Out & About Summer 2021

Overall Scarcity Records that sold well and are quite common will be less valuable than records that sold poorly or are hard to find. But even best-sellers can become scarce in time. People have tended to take better care of their records in recent decades, so it’s easier to find a nice copy of a 1980s album by Bruce Springsteen than a near mint 1960s album by the Rolling Stones, for example. In the 1950s, a popular albummight sell around a million copies, but by the 1980s, albums selling more than five million copies were common. The common v scarce factor means that the most valuable record by a particular artist may not be their best-known title. Music from the Elder by Kiss, released in 1981, had a different sound from their previous releases and offered no hits. As a result, the album sold poorly and soon went out of print, making it hard to find now and a collector’s item. Sealed Records The ideal record to own, for many collectors, would be one that has never been played with a huge premiums paid for sealed, unopened examples. In the late 1940s, record albums were sold without any external wrapping. Customers could remove the records from the cover and even be allowed to play them before they purchased. Theft and damage meant that by the early 1960s a number of large retailers started sealing their albums in plastic bags. Then major record companies began protecting their covers with shrink wrap. An album still in original, unopened shrink wrap will sell for a lot more money than an opened one. The difference in price can range significantly, depending on the artist and title – sealed copies of older albums by the Beatles might sell for as much as 10 times the price of an opened example. Promo copies The labels on most records are coloured, but many promotional issues have white labels. These records are usually pressed before retail