Shady scams and other silly business ideas to take advantage of earnest new vinyl collectors

Cassettes are top.

wonder if vnyl has any LL Cool J records

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=ll+cool+j+vinyl&tbm=shop

there you go

no, vnyl.org

demanding!

omg I had not looked at vnyl.com, what fresh hell is this

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1484956/cool%20j%20vnyl%20small.png

com org whatever, this is terrifying

oh man that "have a question? chat with us!" box popping up automatically when you open the site really is asking for it. "Vibe system!?"

it is the reason this thread was created!

pfft like I read the beginning of this thread

*furtively checks to see if I actually DID read the beginning of this thread and then completely forgot about it*

*phew*

they seem to have broadened the available vibes. i wonder whether a beat-up laura nyro smile is more #SNOWDAY or more #GAMENIGHT. #TROYESIVAN i guess.

they seem to have broadened the available vibes

if you need me, I'll be over on the out-of-context thread

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vnyl-venice

apparently the store doesn't have many records and sells mostly headphones

i keep wanting to go to the store and check it out in person.

they also have just put up an enormous billboard a few blocks from our house.

http://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/XW6cGGhCbUU9qyEI79slYg/o.jpg

they have a nice wall of speakers. cos vinyl.

Beware if you sign up for the monthly subscription: it takes between 15-30 days to receive your shipment after they charge your credit card. Also, within six months, two of the shipments had duplicate records that they had already sent me. It's a cool idea in theory (music discovery in the form of vinyl) but they're super unorganized I guess. Bad execution.

doubt they planned for 6 months of continuous subscription

DJP you should watch chaki's not-so-hidden camera expose

Shady scams and other silly business ideas to take advantage of earnest new vinyl collectors

lol djp

yeah chaki's video is essential, such a bizarre sad alternate universe version of what a record store is and should be like.

L.A. is overrun with garbage record stores, though. either places like this that have a small, limited, overpriced selection, or places that have thousands of records that are total trash. Amoeba and a handful of the older stores and a couple of the new ones are good, but so many of these "third wave" VNYL era shops are not so good.

Yeah, I was just in L.A. last month and was really disappointed in the record stores there. Not to mention this place (which I did not visit, having some sense of self-preservation): http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-record-collector-los-angeles

i always tell people to just go to Amoeba, since it's most convenient and generally priced very fairly and they have so much.

there are half a dozen others i think are okay but they're so far flung i never go to them.

and i think one of the side effects of crate digging culture is that a lot of shitty record stores just fill their racks with somewhat uncommon but terrible records and price them above their worth and hope they can fool you into thinking they're deep cuts.

^^^ afaict that last sentence describes 95% of the record stores on the West Coast in 2016.

I used to work at a record store where the owner would generally overprice somewhat uncommon records just due to the fact that it was exciting for him to see something slightly uncommon make its into the shop. He didn't have much knowledge of artists outside the common variety- I don't actually think he was trying to get away with anything!

its way*

Yeah, I was just in L.A. last month and was really disappointed in the record stores there. Not to mention this place (which I did not visit, having some sense of self-preservation): http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-record-collector-los-angeles

oh shit that place looks a treat!

The absolute rudest store I've ever been into in my life. Since there were no prices on the records, I asked the price. It was a reasonable $15.00. An older man who seemed to be the owner of store launched into an overly loud conversation with a young man telling him, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford the yacht. I dismissed it not thinking he was talking about me but it made my mom very uncomfortable and she wanted to leave the store. As we were leaving, the store owner asked if the $15.00 was too much for me and I quickly said, no we are leaving because of comments like that. He immediately went into a fit of rage and told us to get the f*ck out of the store. He yelled it at least 3 times.

calling chaki: you KNOW what you've gotta do!

one of my old go-to stores was record surplus in Santa Monica bc they were always pretty fair and sometimes shockingly cheap but jeez not anymore. i guess you can still stock up on Arthur Lyman LPs for about three bucks a pop there though.

Maybe all the young buyers coming in looking for #Macklemorevibes is breaking him.

xp

No prices listed... the original shady scam to take advantage of new vinyl buyers.

It's also pretty clear that all of the positive reviews are from people who felt validated by the fact that this guy treated them semi-humanely. Which he definitely only did b/c they gave him 15 bucks for a Squeeze record #nodisrespecttosqueeze

people from big cities LOVE my store. everything looks cheap to them.

small town record stores are the best, really. i went to one in Ithaca this past summer that was in the basement of a bookstore and the prices were wonderful. i'd have bought fifty records if i wasn't on a budget and could easily get them back to L.A.

So true. DC's about average for record stores, but I tend to bring along record mailers when traveling.

Arthur Lyman LPs rule btw

xp

No prices listed... the original shady scam to take advantage of new vinyl buyers.

― skip

so, so true

see also: Bop Street in Seattle

The record shop I liked in Seattle was the one that opens early serves breakfast. All my favorite things in one place!

Going back to those half-speeds for a minute (or would that be two, or 30 seconds, or...), I like in the posted article that it's mentioned you really can't hear the difference unless you have a deluxe set-up, which definitely gets lost in the discussion of such matters. OTOH, the snake oil aspect of this process is reinforced my the fact that some of the titles in this first lot (particularly Exile... & Fire and Water) are notoriously murky productions, allowing for that "You've never actually heard...until you've heard the half-speed" which is truly buying real estate on a lot that isn't there.

i own multiple arthur lymans, you won't hear any complaints about him from me. one of the best of the cheap LP bin regulars.

i am no rabid audiophile, but good equipment makes a HUGE difference. it really does. i hate to say it, but money can buy you some amazing sound. there's just no way to get around it.

with an amazing needle, table, speakers, etc, an excellent record will open up sound-wise in ways that might surprise you. they bloom! i swear i am not making this up.

but for a Simple Minds album? lol

early simple minds records sound amazing. later ones not so much.

A £200 Pro-Ject Essential II makes a huge difference. You dont need to spend a grand on a TT

listening to one now. leckie majik.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/12734071_10154541093247137_18464861555159793_n.jpg?oh=034c04abcdae5edff2b2975142e19075&oe=5762F096

I don't doubt the difference about equipment...it's just that the real money in regards to selling these new press records (and roached old ones) is in the wallets of people with Crosley Cruisers & such

after empires and dance even better though sound-wise.

if you have to ask the price, you can't afford the yacht
haha this is great...

Yup, made all the more comical that the yacht in question was $15.

sort of related:
there's a record store near me that regularly posts pics of "new arrivals" on facebook, and recently I commented, asking the price of one of the records shown.

owner said: "Can't tell you, you have to come in to the store" ... which is odd. I mean, it already had the price tag on it. what difference does it make if he tells me the price?