Moving on from the discussion with Daniel to other things. Some random thoughts about the current state of collecting metal.....
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There seems to be a lot of angst about the manner in which people assemble their collection. Buy too much at once and you're a rich poseur. Buy too little and you're not tr00. Pay X amount and you're a dick with more money than brains. Post your recent finds and you're a show-off. Don't post your finds and you're a hoarding troll.
What are the reasons that people adopt these attitudes that 'you're collecting all wrong!' ? Envy, identity, and competitiveness seem like obvious motivators.
Envy- You have something I want, so to make me feel better about not owning it I'm gonna tear you down
Identity- I wanna have the best collection, so anyone with more toys than me threatens my identity as Top Collector
Competition- My collection is better than yours.
I'm sure there are other reasons.... what do folks think?
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About getting rare records these days, there are only so many ways to do it.
1- Start collecting 30 years ago when they were cheap and easy to find.
Pro- your collection is awesome and cost very little
Con- Doesn't work unless you started 30 years ago or have a time machine
2- Refuse to pay more than a small amount for any record.
Pro- keeps it cheap. Never accused of overpaying.
Con- Your only chance to get certain records is through pure luck by finding them much cheaper than they normally sell for. Hard to build a large collection, hard to get items that are usually pricey.
3 (similar to #2) - Hold out for the Great Buys
Pro- always fun to get something rare and expensive for peanuts, makes for a great story.
Con- Takes a lot of time and patience to find ANYTHING worthwhile, and even longer to find the particular item(s) that you want. Resign yourself to having a small collection and getting new items very infrequently
4- Pay the going rate.
Pro- you'll get the items you want much faster than waiting for them to show up for 50 cents each at a local flea market.
Con- gets expensive, so you'll need $$.
5- Get Cheaper Versions
Pro- music is the same on reissues and mp3s, sometimes you even get bonus material and improved sound quality
Con- not as collectible to some folks, and not likely to have as much value in the future. Just depends on whether or not you're satisfied not having 'the real thing'
6- Other Strategies
???
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On to paying the big bucks.....
This seems to be a divisive issue at times. Some observations I've made over the past several years.
1- Heavy Metal fans/collectors are, as a whole, financially pretty poor. I don't know if there's a correlation with age or some other social demographic, but we seem to have much less income to spend on records than collectors of other genres. This means relatively few metal collectors are capable of paying a lot (> $100) for a record in the first place. If we're strapped for cash and we see someone else spending freely, there's a tendency to react negatively towards that person. "Gee, I'd love to have that Leather Nunn record, look at that guy- must be nice to have money to burn like that! I can barely pay my bills and he's paying $1,000 for that album! WTF? That's 2 months' rent for me and he blows it on ONE ALBUM?!"
2- Your perception of what is 'a lot' to spend on records ties in directly to your income level. This seems obvious, but lots of folks claim, "oh I'd NEVER pay that much for a record no matter how much money I had". You may honestly believe that, but get a big jump in salary and I'll bet 9 out of 10 people are willing to start spending more on items than they used to.
When you struggle to make ends meet, the idea of paying $100++ for a record SHOULD be out of the question for you. That's just being financially responsible. But if you're making several thousand a month, you can probably afford to do so. If you've got the money and you want the item, there's not much to stop you from buying it. Most of us are just completely unfamiliar with having that much disposable income.
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To conclude, here's how I collect. Not claiming at all this is the best way, or even a good way, just figured I'd put it out there as an example that the discussion can build off of if folks so choose.
1- I only collect the records I like musically. This means I do not stick to only rare items, and I do not aim to be completist for any band or label (unless I like every record by that artist/label). One advantage to this approach: even if a record goes down in value or is worth less than I paid for it, I can at least enjoy the music on it. It also means my collection stays pretty small, and I don't have many Top Items (the ones I do have I honestly do like musically; they were not obtained just 'cause they're rare).
2- I try to limit my monthly music budget to < 10% of my monthly income. If I can't afford it, I don't buy it. Sometimes I do go way over that mark, but overall these kind of limits help me keep it to a reasonable level. I am certainly not rich and I cannot afford a lot of the albums that I would like to own. I also put at least 1/3 of my paycheck each month into savings, and I clear any expensive records with the wife first
That said, my income has increased a lot in recent years, so I do spend more, and am willing to spend more on one particular item, than I used to. Dig through posts from 2006-7 and you'll find comments from me along the lines of, "I'm not sure I'd really enjoy an album if I paid more than $200 for it". At the time that was a huge amount of money to me. Now, not so much. My circumstances have changed, and for the right record I'll pay $200 and enjoy it just fine
3- I try to not over-pay for an item. Establishing a fair price for rare items is not always easy. But if I know a record routinely sells for $100, I'm not gonna pay $150 for it. I don't think of my records as investments, but if I wanted or needed to sell them, I want to make sure I can at least get my money back out of them, if not make some money on them.
4- I will buy multiple pressings/versions of an album if it's one I really like. A quick glance at my record shelf might make you think that Witchfinder General released 8 albums back in the day
I don't have to have every version though
5- vinyl vs cd depends on the record. Sometimes but rarely I'll get both
6- I really try to avoid buying stuff out of curiosity, on a lark, or that I'm not at all familiar with. Used to do this a lot, and as often as not the album turned out to be uninteresting. Now I save my money for stuff I'm pretty certain I'm gonna enjoy.
7- I don't 'broadcast' my recent finds. Call me a hoarding little troll, I just don't post that info. I do let some folks know when I get certain things that I think might interest them.
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Think I've rambled long enough. No idea if this is what DaN had in mind when he started this thread, guess we'll see