Post #780532 by mikehooker on Thu, Oct 12, 2017 2:24 PM

Some of my fondest memories growing up were shopping in used record stores and going to record conventions. One of my first jobs was at a place in South Florida called Sid's Records. It was massive and chock full of every imaginable title I could possibly want in multitude, plus they had tons of rare bootlegs and import pressings with crazy covers. Boy if I knew then what I know now about rare punk and garage singles.. but I digress. As soon as I had a license to drive I started going in once or twice a week, pestering them for a job until finally one of their employees moved to Cali and they gave me a shot. It turned out to be a short lived gig but the experience had a profound impact on the rest of my life. Since then I worked in several other record stores, ran a distro, a record label, and even had my own shop for a couple years. Ultimately my wide-eyed fascination with tantalizing record covers and the music dug into those groves dictated the trajectory of my life and made me who I am today.

A lot of people blame the digital age for the death of vinyl and the record store since music became virtually free and more accessible in various other formats. Record Store Day was a valiant effort to restore people's perception of records as a valuable commodity, but unfortunately for me, RSD and ebay have completely diminished the fun and ultimately the reason why I enjoyed collecting records.

For one, the thrill of the hunt is completely gone. The days of getting up super early and going to a garage sale or thrift store to score a rare gem are over. The likelihood of spotting anything worthwhile at a record store for less than it's "worth" is completely diminished since everyone can look up "values" on ebay. There's no more slip ups from an unknowledgeable owner or employee. And the vast majority of shops instantly put their rare records on ebay for the highest bid rather than offering them locally. I travel a lot and would always ask for the "rare box" behind the counter. That doesn't even exist anymore cuz that stuff is locked away in their ebay room. In recent years when I stop in a new town, I don't even bother going to the local record store cuz 99% of the time I don't find anything and leave disenchanted.

Then you have the advent of instant rarity which drives me bonkers. Bands who sell millions of records will have a RSD release limited to 50 or 100 or 500 copies and only certain stores will get one or two of them so people camp out for hours or even overnight to be first in line to get it, and then atleast 50% of the people who end up with them immediately flip 'em on ebay so people who really want it then have to pay an inflated premium. It's stupid. It's like scalping tickets in the old days. Or what's happening with limited edition tiki mugs nowadays which makes collecting those unfun for me as well.

The rare records I have in my collection and the ones I still seek are pricey because they fell on deaf ears when they were released 40, 50, 60 years ago, sold very few copies back then, and only later on through compilations and technology did people discover their greatness, so the demand now far outweighs the supply. So there's a certain joy and fulfillment that goes along with discovering and owning records like that, whereas these limited record store day releases, fetching $500+ for a brand new record just makes absolutely no sense to me.

Oh, and don't get me started on sound quality! A lot of new pressings of old releases are sourced from digital masters, not analog, so the records don't sound remotely as good as they used to, and often the originals could be found for less money than the absurd $25+ sticker tag of new releases. When I ran my reissue record label we always went to the best source, be it original master tape or in worst case scenario if that was lost or deteriorated, a physical vinyl copy. NEVER digital. The finished product will sound as good if not better than the original with proper mastering. But these major labels (with few exceptions) are just churning out the cheapest, crappiest quality records imaginable, and the masses are unwittingly buying 'em up. It's infuriating to me.

Anyway, to answer the question of this particular thread, yes, my favorite record stores of yesteryear are long gone.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2017-10-12 14:37 ]