Bringing records into the USA?

Sobriety Won

Hi Soulstrut ..nothing exceptional to report here ...I like Black Jazz.

Interested to know if anyone has ever had any hassle taking records into the USA? (or out for that matter).

In fact anyone got any handy tips on this either from a DJ perspective or importing / exporting records?

I have only bought records out of the US packed tight in hand luggage before & never had any hassle but I have heard of one DJ being turned back at JFK bringing records in to the US, that was five or six years ago.

Your knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

bluesnag

I can only tell you about my one experience bringing a relatively large number of records into the US. I was coming back from Mumbai after being there for 9 months, and bringing about 250-300 records with me. I was carrying on about 50 or so of my favorites, but the rest I had to put in checked luggage. I did my best to put them in several bags and pad them with clothes and that sort of thing, and for the most part everything was fine. One of my bags got searched (not in front of me) a little roughly, and some of the corners of the record covers got bent in one of the bags. But pretty minimal damage I would say. Like I said, the 50 that I felt like protecting the most I had on me.

There's no way to know if your stuff will be mishandled by customs people, so you just have to hope for the best.

Sobriety Won

Thanks for the reply.

Hmmm so no one has ever had any problems from customs when bringing records into the USA?

Just waltz through with a DJ box & no entertainers visa?

I'm sure some members on here have spun in the US? or brought quantities of records back from overseas, all plain sailing?

holmes

how many are you talking about? I've taken a lot out before. 2nd to last time leaving the US there were 2 of us & we managed to get 500 45s in a combination of 2 45 size DJ flight cases & a few pressing plant boxes on the plane as carry on. Have not tried to bring any into the US before.

Otis_Funkmeyer

I've had locks on checked flight cases broken and searched on domestic flights. No damage to the records, though.

Sobriety Won

250 each is good going as hand luggage ...I have taken 100 45's out at one time & maybe 50 LP's before (not together).

I have never taken records into the US which is what my main question is about ... I am probably gonna take around a 100 45's in hand luggage, but would like to take more.

As far as taking records out the US, I was talking to an old soul collector/DJ who has been on buying trips to the US since the 80's ..he said he just fills a suitcase up & packs as many in hand luggage as possible, takes of all prices & ditches receipts says he got them all for $1 a pop from a yard sale at customs & they always let him through.

He just bought a job lot of 500 LP's & packaged them up tight in big boxes & just took them to the US post office, put a nominal value of $30 a box on the customs declaration ...was expensive added ??1 on each record ...he said he never has to pay any import tax & just adds the ??1 onto the price in the UK.

discos_alma

I've had no issues so far. I did almost miss a flight because the Colombian policia that were searching my bag got so interested in all the hot ladies on the LP record covers!

I tried wrapping up LPs in shrink wrap to minimize damage in shipping, but the authorities cut it to see what was inside. I just wrap the records with string like a parcel and then pad them with clothing around the sides.

Just to echo: keep anything of high importance in your personal carry-on luggage.

inVrs

if you are having paid gigs over there and its all over the internet, i would not take any records with me. I ve been there 3 times only with cds and never had any problems, although now i dont want to do it without a work visa and had to cancel my us tour because i couldnt get one in time, they are quite hard to get. Of course you can always pretend you are djing some friends wedding or whatever, but be prepared to get asked a lot of stupid shit then. Friend of mine once was held at the airport for questioning 8 hours straight.

Sobriety Won

inVrs said:

if you are having paid gigs over there and its all over the internet, i would not take any records with me. I ve been there 3 times only with cds and never had any problems, although now i dont want to do it without a work visa and had to cancel my us tour because i couldnt get one in time, they are quite hard to get. Of course you can always pretend you are djing some friends wedding or whatever, but be prepared to get asked a lot of stupid shit then. Friend of mine once was held at the airport for questioning 8 hours straight.

OK this is what I am worried about.

Playing with CD's etc is not an option.

Yeah, I have looked into getting a visa & the cost & criteria you have to fulfill is crazy & would in no way be worth while in pursuing.

As I say I am sure there are DJ's on here who go back & forth all the time any tips on avoiding eight hours of questioning by customs with the possibility of being sent back to Blighty on the next flight would be greatly appreciated.

inVrs

Sobriety Won said:

inVrs said:

if you are having paid gigs over there and its all over the internet, i would not take any records with me. I ve been there 3 times only with cds and never had any problems, although now i dont want to do it without a work visa and had to cancel my us tour because i couldnt get one in time, they are quite hard to get. Of course you can always pretend you are djing some friends wedding or whatever, but be prepared to get asked a lot of stupid shit then. Friend of mine once was held at the airport for questioning 8 hours straight.

OK this is what I am worried about.

Playing with CD's etc is not an option.

Yeah, I have looked into getting a visa & the cost & criteria you have to fulfill is crazy & would in no way be worth while in pursuing.

As I say I am sure there are DJ's on here who go back & forth all the time any tips on avoiding eight hours of questioning by customs with the possibility of being sent back to Blighty on the next flight would be greatly appreciated.

i m all for vinyl and still play with it usually, but remember you can also get banned for several years from entrance to the US when you get caught without a work permit and they realize the real reason for your travel. Cant really give you any tips besides the obvious, like no party flyers in your bag, no large amount of money in cash etc.. have your story ready, the adress where you stay etc.. still its hard to explain why you have records, headphones, needles etc with you as a tourist. I would definatly NOT recommend it.

Sobriety Won

I hear you.

Thing is what I am doing is actually pretty legit as I won't be getting paid in the US ..I will only be taking 45's, but no needles etc as that will all be sorted stateside ...I will be taking my soundburger to dig & some of the records will be to trade.

So the story to customs is I am just going to buy records & the records I am taking are gifts for friends & to trade which is a truthful statement ...or is the playing at a friends wedding/birthday a better story?

From what I gather all of that is completely legal to do ..it's just proving it if customs want to get funny right?