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The Competition - The Changing Face of Record Collectors

Cool_Manchu

Cool_Manchu

Time to play B-sides...
I spend way too much time in record stores. I am the first to admit it. I have been collecting records this time around for a number of years and have notice in the past year that my competition has severely shifted from what it once was. In fact, the competition continues to grow in number.

It used to be overweight older guys (mostly like me) rummaging through dusty record bins looking for gems. These days I run into more and more younger folks. For instance I ran into two guys in their early 20s who was oohing and ahhing over all kinds of old records. The thing I found most interesting was that they just grabbed everything they could that was $1 to $2 a piece and they didn't even open up a single sleeve to look at condition. I asked one of them about it and he stated that condition didn't matter to him.

Now what I find truly interesting is the amount of young ladies I see buying wax these days. They seem to be growing in numbers exponentially. Over the past weekend I saw many girls with mothers and fathers in tow picking up some great stuff. And the parents were offering their insight and what they used to love growing up. It's really cool that the kids today really do appreciate what their parents listen to. I was a kid like that, but my parents listened to some pretty cool music. Granted I grew in many different directions musically, but I still love to listen to the bands from my parents generation that I grew up on.

I don't mind competition at all. In fact I fully encourage it. Vinyl sales continue to increase year over year and the ultimate irony will be when CDs become extinct and Vinyl is the final nail in its coffin....
 
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I've noticed it's not just us old guys too. Last time I was at a record shop there was a young couple fanatically going through the $1 bins. It's pretty cool seeing the younger generation pyshced on vinyl.
 
I'm an older getting fatter guy, and yes conditon matters even at that price.. POPS suck..
 
Maybe people in record stores seem younger and slimmer (I too have noticed this), because were all getting older and fatter
 
It's been a constant wide variety of age groups from young to old in a college town like Boston since I myself was a wee lad. I bought vinyl when I was young, and now that I'm aging like a fine wine or cheese, I see younger folk carrying on the good fight.

However with Circuit City and Best Buy poised and prepared to start carrying vinyl, a nationwide iPod/MP3 backlash over sound quality backed up by articles in Time and the New York Post, clothing store Hot Topic and teen favorite novelty store Spencer's Gifts carrying rekkids, and the fact that records are the "hip" and "cool" retro thing among a young audience right now, I'd expect to see a paradigm shift here.

My speculation is it will remain a hot fad for a while, then die down a bit- but not without converting a few people over to the dark (vinyl) side.

Let's hope this also transcends to eliminating online-purchased compressed files, and instead, with today's increasing bandwidth and internet speed, shifting to full-size file downloads.
 
Er, getting back to the original topic, it kind of depends what kind of record collector you are.

If you look through the $1 boxes for classic rock, these young newbies will definitely have an impact.

If, on the other hand, you are an advanced collector competing with guys in Germany and Japan for items that sell for hundreds of dollars each, your market probably is still in decline. It will take a long time for any of these newbies to get up to that level.

I am personally only at a moderate level. I am quite pleased when I can pick up an item that has sold for over $100 and only pay $30 or $40.
 
Hey I noticed the same thing yesterday when I was browsing my local record shop. There was a young couple in their 20's and the picked up a T-Rex Electric Warrior reissue album and then they were browsing the dollar bins. Kinda saw what they were buying and it was really anything and everything from Abba to Springsteen....and yes I hate to admit i'm getting older, fatter and gray to boot!!! LOL
 
Cool_Manchu said:
The thing I found most interesting was that they just grabbed everything they could that was $1 to $2 a piece and they didn't even open up a single sleeve to look at condition. I asked one of them about it and he stated that condition didn't matter to him.
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The condition thing is funny. I ran into the same thing at a thrift store one time. I told a guy behind me in line that the copy of the Grace Jones album he was holding had a bad scratch on one side. He didn't care as he was using albums for sampling. Then in another thrift a kid was grabbing up albums just for the covers. He wanted to hang them up in his room. I guess we all come at this collecting thing from different angles.
 
it's all about retro

Had occasion to chat briefly with two young girls, probably age 11 or 12, at the local Goodwill last week. They were grabbing LPs I had just gone through. Vinyl condition didn't matter a bit to them. They wanted "some cool retro" to decorate their bedroom walls. One said she had a pretty good rock wall; the other was working on her disco wall. (Try doing that with CD slip sheets!)
 
anytune said:
Had occasion to chat briefly with two young girls, probably age 11 or 12, at the local Goodwill last week. They were grabbing LPs I had just gone through. Vinyl condition didn't matter a bit to them. They wanted "some cool retro" to decorate their bedroom walls. One said she had a pretty good rock wall; the other was working on her disco wall. (Try doing that with CD slip sheets!)
Click to expand...

I just hope nice mint copies of highly collectable vinyl is not finding its way pasted onto the wall.
 
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