Buying your own record: Classic or Dud?

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Not what you are thinking. So many musicians work in record stores, so surely many have been faced with customers coming in to trade their unwanted albums, only to find that one of their own discs is among them. I wonder if in this situation they would ask why they are trading it in, or even speak up to say that they, in fact, made this. I would imagine that if I were in this situation, I would either: a) Consider this customer an ass or b) Be feeling pretty small or c) Both of these.

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 16:11 (twenty-three years ago)

i think i'd just casually try to ask why they're returning it without letting on my motives...consider it a very covert way of getting some constructive criticism.

― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 16:21 (twenty-three years ago)

See paragraph 19.

― Andy K (Andy K), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 16:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Interesting. Thanks Andy.

I've talked to a few musician friends who work in record stores about this. None of them are buyers, so they haven't had to deal with the actual seller, but each of them has said that the first time they saw their album in the used bin their stomachs turned.

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 16:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Maybe a bit cruel here, but if you work in a record store -- especially ones where there's a lot of used CDs, which I'm sure employees happily buy from when they can! -- I'd think you really wouldn't be surprised if you ever saw your own disc in the bins. It can and does happen (especially for the promo copies).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 16:49 (twenty-three years ago)

I hope the members of Pablo Cruise don't work in a record store.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 16:50 (twenty-three years ago)

If you're in a band and can't handle the fact that someone out there MAY NOT LIKE YOUR RECORD, don't work in a used store, because it's bound to come in sooner or later...I've seen copies of Loveless, which I find totally baffling, but virtually every album comes through sooner or later. Almost every used record store I've been to in the city has one person who is a musician, and each of those stores has copies of that person's album, used. What would be far, far worse, I think, would be being in a band that sold a lot of records (oh, say, Presidents of the United States of America), and having to refuse buying your own record, because the back room of the store is already FULL of used copies.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 17:10 (twenty-three years ago)

''I've seen copies of Loveless, which I find totally baffling''

yes but not everyone thinks its the greatest alb ever or even any good as you know (though i love it).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 17:12 (twenty-three years ago)

and having to refuse buying your own record, because the back room of the store is already FULL of used copies....

...twelve of which are bound together to keep the back door open for deliveries.

― Andy K (Andy K), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 17:14 (twenty-three years ago)

oh, say, Presidents of the United States of America
..or Pablo Cruise..

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 17:20 (twenty-three years ago)

yes but not everyone thinks its the greatest alb ever or even any good as you know (though i love it).
Exactly; tastes vary, so if you take it too personally you're in the wrong business.

..or Pablo Cruise..
Yes, or Pablo Cruise. Oddly, though, I never see Pablo Cruise records in the used bins here, though. I wonder if it's a regional thing.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 17:22 (twenty-three years ago)

OK, speed reading again (i'm abt to go back home).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 17:29 (twenty-three years ago)

and having to refuse buying your own record, because the back room of the store is already FULL of used copies....

Wonderful point.

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 18:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Look on the bright side. People sell used records for reasons other than not liking the music: to make rent, buy drugs, food, abortions. Maybe they inherited it from somebody who died.

So thay's Dabrye? I've seen him at Encore a few times. I think he's the one who gave thumbs up to my buying the first Gothic Archies.

― Curt (cgould), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 20:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I bought a copy of a flexi-disc by a band that I used to be in (Sub-Active) at a record fair once.

It figured it was worth 10p to prevent that appaling piece of shit from ever being heard by another living being.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 24 October 2002 07:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd rather see my old records in a used bin for $5 than circulating among collector scum for $50 and up, which is unfortunately the case.

I almost bought a copy of the Hated bootleg in order to find out just how shitty it sounds (and to figure what the songs are where bootlegger just guessed at the titles), but couldn't bring myself to actually put money in someone's hands for it.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 24 October 2002 12:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Arto Lindsay purchased No New York - an illegal release on CD format - in Japan.

― nathalie (nathalie), Thursday, 24 October 2002 15:41 (twenty-three years ago)

That I can understand, because at least the "No New York" boot sounds good, and there's probably stuff on there that Arto doesn't have access to otherwise. But if I've got better sounding tapes at home AND some lowlife is going to get paid, forget it!

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 24 October 2002 15:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Working in a store completely destroyed my assumption that "people are selling it" = "it isn't very good" -- something we should all realize from the get-go, as we all happily buy great records from the used bins that someone else necessarily passed on. What surprised me, really, was how much of what people sold was really great, and how often even the people selling it thought so. Sometimes they were deliberately selling their best stuff, because they needed money and wanted to part with as few records as possible to get it. Sometimes they were just trading things they'd been loving for years for something new. All the new releases came in right away from reviewers and other promo-getters. In fact, people rarely brought in anything they seemed to think was bad: a lot of them would drop off a pile and then walking around smirking, waiting for you to be all impressed by that rare 12-inch on the bottom and the massive trade value of their offerings.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 24 October 2002 15:58 (twenty-three years ago)

(I forgot: "sometimes they bought a CD copy, or a less scratched-up copy, or the box set it's in or the Japanese pressing with the bonux tracks.")

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 24 October 2002 15:59 (twenty-three years ago)

In fact, people rarely brought in anything they seemed to think was bad:
Sometimes I'd drop off things I thought were awful and said they were all great, just so they didn't think I was trying to pawn off total shit on them. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I just don't really have time and I never listen to that one, but it's pretty good. Yeah, $5 is okay. Thanks!"

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 24 October 2002 16:58 (twenty-three years ago)

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