"Good" Records Drying Up Everywhere?

fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
edited December 2010 in Strut Central
i guess this is a riff/rant off that other post but the trend seems to be that it is becoming super tough to come up on decent records just about anywhere.

folks sometimes post amazing finds, so i know there are records still out there in the field. although luck surely plays a role, the amount of effort and sheer grinding that i do to get this black crack is getting out of whack. diminishing returns.

has most everything just migrated to ebay? is it just the inevitable drying up of a finite resource? is there more competition out there than ever? shouldn't more records than ever be on the market in a double-dip global recession? are private dealers displacing the shops?

i realize there may be no right or wrong answer but i'm curious about the soulstrut take on the state of record collecting in late 2010 and going forward...
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  • no, sorry


  • dopeshit said:

    that place is an oasis in a desert; the exception to the rule.

  • Crabmonger - I hear what you're saying for sure! I think that Ebay does have A LOT to do with it. I hit up the thrifts every single day on my lunch break and where I used to be the only one, now I see at least two other people hanging out in the record area. They're checking their phones, trying to see how much they sell shit for. As soon as people get wind that something is collectible they want to sell it - particularly during a recession. But, having said that - they're not looking for the obscure, lesser known shit that people on here are trying to find. They are looking for the "A-Z" stuff like Beatles and Rolling Stones that they think will sell.

    Also - on a possibly unrelated tip - I was talking to an older fellow who owned a record store in the mall. They didn't specialize in records, and he was surprised that I was "interested in records" so, of course, he wanted to shoot the shit. But he brought up an interesting point: The records that you see at the thrifts day in and day out, the Mantovanis, Floyd Cramers, and Living Guitars, all that stuff belonged to people who were buying those records when they were young in the late 50's early 60's. They're dead now (his point, not mine) and that's why we see all their records. Now that the next generation of record buyers is getting older, people who were young and bought records in the late 60's, early 70's, it stands to reason that as they pass on their collections will matriculate out into the public - thrifts and record stores. I know it's kind of a grim way to look at it, but it makes sense. Records or always in circulation. They get hoarded and then that hoard gets let go, back into the world.

    Another record store guy I was talking to was telling me he couldn't understand why people fight over records. He said, "They're like words in the dictionary. There's tons of 'em". I think that's true - it all boils down to being in the right place at the right time - so it makes sense that the more time you spend in those places, the better chance you have of coming up!

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    TheKindCromang said:
    The records that you see at the thrifts day in and day out, the Mantovanis, Floyd Cramers, and Living Guitars, all that stuff belonged to people who were buying those records when they were young in the late 50's early 60's. They're dead now. !

    I resemble that remark.

  • I hit a thrift today and scooped 25 or so LPs in good shape...all minty in shrink...OG King Crimson, Alamo s/t, Crow, Neil Young "On the Beach", Groundhogs...all solid $20-30 LPs, granted, I bought to sell...but there are still good records sittin' around out there.

  • twoplytwoply Only Built 4 Manzanita Links 2,914 Posts
    It's fairly dry in the NW if you don't put in the work. Sometimes it feels like the dealer/record store to collector ratio is the opposite of what it should be.

  • The records are out there and what I've been noticing is more good stuff in sheer numbers. More and more people buy online so now I see 95 wof stuff priced for nothing in antique shops. Hell Ebay kinda killed everything! Tons of BIN stock sales of stuff that was considered rare is no longer that today.

  • i feel what crab is seeing but it could go cromang's way.

    as mentioned upthread, the recession is a major factor. but so is the dissemination of info online both price histories and easy research on discographies and artists. hell, you can get an artist's address in two clicks. the old timers got smarter, started buying out of their genre comfort range.. the young kids landed too much knowledge too fast -- i wasn't really into records in college, but if i was a student these days i can't imagine what damage i'd do with that extra free time.

    to cromang's point, i often wonder if a record peak oil moment will be hit soon, or if tons of good records are about to be unleashed. could go either way, it's the work you put in building connections and doing it smarter that really matters in the end.

  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    I've noticed a lot of records in thrift/salvation/goodwill stores that have condition ratings and prices on them as if they are coming in from a now out of biz record store which is sad....I mean they are all dirt cheap which is nice for me but sad to see the slow death of the market.....

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    I'm constantly amazed at the Finds threads here and at Waxidermy.

    Karlophone alone is proof that there are still good records out there.

  • I'm amazed at how you can find so much when you aren't looking. Thats been my thing lately.

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    Rockadelic said:

    Karlophone alone is proof that there are still good storage space scores out there.

  • CBearCBear 902 Posts
    There are so many people out there still sitting on original un-picked collections.

  • Also - on a possibly unrelated tip - I was talking to an older fellow who owned a record store in the mall. They didn't specialize in records, and he was surprised that I was "interested in records" so, of course, he wanted to shoot the shit. But he brought up an interesting point: The records that you see at the thrifts day in and day out, the Mantovanis, Floyd Cramers, and Living Guitars, all that stuff belonged to people who were buying those records when they were young in the late 50's early 60's. They're dead now (his point, not mine) and that's why we see all their records. Now that the next generation of record buyers is getting older, people who were young and bought records in the late 60's, early 70's, it stands to reason that as they pass on their collections will matriculate out into the public - thrifts and record stores. I know it's kind of a grim way to look at it, but it makes sense. Records or always in circulation. They get hoarded and then that hoard gets let go, back into the world.

    When I first started seriously junking in the eighties, the thrifts were already filled up with baby boomer-era records from 1964-72. And most likely the original consumers were still alive; they just let go of their old wax for some reason or another. I don't think the influx of records can be attributed to a death cycle.


  • pickwick33 said:
    I don't think the influx of records can be attributed to a death cycle.
    I agree. I think part of the reason too is the that the recorded media is always changing and becoming obsolete. Records were turing in the 80's because that's when CD's first started appearing on the market. The same way VHS tapes were killed off by DVD's. But since then the interest in old "collectable" records has once again increased and hense become harder to find.

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,896 Posts
    crabmongerfunk said:
    i guess this is a riff/rant off that other post but the trend seems to be that it is becoming super tough to come up on decent records just about anywhere.

    Yo, I just saw a Minority Band in a shop in NYC for a G if ur interested.

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,896 Posts

  • Yeah, the death cycle thing can't be it....Percy Faith, Mantovani and shit has been gumming up the works for at least 20 years ...and prolly years before that as well.

    Although, that is the reason I used to give folks who came into sell/trade that kind of stuff... "sorry, not to sound morbid, but anyone who would want to buy this has probably passed away"

  • Yeah, the death cycle thing can't be it....Percy Faith, Mantovani and shit has been gumming up the works for at least 20 years ...and prolly years before that as well.

    Although, that is the reason I used to give folks who came into sell/trade that kind of stuff... "sorry, not to sound morbid, but anyone who would want to buy this has probably passed away"

    Now, I have heard that the retirement cycle can be attributed to records showing up in spots where folks retire...the end up moving their records, decide they don't want them and then unload...I used to turn stuff up in Arkansas in little towns around lakes, resorts and stuff, where my folks' retired...but since they have passed, I don't find myself in that area anymore.

  • Records were turing in the 80's because that's when CD's first started appearing on the market.

    I agree, but I'd move it up to the 90's.

    The eighties are when CD's first started appearing on the market, but the nineties are when they became common household items. As late as 1989, and well into the early nineties, I remember people - relatively YOUNG people, mind - still being mystified at how the CD had taken over entirely from the other formats.

    The_Hook_Up said:
    Yeah, the death cycle thing can't be it....Percy Faith, Mantovani and shit has been gumming up the works for at least 20 years ...and prolly years before that as well.

    Even the 1990's lounge music craze didn't remove all the Mantovanis from the thrifts.

  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    I feel like you can still do well if records are your career. If you're just popping in to record shops, antique malls, and thrifts once or twice a month, you're probably not doing so hot. Also it might depend on what your collecting and looking for. There are still tons of old men gripping their collections and its only a matter of time before they sell up or die off, in which case its essential to be in with local shop owners and dealers.

    Those said old men though are generally holding jazz LPs, rock LPs, or rock and r&b 45s. If you're seeking out library records or latin or some really specialized genre I don't know what you can realistically expect to find IRL in 2010.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Where's the usual "Keep thinking that - more for me" poast.

  • DOR said:
    crabmongerfunk said:
    i guess this is a riff/rant off that other post but the trend seems to be that it is becoming super tough to come up on decent records just about anywhere.

    Yo, I just saw a Minority Band in a shop in NYC for a G if ur interested.

    the price on that record seems to be all over the place..

  • SoulOnIce said:
    Rockadelic said:

    Karlophone alone is proof that there are still good storage space scores out there.

    :coolhmm:

    actually, all im proof of is: to "find" quality material [outside of ebay or shops], you need to be longtime friends with people who clean out estates/storage/houses. thats 80-90% of my game, and it took 10-20 years to build up the in-cahoots aspect with the people im down with. and im not even in a great area for records - its kinda like: if you can get the access, no matter where you are, you can catch better stuff before it hits "the market".

    and i think that better stuff will continue to flow. as mentioned above, so many good original collections are still untouched, and on the random side, theres literally millions of old houses that are as yet untapped.

    i just heard of a tear down in a bad neighborhood in my area, the developer offered one of my friends a day to fill his van before the place was getting knocked down no matter what, contents sight unseen. no one was in town to help him, so he just went for it. house was jammed FULL of records, phonographs, old equipment, etc. dude filled his van 3x and ran out of time, wrecking ball took the rest. he got a drop in the bucket. think of how much cool stuff is lost daily around the country like that.

    waiting for the good stuff to trickle down to the level of the new arrivals bin is definitely a diminishing prospect these days, i can feel it when i walk into a shop almost anywhere. its just not making it that far. too much info online.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I think the main reason people unload records is children.

    Watch the birth announcements and then start making calls about 2 years later.

  • things is, people can go digging now and not really have to know anything about the records in the bins, they can pick it up, search on their fancy ipod or whatever and boom! have all the info about that record that they knew nuthin about, what its worth, if it has anything their looking for on it, it makes it overly easy to find things that way, tis like playing scrabble with a dictionary.

    but there will be a rotation of collections when people sell them off, or pass away, shittty way of looking at it, but what goes around cames back around again...look at that dude who lucked into JMJ's collection.

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    every market has dry spells, relax. modify your game. make the best use of your time. if you find some old glass jars you can double your money with, buy them. if you find records you can double your money with, buy them. use the money to buy good records at market value. slow and steady wins the race

  • BreezBreez 1,706 Posts
    Possum Tom said:
    every market has dry spells, relax. modify your game......slow and steady wins the race

    So true. If your normal spots are looking bleak, FIND NEW SPOTS. Or just take the money you usually dig with and start obtaining your wish list.

  • Fred_GarvinFred_Garvin The land of wind and ghosts 337 Posts
    Indeed, they're out there.

    A side note to those who were talking about thrift shops - it's worth noting that those places very frequently have a mole; i.e. an employee who scoops the choice material for dirt cheap before it hits the floor - which is typically the reason they took that job in the first place.
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