Another Man's Music, or How I learned to ignore those unidentifiable little crusty things I found in the runoff grooves and enjoy buying used music

A friend of mine once found a letter from Don Cherry's wife in some free jazz LP he bought.

I generally only buy used when I'm buying something that's out-of- print or at a decent price.

I buy used most of the time because it's cheaper. The way I see it, someone bought it and thought it sucked - so why should the record company get paid twice for something that 1 out of 2 people (in a sample size of 2) found to be sucky. Although now that CD burners are more common, I may have to adjust that opinion.

If it's an independent artist, though, I will pay a few bucks extra to support them. I also try to buy directly from independent artists, at their gigs - so they get maximum dollar.

What percentage of your music do you buy used vs. new?

The absolute overwhelming majority.

Is there a psychological difference for you?

Hell no. It's just cheaper.

Do you feel any ethical issues about not giving yr money to the artist by buying new?

Nope. No more than I would the author whose book I buy secondhand (or the movie director whose DVD etc. or whatever).

And have you ever found any "bonuses" in your used purchases, like mysterious flakes of grot, illicit material, or misplaced personal items?

More than a few of my purchases look to have been used as a flat surface to chop cocaine on.

I also try to buy directly from independent artists, at their gigs - so they get maximum dollar.

I'll agree with this, though, especially if, say, I can't find their stuff easily or it's a tour only thing. Those are fun. I usually buy their shirts, though.

What percentage of your music do you buy used vs. new?
maybe 75% used. Is there a psychological difference for you?
yes. I like the randomness of shopping for used records. I like the feeling of rescuing forgotten records from purgatory. But I like the newness of new records too. Do you feel any ethical issues about not giving yr money to the artist by buying new?
Honestly never gave it a thought until now. thanks for bumming me out. And have you ever found any "bonuses" in your used purchases, like mysterious flakes of grot, illicit material, or misplaced personal items?
Lots of bubble lettered Lynda Barry-ish kid graffiti on some old K- tels "FAR-OUT!", "MARSHA","PEACE, MAN", and "COOL IT, SUGAR BEAR" (huh?)

Lots of bubble lettered Lynda Barry-ish kid graffiti on some old K- tels "FAR-OUT!", "MARSHA","PEACE, MAN", and "COOL IT, SUGAR BEAR" (huh?)

One of my favorites is a Blues Magoos LP I bought.. the top left corner says, "Dad". It's funniest when I think about a 40 year old back in 1968, with bermuda shorts, black socks & wingtips, laying claim to a Blues Magoos record-album.

Sorry for bumming you, fritz. Followup to that question, though: have you ever bought an album used and liked it enough to want to compensate for the royalties issue by sending a couple of bucks directly to the artist?

My answer to that: Yes, when I bought a used copy of Rheostatics' Whale Music album, which was between labels when I got it. I wrote to the band asking them how I could repay them. They actually wrote back saying not to worry about it, but if I really felt bad about it to send them a mix tape of local artists, etc. They actually liked one of those artists enough to do a mini-tour with them. Yay!

Do you feel any ethical issues about not giving yr money to the artist by buying new?

They would only use it to buy drugs. Heroin, mostly.

I got Kiss - Destroyer off the street and there were newspaper clippings inside - "Kiss Play Madison Square Garden - tickets $4.50" and a gossipy article about a "boozed-up" Peter Criss "without his makeup on"! What made it funny is that it was obviously not Peter Criss. There were also long-expired Kiss Army merchandising forms in there, where you once could have used to order all manner of Kiss chintz.

I've started buying more used CD's, mainly because there is a good shop locally...The artist made money the first time around. My second hand silver jews album had been used as an ashtray by the looks of it.

The artist made money the first time around.

only if they were very lucky. which might be another reason not to feel guilty about buying 2nd hand.

yet another reason not to feel guilty about buying 2nd hand: the environment. got you there. there's no arguing with that.

I used to buy lots of second-hand vinyl, but now I prefer c.d. reissues because you usually get extra tracks and a nice booklet. I no longer have the time to explore second-hand record shops for obscure classics.

One second-hand purchase that came with a "bonus" was a Ludus album. The inner sleeve was decorated with drawings by Linder from Ludus. The record used to belong to someone called Bernhard.

You don't have much choice but to buy used if you are looking for old vinyl. It's a bit of a risk because vinyl can be unlistenable even when it looks good, if it was played with a bad setup (chipped stylus, too much/too little tracking force, etc). I'd say I buy about 40% of stuff used. Most of the new stuff I listen to is rather hard to find used, the labels are too small, and those I'd rather support by buying new & direct if possible. But the major label stuff, I have no qualms about buiying used. one thing I have noticed, it is almost always possible to find a used or promo copy of any major label new release within a month. Sometimes I can't wait but it is worth keeping in mind.

More than half my collection would be second-hand. Having come to this collecting biz reasonably late ('97 onwards) most of the stuff I want is well older so it's secondhand or nothing.

I found a copy of Galaxie 500's Today album with a ticket stub in it, that was very cool. I've bought quite a few records that weren't treated very well, which is always irritating. A Stereolab 10" with a letter from Martin Duophonic in (not very interesting)...

I never even consider half the time that what I'm buying isn't new. Especially with CD's, where the number of times it has been played is completely irrelevant, if it's been taken care of.

I bought a used Sonic Youth album. In it was a Curious George valentine "to Nikke."

I buy 90% of music used. I only buy it new if I can't find it used. It means I can buy more music.

I buy well over half used, I like the sense of discovery in flipping through used bins, plus I am cheap by nature, even though I could afford to buy new now. I got into the habit in college because there were a few good stores around (college town). The drawback is that sometimes I'll wait quite a while before getting something I want, in the hope of finding it used.

I sometimes will buy new on purpose to support the artist, but only if it's a small label/low sales type band.

I can't remember finding anything worthwhile in a purchase (besides the music, heh, heh), but I've heard of people finding money in old LPs.

What percentage of your music do you buy used vs. new?

all of it these days

Is there a psychological difference for you?

yes it means i'm not contributing to the production of otiose crap.

Do you feel any ethical issues about not giving yr money to the artist by buying new?

see above

I buy less used music than I used to, I guess it's around 50%. The main reason is that I'm not necessarily trying to get *as much music as possible* these days, just good stuff. So I'll pay more for something that counts.

Buy used about 60%, new 30%, illicitly copied 10%.

Though the used figure goes up in the summer as the car boot sales start up again. I increased my vinyl collection 10 fold in the early 90's by people who were virtually giving it away as they replaced it with shiny new CD's, alas by the mid 90's most of the good stuff had already gone.

Main reason is obviously financial but also because it's a great way to try out new artists with little financial penaltyOoh David Ackles, Count Basie, Prince Buster, Swell Maps. How much? 20 p. Ok, would you do it for 10?.

As for ethical considerations. I don't have a soul so that's no problem.

I like the 'Hunt' aspect of shopping used also... You never know what you'll stumble over. I went into a shop though (ONCE) with a list of what I was looking for .. the owner took the list from me and went down it, saying "nope, nope, nope, uh... nope -don't have that, uh - might have that one, nope, nope..." Took all of the fun out of looking. I'm never disappointed when a shop doesn't have what I'm looking for - because sometimes I see something I forgot I wanted. But in this case, I was just so pissed - I have never gone back.

Obviously that person shouldn't have been running the shop, because they obviously don't understand the whole process.