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New to the vinyl gang: Where to start?


Marla
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Hi everyone! 

I'm new to the vinyl community and I'm a bit lost 😂 I'm passionate about music and now that I finally have my own place I'm willing to start a vinyl collection and support the artists a little bit better.  (hopefully)

Where do I start? I don't really want to give more money to amazon and don't have a record store near where I live.

Honestly open to recommendations for both learning about vinyl and buying them, especially if you know about more ethical / human options

 

Thank you!! 🙏🙏

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Welcome! There are plenty of independent shops with online stores or accounts on Discogs, which'll help you avoid throwing cash to the big retailers. Depending on the band, you may be able to find their personal stores online, which will help directly support them in most cases.

 

I'll take this as an opportunity to plug two of my more local (Seattle area) shops, which are both safe bets when ordering online.

https://easystreetonline.com/

https://www.silverplatters.com/

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1 minute ago, blueeyesgetboring said:

Bandcamp for sure, especially for independent and up and coming artists. Seems to be one of the more direct ways to support artists these days. 

Bandcamp is the best to support artists directly. Honestly you picked the worst time to get into vinyl, as prices are at all time highs and delays are the longest they've ever been. 

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7 minutes ago, museummouth said:

Bandcamp is the best to support artists directly. Honestly you picked the worst time to get into vinyl, as prices are at all time highs and delays are the longest they've ever been. 

When I started collecting 8 years ago everyone said the bubble was about to burst...........still waitin'!

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Hi Marla.

My suggestion is to create a budget of what you can reasonably spend every month/ paycheck/ week. It's very easy to buy too much.

If money is no issue (or even if it is), I would suggest supporting artists directly, where possible, as those above have mentioned. 

Just curious, is it for listening or just collecting? That is, do you have a turntable and stereo setup or are you just collecting for the sake of it (no judgement). If you really are just passionate about music and want to support artists, but money is tight/ you aren't listening to vinyl, digital downloads probably make more money for artists. But hey, you could do both!

 

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I would suggest not getting disheartened if/when you end up missing pre-orders or records get sold out, there will always be represses and sellers on discogs and local stores and such, in the end it's what's carved into the grooves that matters.

 

Also, don't get married to color vs black records. It'll make your collecting and music enjoyment much better. 

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Just leave the hobby now. You will inevitably miss that 1/25 variant down the line and, at the point, is what you have really a collection?

 

In all seriousness though, I guess it depends on what type of music you're looking for. If you're into pop music, you can probably find what you're looking for on any major music store like Rough Trade, Turntable Lab, etc. For Soundtracks, Mondo, Invada, Waxwork Records are good. 

For myself, I find the best ways to find releases are:

  • Following artists that you like on social media. They usually post if they are releasing something on vinyl.
  • Looking up what labels your favorite artists are on and keeping up with their social media. Depending on how small a label or artist is, sometimes it's the only way to get info on upcoming vinyl releases
  • Exploring on bandcamp
  • Joining facebook, reddit or discord groups. I've lucked out so many times seeing a post on a repress or new release and being able to snag something


And of course, visiting this forum! Have a fun time collecting!

Edited by ghost
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3 hours ago, mitchard said:

This is advice I wish I would have heard early on. 

That whole trend of variant collecting and stuff never made sense. Now I do have different versions of the same album for example an original Downward Spiral, the Kevin Gray cut, the definitive reissue by Trent but they are all different sonically and one of my favorite albums. I have similiar trends with Siamese Dream, In Utereo, etc but never just the same album/press in different colors. Total waste in my mind

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Honestly, this forum is what really kicked my vinyl collecting into high gear over the last few years. It has faithfully guided me regarding which albums are must haves/which to avoid wasting money on, pressing information, when preorders drop, and so on. I’ve amassed a very trim collection with almost no duds thanks to this community. Doesn’t hurt that the general musical tastes of the VC community closely match my own. That’s both a blessing and a curse. 

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47 minutes ago, youspinmeround said:

Total waste in my mind

Agreed. I think of the time and money I spent collecting Against Me variants, then look at the shit I could have (and should have) bought for $15-$20 while it was in print and everywhere. Now a lot of those records are impossible to find for under $100-$200, and I'm sitting here selling duplicate copies of Disco Before The Breakdown at cost.  😂

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2 minutes ago, mitchard said:

Agreed. I think of the time and money I spent collecting Against Me variants, then look at the shit I could have (and should have) bought for $15-$20 while it was in print and everywhere. Now a lot of those records are impossible to find for under $100-$200, and I'm sitting here selling duplicate copies of Disco Before The Breakdown at cost.  😂

Yo dawg, got any red copies of Thrash Unreal? That's like my last needed AM! release (unless you got a diecut Crime or the first color run of the White Crosses 3LP). I will "first press" collect AM! forever.

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4 minutes ago, mitchard said:

Agreed. I think of the time and money I spent collecting Against Me variants, then look at the shit I could have (and should have) bought for $15-$20 while it was in print and everywhere. Now a lot of those records are impossible to find for under $100-$200, and I'm sitting here selling duplicate copies of Disco Before The Breakdown at cost.  😂

Doesn’t help matters that Against Me! is literally the worst band in the entire world

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