Even us who are slightly introverterd use vinyl to connect to others. This is the best way I found to find new music.
My goal is to have something to hold, read, and experience during the listening process.
The process starts from the very beginning when you are perusing through your collection and deciding what music is going to coordinate with, enhance, or even change my mood. Once selected, then you get to pull the album out of the sleeve and clean it and gently place it on the turntable. Once the desired volume has been set, you press play and let the music take you on a journey.
For me, a collection of vinyl is all about sparking emotions. The greater the range of emotion in your collection, The greater the collection
Spot on, Bob. Everything you say. I can particularly relate to what you say about choosing music to enhance or sometimes change the mood we are in.
I also think having a collection of records that are truly meaningful to you has an extremely powerful effect. The evocative element plays a role, for sure, but there’s also a transformative element. Listening to records that changed our lives in such a purposeful setting, with all the ritual that goes with it, helps us understand ourselves better, heal and grow.
My strategy for collecting vinyl is very different from my digital collection strategy, or music discovery, which is what I write about here. When I purchase a record, it's got to get me to slow down, sit down, and listen reflectively. It's about settling down and settling in for the longer listen, because on the digital end it's about gathering more and more and more, not enjoying what I have.
Thank you, Mallie! This makes total sense. Funnily enough I was just thinking about this the other day. Typically I stream at the gym and listen to vinyl at home, and I’ve been noticing a similar pattern (streaming very punchy stuff and spinning some more introspective stuff), especially now in autumn.
I’d love to say I have some incredibly robust strategy, but a lot of the time my buying decisions really boil down to “I’ll know it when I see it.”
Closest I’ve come recently is when my fave store opened a second shop, focusing mainly on their used stock. I set a limit of $30 or 5 records. I came pretty close (it was like $34)…
Thank you! Personally I don’t think the strategy needs to be very robust or elaborate in order to be effective. It just needs to be congruent with your needs/wishes/preferences. Sounds like you’ve got it pretty much nailed down! That “sticking to budget” focus is so hard to stick to sometimes!
Fair enough 😂 I force myself to keep my collection notes up to date, so I can always quickly check on my phone before I buy a new record. It’s saved me a number of times!
I dig this writing. It makes me go on a great trip, retracing the life of my collecting. I am 45 years into collecting vinyl and I can say that only within the past 20 years a strategy has developed. Tactics follow strategy, and my while the strategy has evolved a bit, it is the tactics that change the most. Over the past two decades I had my ‘rediscovery’, ‘treasure hunting’, ‘bulking up’, ‘new genres’ and ‘proving a point’ phases. Today, I am happy and content with a phase that is slower, more tempered with and appreciative of my purchases. I also think more about divesting over investing; how can I realize the value of my efforts for those to enjoy when I’m gone. I am experiencing similar regarding my sports card collection. Thanks. ✌️
Thank you so much, Scott, for your comment and your very kind words, which are humbling considering your extensive experience collecting vinyl. I am really glad to hear you enjoyed the article and it helped you reflect on your past, present and future vinyl adventures. Thanks again!
An interesting and very thought provoking article, thanks Andy! As I’m not yet collecting vinyl I have no strategy. But I can see that not having any sort of strategy and/or goal around building a collection will definitely pose some problems for me down the road.
I’ve bookmarked this article to revisit once I start collecting because there’s some really important questions on here, thanks!
Thank you, Mark! I’m so glad you found it useful and informative. Yes, I think having clear goals or, at least, some rough idea of how you want your collection to pan out in, say, 5 years from the moment you start collecting is key. There will be, inevitably, some unexpected detours or “change of heart” moments — nothing is ever too fixed. But being clear on what you want to achieve will give you focus. There’s so much to choose from that it can sometimes feel a bit too overwhelming without a plan (no matter how rough it may be).
When I first started collecting I sought those albums I grew up with then it opened up other doors.
I blame 'similar artists' on Spotify that helped me expand my collection into other areas I never imagined. Without it, I probably would have saved a lot of money; 60s psychedelic rock albums aren't cheap.
Side note - what started off as a simple way to share my love of music on Instagram grew into something much larger. It became fun to talk music and even write about music.
That's why I have my blog here on Substack. Each day introduces me to new people who share a similar love, music and vinyl.
Thank you, Joe! I can relate a lot: top priority for me were (are) those albums that marked me, but I then also expanded into some new-to-me stuff (in my case, a lot of funk and soul bands from the late 70s/early 80s, i.e. considerably cheaper than your 60s psychedelic rock! 😅).
Thank you also for sharing your journey in terms of sharing your passion with the world.
Connecting with like-minded people is a huge motivation to keep doing what we are doing 😃
Even us who are slightly introverterd use vinyl to connect to others. This is the best way I found to find new music.
My goal is to have something to hold, read, and experience during the listening process.
The process starts from the very beginning when you are perusing through your collection and deciding what music is going to coordinate with, enhance, or even change my mood. Once selected, then you get to pull the album out of the sleeve and clean it and gently place it on the turntable. Once the desired volume has been set, you press play and let the music take you on a journey.
For me, a collection of vinyl is all about sparking emotions. The greater the range of emotion in your collection, The greater the collection
Spot on, Bob. Everything you say. I can particularly relate to what you say about choosing music to enhance or sometimes change the mood we are in.
I also think having a collection of records that are truly meaningful to you has an extremely powerful effect. The evocative element plays a role, for sure, but there’s also a transformative element. Listening to records that changed our lives in such a purposeful setting, with all the ritual that goes with it, helps us understand ourselves better, heal and grow.
My strategy for collecting vinyl is very different from my digital collection strategy, or music discovery, which is what I write about here. When I purchase a record, it's got to get me to slow down, sit down, and listen reflectively. It's about settling down and settling in for the longer listen, because on the digital end it's about gathering more and more and more, not enjoying what I have.
Does that make any sense?
Thank you, Mallie! This makes total sense. Funnily enough I was just thinking about this the other day. Typically I stream at the gym and listen to vinyl at home, and I’ve been noticing a similar pattern (streaming very punchy stuff and spinning some more introspective stuff), especially now in autumn.
I’d love to say I have some incredibly robust strategy, but a lot of the time my buying decisions really boil down to “I’ll know it when I see it.”
Closest I’ve come recently is when my fave store opened a second shop, focusing mainly on their used stock. I set a limit of $30 or 5 records. I came pretty close (it was like $34)…
Thank you! Personally I don’t think the strategy needs to be very robust or elaborate in order to be effective. It just needs to be congruent with your needs/wishes/preferences. Sounds like you’ve got it pretty much nailed down! That “sticking to budget” focus is so hard to stick to sometimes!
My strategy, stop mistakenly buying albums I already have.
lol. Same!
Fair enough 😂 I force myself to keep my collection notes up to date, so I can always quickly check on my phone before I buy a new record. It’s saved me a number of times!
I dig this writing. It makes me go on a great trip, retracing the life of my collecting. I am 45 years into collecting vinyl and I can say that only within the past 20 years a strategy has developed. Tactics follow strategy, and my while the strategy has evolved a bit, it is the tactics that change the most. Over the past two decades I had my ‘rediscovery’, ‘treasure hunting’, ‘bulking up’, ‘new genres’ and ‘proving a point’ phases. Today, I am happy and content with a phase that is slower, more tempered with and appreciative of my purchases. I also think more about divesting over investing; how can I realize the value of my efforts for those to enjoy when I’m gone. I am experiencing similar regarding my sports card collection. Thanks. ✌️
Thank you so much, Scott, for your comment and your very kind words, which are humbling considering your extensive experience collecting vinyl. I am really glad to hear you enjoyed the article and it helped you reflect on your past, present and future vinyl adventures. Thanks again!
An interesting and very thought provoking article, thanks Andy! As I’m not yet collecting vinyl I have no strategy. But I can see that not having any sort of strategy and/or goal around building a collection will definitely pose some problems for me down the road.
I’ve bookmarked this article to revisit once I start collecting because there’s some really important questions on here, thanks!
Thank you, Mark! I’m so glad you found it useful and informative. Yes, I think having clear goals or, at least, some rough idea of how you want your collection to pan out in, say, 5 years from the moment you start collecting is key. There will be, inevitably, some unexpected detours or “change of heart” moments — nothing is ever too fixed. But being clear on what you want to achieve will give you focus. There’s so much to choose from that it can sometimes feel a bit too overwhelming without a plan (no matter how rough it may be).
When I first started collecting I sought those albums I grew up with then it opened up other doors.
I blame 'similar artists' on Spotify that helped me expand my collection into other areas I never imagined. Without it, I probably would have saved a lot of money; 60s psychedelic rock albums aren't cheap.
Side note - what started off as a simple way to share my love of music on Instagram grew into something much larger. It became fun to talk music and even write about music.
That's why I have my blog here on Substack. Each day introduces me to new people who share a similar love, music and vinyl.
Thank you, Joe! I can relate a lot: top priority for me were (are) those albums that marked me, but I then also expanded into some new-to-me stuff (in my case, a lot of funk and soul bands from the late 70s/early 80s, i.e. considerably cheaper than your 60s psychedelic rock! 😅).
Thank you also for sharing your journey in terms of sharing your passion with the world.
Connecting with like-minded people is a huge motivation to keep doing what we are doing 😃
https://open.substack.com/pub/johnnogowski/p/the-earthquake-called-elvis-started?r=7pf7u&utm_medium=ios
I collect old cameras, old typewriters and old record players. I listen to music online, though WiFi and BlueTooth (5.4).
Get a REAL hobby ;)
A real what? “Hobby” is not part of my vocabulary:
https://open.substack.com/pub/vinylroom/p/the-power-of-words?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Oh, my bad. I love Music. It is not a "hobby".
That’s what I thought 😉