Record Prices

[Guest]

as a man with a missis and 4 cats to feed i definitely know that money hard earned is a commodity not to be wasted. therefore how can i justify to my missis hundreds of pounds spent on a single when i can get the same song on cd, plus 20 more for £13.99?

snobbery!!! i'm sorry guys, but we have all made this cross for own back. dj's discovering records??? fine. and we appreciate what they have done and love the finds. but!!! nothing in the world can justify the prices some discs command , jesus would you buy a van gogh for millions just to say you had it when you can get a print for £10? and the print would last longer and no one would nick it lol.

the music should be about sharing it and not saying i am the only one with a copy of this its great. how the fook do we know if its great if your'e the only one with it ???

[Dave Moore]

If I have to keep explaining, you ain't never gonna understand.

Regards,

Dave

www.hitsvillesoulclub.com

[MarkWhiteley]

~edited~

Edited April 8, 2005 by billytheboot

[MarkWhiteley]

the music should be about sharing it and not saying i am the only one with a copy of this its great. how the fook do we know if its great if your'e the only one with it ???

link

Your last paragraph sounds to be directed at someone, but your post wasn't a reply. It seems you're talking to yourself Dave. Strange things happen to men that talk to themselves...

Edited April 8, 2005 by billytheboot

[Guest]

Your last paragraph sounds to be directed at someone, but your post wasn't a reply. It seems you're talking to yourself Dave. Strange things happen to men that talk to themselves...

link

directed at no one billy just a thought, but i do admit strange things have happened

[Headsy]

its a hobby combined with what music I listen to,dont disagree with you mind but its worse than smack when you get into it........

[Steve G]

as a man with a missis and 4 cats to feed i definitely know that money hard earned is a commodity not to be wasted. therefore how can i justify to my missis hundreds of pounds spent on a single when i can get the same song on cd, plus 20 more for £13.99?

snobbery!!! i'm sorry guys, but we have all made this cross for own back. dj's discovering records??? fine. and we appreciate what they have done and love the finds. but!!! nothing in the world can justify the prices some discs command , jesus would you buy a van gogh for millions just to say you had it when you can get a print for £10? and the print would last longer and no one would nick it lol.

the music should be about sharing it and not saying i am the only one with a copy of this its great. how the fook do we know if its great if your'e the only one with it ???

link

In short it is called collecting. It has something to do with the "hunter gatherer" side of the psyche in some of us. Also a competitive element, which I know is "Un PC" in some circles these days - but it is what it is.

[Richard]

Don't really see a problem if you are buying your cds to play at home, in the car or whatever. You can't really knock the cd option if you're on a tight budget.

Personally I'm lucky enough to have a reasonably understanding Mrs, but like most people I don't tell her every penny I spend on records nor if I paid quite a bit for one or two (but of course I'll tell her if I picked up something really cheap ). Also I'm lucky to be in the position to have the money to buy them (of course not everyone is). Lots of the records that are talked about on here are way out of my league, so I just have to stick to my spending money for the month and pick up the best tunes that I can.

There are plenty of really good cheaper original records out there, things like I'm A Good Guy by The C.O.Ds, that are £5 and £10. If you look around enough you can actually build a really nice little collection but still be on a budget. Plus if you pick them up cheap and they do take off then happy days.

You'll only find problems if you are trying to start a night playing cds. Otherwise keep buying your cd's and enjoy them, after all it's better to have your favourite music in an affordable form than not at all. Perhaps if there are any good cds that come out you could give us a review of them .

All the best

Richard

[Guest]

Don't  really see a problem if you are buying your cds to play at home, in the car or whatever. You can't really knock the cd option if you're on a tight budget.

Personally I'm lucky enough to have a reasonably understanding Mrs, but like most people I don't tell her every penny I spend on records nor if I paid quite a bit for one or two    (but of course I'll tell her if I picked up something really cheap  ). Also I'm lucky to be in the position to have the money to buy them (of course not everyone is). Lots of the records that are talked about on here are way out of my league, so I just have to stick to my spending money for the month and pick up the best tunes that I can.

There are plenty of really good cheaper original records out there, things like I'm A Good Guy by The C.O.Ds, that are £5 and £10. If you look around enough you can actually build a really nice little collection but still be on a budget. Plus if you pick them up cheap and they do take off then happy days.

You'll only find problems if you are trying to start a night playing cds. Otherwise keep buying your cd's and enjoy them, after all it's better to have your favourite music in an affordable form than not at all. Perhaps if there are any good cds that come out you could give us a review of them  .

All the best

Richard

link

the 'for millionaires only' series are pretty good

[Richard]

the 'for millionaires only' series are pretty good

link

If it's 'for millionaires only' you can count me out then, I'm done to me last 20 quid till pay day

[Guest in town Mikey]

I will probably get accused of being pedantic, or elitist or whatever, but this is NORTHERN SOUL.

Its part of what makes us different to most of the rest of the music buying world.

If we settled for 2nd best, or watered down ways, it wouldnt be what it is, a RARE soul scene. Where raity is at the crux of it all.

Cue lists of £5 tunes, but essentially when they were first discovered they were in short supply.

Its not designed to be in the HMV shelves next to George Michael, just like it isnt designed to be played in the same clubs.

I'll just add, I dont spend thousands on a single record, but I do seek out songs, most of my mates have never heard or unless I can fight them to get to the tape deck, are never likely to hear.

I had a great chat the other day with some wally who says that the first 'Now thats what I call music' LP is rare as hell and is worth a fortune. He was going to put it on ebay...I explained that a million selling album isnt that rare

[Guest]

I will probably get accused of being pedantic, or elitist or whatever, but this is NORTHERN SOUL.

Its part of what makes us different to most of the rest of the music buying world.

If we settled for 2nd best, or watered down ways, it wouldnt be what it is, a RARE soul scene. Where raity is at the crux of it all.

Cue lists of £5 tunes, but essentially when they were first discovered they were in short supply.

Its not designed to be in the HMV shelves next to George Michael, just like it isnt designed to be played in the same clubs.

I'll just add, I dont spend thousands on a single record, but I do seek out songs, most of my mates have never heard or unless I can fight them to get to the tape deck, are never likely to hear.

I had a great chat the other day with some wally who says that the first 'Now thats what I call music' LP is rare as hell and is worth a fortune. He was going to put it on ebay...I explained that a million selling album isnt that rare 

link

i think he may meant it's a scare from hell

[Guest ShaneH]

Well said Mikey

There seems to be a lot of criticising these days but at the end of the day it is a wonderful scene and I would change very little.

Shane

[Girthdevon]

I had a great chat the other day with some wally who says that the first 'Now thats what I call music' LP is rare as hell and is worth a fortune. He was going to put it on ebay...I explained that a million selling album isnt that rare 

link

Well swap LP for 'CD' and he'd be spot on - the first 10 volumes on CD ARE rare and DO sell for small fortunes on Ebay and the like. Worth knowing when you're scouring the bootfairs. A couple of finds like that pay for a handful of nice 45s.

Girf

[Guest lolmil]

Having not collected vinyl for years, I too used to think like this and would have lots of discussions on the subject. However, having spent the best part of £1500 on CDs over the years to "catch up" you do find that you tend to be buying a lot of repeated tracks and most CDs only have about 1/2 dozen decent ones on them anyway. Also in the "digital world", people are putting cds together that are far better than the ones that you can buy. Having said all that, I have recently decided to start collecting vinyl and as it has been stated there are some nice records about for less than a tenner. What I'm trying to say here is that you could buy a cd for £10 but in 6 months it would be worth a couple of quid, buy a record for a tenner and in six months it would be worth the same or a lot more! Long winded I know but it's not wery easy to shorten the reason.

[Supercorsa]

Record Prices, Too Dear??

That all depends on your own opinion. I am probably in a similar position to yourself, wife and 3 kids (no cats!) with limited funds to spend. I have only really started buying vinyl again in the past year and I am buying the cheaper tunes £5 - £25 per single. As for CD's having duplicate tracks on them, my advice would be give the Kent CD's a try.

At the end of the day it's your money, and what you spend it on is your business and nobody elses. As long as you're happy that's all that matters.

Just remember, a record is only worth as much as you are willing to pay for it.

[Neiljon31]

Barry from Hotwaxx put a great piece up on his "on hubert street" site about the joy of buying vinyl a little while ago, it was brilliant. Maybe he can post a link to it or paste it in to here or whatever computer literate people can do.

I don't have many CD's myself except of newer things, bought the Deep Soul Treasures volumes and then find myself looking for the vinyl.

[Mike]

Well said Mikey 

There seems to be a lot of criticising these days but at the end of the day it is a wonderful scene and I would change very little.

Shane

link

yeah its getting tiresome

[Ernie Andrews]

Dont you just love the citicism?- CDs for one Vinyl for another- I can think of not much better (apart from a sexual act with an unamed female) than discussing whether this 45 was worth what someone was asking or the million of other questions that make this scene just so attractive as opposed to trance/ or feeding the ducks!

[Guest ShaneH]

I have said it before and I will say it again. This site is fantastic but the downside is the fact that 'miserable' people get the chance to have their say too.

[Guest rachel]

Dont you just love the citicism?- CDs for one Vinyl for another- I can think of not much better (apart from a sexual act with an unamed female) than discussing whether this 45 was worth what someone was asking or the million of other questions that make this scene just so attractive as opposed to trance/ or feeding the ducks!

link

What's wrong with ducks?

It's all been said before, vinyl/ collecting is an integral part of the scene and part of what makes it the weird and wonderful thing it is!

[Guest hammy]

as a man with a missis and 4 cats to feed i definitely know that money hard earned is a commodity not to be wasted. therefore how can i justify to my missis hundreds of pounds spent on a single when i can get the same song on cd, plus 20 more for £13.99?

snobbery!!! i'm sorry guys, but we have all made this cross for own back. dj's discovering records??? fine. and we appreciate what they have done and love the finds. but!!! nothing in the world can justify the prices some discs command , jesus would you buy a van gogh for millions just to say you had it when you can get a print for £10? and the print would last longer and no one would nick it lol.

the music should be about sharing it and not saying i am the only one with a copy of this its great. how the fook do we know if its great if your'e the only one with it ???

link

Look mate - no one's forcing anyone to be a DJ or to buy the records. If you don't like the price of them then you don't have to buy them ! As for DJs who play CDs - well it's like shagging a blow up doll and calling it sex as far as I'm concerned. It just ain't sexy ... lol

Also, I've noticed that DJs who play CDs for some odd reason are even less imaginative with their sets than guys who play from a 300 single box, sticking to the same old Goldmine/Kent complilation tracks. Unforgivable when you think of the number of tunes they could have at their disposal...

Hammy

[Guest rachel]

As for DJs who play CDs - well it's like shagging a blow up doll and calling it sex as far as I'm concerned. It just ain't sexy ... lol

link

But Hammy, I've seen you doing that round the back of the Taxi Club...

[Guest alison]

As for DJs who play CDs - well it's like shagging a blow up doll and calling it sex as far as I'm concerned. It just ain't sexy ... lol

Hammy

link

Analogy of the week comes from a Mr Hamilton in Scotland

[Guest ShaneH]

The original post mentions the fact the prices of 45s can not be justified. I know this has been said thousands of times but its all about the 'equilibrium price'. It is where supply meets demand end of. If there is only 10 units of a product and 50 people want it the price will go up without doubt.

Shane

[Guest dodger]

Look mate - no one's forcing anyone to be a DJ or to buy the records. If you don't like the price of them then you don't have to buy them !

link

No you're right of course, but it gets massively f*cking frustrating when you love a record but then find out you have to shell out £200 or whatever for privilege of owning one. That's the downside and the reason I jacked in collecting sevens, I found I was getting angrier and angrier when the only reason I had to shell out £200 for what was always a £25 record was because some uninformed nobhead had done so and therefore set the price at a ridiculous high level. That's not a criticism of sellers, we all try and get as much as we can for records when we sell them and nobody in their right mind is going to say 'here you go mate, it's traditionally a £25 record and even though it's being sold for £200 now you can have it for £25'!! It's a shame it's gone that way, but hey ho. I love the tunes regardless of format so it wasn't too much of a wrench for me to be happy with the rare things on CD or CDR off mates and listen to them at leisure and spend me 200 notes on cheap LPs.

Roger

[Richard]

You know what? I think this cd lark is the way forward. Repent all sinners and burn your evil vinyl!!! In in fact I am currently burning every record I've collected over the last 20 odd years then I'm off to HMV to restock with heavenly cds.

Seriously do you think that's what everyone on here is going to do??

If what you want is for everyone on here to say that cds at clubs are fine then you're beating your head against a brickwall. Your not going to get everyone to say "theres a club at so and so that play those lovely cds, come on lets all travel from all over the country to go there". Sorry mate it ain't gonna happen I'm afraid.

Please though do read my 1st post as I'm not a cd'phobe but just being realistic.

Cheers

Richard

[Mark Bicknell]

Have the best of both worlds i say, i pretty much think i have all if not many of the quality Northern CD compilations out there, ok so i get most of them on promo format prior to release for my radio show but even then i still buy the one's i miss, records are a different ball game and although my collection is all authentic original USA 45's I'm by no means complete...who is? when DJ'ng in my book at any level it has to be presented with original format 45's it's tradition and simply the way it is, i have a pretty good collection including some of the so called big ticket items but also hold many records under £100.00 and to get hold of a cheapy and turn it into a monster is fantastic and very rewarding i.e Curly Moore - You Don't Mean - Sansu was down to me basically which i picked up for £8.00 played it now it's three figures mid hundreds.

Price and format should not matter really as you can still have as much passion for the music as the serious collectors, DJ'ing like i said is totally different and i reckon it will always bee vinyl driven.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

[Guest Andy BB]

Record Prices, Too Dear??

Just remember, a record is only worth as much as you are willing to pay for it.

link

Hear Hear!

Can you tell that to John Bloody Manship!

I keep telling him, Look John, I'm prepared to pay you £25 for that Bernie Williams but he doesn't seem to understand the concept at all.

How he got where he is without a fundamental understanding of that principle is beyond me.

[Guest dodger]

get hold of a cheapy and turn it into a monster is fantastic and very rewarding i.e Curly Moore - You Don't Mean - Sansu was down to me basically which i picked up for £8.00 played it now it's three figures mid hundreds.

link

One question, Mark (?) - I can understand from a DJ's point of view the buzz and satisfaction in playing something that becomes popular, or 'breaking it' as you lads say, but I can't understand where any satisfaction would come from making a cheap record into a very expensive one and out of financial reach of the majority?

Roger

[Guest]

Oh please, you dont seriously want that do you Andy?

[Guest Stuart T]

Oh please, you dont seriously want that do you Andy?

link

Yeah Andy, the Gene Woodbury version is vastly superior, cheaper albeit hard to get, and he was in the pilot for Kojak. Wasn't Bernie Williams the bloke with the big dog in Summertime Special? Doesn't even bear comparison.

[Mark Bicknell]

Roger, I take your point regarding the cheap unknown becoming popular then exspensive but this is basically out of the control of the DJ rather the demand being far greater than the supply, when i sourced Curly Moore for example i was drawn to it's quality rather than value and if you have a good ear for a tune and it caputures the imagination at the venues how rewarding to turn a little unknown into a monster, perhaps a better way than trophy collecting the established big ticket items?

All records started out at reasonable prices say twenty years ago but the way the collectors scene is now basically Global, price guides, E Bay etc. etc. the prices have become out of most peoples reach, so i choose to try and source records which could possibly work at the gigs if they do and increase in price again thats down to record dealers and demand not the fact it was a ten quid record to start with but it's quality,and rare aspect becomes the issue and has nothing to do with my own financial gain as that has no interest to me as i'm far more interested in the tune rather than how much it's worth, often rare and exspensive don't always mean good!

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

[Guest Andy BB]

Oh please, you dont seriously want that do you Andy?

link

Only if it's for £25. It's no City lights!

[Guest dodger]

Roger, I take your point regarding the cheap unknown becoming popular then exspensive but this is basically out of the control of the DJ rather the demand being far greater than the supply, when i sourced Curly Moore for example i was drawn to it's quality rather than value and if you have a good ear for a tune and it caputures the imagination at the venues how rewarding to turn a little unknown into a monster, perhaps a better way than trophy collecting the established big ticket items?

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

link

The sign of a quality DJ, Mark. Any mug with a pile of dosh can buy the trophy records and fill dancefloors. It's a sad state of affairs, though I know it's always been like that on the northern scene, that just because something becomes popular the price shoots up horrendously - imagine if that happened everywhere in real life!!

I remember when the KFC thing first came around I posted this on another list:

I went into my local KFC over the weekend and asked to buy a Zinger

Tower Burger, and when I handed over my £3.99, the spotty oik behind the

counter said "Sorry mate, because our marketing department is now using

northern soul in our ads, they've decided to hike up all the prices of

their burgers for no reason other than people like them. That'll be £50

please." There was also a nice looking burger being advertised on the

lit-up boards overhead but somebody had stuck a napkin over the name of

it so nobody could see what it was called.

Roger

[Guest Dan]

No you're right of course, but it gets massively f*cking frustrating when you love a record but then find out you have to shell out £200 or whatever for privilege of owning one.  That's the downside and the reason I jacked in collecting sevens, I found I was getting angrier and angrier when the only reason I had to shell out £200 for what was always a £25 record was because some uninformed nobhead had done so and therefore set the price at a ridiculous high level.

I doubt anyone has ever paid £200 for a £25 record. These things happen incrementally - £40 or £50 for a £25 record. And personally IMO if someone wants a record badly enough to pay £50 rather than wait and get it for £25 that's up to them. It doesn't necessarily mean he or she is 'an uniformed nobhead' - they just have a bit more dough than the bloke who can't stretch above £25 (or they're more willing to sacrifice something else for the record).

I have sympathy with those priced out of the market because it happens to us all but has anyone here ever heard this: 'Hmmm...£500 for Lenny Curtis is a bit steep and out of the reach of 90% of punters. And you know what? I reckon it's only a £300 record so I'll give it a miss and let someone else buy it cheaper when the seller drops his price, cos they need it more than me.'

Do me a favour. It's a dog-eat-dog, pain in the arse world this northern soul record collecting, but it's a fucking great laugh and it's also about life, economics and reality in a 21st Century capitalist economy!

BTW, I reckon prices are coming down anyway.

[Steve G]

[

I doubt anyone has ever paid £200 for a £25 record.

link

/quote]

I think they have, and worse probably....

[Guest dodger]

I doubt anyone has ever paid £200 for a £25 record.

link

Bettye Swann 'Kiss My Dosh Goodbye' jumped from being a £25 (or less) record to over £200 in one fell swoop - I remember it happening because that was a record I was after at the time and was told I'd only have pay around a tenner for one. Ace Spectrum, always a tenner record jumps to three figures; the Futures became so popular that some idiot paid £125 for a copy when it was a major label release and copies are everywhere. Why?? Fair enough they thought the record was worth that to them but anyone with an ounce of sense, regarless of how much money they had, would ask around about the worth of any given record before blindly shelling out ten times what it's worth. Makes sense to me.

I take your point about records being worth what somebody will pay, no argument, but isn't it a tad ridiculous that because one person who paid ten times what a record's generally worth just because they want it and are flush enough to fork out that kind of dosh, should set the price for everyone else? Taking the 'real world' example again, if I went into a KFC, absolutely starving, desperate for food, and the manager said 'I'm sorry sir, we're closing for the night but have only one bucket of pocky left, it will cost you £50'. If I was desperate and had the cash on me I'd pay it, but imagine the aftermath if KFC then said to all customers 'Bargain buckets now £50 because one bloke thought one was worth that last night'!!

Roger

[chrissie]

The sign of a quality DJ, Mark.  Any mug with a pile of dosh can buy the trophy records and fill dancefloors.  It's a sad state of affairs, though I know it's always been like that on the northern scene, that just because something becomes popular the price shoots up horrendously - imagine if that happened everywhere in real life!!

I remember when the KFC thing first came around I posted this on another list:

I went into my local KFC over the weekend and asked to buy a Zinger

Tower Burger, and when I handed over my £3.99, the spotty oik behind the

counter said "Sorry mate, because our marketing department is now using

northern soul in our ads, they've decided to hike up all the prices of

their burgers for no reason other than people like them. That'll be £50

please." There was also a nice looking burger being advertised on the

lit-up boards overhead but somebody had stuck a napkin over the name of

it so nobody could see what it was called.

 

Roger

link

Our local KFC now has auctions last weekend 2 pieces of chicken, chips and coleslaw fetched £85 mind you it was 2 in the morning and all the punter were under the influence.

Tip list your ebay stuff to finish after midnight and at weekends this way the bidders have just got back from the pub and will bid on anything.

JOKE!! before you start throwing things at me for taking advantage of the alchollically challenged

QOF

XXX

[Guest dodger]

Our local KFC now has auctions last weekend 2 pieces of chicken, chips and coleslaw fetched £85 mind you it was 2 in the morning and all the punter were under the influence.

Our local KFC is in the north end of Birkenhead, you'd have to be smacked off your tits or a skanky prozzer wearing a short skirt and trainers to be in that area at the time of night. Come to think of it, most people in that area probably already are!!!!

Allegedly of course!!

[chrissie]

Our local KFC now has auctions last weekend 2 pieces of chicken, chips and coleslaw fetched £85 mind you it was 2 in the morning and all the punter were under the influence.

Tip list your ebay stuff to finish after midnight and at weekends this way the bidders have just got back from the pub and will bid on anything.

JOKE!! before you start throwing things at me for taking advantage of the alchollically challenged

QOF

XXX

link

PS you should see the crap I've bought at 2 in the morning - beat this even bid and won a record I already had last week - well always declared to be the QOF does this confirm it

[Steve G]

Bettye Swann 'Kiss My Dosh Goodbye' Roger

link

You certainly are in fine form today Sir.

[Guest]

as a man with a missis and 4 cats to feed i definitely know that money hard earned is a commodity not to be wasted. therefore how can i justify to my missis hundreds of pounds spent on a single when i can get the same song on cd, plus 20 more for £13.99?

snobbery!!! i'm sorry guys, but we have all made this cross for own back. dj's discovering records??? fine. and we appreciate what they have done and love the finds. but!!! nothing in the world can justify the prices some discs command , jesus would you buy a van gogh for millions just to say you had it when you can get a print for £10? and the print would last longer and no one would nick it lol.

the music should be about sharing it and not saying i am the only one with a copy of this its great. how the fook do we know if its great if your'e the only one with it ???

link

Dave, I am a working man, have been for 25 years, blood , shit and toil, yeah we've all been there.

The thing is I have a hankering for collecting "Original" rare vinyl soul records, cheap and expensive, the price is immaterial (to a degree, hell I wanna continue living in a pleasant relationship) but the feeling of picking up something that was pressed way back then, has never escaped me, it's a feeling of wonder and joy that many on this forum, and off it, can empathise with.

If you haven't got the urge to pick up original 45's, then hey more power to you, but please do not try and be judgmental on those that do, it's a way of life mate.

Yes if you're a millionaire the cloth is cut in your favour, but that does not diminish the startling rush of picking up a rare record (cheap or pricey)for the first time.

The loss is all yours my good man, if you do not share that endeavour that many others do.

Brett

Edited April 8, 2005 by Brett

[Soulsmith]

"Its not designed to be in the HMV shelves next to George Michael, just like it isnt designed to be played in the same clubs." In Town Mikey

Fact: Last time I was HMV Oxford St., the northern soul section was situated next to the gay section. Most unsettling for us out of towners. I'm not sure how, but its got to be that Levine geezers fault.

Col.

[Guest Dan]

Bettye Swann 'Kiss My Dosh Goodbye' jumped from being a £25 (or less) record to over £200 in one fell swoop - I remember it happening because that was a record I was after at the time and was told I'd only have pay around a tenner for one.  Ace Spectrum, always a tenner record jumps to three figures; the Futures became so popular that some idiot paid £125 for a copy when it was a major label release and copies are everywhere. Why??  Fair enough they thought the record was worth that to them but anyone with an ounce of sense, regarless of how much money they had, would ask around about the worth of any given record before blindly shelling out ten times what it's worth. Makes sense to me.

I take your point Roger, though I still think even vaguely lunatic price rises like these happen over time (albeit days or weeks after years of stability) and are caused by demand (plus I agree daft or lazy punters and greedy dealers).

However, I don't see the logic of the people who complain about this sort of thing happening.

Take Bettye Swann or Ace Spectrum: both good records IMO and both known to be freely available for years (Sam Dees LFYB would be another example).

If Mr X knows and likes these records he will have bought them long ago at the 'right' price for the time.

If he didn't buy them when they were cheap he obviously:

1) didn't like them enough, in which case does he have the right to moan about a price rise?

or

2) didn't know them, in which case he pays the price for his lack of knowledge (something which has unfortunately happened to me many times!).

If he only became aware of them after they got dancefloor plays which generated momentum, then again he sort of doesn't have the right to moan about a price rise and has to take his chance with everybody else.

The lesson is clear - buy obscure cheap records that you like because if you like them and they are good the price is likely to escalate and if you don't your own inaction will have priced you out of the market!

By the way, I wish it wasn't like this - the Manship guide and the internet have ruined it all!

[Steve G]

I take your point Roger, though I still think even vaguely lunatic price rises like these happen over time (albeit days or weeks after years of stability) and are caused by demand (plus I agree daft or lazy punters and greedy dealers).

However, I don't see the logic of the people who complain about this sort of thing happening.

Take Bettye Swann or Ace Spectrum: both good records IMO and both known to be freely available for years (Sam Dees LFYB would be another example).

If Mr X knows and likes these records he will have bought them long ago at the 'right' price for the time.

If he didn't buy them when they were cheap he obviously:

1) didn't like them enough, in which case does he have the right to moan about a price rise?

or

2) didn't know them, in which case he pays the price for his lack of knowledge (something which has unfortunately happened to me many times!).

If he only became aware of them after they got dancefloor plays which generated momentum, then again he sort of doesn't have the right to moan about a price rise and has to take his chance with everybody else.

The lesson is clear - buy obscure cheap records that you like because if you like them and they are good the price is likely to escalate and if you don't your own inaction will have priced you out of the market!

By the way, I wish it wasn't like this - the Manship guide and the internet have ruined it all!

link

Hi Dan,

I agree entirely with your sentiments - except possibly the internet, which is both good and bad, and on the + side has opened up many more records / artists etc.

I think that part of the problem is that a lot of Northern DJs actually don't have what I'd term "classic" artists languishing in his or her collection - the sort of thing that many of us bought as "cheapos" along the way.

I think we all might be surprised at just how many "big swingers" out there don't have any Pickett / Staton / Dees / Womack / Swann /Philly issues etc etc sitting at home on the racks.

Of course some of the younger folks will not have had the luxury of being able to buy these recorfds at 30p or whatever we did.....but in essence I agree with your analysis.

[Steve G]

"Its not designed to be in the HMV shelves next to George Michael, just like it isnt designed to be played in the same clubs." In Town Mikey

Fact:      Last time I was HMV Oxford St., the northern soul section was situated next to the gay section. Most unsettling for us out of towners. I'm not sure how, but its got to be that Levine geezers fault.

Col.

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Col - hope you are well - you really should know by now that every single "issue" can be traced back in a maximum of three steps to one of either Ian Levine, Simon Soussan, The Penguin, Russ Winstanley or Russ's uncle in Ft Lauderdale....did I leave anyone out?

[Guest Dan]

I agree entirely with your sentiments - except possibly the internet, which is both good and bad, and on the + side has opened up many more records / artists etc.

Hi Steve

Agree re internet but on balance it's a bad thing for me personally because although it has opened up lots of new records (and I've bought plenty myself off ebay etc) it has accelerated worldwide interest and knowledge and that has alerted US dealers/store owners to what they were sitting on for all those years.

I was jammy enough to have a job which took me to the States a lot so could pick up records reasonably cheaply and reasonably easily (out of all proportion to my knowledge/expertise to be honest) but as we all know this is not anything like as viable now as it was even three to five years ago.

And while the big records have been coming along the worldwide access to ebay etc means those with the deepest pockets always win.

Though that's market forces so...

Dan

[Richard]

And while the big records have been coming along the worldwide access to ebay etc means those with the deepest pockets always win.

Though that's market forces so...

Dan

link

There are still bargains out there on the net though, just takes a bit more patience and a lot of digging. Ok perhaps you're not gonna pick up all the in demand biggies but there are plenty of nice records out there.

For instance on the web I bought a Pye acetate of Name It And Claim it by Darryl Stewart that was scheduled for realease on Pye Disco Demand but was shelved, I paid £20 for it last year. I didn't want to keep it as it was an acetate and I'd keep playing it (I didn't want it to just be an ornament) so sold it on Manships auction, he got me about £500 for it. So I used the money to buy some other stuff I was after.

This is only an example and ok it isn't gonna happen that often but does prove there is stuff still out there if you take the time and effort to have a good look around.

Cheers

Richard

Edited April 9, 2005 by richard

[Chalky]

Opinions are like arseholes....everyones got one but at the end of the day when it comes to prices only two opinions count the one of the buyer and the seller

Edited April 9, 2005 by chalky