rant about vinyl prices

Thorsten

It's dead easy ........walk away after telling them they are too expensive, they will soon get the message if we all did it.

They only try it on because idiots actually pay them.

Use the internet........lots of good sources.

£20.00 for a LP is plain bloody daft.

Regards

Mick

mick,

thanks for calling me an idiot. now you come to mention it. yes. you're right. i will go straight into the cellar and shoot myself. how could i ever be happy, being the fool i am?

<i>The most important upgrade: Forget about your system. </i>

My hunch is that it is the shops that are whacking a larger mark up on vinyl as they can get away with it. The outlets aimed at hi-fi buyers definitely are guilty of this - comparing say Diverse Vinyl with Selectadisk yields some interesting comparisons with the former occasionally charging twice as much for an identical pressing.

I am buying little music new at the moment, I’m using my masses of free time and limited resources to good effect bin-diving in second hand shops. The last new record I bought was The Coral’s debut, and that was the same price as the CD – it has an extra track too!

I used to be a record dealer, but I’m completely out of touch with dealer prices these days – I still have some contacts so should be able to find out. When I was doing it in the late 80s the typical buy price for an album that retailed at £6.50 was £4.05, and CDs that sold at £10.99 cost about £6.00 to buy in. These were the prices at a low turnover independent, a major high street dealer would pay much less.

There is a fair mark up on recorded music, assuming of course the dealer is shifting them in sufficient quantity. They can afford to discount a little. It pays the buyer to shop around, record shops are not price fixed (unlike audio!). It always astounded me that people bought stuff from HMV on Oxford St London when Selectadisk was only a hundred yards away and charged about a third less, plus had mountains of vinyl.

The records that I really want to know the trade price of are the 25 quid a pop audiophile cuts – I bet they are no more than a tenner to buy in… the trouble is that they are retailed by the outlets that charge 15 quid for a ten quid album!

Tony.

my only consolation is that cds are far easier to copy than vinyl.

<i>The most important upgrade: Forget about your system. </i>

Thorsten

Just learn that everyone is in business to make a profit and let us look at LP which is retailing at say £20.00.

This is £17.02 + VAT

Dealer probably buys in at £7.00 + VAT

So he makes £10.02 iff he sells to you.

This allows him to pay rent and wages etc.

Never the less there is good scope for haggling and also if all his customers haggle, the chances are his supplier would lower his prices as well. He could come down by £5.00 and still make 50%.

No one forces you to buy anything and if you pay £20.00, on your own head be it.

Going back to CD's.

A blank CD can be purchased within the trade at £0.20, so if someone pays £15.00, someone else is doing OK.

Regards

Mick

mick,

forgot my gun at annie's anyway.

i do work for germany's biggest business weekly. i have heard about business. :-)

and of course i am furious about myself too that i could not resist.

<i>The most important upgrade: Forget about your system. </i>

OK, this is stating the obvious, but certainly with cds there are economies of scale. The market for lps is miniscule compared with cds. Just look around your workplace - for me, I dont know of a single other person at work with a 'table. So it seems reasonable that cds cost less relative to lps. Now, the prices for media are quite high, but I imagine thats just because that is what the market will bear. THere is talk of the average price of a cd in the US dropping below $10 - brought about by dropping dvd prices (logic: 'why should I spend $15 for a cd when I can spend the same and get pictures too!')

-Dan

And so are the opportunities for expanding our musical horizons.

I recently had a chance to buy a fair number (it was a dozen) near mint 70's, 80's and 90's albums at $1 apiece. I'd passed on them back in the day when they came out. I learned that I don't need to own Lou Reed's Berlin album but I do want to keep Holland by the Beach Boys. I also recently picked up a half dozen modern classical lp's of avante-garde stuff from the 70's. 50 cents each. I routinely find stuff I'm actually looking for--in the funk, soul and jazz vein--fairly cheap. It is an exception now for me to buy a new reissue LP (though when I do it I'm grateful to have the chance, since there is no telling how long they'll stay in print).

And the best part if that the stuff I don't want I can take to the used stores and trade in for new or other used stuff that's on my want list.

This might make it easier to walk away from those "must have" reissues that are so pricey. However, I keep my shoe handy for kicking myself when I fail to pick up a reissue or new release that, in retrospect, I should have picked up. Bottom line is that I end up buying a lot of vinyl and also kicking myself a fair bit. Between the browsing, buying and kicking I manage to keep myself fairly busy...

Markus

i.e. just ordered LTJ Bukem 'Journey Invards' for EUR 22. It's a 4 record box set.

Come over to W'tal and choose the right shop!

Hermann

In the town where I work there was a music shop called Tower Express.

Whne they opened, I was very pleased to see they had a rack of vinyl at the back.

I wasn't so pleased that the average LP was £17, singles £5. I don't think I ever bought more than a couple of singles.

Then they stopped selling vinyl, because "there wasn't the demand". Then they stopped selling anything, because they closed down to move to on-line selling.

So there you are - the public voted with thier purses and wallets.

I am fortunate enough to be able to go into London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Brighton and other fine cities with a good selection of vinyl outlets, but you do have to put a bit of effort to seek out the back street shops to get new releases and secondhand LPs.

DS

OTR - The news, followed by the Archers

Hermann, make sure to put a review in on LTG Bukems, I will probably want to buy it

ack

Thorsten,

Just ignore the gaudy Parry. He makes me cringe every time I have the misfortune of reading his posts.

The only consolation about paying £20 for vinyl is that at least you can still buy your music on this medium. Better than nothing.

I often buy at these prices, because I prefer vinyl. If I'm stuck, I'm forced to buy cd's.

Please ignore the contentious count'd, he is regarded by many of the regulars as an argumentative bit of rough. This man causes an argument every time he comes on.

Regards

Mick

Parry,

Regulars don't regard any opinion about me. I don't write enough.

The only person who writes an opinion about me is you.

You sad git.

Count'd

I have no wish to embarass you but in a recent thread on photography, your ill tempered behaviour caused several people to comment on your general demeanour.

You are a rude and unpleasant pleb, who is unworthy of this forum.

Regards

Mick

I think you need to go back to school to be educated. Your lack of intelligence shines through on this forum as clear as your F1 lens.

By the way, I have just made £11,000 + VAT this August. I wouldn't have thought a peasant would be capable of that. There will be many people on this forum earning far more than that.

You're giving business advice to some members here. You are a laughing stock, you small time tosser.

Vulgar talking about money isn't it s--- head.

Count'd

Thank you for proving my point.

Regards

Mick

mick, count.d,

thanks for some abuse on this thread.

<i>The most important upgrade: Forget about your system. </i>

hermann,

i am moving to haan this winter so i will be even closer to the record shops you think of. tell me the adresses, if you can be so kind. thanks.

however, i doubt that you will get rhcp btw at this moment for much less than the outrageous 28-29 euro.

put it on my tt yesterday evening. i am very satisfied. it is more fun listening to it, than via my 3.5. for whatever reason.

sean,

hannover is a great city for many things, and i think the shop you refer to is called blue note. i am from hannover. :-) next time you go there ask me for some tipps what to do, if you're interested.

The most important upgrade: Forget about your system.

[This message was edited by Thorsten on THURSDAY 29 August 2002 at 09:58.]

Thorsten,

I don't know if you've thought of it, but I buy most of my vinyl from Ebay.

I've never struggled to get a new/sealed copy of any record I've wanted.

Alot of records seem to go for $5-$9. So when you add the postage of $11 from the States, it's still cheaper than £20.

I haven't been ripped off yet and I've done approx 100 buys.

count,

i haven't tried vinyl on ebay. cds is a different matter. new ones go mostly for the same money as in the shops. so where's the point?

i wanted to have rhcp btw now, and i do not think that those who bought it on vinyl will quickly sell it again. i'll check that. generally that might be a good idea to browse ebay for bargains. but if you really want to have something particular it's difficult.

my experience with classical cds is that they go very cheap. sold costello/van otter for some 8 euro. even this famous soprano from italy, what was her name? yes, cecilia bartoli singing gluck arias went for a mere 10 euro something. brand new recording.

otoh i tried to buy hoobastank or nickelback on ebay because i was curious. outrageous prices.

so ebay is tricky but maybe i am luckier with vinyl.

<i>The most important upgrade: Forget about your system. </i>

Thorsten,

I've found that if it's a particular hard to find lp that doesn't come up often, the best way is to go into "my Ebay" page and set your preferences to search for it. Then when a match for your search comes up, you will receive an email from Ebay. This saves you searching every other day.

Just a thought.

I frequently visit two record shops in W'tal Havy Soul and ELPI who's no webpage.

On the other hand there a view second hand shops around and every week some s/h markets.

Some other guys are based in W'tal and they're running an internet shop Cyber CD. They stock vinly either.

Cheers,
Hermann

hermann,

too, late. i would have saved some 4 euro. going to w'tal at the moment is a bit too much for 4 euro. NEXT time. though the recordshop seems to concentrate on certain music.

btw. do you happen to live in this area? if so send me an email. i would be interested to listen your system. sheer curiosity.

The most important upgrade: Forget about your system.