Vinyl Grumble

How bizarre

Record collecting is quite a lonely occupation. That’s my experience, although I’m sure everyone else will immediately inform me of their 13-person strong record loving friendship group (I’m not bitter). However, having been doing it for 6 years, my hobby feels like it’s changing.

Most significantly in terms of price.

This phenomenon stems from major stores (HMV etc) to charity shops. The price of vinyl is on the rise and it’s pricing some out of the market. I’ll illustrate this with my own story (!) of collecting. I bought my first record aged 12 from a charity shop for 30p, and my second (an LP) for a pound. For about 4 or 5 years, prices stayed more or less the same, being a little higher when purchased off Ebay. The most expensive record I ever purchased personally during this period was an OST of Phantom of the Opera, for a fiver from Oxfam. Now I’d found this particularly difficult to obtain so I didn’t paying a bit more for it (especially as it was in excellent condition). But this was an exception: I was generally buying a couple of singles and an LP for £1/1.50.

Now, it’s hard to get a single for less than a pound and an LP for less than £2.

It is, of course, obvious as to why prices are increasing: greater demand. As more people jump on the vinyl bandwagon (for which I was getting mocked for only a few years ago), prices are driven up and everyone knows they can make more profit out of second-hand vinyl as well as newly pressed items. I don’t begrudge them this, especially charity shops who have a legitimate cause to raise money for. However I know that as a 12 year old I could never have afforded a £1 single let alone a £2.50 LP, especially at the regularity at which I was obtaining them. This is much worse with a newly pressed vinyl, which is definitely now a ‘luxury’ item aimed at an older market rather than those for whom in many cases the music is aimed (ie the youth).

I know this is, basically, a pointless grumble seeing as most of the people who want vinyl can afford these prices, but I do wonder if there are any music mad pre-teens like myself, desperate for vinyl, who can’t get it due to extreme prices.