What is going on with records. RSD is coming

McCready00

I seriously started collecting records in 2007. Got pretty solid gems since. I already had a few before, specially Pearl Jam's ( Benaroya Hall, Lost Dogs and many others.. ).

For the next 5-6 years or so, I really enjoyed going to records stores in all cities I was visiting.. Today I realize I got pretty solid stuff that can't be found anymore.. Well, or course, that is not the important.. but my collection was great and I was pretty proud of it. 

Since 4-5 years, it has become a nightmare in records stores. LPs are stupidly expensive without any specific reason. 

I kind of lost fun to go buy albums. No much more fun to seek for an album, knowing the band has probably released it at 39.99$... when it was 16.99 just few years ago.... Oh, sorry, yes, that time they say it is "limited edition"..

RSD is coming in 2 weeks and I never been so not exited about it. I will go for few specific albums...

PEarl Jam will be selling their album at 35.99$CA.. another rip off.

Sorry.. 

Buying music is not fun anymore.. 



Buy the way, just made an order on FatWreck 1 month ago.. every albums at 12.99$.. 

PJ_Soul

The plural of vinyl is vinyl.

The reason they are just stupid expensive now is because of supply and demand. People have gotten way back into vinyl over the past 5 years or so, and the record companies and artists are cashing in on the renewed interest. I agree the prices are stupid... but it would take a large number of those who buy it to stop buying it for the prices to go lower.... and that actually might happen again, one of these days. We'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, used records are where it's at, whenever possible!

McCready00

Corrected.. thanks

Yes..

Just today, I went to the records store to buy 2 albums ( Klaus Schulze's Dune and MoonDawn ).

Price? 38$ dollars each.. which means 76$ Canadian dollars + taxes.. For 2 albums... 

I actually did not buy anything and downloaded the two albums.

Tim Simmons

Seeing that bands and labels don’t make as much money on records as they did 20 years ago, prices of LPs have gone up. It sucks. 

That at being said, depending on the record (like, not blatantly limited records), deals can be found from amazon or other bigger retailers. 

lots of stuff is cost prohibitive, especially not in the US and definitely after shipping. But don’t lose faith. Good deals are out there. RSD is generally a gouge, but, again, depending on the record, you can get deals later, after RSD

KN219077

More people buying records increases demand. Increased demand increases prices.

Abe Froman

I agree op. Although, I know why the prices are the way the are as pointed out by the posters above. Still doesn’t change that it has made buying vinyl less fun. I never stopped buying vinyl so it’s really frustrating when that has been my primary format for many years and now I want a new album and have to pass often because of a ridiculous $35-$40 price tag. Even the latest McCready project. $45 dollars for three 7” records?  I had to pass. 6 songs for that is a bit much. 

Zod

I've kind of adapted to the heftier price take.  It feels like I've been paying $30 to $35 for most new vinyl for a few years now.  I suppose part of it is because of demand, the other part is the Canadian dollar sucks.   If you go through my collection and look at the old records.  They were all pressed in Canada.   Now they get imported from the US (and sometimes Europe).  They don't get made here, so they suffer from FX.

I still like collecting.  RSD is my least favourite day of the year to go my actual record store.  I have to lineup an hour early.  Then wait an hour to get in.  Then you hope maybe they have some of the records left you want.  Any other day of the year and you can casually enter a record store and buy what you want

PJ_Soul

Zod said:

I've kind of adapted to the heftier price take.  It feels like I've been paying $30 to $35 for most new vinyl for a few years now.  I suppose part of it is because of demand, the other part is the Canadian dollar sucks.   If you go through my collection and look at the old records.  They were all pressed in Canada.   Now they get imported from the US (and sometimes Europe).  They don't get made here, so they suffer from FX.

I still like collecting.  RSD is my least favourite day of the year to go my actual record store.  I have to lineup an hour early.  Then wait an hour to get in.  Then you hope maybe they have some of the records left you want.  Any other day of the year and you can casually enter a record store and buy what you want

I have noticed a recent jump in brand new albums though. I'm seeing that many are now well over $40 CAD on Amazon when they first come out - sometimes even nearly $50 - and they are staying that pricey for a much longer time before going down to the $35 range. I think only less well-known artists' albums are going for $30 or less now, or ones that are selling terribly.

DavidD

Is the PJ record coming to Canada for RSD ? 
A shop in Toronto said it wasn’t. 

demetrios

DavidD said:

Is the PJ record coming to Canada for RSD ? 
A shop in Toronto said it wasn’t. 

It is. http://recordstoredaycanada.ca/record-store-day-list-2019/

Not all Canadian record stores will get copies. Lucky the few who do will get 1 or 2. 

Zod

PJ_Soul said:

Zod said:

I've kind of adapted to the heftier price take.  It feels like I've been paying $30 to $35 for most new vinyl for a few years now.  I suppose part of it is because of demand, the other part is the Canadian dollar sucks.   If you go through my collection and look at the old records.  They were all pressed in Canada.   Now they get imported from the US (and sometimes Europe).  They don't get made here, so they suffer from FX.

I still like collecting.  RSD is my least favourite day of the year to go my actual record store.  I have to lineup an hour early.  Then wait an hour to get in.  Then you hope maybe they have some of the records left you want.  Any other day of the year and you can casually enter a record store and buy what you want

I have noticed a recent jump in brand new albums though. I'm seeing that many are now well over $40 CAD on Amazon when they first come out - sometimes even nearly $50 - and they are staying that pricey for a much longer time before going down to the $35 range. I think only less well-known artists' albums are going for $30 or less now, or ones that are selling terribly.

Ouch. I will admit my purchasing has slowed down.    I had this big flurry when vinyl became popular again to fill holes in my collection of stuff I wasn't able to buy in the 90s.    Now I've got most of I what I want.  I buy one here and there, then usually a bunch on RSD.

I'm also a sucker for limited edition color vinyl which means I often import which adds to the prices.   The recently release Jerry Cantrell Degredation Trip Vol. 1&2 and Nirvana Live at Reading come to mind.  Meaning I pay more that if I'd just bought them off Amazon.

Also my trick with Amazon is to preorder right away.   Usually if it's going to accidentally have a low prices it's early on.  You get the lowest price between when you order and release date, so quite often that gets me a decent price.  I'll also scavenge foreign amazon sites.  Quite often importing from the UK, France, or Germany is cheaper than buying domestically.. it's weird.

demetrios

Zod said:

I've kind of adapted to the heftier price take.  It feels like I've been paying $30 to $35 for most new vinyl for a few years now.  I suppose part of it is because of demand, the other part is the Canadian dollar sucks.   If you go through my collection and look at the old records.  They were all pressed in Canada.   Now they get imported from the US (and sometimes Europe).  They don't get made here, so they suffer from FX.

I still like collecting.  RSD is my least favourite day of the year to go my actual record store.  I have to lineup an hour early.  Then wait an hour to get in.  Then you hope maybe they have some of the records left you want.  Any other day of the year and you can casually enter a record store and buy what you want

I miss the good old Made in Canada vinyl days. 

Just an hour wait on RSD? It's gonna be over 3+ here @ Taz Records in Halifax for me next Saturday. I know there won't be a Green River vinyl (not listed on RSD Canada). Will try for that one online. But there are others I'm gonna try to pick up. 

HesCalledDyer

demetrios said:

Zod said:

I've kind of adapted to the heftier price take.  It feels like I've been paying $30 to $35 for most new vinyl for a few years now.  I suppose part of it is because of demand, the other part is the Canadian dollar sucks.   If you go through my collection and look at the old records.  They were all pressed in Canada.   Now they get imported from the US (and sometimes Europe).  They don't get made here, so they suffer from FX.

I still like collecting.  RSD is my least favourite day of the year to go my actual record store.  I have to lineup an hour early.  Then wait an hour to get in.  Then you hope maybe they have some of the records left you want.  Any other day of the year and you can casually enter a record store and buy what you want

I miss the good old Made in Canada vinyl days. 

Just an hour wait on RSD? It's gonna be over 3+ here @ Taz Records in Halifax for me next Saturday. I know there won't be a Green River vinyl (not listed on RSD Canada). Will try for that one online. But there are others I'm gonna try to pick up. 

An hour wait isn't bad at all.  The shop I normally go to opens at 10am and you have to be there by 2-3am to even be within the first 100 in line.  Every year that gets earlier and earlier.  I'm usually walking out of there around 1pm.

Tim Simmons

Last year I lined up at 4:30 for a 7am opening and I was 4th in line. It was fun, but the weather was nicer. If its even a touch cold, I'd rather pay up for stuff on ebay and stay in a warm bed and sleep in. 

Zod

demetrios said:

Zod said:

I've kind of adapted to the heftier price take.  It feels like I've been paying $30 to $35 for most new vinyl for a few years now.  I suppose part of it is because of demand, the other part is the Canadian dollar sucks.   If you go through my collection and look at the old records.  They were all pressed in Canada.   Now they get imported from the US (and sometimes Europe).  They don't get made here, so they suffer from FX.

I still like collecting.  RSD is my least favourite day of the year to go my actual record store.  I have to lineup an hour early.  Then wait an hour to get in.  Then you hope maybe they have some of the records left you want.  Any other day of the year and you can casually enter a record store and buy what you want

I miss the good old Made in Canada vinyl days. 

Just an hour wait on RSD? It's gonna be over 3+ here @ Taz Records in Halifax for me next Saturday. I know there won't be a Green River vinyl (not listed on RSD Canada). Will try for that one online. But there are others I'm gonna try to pick up. 

Yah.. If I line up an hour or so early.. there's already a bunch of people there, but everyone's buying something different.  The only record store in Victoria, BC that does RSD right is Ditch records.  They usually get enough copies of stuff that if I'm 50 or 100 people back or wharever it is, I usually get most of what I want.  It's only if there's only several of an item it's an issue.  Then you'd have to be one of the first people in line which I'm not generally willing to do.  That's a 2am or 3am kind of thing.

KV4053

Where are we going to be able to buy Live at Easy Street?

Tim Simmons

At participating record stores.

Bentleyspop

KV4053 said:

Where are we going to be able to buy Live at Easy Street?

RSD

brianlux

Using an inflation calculator, I figure the records I bought in the late sixties would be about $27 or $28 US today.  That's probably not far off from the current average.  But even if LP's are a bit more expensive (relative to inflation), there are good reasons.  Back then, that was pretty much how everybody obtained music- it was vinyl or reel-to-reel and most of us couldn't afford those tapes let alone the machine. Retailers often tried to outdo each other with sale prices.  There were more pressing plants back then as well. 

I think we're actually lucky to have LP's available still today- although I wish it were more for audiophile reasons rather than the trendy aspect.  And it's a lot more work to try to track down records that are truly analog.  Most LP's today come from a digital source, so the whole point of LP's is often lost.

As for RSD, what a load of crap.  Why put out albums that don't meet the demand?  Half of them get flipped anyway.  It's a scam and a damn shame.  I work Saturdays and the nearest RSD store is almost an hour away.  The only way I might be able to score a particular album I would like (Mission of Burma, Peking Spring) would be for me to pay flipper prices on eBay.  Putting it politely- that sucks.

PJ_Soul

I get where you're coming from Brian - flippers suck and it stinks when you can't get an album you want. But I think of RSD as really being for the benefit of the store owners, not the consumers. The hype created by the limited quantities is beneficial to physical record store sales, because people flock to the shops rather than just wait to buy more widely available records on Amazon or wherever.  And that leads to people kind of falling in love with going to a record store in general, helping all record store owners in the long run, at least in theory. I believe that is the whole point.

drummerboy_73

PJ_Soul said:

I get where you're coming from Brian - flippers suck and it stinks when you can't get an album you want. But I think of RSD as really being for the benefit of the store owners, not the consumers. The hype created by the limited quantities is beneficial to physical record store sales, because people flock to the shops rather than just wait to buy more widely available records on Amazon or wherever.  And that leads to people kind of falling in love with going to a record store in general, helping all record store owners in the long run, at least in theory. I believe that is the whole point.

Spot on! My record buying has decreased dramatically over the last few years due to this reason. I've bought some RSD releases here and there, as I do enjoy the "collecting" end somewhat, but primarily for titles I didn't have or just for the fun of certain releases and meeting people at shops, but I don't sell or buy at "flipper" prices ever. Most of what I buy now is used, original analog releases or the occasional oddball I can score from discount bins. But yeah...anyone who thinks the hype is more for actual audio quality than the trendiness of it is kidding themselves. If the opposite were true, Crosley would not exist! 😂

bootlegger10

Total hipster trend.  Not even close. 

scurtis

Dude I’m almost in the same boat, I was around the same time too, I don’t anymore, or rarely.  Too expensive.  Even used records are a joke, I will wait for the fad to wear off.

tempo_n_groove

Tim Simmons said:

Last year I lined up at 4:30 for a 7am opening and I was 4th in line. It was fun, but the weather was nicer. If its even a touch cold, I'd rather pay up for stuff on ebay and stay in a warm bed and sleep in. 

Go when they open.

Nothing is so limited anymore that it can't be found later or for around cost.

kramer73

bootlegger10 said:

Total hipster trend.  Not even close. 

Maybe for some, but thanks for generalizing.

Tim Simmons

tempo_n_groove said:

Tim Simmons said:

Last year I lined up at 4:30 for a 7am opening and I was 4th in line. It was fun, but the weather was nicer. If its even a touch cold, I'd rather pay up for stuff on ebay and stay in a warm bed and sleep in. 

Go when they open.

Nothing is so limited anymore that it can't be found later or for around cost.

Oh, I know. I'm just saying how much I'd value a warm bed instead of sitting in a fold out chair in line for a couple of hours on a cool morning with a persistent lake breeze. 

PJ_Soul

drummerboy_73 said:

PJ_Soul said:

I get where you're coming from Brian - flippers suck and it stinks when you can't get an album you want. But I think of RSD as really being for the benefit of the store owners, not the consumers. The hype created by the limited quantities is beneficial to physical record store sales, because people flock to the shops rather than just wait to buy more widely available records on Amazon or wherever.  And that leads to people kind of falling in love with going to a record store in general, helping all record store owners in the long run, at least in theory. I believe that is the whole point.

Spot on! My record buying has decreased dramatically over the last few years due to this reason. I've bought some RSD releases here and there, as I do enjoy the "collecting" end somewhat, but primarily for titles I didn't have or just for the fun of certain releases and meeting people at shops, but I don't sell or buy at "flipper" prices ever. Most of what I buy now is used, original analog releases or the occasional oddball I can score from discount bins. But yeah...anyone who thinks the hype is more for actual audio quality than the trendiness of it is kidding themselves. If the opposite were true, Crosley would not exist! 😂

Most of my bricks and mortar record store activity is about bringing in albums that I've discovered I never spin, and trading them in for records that I will spin. I love it. But yes, sound quality matters to me, and it bums me out that those making records now usually don't care about that enough (some still do though). I think it's a BIG mistake for their own industry - it's not the way to make sure vinyl is an ongoing, secure revenue stream at all for artists. Why are people so stupid that way??

But anyway, vinyl is here to stay in my life - it's not a fad at all for me, that's for sure. And I buy tons of used records for good prices. I'm not sure how people are saying that isn't affordable anymore.

crookedcross

I'm kinda new to the game. Since 2015, I've found used records to be much cheaper at thrift stores than actual record stores.. by a lot. Not as big of a selection, but I've found many great ones for less than $5. Some needed cleaning but I'd rather do some work than pay > $10 for used records. I will say that in only three years, the amount of good finds at thrift stores has decreased dramatically.  I blame fb marketplace and many other apps. People just don't drop their good shit off at thrift stores anymore. 

halv

I've decided to skip lining up for RSD this year. I find I rarely listen to any of the RSD releases anyway. I'll swing by Red Cat in Vancouver later in the day to take advantage of the 20% off sale, but that's about it. It's getting harder and harder to justify vinyl prices. 

FR181798

My local gets a lot of different RSD titles in, trouble is you think to yourself who the heck is buying that. No PJ, Modest Mouse or REM. One copy of the Ramones LP, the most I've seen on their list is 5 copies of Blood on the Tracks alternate. Good chance if I'm not in the first 20, I'm going to have to buy stuff just purely to flip so I can buy the stuff I want. Plus I have family stuff on Saturday morning that I'd rather not miss.

rhpot1991

I went to my store once, never again.  I tried talking to the guy ahead of time to figure out if they would even have any of the stuff I was interested in and he stonewalled me.  When I showed up that day there wasn't anything I wanted.  I asked and they didn't get in any copies of the released I wanted.

Now I resort to online overstocks or waiting for non colored releases for the time being.