Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
1I'd be sampling the hell out of them. Hope someone is local and lucky enough to take them off your hands.
at war with bellends
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
2The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings, in all genres of music and speech, in all formats, and from all periods. ARSC is unique in bringing together private individuals and institutional professionals—everyone with a serious interest in recorded sound.
ARSC has a free email list, you might find some takers if you put out a "come and get 'em" type of message.
Or maybe some good recommendations for a future home for these.
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
3It will come as no surprise that vinyl records of any genre have ardent collector communities who will pay dearly for certain records. The answer to the question whether they are worth anything or not is, of course they are. In the current climate, anything black and round has value, inside a cover even more. If you don't want to do the meticulous work of cataloging everything, you could likely realize a pretty good pile from someone like Reckless or Dusty Groove (or their equivalent wherever you live) who would give you an offer on the whole batch after a cursory look-see. I spoke with a FM who buys records for a secondhand record store during the pandemic and he was adamant that anything that looked like a record has value now, and collectable records are worth more than ever, so it's worth it to at least post some up on Discogs or eBay to test the waters.
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
4If you would rather donate a portion of the records in your dad's honor:
Some public libraries are still interested in donated LPs.
It seems a fair number of conservatory/music school libraries are interested in receiving donated vinyl.
You can also put up a post on Craigslist or Ebay Classifieds or whatever works for your area, targeted at young musicians/students offering the vinyl at a set very low price for single LPs and bundles and let people come over and crate dig at your place basically, if you are the social type who wishes to give young music enthusiasts something cool they can put to good use. You could also hang signs to this effect at a local music school or conservatory, once things are really rolling again.
Or sell the whole collection to a record store like FM Steve wrote, and then use the cash to set up a little music scholarship in your dad's name if that seems appropriate, maybe even within the school system where he taught.
Some public libraries are still interested in donated LPs.
It seems a fair number of conservatory/music school libraries are interested in receiving donated vinyl.
You can also put up a post on Craigslist or Ebay Classifieds or whatever works for your area, targeted at young musicians/students offering the vinyl at a set very low price for single LPs and bundles and let people come over and crate dig at your place basically, if you are the social type who wishes to give young music enthusiasts something cool they can put to good use. You could also hang signs to this effect at a local music school or conservatory, once things are really rolling again.
Or sell the whole collection to a record store like FM Steve wrote, and then use the cash to set up a little music scholarship in your dad's name if that seems appropriate, maybe even within the school system where he taught.
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
5yeah I'd run the cat#'s through discogs to see if any are of value.
some of the jackets are very classy (because classical music). could bung some into those lp-size frames and hang them up
some of the jackets are very classy (because classical music). could bung some into those lp-size frames and hang them up
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
6Sorry, researching more on the first idea, it seems it is actually pretty rare any more that libraries take vinyl donations, whether public or university.jimmy spako wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 6:17 pm If you would rather donate a portion of the records in your dad's honor:
Some public libraries are still interested in donated LPs.
It seems a fair number of conservatory/music school libraries are interested in receiving donated vinyl.
You can also put up a post on Craigslist or Ebay Classifieds or whatever works for your area, targeted at young musicians/students offering the vinyl at a set very low price for single LPs and bundles and let people come over and crate dig at your place basically, if you are the social type who wishes to give young music enthusiasts something cool they can put to good use. You could also hang signs to this effect at a local music school or conservatory, once things are really rolling again.
Or sell the whole collection to a record store like FM Steve wrote, and then use the cash to set up a little music scholarship in your dad's name if that seems appropriate, maybe even within the school system where he taught.
The other points are better...
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
7Discogs has been on fire since January. In the words of Regis Philbin, "It's BONKO'S!"Rocky Rockbottom wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 6:25 pm yeah I'd run the cat#'s through discogs to see if any are of value.
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
8I've sold off several large classical collections and with them, more so than with rock records, condition is everything. Most classical collectors don't want anything that isn't like EX unless it's a super rare title. As a general rule of thumb, most of them have little to no value. Original mono pressings of like CBS titles can definitely be valuable. Plenty of others too. As a general rule of thumb, small string ensembles are almost always worth something. Stuff on small obscure labels can often be worth quite a bit. Solo cello or violin records are worth more and solo violin albums on labels you've never heard of can be worth quite a bit. At least this is what I've found. I've never been able to find someone to take a whole collection and I've ended up having to throw out the bulk of them each time I've done it.
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
9That's great, glad that could be a possibility! My dad passed away recently too and we set up a memorial schlolarship fund in his community. My dad did outreach educational stuff in his last job, after a career change late in life. It's nice knowing that he would be thrilled to still be making a contribution there. All the best to you.jason_from_volo wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 9:38 pmFunny you mention this. We had already set up a scholarship fund for donations in lieu of flowers, and it's a great idea to donate any money we got from the records to that fund rather than me keeping it. I'd personally feel much better doing that.jimmy spako wrote: ...set up a little music scholarship in your dad's name if that seems appropriate, maybe even within the school system where he taught.
Thanks again.
Re: What to do with hundreds of vinyl records of classical music?
10Funny you posted this, because I was wondering if he kept them all in alphabetical order, and if so, was it by orchestra or composer!jason from volo wrote: Sun May 23, 2021 10:01 pm Bad news: my Dad was apparently horrible at organizing his records and keeping them straight. Example: while holding a jacket of Nilsson Schmilsson, it basically falls apart and reveals not a record of Nilsson Schmilsson, but "The Christmas Song and Other Favorites". WTF?!
If you can sort them a bit, and give each record a cursory look, so you can find the really badly scratched ones and put them to the side. I hope you have a big space to try to make sense of it all. I tried, a number of times, to catalog and inventory my vinyl, but it quickly got tedious for me. At least newer albums that have barcodes on them are easy to enter into a database from your phone. There's an app for that.