventually wound up regretting. 'Bat Out Of Hell' being the only exception. I am now 71 years old and I'm told I can't take them with me. Over 3000. It will be a total bummer but as you get up in years you gotta part with your stuff.

I understand only wanting records you'll play, as even a small collection can go untouched at times. Bu, I'm grateful for my dad's big collection, each with its own history and you can find things in ti, and I enjoy how my small collection reflects my tastes and can grow from there. I think a collection gets too big when you forget about some records entirely or when they become hard to access and therefore go unplayed. (This can happen in small spaces, though utilizing wall space as we did at home helps, but a few got covered by kids games, but openning up again). I agree new records are expensive, but you can find cheaper second-hand ones depending on what you're looking for.

As far as I’m concerned the golden age ended when the revival started. I was buying them by the box load, in near mint condition back in 90’s and early aughts. Once the revival started you suddenly had to pay $30 for an OG pressing of Nothing to Fear by Oingo Boingo. I bought multiple copies of stuff for .25 a piece back in those days. Luckily I got everything I wanted and can just focus on new pressings as they come around. Either way, from my perspective the golden age has been gone since 2010 or so.

I get rid of records all the time. I'm more into upgrading records that I love instead of buying as many records as I can. I have roughly 600 in my collection.

As an 18, nearly 19 year old I buy them to have the physical object and to play a full album and get songs I love. I like finding random finds in second hand shops or looking for a good deal on ebay. But I grew up around (vinyl) records and cds and cacettes , so that probably influences how I percive them. Edit: I stream say on spotify and listen to records and cds bcause each has its time and place and you can have both I think Streaming- portable, for working out, longer tasks no need to flip over or change, what I don't have in a physical medium, playlists of more than one artist you can easily create, look up new stuff, can play someone your taste and have different songs and artists you like play Records (applies to other physical medium)- collection of my taste, artwork, listen to a full album , the hunt for them in say second hand shops, a physical object, a peice of history, appreciation to an artist/label etc by buying their thing, something you can show others and talk to them about music or art or politics or just life, whatever is connected to that record Sorry my comments got so long. 😅

I agree on your point regarding selling a record that you bought as your first copy, sell it, then buy another copy. It's not the same, no matter what copy it is. Take your example of Atom Heart Mother. I've got the copy I cycled into Preston to buy as a teen, then I've an original, no box EMI copy, a quad copy and the 2018 remaster. If I had to sell, all but the one I first bought would go, even though, it's monetary value is low, it's emotional value is worth more! Like you, I buy to play. There are lots I'd still like to buy, but my listening time isn't what it used to be. As a young man, many hours were spent listening to my music. Over time, the pressures of work and family, I have little time to sit, put a record, or CD on, and listen to it. There have been some recent releases that in my younger days I'd have snapped up, but now I think, I don't really need that, so I don't buy it. Like many, I've grown tired of the re issues, remasters and remixes. As a Floyd fan, do we need so many copies of DSOTM? No, just the one really. I'm now looking for new music that I like and original bootlegs, not the current trend of new issues of bootlegs that have been repressed and repackaged, although some are quite good you risk buying a concert you already have! Record Store Day is another issue. You have scalpers who are currently advertising 2024 releases on ebay for 3-4 times the price of the issue price as soon as the list is published. This is wrong, and supposedly they monitor and take down these listings, but they don't. This doesn't help either the physical shops they are trying to help, nor the buyer who genuinely can't get to a record store. It's a sad state of affairs, ruled by the greed of the music industry and the collectors as "investors" who see vinyl as another pension pot, to go with the wine they'll never drink and the cars they'll never drive.

Doing the same thing woke up one morning cleaning records that I would never listen to plus adding them to discogs then putting them away too old (77)to keep this up!

I traded some records in at a shop today and it was great, for me I like to be able to just do it all at once and not have to ship out records. Also, our local store did record store a day and they did phenomenal they sold 97% of everything. They had lines around the store all day long.

Just discovered your channel and as a long time collector much of what you've discussed really hits home. I think the internet has taken the expertise and experience out of the game and collecting has become very different. It's just not as fun anymore and I also have downsizing and discovering my true favourite albums. Enjoyed that, thanks.

More power to them with Record Store Days etc., but they'll never be able to duplicate what it was like back when vinyl was the main format. I had two primary record stores I went to. When I heard a new band/song in the car, I drove to the nearest of the two and checked the miscellaneous A thru Z bin (because the didn't have a bin card yet) for the band. If it wasn't there, I went to the other store. Eventually I got it. You had to make an effort, but it was worth it. A lot different than sitting in a chair and clicking a mouse button and it shows up at your door, or now just streaming it. I sold off 2300+ vinyl some years ago and I don't regret it at all. I kept about 50 that weren't available on CD at the time. With Black Sabbath, UFO, Humble Pie, etc. reissues I've picked some of them up, but it's nowhere near the same. I wouldn't trade that time in my life for anything, I loved chasing down and finding that new album. To me, it's more of a fad now, but hey, buy what you like.

Hi Matthew, new to the channel and couldn't agree more on the 'ornament' phenomenon- exacerbated by artists putting out 12 different 'limited' colour variants of their newest albums! The sellers at my local record fair in Hampshire are seemingly suffering with stock issues more nowadays, alot more bootlegs and overpriced vinyl compared to even 5 years ago. Great discussion.

I have just over 35,000 Lps. I've never sold off any of my vinyl (though I did lose a chunk to an old girlfriend, back in the 80s), When I moved from L.A. to Toronto, I sold off or gave away about 23,000 Cds but I couldn't part with a single record. I've seen a couple of collectors say that they sold off records and bought them back and found that the new iteration just doesn't have the same thrill attached to it. Almost the opposite of how they feel about their second or third wives. Everyone has their own version of collecting. I don't get picking up 35 different color variants of the same album but it makes someone happy - and if it don't make you happy, them find something that does. New wives can be hugely expensive but you do tend to pull them out and use them a heck of a lot more than the old one.

Great video and very recognizable @Matthew North Music ! Also sold my collection a few times. Once as I had to and three times huge parts of it, when I wanted as I had bought way, way too much. I now have a great collection of old, high quality vinyl. New vinyl, especially RSD releases, are generally of average quality. Pressing and mastering quality vinyl is a dying art with only a few exceptions.(Analogue Productions, Pallas) Also like you I recently sold off another big chunck of my collection. And most of my new vinyl (had to keep a few Young’s, the new, Dylan Budokan and Petty’s Wildflowers) went out. The attachment like you say is different and between 2013 and 2020 I bought way too many albums. And somehow for me those were easy to sell as I had no history with them and honestly I don’t miss them. I now only invest in high end equipment (cartridges, wiring, new speakers etc.) and high quality old vinyl. Great sounding pressings, like an original 1st US pressing of Let it Bleed, 1st Zeppelin III and Motley Crue’s Too Fast Leathur release give me way, way more pleasure listening them. Old vinyl is way way better mastered and have way way more detail, nuance and definition than the generally LOUD and full bodied new masters that are not only made for vinyl anymore. I now go for the less is more and quality over quantity approach.