Are Old LPs Records Worth Money or Will They Be Again? We Use the Bee Gees

Etsy seller StuffBuilt is selling stacks of vintage LPs'.  You get 150 45's for $30

I don't always answer reader questions because I am so busy, but a reader saw my post on old records death and rebirth and shot me this message "Do you really think collecting old records are worth money?"   My answer would be YES.  I believe with everything there is an ebb and flo. Case in point, the bell bottoms of the 1960's made their way back in fashion as flare leg pants just a decade ago.  Everything has a cycle and a recycle. Recently there are reproduction working record players for people who may start to recollect vinyl.  The issue with collecting old records is of course, the numbers and availability are now askew.  

For instance, there was a time when CDs came in that people discarded so many old records that thrift stores weren't taking them. Some melted in people's attics, garages, thereby having been warped making them unplayable, those ended up in landfills.  Then there's this: the greenies who recycle them for crafts, making them into book covers, record purses, and popcorn bowls.  Those LP's even if they were not collectible, are now taken out of the circulation .  Just from my geekified standpoint, I'll try to illustrate to you via an easy matrix. 

So let's do a faux example Matrix for all intents and purposes: 

There is a great chart of how many Bee Gees Albums were sold in history, find it here.  So let's take their most popular album as example.  The numbers are as follows   USA / UK / WORLD

Bee Gees First (1967)

450,000

200,000

1,100,000

So the first album sold 450,000 in the USA

Let's use this as a fake hypothesis using only the USA for example: 

USA SALES :    450,000

Broke/Melted      30,000   over time 

Landfills             200,000 due to clean outs when no one wanted records

Unplayable           20,000 scratched from use 

Crafted                 10,000 upcycled into clocks etc by artisans (see below for what I mean)

total unusable 250,000 Hypothetical 

According to this matrix,  somewhere  in the USA 200,000 * but doubtful in my opinion. This would indicate a huge decrease in original run now making an ebb and flow of supply and demand.  It's easily speculated that the original number is now cut in half. However, some of this 200,000 is still sitting in storage, waiting to be found, sitting in people's collections or attics, melting away. 

Now you may say,  "No one wants records, so what?"  If somewhere, somehow, sometime, someone makes listening to records hip and trendy again, the original Bee Gees album may soar in value. All we need is Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis doing something cool with records or Drake, Lil Nas X shown collecting them, and the rest is history. People want to emulate what's cool and trendy and so it's quite possible that this trend could come back around.  As for the Bee Gees, well, it's already a well loved album thanks to the likes of movies and just having a great disco theme.  

MARRYING is a big issue, too.  Then, we have the whole collecting marrying the cover with a record issue. If you want to know more about that, you'll have to listen to this podcast below which explains it.  I am just now starting to see more and more records returning to the thrift stores.  This may indicate kids are now cleaning out their parent's homes and getting rid of the 1960s relics, or that someone out there has realized that somewhere someone is still playing records. 

Music Goldmine on Etsy has done a great job using 45's in her work making them into functional purses, however, this Styx LP needs to get added to the crafting matrix above!

Stuff Built Artist Manny uses records in his art, go to his etsy StuffBuilt.etsy.com to see what this has become! And chalk up another 200 or so records into the matrix of crafting......

Listen to more collecting records tips below.  This website is brought to you by my RetroChalet etsy shop. Like and share this post so I will continue to write.