will the price of records ever fall or go down?

[jah_vaults]

Does anyone know if the price of records will ever go down? does anyone know if this has also happened maybe in the 1960`s or 1970`s or 1980`s or 1990`s where the price of singles and records trippled or doubled as it has done in the past 2or 3 years.Has this happened in previous years or decades? As the prices just seem to be going up and up instead of the prices starting to come back down which I think should have started to happen by now but isnt going to ever happen.

Anyone else agree~?

[David]

why should they go down? most things are getting more expensive by the time, with the exception of technical things, were prices drop because of innovations.

vinyl is for a small group of people. and most of them are having enough money to pay a bit more each year....

[KingSimeonSound]

I've seen plenty of tunes drop in price. So many in the past few years have had over inflated prices, sellers jumping on a wave of interest and looking to get the most out of it. People have more instant access to records via the net now and so many newer collectors have been extra keen and quick to buy, without knowing, researching or really wanting to know.

It's allowed some crazy and unstable prices to carry on, but at the same time has ignored other tunes. At the same time I've also sen tunes drop back to more ordinary prices, so many more recently.

So the answer for me is Yes, and they are going down all the time. Maybe it's just the hype of some silly sellers, or the attention of foolish buyers that give all the attention to one or two over priced tunes that makes it look like it's all going up.

[David]

well, if we talk about prices of originals, I would say, it's like the stock markets, some prices are not reflecting a real value, but rather a trend. you need to guys on ebay to make prices go up a lot, eventually both have the tune and the price drops dramatically...

[Ringo]

A lot of roots music has dropped in price quite a bit in the last few years. Plenty of big tunes, hype tunes, changes in fashion (from Shaka Killer to Digi Killer ) have gone against this general fall, but overall original roots music has gone down in "value".

[John Eden]

David is bang on the money here, if you'll pardon the expression.

Prices generally increase (Price Gone Up - Cobra) for retail products.

The 2nd hand market is more like speculation / stock exchange business. So prices do go up and down depending on fluctuations in the market.

But of course, this is entirely the wrong way to think about music.

[shadrach]

I had a conversation on this topic with a guy some time ago.
He claimed that for ALL collector's objects prices are bound to drop eventually. This would be due to the fact that those objest generally attract the attention of a specific generation of buyers, but as soon as the interest of this generation fades (or when that generation simply dies) , the prices of the objects will automatically drop. Maybe this tendency can already be seen in the shift of high prices from roots to digi objects, as Ringo already notified.

[John Eden]

I had a conversation on this topic with a guy some time ago.
He claimed that for ALL collector's objects prices are bound to drop eventually. This would be due to the fact that those objest generally attract the attention of a specific generation of buyers, but as soon as the interest of this generation fades (or when that generation simply dies) , the prices of the objects will automatically drop. Maybe this tendency can already be seen in the shift of high prices from roots to digi objects, as Ringo already notified.

I think that's interesting but it's not always true. If you collect original Picassos they are unlikely to fall in value, ever.

My guess is that most music will probably not make this jump into the "high art" type of market. But you are probably on to a fairly safe bet if you have a copy of that original Marley "Selassie Is The Church" seven stashed away. I would guess that original pressings of Studio One, Treasure Isle and maybe Black Ark will go the same way.

[finbar]

Even if prices stay "the same", you have to factor inflation: when you look at what record prices were in the 60's and 70's, they seem very cheap, but when you factor what working wages were at the time, they weren't. So a record worth $100 today may be worth, for example, $200 in 20 years, but what will $200 actually be able to buy you in 20 years?

The internet created a ground-swell of interest by spreading the music, but more importantly, it created a large market-place that aggregates those with both the means and interest to buy old records. This is great if you live in a country that doesn't sell a lot of records locally, but frustrating if you do, because many of the record shows and stores today just sell what they can't peddle on e-bay.

Personally I think that some records will become much more expensive over time, but the majority of them will depreciate. Vinyl is trendy now, but the next generation will be pretty much all "digital" (Yes, I know that vinyl sounds better, but people time and time again seem to opt for convenience over quality).

I appreciate entities like DKR, who release hard-to-find records at reasonable prices. I know some "collectors" don't like this, but if you buy music for it's perceived future value, you have to accept the risk that comes with speculation. But if you buy music solely because you enjoy the tunes you are buying, you can never go wrong.

[jah_vaults]

Even if prices stay "the same", you have to factor inflation: when you look at what record prices were in the 60's and 70's, they seem very cheap, but when you factor what working wages were at the time, they weren't. So a record worth $100 today may be worth, for example, $200 in 20 years, but what will $200 actually be able to buy you in 20 years?

The internet created a ground-swell of interest by spreading the music, but more importantly, it created a large market-place that aggregates those with both the means and interest to buy old records. This is great if you live in a country that doesn't sell a lot of records locally, but frustrating if you do, because many of the record shows and stores today just sell what they can't peddle on e-bay.

Personally I think that some records will become much more expensive over time, but the majority of them will depreciate. Vinyl is trendy now, but the next generation will be pretty much all "digital" (Yes, I know that vinyl sounds better, but people time and time again seem to opt for convenience over quality).

I appreciate entities like DKR, who release hard-to-find records at reasonable prices. I know some "collectors" don't like this, but if you buy music for it's perceived future value, you have to accept the risk that comes with speculation. But if you buy music solely because you enjoy the tunes you are buying, you can never go wrong.

Good points Finbar just few years ago 7 inches used to retail for 2.50 to 3.00 for new presses or old warehouse stock original presses. I doubt if a seven inch record which now costs 6.00 or 7.00 or even more will even sell in the future for the same price it was bought

[John Eden]

I doubt if a seven inch record which now costs 6.00 or 7.00 or even more will even sell in the future for the same price it was bought

Some will, some won't.

But as Finbar says, if you buy a good tunes today new you can enjoy them forever, or until you sell them.

And hopefully support musicians and labels too.

[message_music]

Alot of tunes have fallen in value and this is a good thing.......

Alot of big buyers have gone of the scene..... in ten years there will be a new generation of big buyers who will hunt certain tunes for big prices. Imo the digi hype has died down...... the next one will be uk 90s..... prices will rise for certain items . Swings n roundabouts

[John Eden]

Sell Digi!!!!

Buy UK 90s!!!!

[Vinnie]

i think all depends on the demand (im only talking about new tunes and not the second hand market)

i think when 10.000 records are sold of one tune price per record will drop but if, like nowadays only 300 to 500 copies are pressed of a certain tune, price will rise.
also vinyl is an oilbased product. productionprices tend to rise too.

[jah_vaults]

i think all depends on the demand (im only talking about new tunes and not the second hand market)

i think when 10.000 records are sold of one tune price per record will drop but if, like nowadays only 300 to 500 copies are pressed of a certain tune, price will rise.
also vinyl is an oilbased product. productionprices tend to rise too.

So regarding theses new tunes when the producers decides that pressing even 300 to 500 copies is too much to sell then they press a 100 and inflate the price more. Either way the reggae buyer has to pay a lot more.

Does anybody have a actual list of how many individual records are actually sold? The sales figures must be a lot lower even though pricing is much much higher