I have been involved with the music business in one form or another for almost 20 years now and before that, I was an avid buyer of music since I was a kid and bought my very first 45 rpm record in 1971. Lots has changed since then, and this week I am waxing a little nostalgic after reading some interesting news recently.
As a seller of music (barely!) these days through my website, A Web of Fine Music (www.finemusic.ca), I have received many calls over the years from people wanting to sell their album collections. For some reason, people seem to think since I sell music, I must surely want to buy it too. That unfortunately is not the case. In fact, I could probably fill a warehouse with albums, 78s and 45s people want to sell me. Thanks, but I have plenty of my own at the moment currently occupying more of the basement than my far better half would like.
In almost all cases, these collections are worth very little if anything at all, and most of these callers are rather surprised to hear that. The grim reality is there is a glut of old recorded music on the market now, and unless it is pristine and quite rare, you might as well not waste your time trying to sell it for anything more than a pittance. When I used to hold yard sales, for example, the best I could do would be sell LPs for 25 cents a piece. People love a great deal, but expect top dollar when it comes to selling what they have to sell. Can you see the problem here?
My stock answer is to just take your collections to Goodwill or Salvation Army or a similar thrift shop; LPs and 45s are always welcome, but 78s are pretty well best used for target practice. Sorry you have to hear that! You can always try to sell them to someone specializing in old music formats, but those are few and far between now. In Niagara, even my old friend Bill Gibbs has hung up the stylus at Atomix Records; there is still Ragged Glory in downtown Niagara Falls but that is about it. There is usually a used record show and sale in St. Catharines at Market Square that attracts record vendors from around the province at least twice a year, but so far I have not heard of one in the near future this year.
I have had more than my share of interesting experiences with old records myself over the years. Back in the 80s when the family was moving down to Niagara from east-end Toronto, I contacted the then record guru in Toronto, Peter Dunn, who operated several used record shops around the city, and he came out with a van one evening and gave me a flat fee for the entire lot of about 4,000 LPs in my collection. Together we loaded up the van one evening and off he drove; I got about 10 cents apiece but considered myself lucky to get rid of all of them in one shot.
Fast-forward to maybe ten years ago and I was down in Niagara Falls to visit the semi-annual record show and sale in that city, and darned if I didn't find an old MGM recording of Joni James from the 50s I had in my collection years ago. I thought, "Boy, I wish I hadn't gotten rid of that disc years ago!" As I opened up the double-gatefold jacket I found...my writing inside! I had always dated the recordings back then and there was my writing, large as life! I could not believe my eyes; I explained my surprise to the vendor, asking how he got hold of it, and gratefully peeled off a 10-spot to buy the thing back again. We both had a great laugh over it and I suspect, he has a great story to share with his colleagues. I have since paid way more than the disc is actually worth, but I have it back again and that's all that matters.
Today, albums are still available, of course, but it isn't the same. The albums are special editions that cost considerably more than they once did, and the market is very specialized now. Gone are the days you could buy an album inexpensively unless it is a used item. They are usually something like 180-gram vinyl, a quality that is lost on most people unless they are true audiophiles. Suffice it to say, albums are now the chi-chi music format for a select few.
That being said, it was reported this week LP sales are up about 20% as of last year, selling about 4.6 million units. Not much in the overall scheme of things, really, but pretty respectable considering the age of the format. So someone must be buying them; I have no idea whom, though, as in ten years of selling music through my website I have sold only one LP and that was the new Neil Young album last year.
I have to wonder about the wisdom of the record companies in choosing what they issue on vinyl these days, however. Earlier this year, for example, EMI Music Canada sent out a release sheet announcing Kenny Rogers' The Gambler and Glen Campbell's By The Time I Get to Phoenix would be released on 180-gram vinyl with original restored artwork. I have no idea how many of these suckers they expect to sell, really, given the wholesale cost to me would translate into about a $ 25.00 selling price at retail. I don't want to be mean here, but most people looking for Kenny Rogers' The Gambler on LP these days are looking to pay 25 cents rather than 25 dollars, I suspect.
Other than old-fashioned vinyl, other music formats have all but met a painful death in recent years. You don't see many cassettes anymore except at yard sales or flea markets, and god forbid you actually even look at an 8-track tape - remember those? You can still find those at yard sales, but if they are more than about 10 cents a piece they are too much money.
CDs are still selling, but from my personal experience the sales are still not strong. Mini-discs? Gone. There is even stuff out now on Blu-Ray Audio, for heaven's sake. I mean, why bother? None of these likely will ever become mainstream like laser discs never came close to replacing VCR tapes years ago. The DVD and Blu-Ray sales are okay but not great, as more and more people rely on downloading movies like they do music nowadays.
I read a couple of years ago the music giant HMV, still going in Canada in spite of the parent company not doing well over in England, used to sell about 70% music and 30% other music-related stuff about five years ago. Now, the split is about 10% music and 90% other stuff. They saw the writing on the wall and changed direction while they still could. For my part, I can't, as I sell only music and it is simply a sideline for me. I could never make a living in this business and I knew that going in ten years ago.
But my clientele relies on me for exceptional service and the knowledge I have acquired over about 20 years in the music business, and that is something you can't get when you are simply downloading your music yourself. I know, young people today have an aversion to paying for their music, and that will come back to bite them in time. But for now, at least, they can pay little or nothing for music downloads of inferior quality to an actual hard copy of a recording.
By the way, while many figure young people today prefer MP3 downloads as their format of choice, that is really not the case. It was reported earlier this year the majority of music lovers today get their music from YouTube. Go figure.
So, I will continue to sell music for the time being, and watch the market grow ever smaller, along with the pool of people selling music today. In Niagara, I am about the last man standing when it comes to anything other than rock and pop. But being an order service I can get literally anything that is still in print, so if you are on the hunt for something you just can't find anywhere else, send me an email at music@vaxxine.com and I will be happy to see what I can do for you.
Happy listening!
June 1st, 2013.
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