Culling the vinyl record collection

[bongritsu]

why would you ever want to get rid of it?


I would never individually sell music, I plan on keeping everything i have and then opening a record shop as a retirement job when im like 50 or whatever
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Alt Right meme game on point

I FEEL DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AS A PERSON OF JUDGEMENT.

[bigeyedfish]

One shortcut, almost anything in bad condition has bad value. Only the rarest albums fetch more than a couple bucks in really poor shape. Of course, anything rare will be desirable even in normally passable condition.

[sp4cetiger]

[samistake2ice]

[Mdemauri]

[sp4cetiger]

Okay, so I devoted a lot of time to this over the last month or so. I'll share my finds later, but here are some of the rules of thumb I've learned along the way. No rule is perfect, of course, but these guidelines might save you some time if you set out on a similar venture:

1) The value is governed by supply and demand, just like anything else. This may be an obvious point, but it helps to really think about the implications of it.

- The least valuable records are from artists who were really popular in their time (and thus sold a lot of copies, high supply), but who didn't stand the test of time (low demand). This is your Kingston Trios, Bobby Goldsboros, and Johnny Rivers'. You might still find an auctionable record from one of these artists, but only if it had very limited distribution for some reason.
- The most valuable records are rarities (low supply) from artists that remain extremely popular (high demand). For example, the rare "butcher cover" from the Beatles' Yesterday and Today. This means that if you have a record from a pop music legend, look at it very carefully. The etchings in the matrix run-out groove can be the difference between hundreds of dollars and five.
- There's a huge gray area in the middle. As lethal said, you might be able to get gobs of money for a record from a no-name. Collectors can have very idiosyncratic needs, so a rare record (low supply) from an obscure artist (low demand) can still fetch a lot of money.

2) Compilations are usually worthless. The only exception I found in our collection was a rare DJ-only compilation. You'll probably find some exceptions for really big-name artists if, again, the distribution was very limited.

3) Re-releases are usually worthless, but it can sometimes be really hard to tell when a record is a re-release because many vinyl records don't indicate a date. You have to look carefully at the matrix numbers and the details on the label and cover. A great resource for this is http://www.discogs.com.

4) If you have any promotional versions, look at them very carefully. I have a promotional copy of Joni Mitchell's Blue that I might be able to auction for $50 - $100, even though an ordinary version of this record is common enough to not be worth trying to sell. Promotional versions are often desirable both because of their rarity and because they tend to be early pressings with higher-than-average audio quality. It's tricky, though, because sometimes a record stamped as "promotional" on the cover but has the same labels as a store copy. These generally aren't worth much, since anybody can stamp an album cover -- look out for the all-white promotional labels on the disc itself.

5) Collectors are often on the lookout for early pressings of famous records because they're thought to have better audio quality. Unfortunately, this can be really hard to determine. It is encoded in the matrix number etched on the record, but the meaning of the code varies from one record company to the next and I wasn't able to find any fail-safe resources for decoding them.

6) An album is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. Again, an obvious point, but still worth thinking about. The best place to find the value of common records is on the discogs site I posted above because it tends to have large samples of sales data. Ebay sales are not reliable or worth using for non-rarities because most people don't bother posting to ebay unless they think a record will fetch enough to cover the fees and shipping costs. For the rarities, old ebay sales can be useful, but bear in mind that when demand reaches the level of tens or hundreds of collectors, your success in selling a record is highly dependent on things that are out of your control. Maybe that handful of collectors already has the record in question or maybe they just aren't looking when your sale/auction is posted.


If I think of anything else, I'll add it here. Thanks everyone for your initial advice and let me know if you have any corrections or comments concerning what I've written here.

[sp4cetiger]

Here are a few classic records I found white-label promo versions of:

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Blue by Joni Mitchell

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Aqualung by Jethro Tull

Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

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At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers Band

All in good condition, seems like they could go for a few hundred each.

[Hayden]

Oooooo

The promo version of Blue would be sick. The rest don't personally interest me music wise, but great finds nevertheless.

[sp4cetiger]