Record collecting

That said, I do understand the collecting impulse, and indulge it from time to time. If you tossed an early MBV record in front of me anytime near payday, you could have me living on rice and tap water for the rest of the month.

It frustrates me when there's music out there by bands I like that I don't have and I may go to some lengths to get it. However, if the music on different releases is no different I tend not to bother.

Plus, Audiogalaxy means I can usually put together a CD of B sides without having to trawl around trying to find any of the singles! Woohoo!

Do we any threads discussing how people feel about the condition of their records/cds? I mean, discussing levels of tolerance and botheredness with regards to bashed corners and keeping things in pristine condition and the like?

I feel sure such issues must have come up, but I'm not sure what to search for to find them...

My burning question that I'm currently struggling with is: Can you cope with bashed corners? And more importantly, can I?

A couple months ago I got a pristine 7" mailed to me from the UK, and promptly dropped it as soon as I removed it from the package, annihilating one corner.

I think it will be good for me to try and learn to just deal with it, though I'd be lying if I didn't admit it hurts.

As long as the music is fine, it shouldn't be the end of the world. But that ink and paper is part of the package so it pains me inside. Is this sad?

sticker residue and torn paper due to sticker removal drive me crazy. i remove all stickers before i leave the shop and give the clerks a vicious stink-eye if the price tag removes some paper from the sleeve when I carefully remove it.

when it comes to buying, i'm ok with banged up sleeves as long as they are in one piece and don't have stains/gunk on them

I don't mind covers getting a little roughed up. All part of normal wear and tear. As long as the LP is kept in good condition.

But dropping a pristine single on the floor is a different matter -- bound to hurt a little.

Do you guys use those plastic sleeves over your LPs? I personally dislike them.

lots of this kind of discussion on the new-ish vinyl board
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/NewAnswersControllerServlet?boardid=290040365

I’ve been thinking about winding down my record collecting. I’ve been collecting CDs and records since I was 14, and since then - I’m now 37 - it’s been one of the few things I do that feels like an authentic, affirming, and fun part of who I am. At the same time, I can’t stay on this treadmill forever. I want to spend more time listening to what’s already on my shelves, vs what’s in my “new purchases” pile, but it’s really hard to shift gears.

I’ve noticed I’ll sometimes be at the shop or ecomm site and start tensing up, because I’m afraid I’ll be overwhelmed by too many things I “can’t not get” and will cave to that urge. I usually walk myself back from that edge and almost never regret purchases, but the loss of control that used to be thrilling has become quite uncomfortable. So, I want to make record collecting an occasional, intentional thing, and free myself of the delusion that I have to complete some imaginary canon, or need to keep up with “essential” releases.

This is a question, then, about control and compulsion, but also about the role of collecting records as you get older. I also want to slow down because I no longer feel like I’m participating in music culture or a scene. I’m pretty out of the loop, and while I mostly buy singles, I don’t DJ out. It feels like a habit I do in solitude, which fills a need with more neediness. But I don’t want to stop altogether. I want to be the guy who just has a beer on the weekend, without worrying about losing control and getting drunk, or having to go cold turkey.

Does anyone have experiences meaningfully winding down a collecting practice?

No. But I switched back to CDs so it’s way cheaper and takes up less space. But I buy at roughly the same rate as before.

i do. it's hard for me to get into, so much of it is intertwined with my biography and life stuff

basically i was able to really start listening to the voice inside me that compelled me to buy records, or want to buy records, and i decided it wasn't healthy and it was preying on insecurities and i was just "shopping" the way everyone else in america is shopping, to combat feelings of loneliness and inadequacy

and once i was able to show myself that meaningful listening experiences are about the music, not owning an object, and that i was having many meaningful digital "digging" experiences -- so, exploration of new and new-to-me music -- but also revisiting favorites, all via discogs marketplace (playing with filters but not buying)/youtube/slsk/streaming/bandcamp -- once i saw this for what it was, i was able to admit that digital music consumption worked better for me, at this stage of my life. and that i was, however indirectly, attached to an idea of vinyl being some kind of "curator"/preservationist connection to the music that didn't actually reflect my irl listening habits. and the kicker then was how much better this was in terms of $ because sadly i am poor and suck at making money

i basically asked myself, when was the last time you listened to any record that you have bought? not put it on the turntable and let it play through, but REALLY and TRULY listened. what was eye-opening for me was the realization that i literally could not sit through one (1) album of music without looking at my phone, or fidgeting and starting to clean my room, or thinking about who i need to email and starting to compose the email in my head, or whatever.

and this kicked off a life process that i am STILL working on. it is both frustrating and liberating, not necessarily in equal parts. but it had the beneficial effect of showing me the truth about my own record collecting. like, does buying these records actually enhance my listening experience? does it put me into more meaningful contact with the artist or their work, by owning this piece of plastic? the answer was no. does it ensure that i engage with their work more often? the answer was, empirically, no. so why was i buying records?

idk. the truth is that the way i was with records is how i am with everything. i see something and think, "i need that right now. i just need this one last thing and then i will be happy and i won't have to buy anything else." and of course that's never the case. i don't know if it's an addiction thing or what. but i know that that voice is not telling the truth, and i will be just fine and even happy with the clothes i have, and the food i bought at the store when i wasn't hungry, etc.

free myself of the delusion that I have to complete some imaginary canon, or need to keep up with “essential” releases

i mean, you are already basically there. it is a delusion. all you have to do is substitute terms and objects you don't care about, like designer shoes or beanie babies, to realize how stupid it is when that voice starts telling you that you "need" a record

not to make this into some kind of addiction or AA thing, lol

There are some great American Splendor comics where Harvey goes through this exact thing and more or less stops collecting. In his case I think it was 78’s?

Thank you so much budo, that really strikes home

xp Crumb is the 78 collector... iirc Harvey was into "regular" records, mostly jazz.

yeah it's totally retail therapy but at least it's supporting people who are bringing actual beauty into the world

i don't want to overshare or trauma dump, but i wanted to mention something i went through/am still reconciling around collecting physical media. this thread revive is good. thanks for reading.

i don't want to get into details (and i have posted elsewhere about this recently on ilx) but i had about a third of my vinyl collection taken away from me over the past year. there were lots of 'rare+collectable' type albums from across the spectrum of genres; you guys know my preferences.

point is: i lost some of my favorite records. a lot of them weren't museum pieces, just classic catalogue stuff that's getting harder to come by on physical media. nothing that was taken from my collection is unavailable or not able to be heard.

but bj, you said something that resonated with me about finding it hard to deep listen these days. i definitely get that! it's one of the reasons i still want to have physical media. an example: among the records i got taken away was high land hard rain. it was this cool reissue from a few years back. i'll probably never get a chance to have another copy on vinyl. i can listen to it on streaming, which i attempted to do a few times. but, bj otm: it's jusr not the same these days.

so i saved up my lunch money and bought a standard issue cd from the 80s; about $10 with postage. it arrived in the mail on friday. do you know what i did for myself this past friday night? i turned off all the lights, pushed all the furniture to the edge of the room, put it on at a reasonable volume, laid on my back and sang along for the duration of the cd (it's the one with the few extras: "orchid girl", "queen's tattoos", etc). i did that thing where you flip your arms and legs around to the beat and do that whole body conducting; almost like calisthenics. "release" (appropriately) is especially good for intentional and excessive spazzing out of this type.

probably haven't done anything like that with that album (or many others tbh) since i first got that cool vinyl reissue. this album is so good!

so it's like... yeah, i think i understand this revive but i still gotta get knife. soon.

and here's part two:

this kind applies to new releases too. i really had to make an activity of listening to the new material by steve tibbetts. it's only available on streaming for now. i was able to hear it, but it still doesn't feel real. i'm definitely going to stay listening, but i absolutely can't wait to be able to listen "offline."

these days, most artists don't bother with physical releases. or the physical release is just too expensive for me. i wish i could still afford to buy every new release that i care about, but it's not practical. i am still able to use an old ipod touch for streaming and i rely on spotify for digital listening. sometimes the 'download' or 'offline' feature works so i can still kind of approximate offline deeper listens (however most new releases less than a couple years old don't seems to allow it).

there is definitely a mindful aspect to all of this. i liken it to tablet/ereader/kindle vs. physical book. i have well-documented neurodivergent issues, so i'm sure that factors into all this as well for me.

tangent: all of this is why i sometimes decide i would like to be deaf. no hearing=no desire to play records. but idk, that might be a bit of overcorrection.

the truth is that the way i was with records is how i am with everything. i see something and think, "i need that right now."

this is me, but for different, equally irrational reasons. See, I'm convinced I am going to live forever, so I have this "stockpile" mindset, and the fomo fever that is embedded into every press release doesn't help ("holy grail of whatever, limited to 1500 numbered copies, first 100 orders with screenprinted lithograph").

Who was it that said, "we don't buy books, we buy the time to read them?" I'm probably getting that wrong but I think about that general idea a lot. I buy records that I know I won't have an opportunity to listen to anytime soon (and as we all know, even "soon" sometimes never comes), because I want to have access to them if and when I feel like hearing them.

This is foolish, of course, and not just because, inevitably, when I do find the time to listen to music, I will want to hear something new or new-to-me that I don't already own. Definitely some beanie baby shit.

But I'm almost 50 and the feeling that there are records taking up room in my house that I will almost certainly never hear again, well, I think that speaks very much to the "unacknowledged fear of death" aspect of this pathology: if I own records I haven't heard yet, I can't possibly die.

The flipside is that, as far as obsessions go, this one's fairly harmless imo, even when compared to other consumption-based addictions that don't harm our bodies. When compared to, I dunno, classic cars or oil paintings or movie memorabilia, records are relatively inexpensive. As long as you aren't donating plasma or stealing to fund it, at the end of the day it is just a hobby, and almost every hobby requires a buy-in of some kind (what the hell do golf clubs cost?).

And like frogbs, I still do adamantly believe in supporting artists, especially when the alternative is supporting tech billionaires. Which I realize is just one more rationalization, but at least it's one not powered by self-delusion.

Supporting artists + supporting community + supporting your own sense of value as a human being who can experience beauty = what else is your money for?

truly great post budo jeru

it really is about listening and participating, these days all I want to do is listen to my favorite records while not doing anything else and go to shows at small venues

Great and thoughtful revive, everyone - and thank you for it.

Good revive and great posts.

I think the object nature of vinyl, but CDs also, is part of this. I recently bought some sleeves for my records and had to sort through them so I could sleeve the ones that needed it, etc. And it was like re-communing with the objects as objects that brought the pleasure, aside from what they contained (or as well as). I know I won't necessarily listen to all the records I own, but they give me some sense of joy and of self, however shallow that ultimately might be.

To be real, I'm not an avid collector by any means: I have about 300 records and double that of CDs, and I only buy about 10 records a year these days (and maybe 20 CDs). I'm too skint for anything else.

I don’t think there’s any question that supporting artists and labels and shops is a good thing, or that buying records is any less meaningful than, say, a bottle of wine or nice shirt, but I think it’s oversimplifying it to say it’s all this benevolent communitarian thing. For me, collecting records, among other things, has been a way to compensate for a lack of social and community life. And when (following budo jeru) I listen to the voices compelling me to buy more, they’re often saying “I’m lonely and this will numb that feeling and boost your independence” or “I feel aimless, and this will give me a momentary burst of purpose.” Unhealthy stuff, for sure (nb: I’m basically sober, so I feel like record shopping has taken on some of the functions other addictive substances conventionally do)

I see myself clinging onto my desire for more of what I want, my possessiveness, and an idea of who I am. But at the core, these things are immaterial, I don’t need to be Record Connoisseur Guy, I want let go - not just of the compulsiveness, but also the idea that any of this defines me. Which is hard and scary when so much of my life is historically wrapped up in that.

This discussion has already helped me a lot. I think the attitude I want to embrace is “I am intentionally acquiring this, knowing I don’t need it, but spending the time to listen deeply to it.” Debating whether the best strategy is: Exercise discipline and buy only what most speaks to me? Or go to shops less often? Cut out online orders? Cut out casual in store shopping. Some mix of all of the above?

Having to sort through the collections of deceased relatives has kinda increased the psychological weight of my own collections and made me want to jettison them now rather than later. Tempting to cash in my vinyl and use the proceeds for more transitory pleasures like vacations and fancy dinners. I've got 99% of it in digital format so it's all there to listen to.

I get how it's like a core aspect of my identity in some sense but also, you know, with age and experience I don't really give a shit about my identity so much anymore? Some part of me sees that record collection through other peoples' eyes which has been and is fun but it's hard to not realize with time that the people you care most about don't really notice it or consider it more than a quirk of personality among many others that mean a lot more?

haha also for perspective, selling my vinyl would mean I still have, like, a massive CD collection

I'm too skint for anything else.

Fortunate that I'm not skint, but I am cheap when it comes to records (a mindset that took hold after 20 years of collecting, from the mid-'70s onward), so the obscene prices save me from myself. Paying $40-50 for a new album is unthinkable, $20-30 for something used no different. That you can justify that re the inflation rate from 1975 to today doesn't matter a bit to me. So: I probably acquire 25-50 used albums a year, abetted by one or two times a year when someone trades in a collection to the shop I go to once a month. Sometimes they'll be put out for $5 or cheaper. I'm 64 and haven't yet figured out when or the best way to sell them, so my sister won't have to.

I dabbled in collecting in the early 00s and then dove in more seriously starting in 2018 when my friend passed and gave me his turntable and records.

Listening to physical media restored me to a healthier relationship to music. When streaming was my primary method of listening, I had trouble listening to an entire album straight through. I would listen to a track or two then impatiently search for another dopamine hit of finding the exact perfect track; more concerned with what I was listening to nex than what was currently on. Having physical media taught me patience and made me actually listen to the music more deeply and to appreciate it more. New vinyl and the prices of used vinyl drives me a bit nuts, but I am selective and judicious with purchases. I have also been lucky that I have been given probably 300 records over the last 5 years.

What I am excited about is buying a CD player next year and pulling my ~800 CDs out of storage for the first time in 6-7 years. I have been avoiding listening to things I know I have on CD in anticipation and as a form of delayed gratification.

What I am excited about is buying a CD player next year and pulling my ~800 CDs out of storage for the first time in 6-7 years. I have been avoiding listening to things I know I have on CD in anticipation and as a form of delayed gratification.

i am highly interested and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

also thank you for touching on the "infinite scroll" aspect of streaming/digital music. i do struggle with neurodivergence/purposely overstimulating myself and it's like: with physical media, eventually you are forced to snap out of it either to turn the record/tape, or change to another disc. the physical action of doing those things is part of the ritual and appreciation for me. i look back at my last.fm and some of the marathon/repeated listening i used to do was... probably not that good for my mental health tbh.

that being said, it is cool to be able to build a 7 or 8 hour harold budd playlist to have on low in the next room while i sleep.

just wanted to echo the thanks for all the great posts in this thread

this is something I have been trying to grapple with as well - mainly music, but also books, and some other lightly compulsive collecting behaviours - like, do I need another Walkman? (no but also yes but really no)

Some part of me sees that record collection through other peoples' eyes

this is a big one for me! and it is definitely fuelled by formative 80's/90's OG record-buying habits, an echo of long-gone share-house days when a random stranger/potential future pal could actually flick through your records and the selection did convey some sense of who I was back then (a shy music nerd who picked up a lot of records on the basis that Bobby Gillespie said they were cool) (he was right! sorry!)

and I do still enjoy nosing around someone else's bookshelves or music collection! and occasionally I might compare notes about discs I own when chatting with friends - must mostly my collection is just for me now, and maybe there is still a version of "writing the self" going on - but... nobody really cares! perhaps not even me

I am definitely more selective about the records I pick up now, it has to be something that has a bit of a halo around it - I went to a record fair the other day and thought I was going to leave empty-handed - but then there was a guy with a whole bunch of Wire-related LPS (Dome, Cupol, MZUI etc) and my wallet flew open

and I have enjoyed playing those records a lot! and I do vibe with them differently than I do when I listen to streams. nothing intrinsic to the sound of the vinyl, but more to do with the artefact and presentation. I love dreaming about how a beat-up Hawkwind record was mistreated in some stoner rock dungeon, or that a pristine 1980s ECM was played on a Linn Sondek in a tasteful Harbourside apartment

(and as a tangent I am also conscious that my main listening setup has kind of inadvertently replicated the layout of my teenage bedroom - which is when I did a lot of deep listening, and I guess is the origin point of my passion for music)

anyway I know this is just thinking out loud, the one thing I would offer is that getting rid of a bunch of records feels great - you have more room physically, more room psychically to enjoy your remaining records, and someone gives you money for em which you can put to better use

also (for me) there is something about offloading a few crates that kinda shuts down the acquisitive instinct, like I don't have much interest in buying for a long time after selling off a chunk of the collection