Best reference(s) for record / label context (and value)?
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:46 am
As a newbie to this hobby, my driving forces are mainly twofold: The exploration of music that I've heard about but never heard (as well as new music I may never have heard of before), and the thrill of the hunt (finding the needles of cool in the haystack of ubiquitous blandness).
I don't want to put too strong a focus on record value. While I've been a lifelong comic book enthusiast, I fell out of the collecting side of the hobby back in the '70s when it became more about values, investments and grading rare books than it did about actually reading and enjoying them for the artwork and stories.
That said, though, I wouldn't want to discard the 78 version of, say, Wolverine's first appearance in X-Men simply out of a lack of knowledge of the basics. And so the question: Aside from eBay (which is an uneven yardstick for values at best), what are the go-to sources for information about a record's value and, more importantly, its significance? As one example: Viva-voce's response to my post on the "78s you always find thread" referencing info about the Victor V-38000 series. Great stuff (and I know this forum is jam-packed with that sort of info; I've spent hours clicking and reading and learning. As enjoyable as that is, it's a little different than having two or three go-to historical resources for quick reference.)
I've seen https://78rpmcommunity.com/valuations/search.php -- but their database, while not insignificant, is already showing up blank on some of the records that have crossed my path (and 99% of their valuations are $4-$10 -- which may be true, but it feels like *everything* is defaulting to that). Plus it's just value, no additional context. I suppose I could cobble together a patchwork of sources -- various Wikipedia links for artist, song and label info -- but I have to think there are a bunch of solid resources there of which I'm simply not aware yet. This one isn't too bad for labels (http://majesticrecord.com/labels.htm) -- a good start, though too many of the labels have zero write-ups.
Enlighten me!
Thanks, gang ... and my apologies if I'm asking a Q that's been answered to death.
I don't want to put too strong a focus on record value. While I've been a lifelong comic book enthusiast, I fell out of the collecting side of the hobby back in the '70s when it became more about values, investments and grading rare books than it did about actually reading and enjoying them for the artwork and stories.
That said, though, I wouldn't want to discard the 78 version of, say, Wolverine's first appearance in X-Men simply out of a lack of knowledge of the basics. And so the question: Aside from eBay (which is an uneven yardstick for values at best), what are the go-to sources for information about a record's value and, more importantly, its significance? As one example: Viva-voce's response to my post on the "78s you always find thread" referencing info about the Victor V-38000 series. Great stuff (and I know this forum is jam-packed with that sort of info; I've spent hours clicking and reading and learning. As enjoyable as that is, it's a little different than having two or three go-to historical resources for quick reference.)
I've seen https://78rpmcommunity.com/valuations/search.php -- but their database, while not insignificant, is already showing up blank on some of the records that have crossed my path (and 99% of their valuations are $4-$10 -- which may be true, but it feels like *everything* is defaulting to that). Plus it's just value, no additional context. I suppose I could cobble together a patchwork of sources -- various Wikipedia links for artist, song and label info -- but I have to think there are a bunch of solid resources there of which I'm simply not aware yet. This one isn't too bad for labels (http://majesticrecord.com/labels.htm) -- a good start, though too many of the labels have zero write-ups.
Enlighten me!
Thanks, gang ... and my apologies if I'm asking a Q that's been answered to death.