I watched the Bill Russell doco on netflix the other night (which was excellent). I noticed this…
Would love to know what he had in there. Drool.
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Hi guys. I’d love you to check out my online vinyl store. It’s all new and sealed stock.
Please use code “extinct10n” for 10% off 
www.thylacinerecords.com.au
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Dayum, that’s not a bad little 8/9-year turnaround in an investment. I bought the Mono Masters 3LP separately when new copies were still floating around just a few years back. I also got Rubber Soul from that series in great condition fairly recently for way cheaper than what folks will pay for it.
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True? False? Attempt at humour? Waste of space?
A little bit of it all. True, vinyl today is expensive but I would argue not overpriced. Back in 82 when I first started working I was paid the princely sum of $7500 per year and a record cost around $13-16. That works out to .173 % of my income at the time. Today I earn around 100k and $88 is around .088 % of my income. Cheaper than it was “back in the day”! In fact pretty much half the cost of what it was.
Does it sound better, I believe it does. Can I definitively prove that? No. Do I care? No? As they say “You do you”.
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I feel the same way.
Albums went up from $11 to $16 in about five years.
CD’s were $30 in the late 80’s/early 90’s.
Anyway, I’m at the old man stage where I think you should definitely be able to get a an appetiser, main and dessert for $30…maybe $40 if it’s fancy, so I’m the last person to ask about what a fair price is.
On the other hand, I used to deliver junk mail as a kid and got $24 per week for it.
With which I could buy…
Two singles, a 12”, and an album.
I’m not sure you could do that now.
Also, I was going to post in here anyway…
I was playing Crawl File on vinyl this morning, and LMW asked if I could pause it.
I’m posting it here because she didn’t want me posting it on FB where everyone could see.
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I get what you mean LB, bit isn’t your salary today reflective of being more experienced (hence, commanding more money)?
My first full-time salary in 1991 was $28,000. My current salary (same field, though significantly more senior and more respopnsibility) is obviously way above that, however an equivalent job to my first one would command around $50-60,000 these days.
An LP in 1991 was roughly $20-25. That equates to 0.07- 0.09% of my first job’s salary.
A LP @ $88 in 2023 equates to 0.18 - 0.21% of the equivalent salary today. Somewhere between double and triple what it was back then.
Of course $88 is an extreme case. Most new vinyl I’ve seen tends to be around the $60 mark.
Whatever though… if people elect to buy vinyl these days, well it’s up to them isn’t it? It’s their money…
Actually, people were definitely buying imports for $50-$60 back then…
I guess it depends on how bad you want it.
And it’s probably worth considering that you can listen to almost anything on demand and free on YouTube or for a very low price through Spotify.
Vinyl isn’t the only option anymore.
I don’t know if the reduction in manufacturing the things has an impact on the price…
In my field, the starting wage is around $76k which means $88 equates to 0.115%, still less than what I paid 40 years ago as a percentage of income.
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Yep, plenty of other ways to hear the music. If the new vinyl is overpriced to you, don’t get it. Wait till it goes on sale if the store can’t sell it, see if it’s cheaper secondhand, or don’t get it. Or measure the sound quality/cost up against buying a CD if you want a physical product to own.
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Fair 'nuff…
As I said, it’s a question of choice.
Just as I made a choice in 1991 whether or not to buy an LP, it reamins the case in 2023. The cost is neither here nor there.
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It’s a great article actually, humour included, the guy gets it.
It’s a bad time to be starting out as a vinyl collector though, and being into today’s new music releases. Also, it’s a shame the demand is high and the crate digging competition is intense. But it’ll swing back round eventually. Pressing plants are being built, supply will meet demand, people will move on, collections will turn up in bargain bins, the cycle will continue.
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I guess I can’t really blame people for making hay.
Having said that… people keeping a $30 edition on their books for two years might want to consider reducing the price to $20.
The demand clearly isn’t there, or you’d have sold it, you absolute douchenozzle.
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I noticed an ad on Marketplace for The Essential Beatles LP the other day, a compilation album from the 70’s. This joker wanted $450 for it - which caught my attention because the old man has that exact record. It also surprised me because I’d already been through the exercise of seeing if any of his Beatles albums were especially rare (they weren’t when I last checked).
I proceeded to check The Essential Beatles on EBay. 10 bucks here, 20 bucks there… Marketplace dude is clearly a chancer…
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So Harry Stylus is ripping us off it seems.
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I couldn’t read the full article but the writer lost me at…
"vinyl is the worst.
It’s the worst for so many reasons. Vinyl is hard work. It’s the “let’s take the stairs!” equivalent of music listening, when the elevator - ie: streaming - is right there."
That particular record referred to in the article is a poor snapshot of record prices.
Im not paying 88 dollars for a Harry Style record. But maybe a 16 year old girl who does 15hrs a week at Big W, with some disposable pocket money might. And Harrys team know this. And if the 16 year old girl is savvy, she’ll look on ebay and probably get it 30bucks cheaper, take it home, play it on her Crosley Suitcase turntable, swoon and have a wonderful time.
Im not paying 88 dollars for any new record.
I just bourght two new records off band camp for like 28 bucks each. Plus 11 delivery.
Records have gone up a lot in the last three years. And its definitely a ■■■■ time to start collecting them. But the average brand new single record does not have an $88 price tag.
*edit- apparently the upcoming RSD releases do have highly inflated prices. Just another reason why it should be abolished.
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