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

yeah when i worked at goodwill some years back, i was always the first one to go through records, pick out the good stuff, and send it off to shop (which was our shorthand for the shop goodwill processing facility). they track which stuff comes from which donation sites and the places who consistently send in stuff that sells get paycheck bonuses; only ever about $30 every six months, but hey!

this also explains why you'll hardly ever find anything of any interest in the record bins in the stores.

protip: if you're into jewelry, shop goodwill could be a literal goldmine.

also yeah: i am definitely a disgruntled former employee

So, I guess my days of donating to Goodwill are over now

sidebar attesting to gw's overall shittiness:
the local chapter here was found intentionally making payroll mistakes only on the checks for employees with developmental disabilities. it was never said out loud, but the implication was that they targeted these employees because they were less likely to notice.

it amounted to several years worth of this practice and over a million dollars in stolen wages.

I went to the Goodwill nearest me only a couple of times, they carry probably about 20 records at any moment and it's basically all along the lines of completely trashed copies of stuff like flower drum song or Eddie rabbitt's greatest Hits Volume 2, definitely not priced to move.

I like to donate actually decent stuff to independent thrift shops (like one for the SPCA) and scads of questionable shit to Value Village (aka Savers). They manage to sell, like, coax cable. At least there's always a steady supply of it on the wall.

this thrift “chain” in my area is pretty cool, 100% of profits go to HIV prevention

https://outofthecloset.org/

I don’t know about vinyl, though, never found any cool discs digging thrift stores, possibly born too late

yeah we have St. Vincent De Paul for a good local org

my best thrift score in recent memory (i.e maybe 5 years ago) was a Mothers Of Invention album, the Buckingham/Nicks S/T, Miles Davis Quiet Nights, and T Rex Electric Warrior all together.

we have a local SVDP too, actually two. i agree that it's good people. also the scores there are way better across categories

yes that score above was at SVDP, also the time I found a stash of like half a dozen mint Brazilian 45s from 1970-72, Veloso etc

Not quite getting what this is, exactly, but it probably belongs here: http://repress.qrates.com

― a full playlist of presidential sex jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, August 15, 2016 5:11 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not quite getting what this is, exactly, but it probably belongs here: http://repress.qrates.com

if i'm reading this right they'll straight up bootleg anything?! wtf

― andrew m., Wednesday, November 2, 2016 4:20 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

"QRATES gives artists, labels and brands the tools..."

It's aimed at artists and labels, not just random people. How much checking they do is open to question though.

― koogs, Thursday, November 3, 2016 4:46 AM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

not going qreat...

https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/s/inBLbNHOsx

https://www.reddit.com/r/VinylReleases/comments/18lkvuz/just_a_reminder_do_not_buy_from_qrates/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzkCDvkveh0/

original url doesn't work so i'm having trouble understanding what this is

It was service that pressed to vinyl anything you sent in to them (copyright be damned).

sending in carrots

i thought this was an interesting comment in the first reddit thread:

Qrates uses GZ Media as their pressing plant. GZ was known for being a “safe” plant for sample-based music. Lots of vaporwave artists got their stuff pressed there, for instance. Around June of this year, GZ started using AI technology to identify samples and require clearance documentation. A LOT of Qrates’ projects were sample-based music, and around the middle of this year, a lot of projects had to be mass-refunded. This is my speculation. Qrates ran out of money to get anything pressed because GZ Media started cracking down on samples, and they had to mass refund a bunch of projects and ran out of cash.

the sad thing about those reddit threads is just how many comments were basically, "whaaa! we should be able to press any sample we want, this is bullshit".

original url doesn't work so i'm having trouble understanding what this is

― budo jeru, Tuesday, December 19, 2023 2:59 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ah I didn't realize that, here: https://qrates.com

i have only ever made records by physically going somewhere and having lacquers cut, which you then would mail off to be plated. it always seemed to me like the places where you sent files w/ music and art were weird because surely you'd end up with a disappointing product? or maybe i'm just too cynical about the QC at these kinds of places, although this story . . .

iirc, CZ does direct metal masters

i'm not saying it's not legit, nor do i think my caveman process is the only way. but i've only ever been able to make it happen by doing as much as i possibly could myself

plus it's more fun that way

I won't go as far as calling it a shady scam, but I can't image why anyone would want to listen to Feldman's String Quartet II, an extremely long and quiet piece, on vinyl. Any tiny flaw, pop, or crackle will likely be louder than the music, and you have to switch sides every 25 minutes. Oh, and the label only offers this recording on vinyl - no CD, download, or streaming. (Luckily there are two other recordings of the piece out there).

https://www.discogs.com/release/14771547-Morton-Feldman-Pellegrini-Quartet-String-Quartet-II