Tips and Tricks for Organizing Your Vinyl Records | Talking About Records 

Been collecting records for over 60 years. Always had Them alphabetized by the artist last name, but in no particular order. As an example, if you’re looking for John Sebastian you would look in my S section. I have a couple thousand records and last year entered them into Discogs. Decided to get more specific on my alphabetization, so I just fired up discogs this weekend and went through my list. Needless to say it was a complete re-organization since discogs alphabetizes by first name. I am with you, doesn’t make as much sense to me, but now when I’m looking for a record I just pull it up in my list and can find where the record is located much easier. By the way, I found that John/johnny is the most common first name of artists in my collection :-)

Fun video! I usually like tell people there is no wrong way to organize. I just suggest you try to follow one simple rule...if you can find any album you want within 10-15 seconds of saying "I want to listen to this now"....then you collection is pretty organized. I have about 4000 lps in my collection so I find myself getting EXTREMELY genre specific in my personal organization. I do within each genre is alphabetical then chronological with any Greatest Hits or Bes Ofs at the end of that artist. For example, as far a genres, in my "80s section" you will find the following tabs: 80s Alternative, 80s New Wave, 80s Ladies New Wave, 80s Pop Rock, 80's Ladies Pop Rock, 80's Guitar Rock, 80s R&B, 80's Ladies R&B, and 80s Soundtracks. Kind of same with something like Hard Rock where I do the following: Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Hard Alternative/Grunge, Glam/Hair Metal, Metal, Ladies Metal/Glam Metal. Typical the bigger a section grows the more genre specific I get in that section. If that section gets even bigger I will start to make individual artist tabs in that section as well with a minimum requirement of having at least 5 albums by that artist. To me the organization is just another way to make having the physical media a fun thing to interact with. I have found that shifting genres to different shelves a couple of times of year even changes which stuff I listen to more or a bit less so I never keep a genre in the same cube for much longer than 6-7 months maybe. :)

I’ve got about 2,000 records and organize about like you. I also do the chronological within artist - it would drive me crazy to have Meddle next to The Wall😀

That was a great video. Made me feel way better knowing other people get a kick out of it. Ha. I am so keen to start organizing them. But also don’t want it to be over.

I organize my records exactly as you do ! Nice 👍

Just found your page, perused various past episodes and enjoyed many of your topics, so glad to be a sub to your channel and look forward to many more interesting topics. Much luck to you. ✌️

Thanks for the info...agree on all fronts. I have a large classical music genre collection and I organize them as follows: 1: Label (e.g., RCA, London, etc.), 2. Catalog No (ex: LSC-2100 would be filed next to ARL1-2101) - ignoring the prefix and suffix info when placing on the shelf. There are separate fields in the db to include the prefix/suffix data so when downloading it can be sorted accordingly. So, when someone wants to order an album that contains Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, I first look for the label, then the cat#...and voila...there it is! I only do this for Classical LPs; much like Canfield did with the big book! Robert

I organise my records autobiographically (like in high fidelity). I only have a few years of record collecting experience and have a pretty good memory of when (and where) I bought them. It also makes it easy for new additions because you just put them at the end of the shelf.

Nice video. it is always good to hear different ideas. I know many people do the genre thing I never have since most of my collection (during it's small days) was mostly what is now "Classic Rock". I have 500some records and I don't know how many different genres but if I wanted I could probably organize that way. One problem I have with that is sometimes identifying which genre to put groups into, some groups have a large range in their musical stylings and could easily fit in several different genres at the same time. Especially if you breakdown beyond just generic genres. I somewhat understand the people who organize by color, yeah it looks nice but it isn't for me because who really remembers the spine color of records. Plus if you purchase a lot of used records not all the spines are going to be pretty colors, some of them will be in rough shape and some so bad they are useless. OK so my collection I do the ALPHABETICAL thing by Artist/Group name. If an individual artist by last name if group then the group name (Ignoring "The") It's funny because some bands people call by "The ____" when they don't even use "The" example "Carpenters" No "The" but many people call them that. Then for artists I have more than one album of I put them in Chronological release order with 12" singles at the end (or I think I try to put them after the album they came from sometimes), also if I have any "unofficial" aka Bootlegs those go at the very end of that artist section. If I have imports and US releases of the same album I put them in order by the Artists nationality. So if I have both the UK and US versions of a Beatles record, I put the UK issue before the US. Usually soundtracks I put under the film/show title, unless it's a huge director or a huge musical artist. then those go under director or artist. Beatles "Help" and "Hard Days Night" go under Beatles, not their movie titles, My Mel Brooks movie soundtracks I have under Brooks (I think now they are finally all together that way) Hmm "Back to the Future" I forget if I have that on vinyl that could go under Huey Lewis & The News, but not necessarily. For Disney movie soundtracks some of them I have under Disney and others still under movie title. For multiple artists it can vary, if they are collectively known by some group name I put it under that, if just the artists names are listed I'll list under first billed, or biggest known artist. A time or two when checking my collection I would notice some titles majorly out of order, Some of them I put down as a case of being dyslexic. Once most of an entire letter section was misplaced.

By last name, I have to remind myself every time by saying “David Bowie” is in the B section. Early on when I organized somehow Bowie ended up in the D section. It was messed up, Bowie was the only artist that I had filed that way. He is now in the B section and all is right in the world. I’m getting to the point where I need to have sections for a particular band like Pink Floyd or Steely Dan. I will be breaking out jazz and blues R and B to their own sections. I have maybe a couple hundred albums and can already see things could get out of hand.

Always done mine chronologically which is slightly different to year of issue as the setup is when I personally discovered the band/album. so the beginning of it echoes my music evolution. Maiden, Metallica, Gojira, Ghost etc.

I have Jazz, rock, country, hip hop, soundtracks, various artists, comedy, Christmas, folk, children and classical sections. I have tons of vinyl

I organize alphabetical by first name. I have a separate section for any box sets, Led Zeppelin Celebration Day or Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium, etc. My favorite artist I have a separate section for and they are organized by release date per size. 45, LP, Box Set

My collection is in artist name alphabetical order, in basic genres. Band names that sound like a name are by first name -- the band Alice Cooper under "a", the solo singer Vibcent Furnier under "c"; John Fred & his Playboy Band under "j,' (John Fred's last name is Gourrier.) My friend has his collection in record label.order. Downside here is you have to know the labels. One major rule you must follow, no matter what filing system you use -- File the album you heard back in its proper shelf space immediately.

Genres/Alphabetical/Chronological with sub-genres (ex: folk blues/texas blues/80’s blues, British blues..). Within the genres, I dedicate space to labels that are well represented in the collection (Blue note, Atlantic, Motown…). My sub-genres are sometimes based on geography (Northern England: Smiths, Oasis, The Coral…) and styles (UK folk, US folk rock… garage, 60’s psych). I try to make each section connect to each other (40’s and 50’s RnB ends where early 50’s rock’n’roll starts…). It’s well organized (in my head), my friends like it but nobody else understands it but me !

I have about 1600 records , I have my favorite artists on the shelf next to the player in alphabetical order like queen, new order, prince fleet wood Mac, Kate bush Beatles et al , then I have alphabetical, I feel once you go past so many records, you have to go alphabetical especially if some bands are too genre defining, they go last name alphabetical and I do soundtracks in their own small section and various in their own small section then alphabetical by title, I keep my 12 inch singles in with the albums just because there’s so many of them...

I do alpha by artist>old to new. Soundtracks under "S" and then by title alpha. Various artists compilations under "V" for "various artists" and then by title alpha. If a group has a lead singer who does solo work - filed under the artist's alpha (eg. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers filed under Petty, Tom).

If I ever get all the albums I want , it will total about 430-450. (at 380ish right now) I’ve got my own ”disorganized-mischmasch-chaos-system” , BUT ; I can find every album at once. I’ve got an 8-shelf KALLAX from Ikea. (Hey , I’m Swedish) #1=Hard-rock (from Montrose to Grunge.) #2=65-78 (all genres.) #3=80’s. #4=All Swedish stuff. #5=Mike Oldfield/Jean-Michel Jarré (only ones where I’m a completeist) #6=Top level bands. (LedZ,Sabbath,Hendrix,Floyd,Bowie,Beatles,Queen,Purple) #7=Mix (90’s,Classical,Reggae,Hip-hop) #8=vacant (for now) Since I’m only collecting each bands albums I like , I’m confident I’ll succeed eventually. Except for a couple of grails of course. But I’ll own all the music I want.

Just an additional note... In the early years as a Club DJ in low light situation, I picked the record by remembering the cover and place within the shelve.

I find it's easier to keep band members' solo work stored with the band's albums. That is, all Lennon, Macca, Harrison, and Ringo sit with the Beatles. This breaks the alphabetical system somewhat, but is great for locating LPs. And, I strongly associate Captain Beefheart with Frank Zappa, so they live beside each other too, and not at opposite ends of the collection.

What about dance music / disco / pop as a genre? And 12" Maxi? As a mix DJ from the very early 1980's this is essential.

I made dividers as seen on your videos, i actually found the idea on another video, and thought it was a great idea. I used a bunch of records someone was throwing away. Made the dividers and labeled them by letter and if I have more then 2 of an artist I made a label of each artist. Well I thought it was cool and turning out cool, so I shared it on social media, what a mistake! This hobby like everything else has too many snobs and experts who who must please. This is supposed to be a fun thing but there are always those people who make it into a d*ck measuring contest. I guess this is just another thing I can’t tell anyone about because I don’t want to be graded. Great video, maybe explain that there is no right or wrong, just enjoy what you like!

I organize A to Z on my shelving unit. Love to hear your thoughts on 12” singles. Do you store these separately or do you mix them in with albums? Generally speaking most 12” singles have thin jackets so no detail on the spines. This makes it almost impossible to find one you want to listen to when kept on shelves. It’s for this reason that I store my 12” singles in record cases so they can be flipped through instead - the downside is they are not on display.

By alpha by artist>>>>>>>>>Master collection for me is 50's-70's Rock & RB / 80's era New Wave & Rock & RB / Jazz & Reggae / All compilations via old to new.

Just curious what you use as far as dividers for separating artist or genres. Thanks!

Basically agree on everything. For >2-300 physical items (records, CDs, tapes), cataloging becomes critical, IMHO. You covered that on Discogs videos previously. Do I have this on vinyl or CD or only digital? There is a song by My Dad is Dead on a compilation, but which one? Then also separate record sizes (7", 10", 12") and alphabetize them in their own section. Re first-last name, book libraries are always organized by last name, even with honorific as part of first name: Gloria de Oliveira under Oliveira, Gloria de, but Camper Van Beethoven under C as it not a person's name. Re arranging larger sections (Beatles) by year, the question becomes what takes more time: keeping the year organization going, or flipping through those records? That is a bang for buck question. Again, for

Any suggestions to those who can't read fine text on the spines? I'm afraid I'm already there. Colour-coded stickers, perhaps?

About 1,000 records. I have about 20 key artists that I keep by artist. But 'the rest' I keep in one long chronology. I usually like to hear a little something from the 80s or maybe some early 21st c. hip hip. I can easily float through ~500 records chronologically and find what I want. I like keeping records by year because as i get older time matters more and I already inefficiently listening to vinyl- why not inefficiently look through them too. It's so much more interesting to look through my albums when they are in a timeline. But, I don't think this would work as well with my big artist discographies included. Literally every year is another Willie Nelson album. That's not interesting; by comparison everything else feels like an after thought. So I pull out the willies (so to speak) and keep those artists' discographies together and then enjoy a timeline. It also really helps me learn when albums were recorded. It's amazing how your brain remembers things it really wants to know. Lastly, I keep all my albums on Discogs, in their collection tool, so I can always look up an album in an instant on the old computer internet machine thingy if I can't remember a year.

Why so many dont put the record IN the cover but besides?

I have a few thousand as well. I alphabetize within every cube. Most current purchase to the current cube. Each cube has a locator ID. This ID is loaded into Discogs and Collectorz software. To find an album I just need to merely look up on Discogs which cube it is stored in. It would drive me nuts to do a physical shuffle every time I ran out of space in a cube but the organizing method just would dictate a record would have to be stored there. NOPE. Just put each new acquisition alphabetically in the current cube. Yes, I go by first name. But unlike some software, an artist starting with "The", the "The" gets dropped.

The more we buy, the less organized we are......80% organized here.

I organize my Connie Francis collection [1000 items-about 500 lp's/400 45's/Ep's] [yes 1 artist] by country of origin, then cat number. U should do an artist organization

Hi Mr. Sanders. I must admit, I had been filing under last name then first name, then by album title, but you turned me onto the Discogs database so I start using first name then last name. Etc. Now I am not sure where to file you. Is it under Sander, G. I., or GI Sanders, or G. I. Sanders. It's a good thing we have search engines.

Recently orginized 900+ to alphabetical order. Finally got out of hand from how i had them just randomly where i "knew they were at." So i can confirm, its fun to think about reorginizing, but sucks to actually do it.

How do you file Marshall Tucker?

Would you put Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers under P?

8:45 "Not counting the A in front"... your A Perfect Circle "Mer De Noms" is in top left. Is that not the A section?

For me, Johann Sebastian Bach comes right after John Coltrane.

Do you bother alphabetizing by album title within each artist

So I have a cabinet to the side with all my favorite bands/artist Beatles, Stones, DBT, Wilco, Neil Young. Then I break everything down into genres the alphabetical. I do keep solo records with the band they are associated with so Tweedy solo goes in the Wilco section, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison solo go with The Beatles. There's one band I see organized all kinds of crazy ways. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Some put it in the T's because it's a band name some in the P's for Petty. I'm a P for Petty guy.

Try organizing vinyl records when you have dsylexia. It's frustrating.

Alphabetical by artist. First letter of last name, if individual person. First letter of group or band (no "the" used). Each album arranged chronologically (release date) within artist's category. Do this, and you'll never "not find" an album. Don't do it, and you'll have a problem...I have easily over 1,000 albums. Can locate any one of them in less than 30 seconds...why do anything else? Unless you don't know the alphabet...and that could be true...nowadays...😱