Shady scams and other silly business ideas to take advantage of earnest new vinyl collectors

L.A. is overrun with garbage record stores, though. either places like this that have a small, limited, overpriced selection, or places that have thousands of records that are total trash. Amoeba and a handful of the older stores and a couple of the new ones are good, but so many of these "third wave" VNYL era shops are not so good.

Yeah, I was just in L.A. last month and was really disappointed in the record stores there. Not to mention this place (which I did not visit, having some sense of self-preservation): http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-record-collector-los-angeles

i always tell people to just go to Amoeba, since it's most convenient and generally priced very fairly and they have so much.

there are half a dozen others i think are okay but they're so far flung i never go to them.

and i think one of the side effects of crate digging culture is that a lot of shitty record stores just fill their racks with somewhat uncommon but terrible records and price them above their worth and hope they can fool you into thinking they're deep cuts.

^^^ afaict that last sentence describes 95% of the record stores on the West Coast in 2016.

I used to work at a record store where the owner would generally overprice somewhat uncommon records just due to the fact that it was exciting for him to see something slightly uncommon make its into the shop. He didn't have much knowledge of artists outside the common variety- I don't actually think he was trying to get away with anything!

its way*

Yeah, I was just in L.A. last month and was really disappointed in the record stores there. Not to mention this place (which I did not visit, having some sense of self-preservation): http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-record-collector-los-angeles

oh shit that place looks a treat!

The absolute rudest store I've ever been into in my life. Since there were no prices on the records, I asked the price. It was a reasonable $15.00. An older man who seemed to be the owner of store launched into an overly loud conversation with a young man telling him, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford the yacht. I dismissed it not thinking he was talking about me but it made my mom very uncomfortable and she wanted to leave the store. As we were leaving, the store owner asked if the $15.00 was too much for me and I quickly said, no we are leaving because of comments like that. He immediately went into a fit of rage and told us to get the f*ck out of the store. He yelled it at least 3 times.

calling chaki: you KNOW what you've gotta do!

one of my old go-to stores was record surplus in Santa Monica bc they were always pretty fair and sometimes shockingly cheap but jeez not anymore. i guess you can still stock up on Arthur Lyman LPs for about three bucks a pop there though.

Maybe all the young buyers coming in looking for #Macklemorevibes is breaking him.

xp

No prices listed... the original shady scam to take advantage of new vinyl buyers.

It's also pretty clear that all of the positive reviews are from people who felt validated by the fact that this guy treated them semi-humanely. Which he definitely only did b/c they gave him 15 bucks for a Squeeze record #nodisrespecttosqueeze

people from big cities LOVE my store. everything looks cheap to them.

small town record stores are the best, really. i went to one in Ithaca this past summer that was in the basement of a bookstore and the prices were wonderful. i'd have bought fifty records if i wasn't on a budget and could easily get them back to L.A.

So true. DC's about average for record stores, but I tend to bring along record mailers when traveling.

Arthur Lyman LPs rule btw

xp

No prices listed... the original shady scam to take advantage of new vinyl buyers.

― skip

so, so true

see also: Bop Street in Seattle

The record shop I liked in Seattle was the one that opens early serves breakfast. All my favorite things in one place!

Going back to those half-speeds for a minute (or would that be two, or 30 seconds, or...), I like in the posted article that it's mentioned you really can't hear the difference unless you have a deluxe set-up, which definitely gets lost in the discussion of such matters. OTOH, the snake oil aspect of this process is reinforced my the fact that some of the titles in this first lot (particularly Exile... & Fire and Water) are notoriously murky productions, allowing for that "You've never actually heard...until you've heard the half-speed" which is truly buying real estate on a lot that isn't there.

i own multiple arthur lymans, you won't hear any complaints about him from me. one of the best of the cheap LP bin regulars.

i am no rabid audiophile, but good equipment makes a HUGE difference. it really does. i hate to say it, but money can buy you some amazing sound. there's just no way to get around it.

with an amazing needle, table, speakers, etc, an excellent record will open up sound-wise in ways that might surprise you. they bloom! i swear i am not making this up.

but for a Simple Minds album? lol

early simple minds records sound amazing. later ones not so much.

A £200 Pro-Ject Essential II makes a huge difference. You dont need to spend a grand on a TT

listening to one now. leckie majik.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/12734071_10154541093247137_18464861555159793_n.jpg?oh=034c04abcdae5edff2b2975142e19075&oe=5762F096

I don't doubt the difference about equipment...it's just that the real money in regards to selling these new press records (and roached old ones) is in the wallets of people with Crosley Cruisers & such

after empires and dance even better though sound-wise.

if you have to ask the price, you can't afford the yacht
haha this is great...

Yup, made all the more comical that the yacht in question was $15.

sort of related:
there's a record store near me that regularly posts pics of "new arrivals" on facebook, and recently I commented, asking the price of one of the records shown.

owner said: "Can't tell you, you have to come in to the store" ... which is odd. I mean, it already had the price tag on it. what difference does it make if he tells me the price?

I wouldn't be able to resist following that up with a phone call myself.

Yeah, that's ridiculous.

My friend who owns a record store posted this article a while back about a shop owner who kept a notebook of all the dumb shit customers have done/said over the years; kinda funny http://dangerousminds.net/comments/how_your_pretentious_local_record_store

"vnyl" is pronounced to rhyme with "denial", correct?

ss i was have to check that out, i haven't heard early Simple Minds, only know them from the Breakfast Club

the first 7 simple minds records are great. after that, not so great.

playing their first album now.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlp1/v/t1.0-9/12715451_10154541189612137_6004027368204994930_n.jpg?oh=5f41577aced675749d5d0776987a5c9c&oe=57634055

terrible picture. sorry. i don't have good lighting over or around my turntable.

I grew up in an era when they dominated the scottish airwaves with utter shite. I keep getting told the early stuff is amazing but i just cant forget how fucking miserable they made me. everyone at school loved them.

If I ever saw their early lps for a quid each id maybe check em out

probably pretty cheap where you are. i don't see nice u.k. pressings of the early stuff around here at all anymore.

if you are a fan of foxx-era ultravox and felt like midge was a drip, then the early run of simple minds records are a PERFECT replacement for vienna fatigue. or i've always felt that way anyway.

i am a fan of Ultravox! with the !

Those early SM albums arent that cheap tho. Its the late 80s ones that are. Belfast Child ep clogs up charity shops everywhere especially. The early ones will be cheaper in the US i bet.

1985 was just a bad year. it happened to lots of people. simple minds from 1979 to 1983, all good.

lots of things turned to shite in 1985. end of a golden era of pop 79-84

i don't think the first simple minds album came out here. the 2nd one came out on PVC here but you REALLY want the u.k. pressing. the third album didn't come out here either. 4th album didn't come out here. you definitely need the original u.k. Virgin pressing of that. 5th album didn't come out here either. new gold dream made them a name here. their 6th album. and found everywhere. then the same with sparkle in the rain. then the john hughes nightmare began.

live aid and its big issues big sound big hair crap to blame

for instance, sister feelings call wasn't released here in the u.s. until 6 years after its release. due to their newfound fame.

all the new horrible phil collins recording tech blowing up by 1985 too. all the stuff that makes everything sound like 1985. 1984 was the end of an era. that's why Crass broke up in 1984.

early simple minds is great if you like velvets/bowie/roxy music/eno/kraftwerk/magazine. real to real cacophony is the best if you like weird artpunk, the next couple (empires & dance, sons & fascination) move towards towards taut funkier sounds, then they start getting a bit more widescreen from new gold dream onwards