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The price of music

Nigel

pfm Member
I first started buying albums seriously in 1977. I seem to recall they were priced around £3.49 to £3.99. Shops such as WH Smiths, Boots etc usually had the top 20 albums at a pound off. Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" at £2.49 type of thing.

Singles might have been £1.50, not such good value but my memory fades.

In my little town, cue Simon and Garfunkel, there weren't any second hand record shops, they came later. Whether this was unique to the place where I grew up or represented throughout the country, I couldn't say.

The point is, in those days, records and cassettes had real value. Even if it was by an artist you weren't keen on. Maybe it was because I was buying records from pocket money.

Fast forward to this very present day. I just saw Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" on CD in a local charity shop for 20p. Who could have guessed it?
 
where as £4 in 1977 is about £25 in todays cash, about what you pay for new vinyl...
 
Meanwhile, the world moves on. Most streaming services cost, per month, about the same as a physical CD.. and for that small sum you can listen to anything from a library so vast that you will never, in your whole life, listen to even a remote small fraction of it.
 
Meanwhile, the world moves on. Most streaming services cost, per month, about the same as a physical CD.. and for that small sum you can listen to anything from a library so vast that you will never, in your whole life, listen to even a remote small fraction of it.

That's partly because the artists are being ripped off though. I buy some sheet music from time to time and that is typically £3-5 per song!
 
OK. Taking inflation into account, I guess the price of vinyl hasn't really changed. You proved me wrong on that one. What about second hand record shops. Did they exist in the mid seventies?
 
OK. Taking inflation into account, I guess the price of vinyl hasn't really changed. You proved me wrong on that one. What about second hand record shops. Did they exist in the mid seventies?

A bit early for me so I can't say, but mid-80s where I was in Manchester, yes. Perhaps they were a big city thing?
 
The first one in our town was the early eighties. They used to charge a couple of quid per album.
 
I used to spend circa £40 to £60 a month easily on CD's back in the day, still have box's and box's of them in the garage. Streaming services have always felt great value when I think what I used to spend and the space occupied by said CD's. Not even sure I miss
handling discs anymore. Gave my son some discs so he could play with a CD player he recently purchased. He couldn't discern any difference between the disc and Qobuz so gave them back to me as said he wouldn't play.

If I manage to purchase one of my dream CD players I will give them another whirl.
 
1977 was the first year I started buying records. 7" singles were definitely less than £1 and albums typically just under £3.00.
 
OK. Taking inflation into account, I guess the price of vinyl hasn't really changed. You proved me wrong on that one. What about second hand record shops. Did they exist in the mid seventies?

You could trawl for records in charity shops as far back as I can remember.
Jumble Sales were always good for vinyl as well.
There was definitely used-vinyl shops around in the early Eighties. (Nottingham)
 
I’ve always assumed the streaming services are so cheap because they grew as a response to pirating. Are there still pirate sites keeping the price of internet music down?
 
Just been asked for 65 euros for the new 2Lp 33 1/3 remastered version of Patricia Barber - Nightclub - my "normal" original version on the Premonition label is anything but a normal, run of the mill recording IMHO, but slightly recessed in the treble perhaps, only standards she remembers her mother singing but easily the best recording I´ve heard through my system. I admit to rebuying it for HIFI reasons, not for the music. I didn´t like it at all when I first bought it but realise my system has improved and mellowed over the years - my taste obviously hasn´t.
 
Back in 1977/78 I was paying a max of four quid for a vinyl record. Often a quid or so less for a top 20 album.
Back then In my hometown of Cheltenham we had Driftin’ Records run by Roger Doughty. Mix of new and secondhand, new wave, jazz, ECM, prog rock, reggae etc. Best record shop ever for me.
I don’t do streaming, I’ve got too many albums and CD’s already. I doubt I’ll listen to all of them in my lifetime, and I can’t bring myself to pay £25 plus for a vinyl record. Pick up a few discs in the chazzers for a quid a go.
 
Back in 1977/78 I was paying a max of four quid for a vinyl record. Often a quid or so less for a top 20 album.

Though for context the average weekly wage in 1974 was around £65. Now it's £610. Knock a zero off and prices maybe haven't changed all that much.
 
It’s a bit daft when new vinyl is £25 and the CD a tenner or less.
Back in 1987 I recall paying £12 for a CD but the same album on vinyl was £5.99.
 


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