Vinyl Revival Prices and Record Store Day

Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images.

Recommended reading: in The Guardian, writer Daniel Dylan Wray laments the state of record collecting. Or rather, he observes how the sheer collectability of records is keeping the hobby from more casual listeners and the mainstream.

Wray cites Record Store Day as a main factor, although mainly as a way into discussing the major record labels’ influence on forced obscurity and pricing. And Rob Sevier, co-founder of the great Numero Group, offers this insight: “We try to treat records as a format to distribute music, not as merch.”

You’d be right to point out that vintage vinyl can also be expensive. The article mentions sites like Discogs that have come to serve as universal reference points for pricing. But the supply-and-demand of an actual rarity —a well-preserved, 1st pressing of Led Zeppelin’s debut, for example — seems straightforward and almost a different market compared against, say, Bill Evan’s RSD release from this year’s Black Friday: base price from a Canadian distributor was $60 CAD. Before tax and shipping, before pricing it for sale.

When you buy records, are you collecting them — seeking out collectibles — or is vinyl just your preferred medium for owning music? How much does the price of records, new or old, influence your buying? Let us know in the comments.

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