The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was curious to know how many people buy a record, for the Label, recording, or both?

Paul

Definately both for me Paul.

It is for me too.

Both. I mostly buy for content but I'll sometimes buy an odd record just for the label, especially if it's cheap- like a dull song on Resona might be worth 50 cents if I don't have an example.

I mainly buy for the content, but sometimes I'll buy one for the label just so I'll have an example.

I'm mainly interested in content. I have by luck also picked up some pretty interesting labels though too.

It's for the music only for me - the label has little interest, really.

Y,know, I clicked "content only", but I just realized that there are a few that I'll buy just for the label. I usually don't buy obscure labels. It's been my experience that the music is usually uninteresting, and I have enough records I'll never listen to already, but there are a few labels that I'll buy no matter what. If it's a Monarch, DeLuxe, or pre dog Victor, I'll buy it (if the price is right) just for that reason.

Honestly, I love oddball labels. There's a certain mystique about having an example of a hard to find label by some company that was here and gone in six months. I don't even care if its worth a lot or not. Note my "Lincoln" label avatar (thanks to Mordeth for that!).

As far as music choice goes, I find myself interested in the overall culture of the 1900-1929 era. So many of the collectors out there are busy salivating over some rare hot jazz/blues/hillbilly recording, or even some rare opera recording. As influential as many of these recordings were in the long run, the fact is this isn't what the majority of people back then were buying and hearing.

I guess I have a bit of a fascination with a lot of the "boring" songs out there, because they were more in line with what common people listened to at the time. The mentality of the time is reflected in these songs. They're not something I listen to constantly, but I do like to give every one I come across a spin.

Shane wrote: As far as music choice goes, I find myself interested in the overall culture of the 1900-1929 era.
I guess I have a bit of a fascination with a lot of the "boring" songs out there, because they were more in line with what common people listened to at the time. The mentality of the time is reflected in these songs. They're not something I listen to constantly, but I do like to give every one I come across a spin.

Shane, I agree with you. I love the dance music of the 20s but I'll also listen with interest to one of those "boring" heartsongs, especially one that's well recorded on a record in excellent condition. I like to imagine that I am hearing the same music reproduced at the same level of quality that the original purchaser would have heard.

Cheers, bruce