Hey all,
I have been collecting records for roughly 5 years. It has been an amazing, and expensive journey. I have a few questions for fellow collectors that I'd like to get answered, if you have the time.
1) How do you decide what records you will buy? Do you buy anything you like? Or, are there other specific criteria? In the age of Apple Music and Spotify, nearly all music sits at our cellular fingertips. So, how do you decide what you will actually purchase, house, and own?
2) How much time do you spend streaming music (Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, JQBX, whatever) vs. spinning records?
3) Aside for financial reasons, when do you decide to sell a record (if at all)?
4) Thoughts on colored vinyl? Prefer black? Depends? Depends on what?!
5) Any other information on your specific collecting ideas, rituals, nuances, or anything. I am genuinely interested in the processes at play here.
TGIF!
Great questions, and definitely ones I've been asking myself more in recent months. In the last couple years, after joining VMP, I started collecting records again after only buying maybe one or two a year, from my favourite bands, and eventually I realized I was just spending too much on it.
1) The main criterion I have is whether it's something that I think I will actually play more than a couple times after buying. If it's an album I really like and can see myself liking five, ten years from now, that's pretty much a prerequisite. This means I've bought more "old" albums than brand new releases; I'm not too likely to spend coin on a pre-order from anyone other than one of my favourite artists whose album I'm pretty much guaranteed to like. I've bought vinyl copies of albums I already had on CD, or on my iTunes collection ripped from one of my friends--more recently, though, I've started to ask myself whether I want it on vinyl for any specific reason. There's a lot of music I'm fine having digital copies of. If there's a new remaster that's gotten good reviews, or a deluxe edition with bonus tracks, I'm more likely to pick it up. I'm not likely to buy a new version of
Rumours. The used copy I bought in 2007 for $5 is fine.
Apart from that, I'd like a well curated collection covering a wide variety of genres, time periods, and (recently) geography. I like having records my friends have never heard of that make my collection more than "here are most of the big albums from the bands we all like." I
really like having obscure crate-digger records that aren't available digitally. Some of it, I like to think I'll grow into. In the months I was a VMP member, the forum definitely upped the FOMO for me way too many times. For example, when Eddie Gale's
Ghetto Music popped up in the store way after everyone thought it was sold out, I snatched it up. Now, I hadn't really listened to it before and even now, after spinning it probably five-plus times, I don't love it. Will I eventually? Maybe. If not, I'll sell or PIF it. If I do, it'll be one entry in my small jazz collection. That's cool too.
There are a couple of artists--all-time favourites, generally--who I'm more likely to buy something from even if I don't love that particular album. But mostly, I have to ask myself if it's something that I'll actually listen to enough to justify the cost and whether the vinyl experience will add anything over the digital experience (remaster, great packaging, etc.). I'm on a limited budget, have limited space, and only have a limited amount of time I can spin, anyway.
2) I listen to most of my music digitally still. I'm at my desk eight hours a day, on the subway two hours a day, and out walking in the city all the time. When I get home from work, I'll spin a record or two before dinner, and maybe one before bed, and then on weekends, if I'm home, I might spin all day or I might not spin at all. I'd say it's about 80% streaming, 20% vinyl.
3) I don't think I've ever sold a record. As I approach my ideal collection size (and apartment capacity), though, I'm starting to go through my collection and decide what is taking up more space than it deserves. Generally I'll be applying the same criteria as question 1. If I haven't listened to it in a year, and it doesn't hold sentimental value for some other reason, why do I have it?
4) Love coloured vinyl. I think it's super fun. If there are coloured and black versions available of an album that I want, I'll probably get the colour, unless it's significantly more expensive or has quality issues that the standard doesn't. Black is totally fine. But I have a black table, and I just think it looks cool to have a purple or transparent orange record on it.
5) No real rituals. I like listening alone late at night on headphones. I'd like a collection of around 300 (probably larger, eventually) that covers a bunch of genres, moods, time periods, and countries, where I can always find something for the situation, and eventually when I'm 50 or whatever, I can quit streaming and just enjoy the collection I've built up. And then pass on to my kids or my nephews and nieces.
Edit: I'll add to #5. I'm also trying to be more conscious of who's getting the dollars I spend on music. Timber Timbre probably needs that money more than Bob Dylan does. (That, uh, didn't stop me from buying that Dylan box set last week, but refer to #1.) I like buying from local artists when I can, for the same reason I try to drink exclusively local beer. It's good to invest in your community in whatever way you can. It doesn't hurt that I like a lot of Toronto and Canadian music.
