Are old records worth more?

Old vinyl records are typically considered to be more valuable... is it a myth or is there some truth behind this?

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

A common misconception among the general public which never fails to make the rounds in almost all vinyl-related conversations nowadays is that all old records are worth a lot of money.

Mainstream media outlets do their part by sharing stories about a certain distraught grandmother who sold her grandson’s collection for peanuts by mistake, or some lucky buyers who got hold of rare collectibles at a bargain price.

These stories of luck and misfortune seem to fuel this myth that, if you stumble upon old vinyl (e.g. due to inheritance), you need not worry about seemingly minor details such as titles, age and condition of the records, because you have certainly hit the jackpot.

Erm… not quite.

Yes, some records have sold (and continue to sell) for hundreds of thousands, but these transactions also make headlines precisely because they are rare (the records as well as the occurrences).

Photo by Joseph Pearson on Unsplash

The reasons why some people think all old vinyl is gold are varied, but one important point to remember is that vinyl made a surprising comeback after having been banished from the mainstream and relegated to the dark confines of quirky collectors for almost twenty years.

Vinyl is now cool again, so old records must be highly coveted. This false premise is predominant among casual listeners, particularly those who saw vinyl become uncool once upon a time, and generally by those who can’t remember the last time they stepped foot in a record store.

If you buy records often, or are at least vaguely familiar with industry trends, you know the reality is more complex.

Old vinyl records can be worth pennies or hundreds (sometimes thousands) depending on several factors, the most important of which are the all too familiar forces of supply and demand (which are older than vinyl records themselves).

That said, there is a relatively new phenomenon at play nowadays which perhaps wasn’t the case twelve or so years ago (not as prominently, at least): there is now an increasingly bigger pool of buyers with deep pockets ready to splash whatever it takes to get hold of certain records.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Basically, there are more people openly saying they are willing to pay more. At the same time, the number of sellers has also increased, fuelled by the vinyl revival and, for better or worse, by some degree of FOMO courtesy of the renewed hype surrounding the format.

While the factors affecting value are complex and multi-faceted, and generalisations are unreliable, in the next couple of weeks I will be looking at certain trends or patterns which, by and large, can give us a clue or two about the potential fate of our prized discs on the resale market.

If you have specific questions, please drop them in the comments and I’ll do my best to address them as we go along.

Thanks for reading/listening. Happy spinning!