This video felt like therapy! I'm mostly a music fan, but the collector pathology really manifests with certain artists. Generally I only get a record if I want to listen to the entire thing, and I'll have one copy that is the best sounding copy I can find and afford. On the other hand, I have an irrational love of some bands and artists that makes me go a bit nuts. I have two copies of the Kinks Kinkdom (1965) only because they have different covers. I have three copies of The Pogues, If I Should Fall From Grace With God 7" single only because it came out on black, red and white vinyl. And last year I bought the last three Bob Dylan studio albums I didn't have only because I didn't have them. I'm not sure I'm okay, but I could be a lot worse!
Interesting discussion. I try to limit myself to 80 records because I realized early on in my collecting how insatiable collecting can become. My original intent was to collect my top 20 albums on vinyl, but I quickly realized that was impossible, so I expanded to 50 and then 75. Once I passed 75, I realized my self-imposed limits were meaningless and self-deceiving. 80 was my last limit a few years ago. This forces me to keep a tight collection that is full of my favorite music and I can literally pick any album at random and WANT to listen to it - which is basically what I do. If I want a new album, I have to pick one to sell. At any moment, I have 20-30 that I'm selling. I'm a music fan above all else, but the QUALITY of the playback is what is most important to me, which is why I'm a vinyl lover. I'm not a collecting essentialist because owning a record I don't absolutely love makes me feel weighed down. I feel better selling it and making a profit on records that others love more than I do. I know that most of my collection is a desert island collection and I really like it that way. I'm proud of it. It's also the first hobby I've ever had where I've profited more than I've spent. Everything I own (equipment and collection) has been paid for by record sales. It's incredible.
I grew up when records and a turntable was considered the best way along with reel to reel. As I got older I wanted to hear all the music from the record and started learning about audio equipment. So today I collect the best sounding first pressing I can find and love the format so much I collect only the music I love. So the music and the delivery of the best sounding music is first and collecting is second. I think the wholly shyt moment for me was to hear a great pressing on a great system. The collecting aspect for me is I want the original first pressing and will hunt them down.
This is a fuzzy line, and I think the majority are hybrids just like you. I love music, got bored with streaming, and remembered in my childhood how cool it was to have a decent physical music selection, and always wanted one, so I got into buying records. For me it centers around a love of music.
I am a collector when it comes to Prince. I started collecting Prince because I love the music! I don't collect everything though, I collect mainly 12" singles with about 500 from 20+ countries. Different countries, stock copies, promos, test pressings, reissues, label variations, sleeve variations, etc. I'm all about it! When it comes to the rest of my music collection, I'm good with whatever format I find it on. I can relate to both sides of this topic.
As a rule, we’re music fans. Our primary format is vinyl and if we love an album, we’ll by the CD too(a perfect example is The War On Drugs’”A Deeper Understanding.” We had to have that music wherever we went). We buy vinyl to sit back and absorb the music and sound. However, we typically only buy CD’s for a typical mood or just listening on the fly, usually hard rock or metal. We would like to add also, the fact those people in our community or RU-vid channels that purchase all these releases in massive quantities. You can’t tell us that they listen over and over again to these collections. 1) who has that time? 2) Who has that budget?! 3) Clear case of FOMO. In this day and age where prices are just criminal, we’ve become selective-if we don’t see ourselves listening to a record over and over, we don’t buy it. Not just “one and done.” As we often say,”We’re not mad at our money,” LOL!😂#justsayin🎧
I like listening to music but also.. love collecting unique odd and different records. Scored a clean 20k leagues under the sea record by disney. So id say im both a collector and music fan.
Loved this. I had to unload most of my records in 1992 (long story, but I was moving and I had no place to put the 1,000 or so records I had). I could get most of the music on CD (and I re-purchased a LOT of titles), but I was surprised to find myself pining for certain labels -- the old Stax, Atlantic (not just the red and green, but the blue and green), the Uni swoosh from the '70s (before it became MCA)... So, in that sense, I guess I'm something of a collector but I'd never buy a record if I knew I didn't like what was in the grooves. I'm a completist with certain artists, but in many cases I have a mixture of LPs, CDs, and CDs and downloads (Qobuz has a high quality digital music store) that have been burned losslessly to big hard drives, which I play over Roon (the closest thing digital has yet come to a complete music package, with artwork, artist biographies and portraits, discographies, reviews, etc.) through my mostly '60s and '70s vintage audio equipment. Yeah, nostalgia's a big part of it.
Music Fan 80 percent and Collector 20 percent here. Just chasing albums and CD’s from my favorite bands. Found out, I have a lot of favorite bands. 😅 I’ve only completed my Rush discography so far and that does not include bootleg and a few harder to find compilations. Just their core studio and live albums and CD’s. I’m collecting their books and books about the band as well. But then they are pretty special to me.
I consider myself an Audiophile, into rock and Jazz Lps, Box sets. comparing pressings...totally forgetting music though, I dont wear out any LPs out, i love to keep them pristine wit no tear or dent on the sleeve, always in shrink wrap,
I would say I'm about 90-10, fan vs collector at this point. I do have multiple copies of my favorites though... Local H, Smashing Pumpkins, Beatles and Lana Del Rey, to name a few. Love the videos. Keep up the great work!
I'm a 90/10 fan/collector. I buy what I like or, like you said, what takes me back to a certain time or place. There are a couple of artists or albums that I "hunt" like a collector. Even as a music fan I care about the condition of the album as a whole, both the jacket and the vinyl, and won't compromise unless I can find a quality reissue. For some reason I'm opposed to "unofficial" releases.
Thing is, everyone starts off as just a music lover, right? Then, over time, it evolves into the collector thing. And if you’re not careful, it goes too far and you forget why you got into it in the first place. There is a fundamental flaw in the idea of ‘the thrill of the hunt’, as follows: if the hunt is more thrilling than the experience of listening to and owning the record, why is the hunt thrilling? ‘The pointlessness of the hunt’ would be more like it. Conclusion: the music HAS to be the most important thing. Otherwise, the collecting for the sheer sake of it will drive you mad. Greetings from London!
I consider myself a music fan, I buy what I want to hear. If I can’t find vinyl in decent shape I will buy the CD. And I recently rescued some records that a thrift store was discarding. They had been wet and the jackets were trashed but I salvaged 4 records out of the bunch. Ordered some blank sleeves and was happy!
Music Fan 85% / Collector 15% I only buy records from artists that I like. Definitely quality over quantity. I do consider myself a completionist when it comes to specific artists/bands I love like Metallica, Pearl Jam, Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, NIN, RHCP, STP, Alice In Chains, Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. But I don’t get different variants of an album. I usually keep one and upgrade as I go. Anyway, love the videos man! 👍
I'm definitely both. With any hobby/passion I have, whether it's collecting and confirming frequencies and using various radio gear or whether it's finding my favorite artists and collecting the media formats of their music, in this specific case, I am a music loving collector. I am definitely the music fan but I'm also definitely the collector. I just got back into vinyl again less than 2 years ago. And when I was in it earlier, I wasn't really passionately going after things because it was fairly easy to find what I wanted on vinyl. So I didn't really look at it as collecting back then and it was more that I was getting the music I wanted. I didn't look at it as collecting. But I still got everything I could from my favorite artists. For many years, and actually for decades, I've been into collecting the rarities in whichever format, as long as it was lossless, I could find them in. The bootlegs, studio outtakes, soundboards, audience recordings, etc have been a passion of mine since the late 1980s. I hardly listened to all of the CDs I had that were official releases and I had started buying when CDs were new. For about 20 years, I had kind of gotten out of buying the official releases except for some rare hardest and occasions. But I always wanted to get back into vinyl because of the audio quality and sound since around 2005. It is the best way to hear the music I love the most. At least that's my opinion. I had no idea when I started back in collecting vinyl that I would be actually turning into a "collector" again. I'm a completist when it comes to much of my music but then I am also stretching out and trying some new music that I had not ever even wanted to listen to before. A lot of the music I didn't buy, but I heard on the radio growing up, has been a big purchasing point as I enter my 50s now. And I'm really enjoying it. I realized not long ago that the collecting was definitely what I was passionate about but it was also the music as well. I'm listening to more officially released music again and not really keeping up with the rarities or bootlegs lately. I still have interest in both of these collecting fields but I'm really enjoying learning the things I never learned before when it comes to vinyl collecting. It makes me want to find more, learn more, and get more too. I have really jumped in with both feet and within the first year I purchased a little over 300 LPs. They came from my local record store, online, Disgogs, etc. Wherever I could find and afford what I was searching for, I would get it if I was able. And if I wasn't able, I would definitely still try and keep looking until I finally could get it. The value in collectibility you talk about is a fun part of it but it's not really what drives me. I've way overpaid for some music that I wanted personally but it shouldn't have cost me as much. $95 for King's X Gretchen Goes to Nebraska 2xLP, I way overpaid for that release when I found it. But I really wanted it on vinyl again, and with it reportedly sounding better than ever before, I overpaid for when I found a new copy still sealed. And I don't regret it. It was worth $95 to me instead of the probably $30 - $40 it originally would have cost. I'm convinced that most people, and probably all Americans, are collectors at heart. Whatever the item of passion is, we enjoy collecting and learning about and enjoying what we like. Yes, we make foolish purchases at times. And sometimes we get caught up in it more than we should. But I think most people have a limit and when they realize they're spending too much, as an example, they slow down. But they don't stop collecting and finding whatever it is they enjoy collecting. It's not good to wrap your world up in possessions. But I think we all do it at certain times. It's just human nature I believe. But it is a lot of fun. I just went to my local record store yesterday, spent 5 hours there, and bought 16 LPs after searching for things on my list I keep as well as trying out something new. I feel like I've learned more in the last year and a half about vinyl, turntables, how to decode pressings (AKA figure out what you have and all the details associated with it) and how to search for what you really want. I'll hold off on getting something for however long it takes because I know that it is out there and at some point I'll find it at a good price. So I quit making too many way overpriced purchases. Besides, I don't really have the money to do that like I would like to most of the time anyway. I'm not going to put myself in a financial situation so I've become a smarter collector with patience. But I wouldn't be collecting vinyl if I did not love the music. As I mentioned, I've been opening myself up to music that I have liked but never had bought an official copy of or maybe only had one CD / presse/whatever's. The bootleg collecting was much easier because it was free 99% of the time. But now that I'm back to listening to the studio, official releases I grew up loving, while also exploring some new music, I'm really enjoying it and I think I will be doing it for the rest of my life as long as I can afford to. There is so much to learn that it makes the hobby that much more enjoyable too. Great question you asked and thanks for the video!
I mostly buy certain artists and mostly for the music. But I will buy mono and stereo or color etc of same record. If I get too many records its seems like clutter though. I enjoyed your video and am all for buying records that i enjoy. I have a small apartment though..
No but really, for a serious answer I'm definitely 50/50. EVERYTHING you mentioned about vinyl collecting appeals to me: the thrill of the hunt, being meticulous about pressings, condition, rarity, etc (I'm also a collector in general, not just vinyl...I collect Lego, have a massive Lego collection taking up one of my bedrooms in fact lol...I collect books, vintage video game systems, vintage anime dvd and vhs...pretty much anything nerdy)...HOWEVER I absolutely love the music itself, there is absolutely nothing like putting on a record I love and listening to it all the way through, and I definitely listen to tons of music in any format I can, not just vinyl...the whole reason for my record collecting is to have a massive collection of top quality records on my shelves to choose from :) I also have a rare ability to listen to just about anything and get some sort of enjoyment out of it so I'm not too precious about genre/era/etc, though I definitely have my favorites of course (I dive deep into metal, alternative, hip-hop, electronic music of various sorts, various internet micro-genres of music like vaporwave, witchhouse, hyper pop, etc...love jazz and classical as well)
This was your best video thus far !! Insightful, articulate, emotional expression, all excellent..... I'm a full on treasure hunter, btw... I'm at around 3,600 albums at the moment.... Discogs Value : Min. 7,600 Med 15,000 Max 40,000 Tryna cut that down to 1k albums, but retain 90% of the total value. I do enjoy the history and the music.... I even have bad ass vintage gear.... But at the end of the day the treasure hunting turns my crank.... 🎩✌️💿💞
Great topic! About 90/10 on the music lover side. Could care less if it’s a remastered or reissue etc as long as it sounds good to my ears but then I will get an extra copy or different variant of my favorites if I see them available.
Another Great Topic, G.I. - for my favorite artists I'm a total fanatical collector (different pressing plants, different countries, and recently different colored vinyl). I like to have the albums from the opening acts I saw and enjoyed at concerts. Completionist for some bands, other bands I hold accountable - if they dropped a dud, I can pass. As someone who has 10 different copies of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway I'll say 75% collector, 25% music fan. Cheers!
I'm a music fan who has "accumulated" hundreds of CDs and upwards of a hundred records over the years. Is there a difference between "collecting" and "accumulating." Food for thought!
Hay I really enjoy your videos, I consider my self a music fan 80/20 , I'll tray to only buy the records from the artist y really like, I do care about the condition of a record but it doesn't have to be first pressing or any thing like that as long as it is good condition and at a affordable price, I have a small growing collection of 70 or so records,
Ultimately i don’t think this is a very interesting question because i think very few people are pure collectors or pure fans. I think that 95% of us are a mix of the two, maybe even as high as 98%. That being said I’m probably a lot like you. But i would be interested in hearing what some the few purists have to say about it, because i can’t say i understand those people. Even someone that is 90/10% in either direction I have a good idea of how they tick and what gets them excited, but those 100 percent’ers are an enigma to me. I can’t fathom how someone loves the music so much then couldn’t give a shit if they have it on cassette or vinyl or wire recording. Same goes the other way, someone that is really into collecting music but doesn’t care about it and never listens to music in their daily life, and have no favorite bands, etc. If you could find some of those people and interview them that would be interesting.
A bit of both with me , I've bought a few from bands I'm not keen on from the charity shop in the past , AC/DC , Queen etc , however I don't do imports or multiple copies of the same record , there's to many great bands out there for that ,
Great topic For me it’s about the music first. However I collect the albums of the artists who’s music I love & listen to. Like you said with Dylan & Young, I love them but don’t have all their stuff because I don’t enjoy it all. Same with the Beatles, Stones & The Dead. If an album isn’t going to get time on my turntable I’m not buying it.
I personally am in the group of “You can’t play the cover, so long as the record is good,” 99% of the time. Would I prefer a mint cover? Hell yeah. But, if a beat up jacket with a clean LP drives the price down from $20 to $10, I buy the more beat up cover every time. Hell, if it is a $1 price difference! The inverse is also true: if both records are nice, I’ll go with the better jacket. As my set up has upgraded, condition is more of a factor as well. Records I could play through with my old Shure SC35C skip and have bad pops using a smaller, more detailed cartridge, so I’m also way pickier now on the condition than I was years back. Agreed on the music lover aspect as well, I’ll take it now I can get it, but vinyl is my preferred medium.
I buy records to play them, I've never bought and album and never opened and played it. I think that's more of what collectors do. I don't have many multiple pressings other than mono, stereo or something like that.
I own records, cassettes, cds sacds DVD a bluray audio etc.. I'm not stuck on one format. I don't subscribe to any of the streaming services. I do have SiriusXM though.
I noticed you used the word "own" frequently :) To me, we can't own anything, but we can keep it for the next generation. Therefore, keeping the best printing and condition is important. Music is important to me, but vinyl is something different, especially in today's world. There are endless digital sources that can be accessed effortlessly if music is the goal. When it comes to vinyl, however, you need to go to a store or an online store, buy it, hold it, clean it, store it, so it requires more effort. In other words, vinyl isn't just about music. I'm a jazz guitarist who collects only pure analogue jazz records. In addition, it's an excellent way to internalize all that jazz language into my head after about 30 minutes of preparing (cleaning the stylus and the vinyl, warming up the tubes) just to hear an album or "focus" and "mediate" on it. Generally speaking, I listen to music every day, but I listen to vinyl just for learning (music, patience) and meditation. That's the difference.
Not once have I seen a record collector portrayed as a positive thing in the VC, but have 100% seen it portrayed as a negative thing, except in this video. I have never ever found a larger group of deniers than I have in the VC. You cannot have 5,000 records and then turn around and say that you are not a collector or that you're only a 20% collector. I love music and I am a collector 100%. I pick up CDs for $1 pretty often just to hear them and will stick them in my collection to probably never hear them again. I bought a best of The Vogues and it's horrendous. lol Get mad at me, but sometimes if I don't like a CD I throw the CD away just to reuse the case. To each their own. No room for haters in the VC.
I’m a little of both. The music matters most but it’s not the only thing that matters. Condition matters but I’ll buy an album in poor condition till I can find a better copy. The cover matters. I’ve bought albums I’ve haven’t heard anything on just because I liked the cover (Bat Out Of Hell). I love colored vinyl but it’s not a must. I prefer newer reissues because they sound better & generally the albums I listen to are more valuable as a reissue then the original. I will not own an album I won’t listen to so I will not buy more then one copy of an album. I will get rid of albums I’m not listening to enough. I will not buy Greatest Hits/Best Of albums. Every rule I have just stated has exceptions. I have 2 copies of an album by a local gospel group I went to church with in the 80’s. I have The Best Of Sam Cooke & The Statler Brothers. I have Exile’s Greatest Hits. I have Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction Locked N’ Loaded box set but haven’t listened to the main album or the Sound city sessions yet.
I've been buying vinyl for 50 years, for me its the music. I do not care about boxsets, 45 RPM audiophile records or colored vinyl. Not fanatical about a perfect cover. I play my records to death!
Music fan first , but when it comes to Mike Oldfield , I’m a degenerated and obsessive idiot with no decency and common sense. AT ALL ! I’ve got literally everything he released on vinyl. There’s 3 albums left of his 90’s catalogue still only on Cd, but others have been released, so I’m hopeful.
IMO the collector is the music fan's worst enemy. I can't count the times MOFI sent me a text that a certain album was available and ten minutes later when I can get to my computer, poof, 5000 copies are GONE! Or a reissue comes with so much over the top bling or is pressed in so few copies that the price is just ridiculous! Or you can only get the damn reissue in a "walmart/target/etc limited edition" super-splatter color version and the pressings sounds like crap. Or they take an Elton John reissue and butcher the cover or put it on a picture disk......really? 180 Basic black vinyl, where oh where have you gone? And sorry, but I can't believe how bright and edgy so many "high rez" music streams are now.......with no cover art or pictures to enjoy. Just give me back my "ancient tech music. Like Apple, it pretty much just works!
I feel ya Alex. The hobby has evolved a lot in recent years. Tough for those that remember how simple it used to be. Those days are gone unfortunately. Glad it's thriving of course, but yes...tough to swallow some aspects of how it's all changing.
