When Paul McCartney first sang so eloquently about the prospect of retirement in “When You’re 64”, the vast majority of those listening were certainly not thinking about how to fund their retirement. But if they’d managed to resist playing it, that copy of Sgt Pepper might be worth upwards of £1,000 today… Mark Soper mixes business with pleasure and takes us on a spin through the wonderful world of vinyl collecting.

Away from my day job delving into the minutiae of pensions I am (and have been for the last 35 years) an avid collector of vinyl records. I’m not quite sure how many, but it’s probably around 6,000 LPs and 12,000 singles. However, apart from the undoubted pleasure of owning some of the defining music of my life, is there another good reason for me to hold onto all that plastic?

It will not have escaped your attention that there has been a huge resurgence in the popularity of vinyl records over recent years. While my generation still loves to hear the music that moved us in its original form, many of the younger generation have also eschewed CDs and digital.

Never mind the sound quality (almost typed the Pistols album title there), the strange wonderful and sometimes beautiful artwork of the album cover and the smells of the inner sleeve and the vinyl itself far outweigh any pleasure I get from CD and MP3 downloads. And many will vow they sound richer too.

 Mind you I am now in possession of quite a lot of digital music and a few HiRes tracks do push the vinyl recording for quality. But in my view the ‘’soul’’ of an original vinyl recording cannot be replicated.

What’s more, because so many people want to hold a little bit of history in their hands, rather than play it, the value of some records is quite eye-watering: £290,500 for a (signed) copy of Sgt Pepper, for instance was achieved a couple of years ago. That would almost buy a cottage on the Isle of Wight, let alone rent one for a week. If Paul McCartney ever fell on hard times and wanted to flog the one and only acetate version in existence of The Quarrymen singing “That’ll Be the Day” backed with “In Spite of All the Danger”, it would probably surpass that.

So what you want to know is: ‘’Is that collection gathering dust under the stairs worth anything?” And: “have you missed the boat on trading your beloved collection or indeed buying a new collection?’’. 

Like pension planning there is never a clear-cut answer ,but I hope the following (if nothing else) will be a little more entertaining than the current pensions melee. Of course nowhere near as entertaining as one of my fave 45s: ‘’Frankenstein’’ by The Edgar Winter Group – a snip at £2 for a half-decent copy, but probably double that if bought in mint condition.

I have ended this article with some interesting and potentially profitable aspects of new vinyl issues but first here are my tips on buying and selling the old black stuff.

 Where to sell

If you are considering selling your record collection (rather than individual LPs) then eBay is probably going to be your best outlet as the potential market is much bigger. But you need to be savvy to attract the bidders and obtain the best sale price. Other than eBay you can buy and sell individual records online via Discogs or Gemm. And if you want to get an idea on what an individual record might be worth, Popsike.com may prove helpful.

If you have a particularly valuable record collection full of rarities or audiophile recordings, best head for an auction room: a list of upcoming auctions/auctioneers appears in Record Collector magazine each month and these auctions tend to attract serious buyers.

So how much is each record worth?

This brings me to my first tip: get to know the value of your record collection (use Discogs if you are unsure).  And, importantly, make a note of every small detail that might affect its value. As with all things collectible, the rarer the item, the higher its potential value. And even minuscule details in the pressing or cover will make a difference.

You may have 20 or 2,000 LPs to sell, but every one of them will have an original catalogue number and markings that define their issue date and collectability – particularly if the album and the artist were successful. For example, a mint 1972 re-issue of Led Zeppelin IV should sell for around £30. Yet if you own any of the seven known 1971 issues (plum label), and both the vinyl and the sleeve are in mint nick, then you can expect to sell this one album for between £100 and £500. If you have the ‘’inverted feather on side 2’’ then you have the holy grail of this record.

Don’t judge a record by its age

Sorting and grading your records by quality (use Record Collector’s grading scale) may take a while but it will be worth it. And don’t be fooled by the earlier the LP the more valuable it is: Pink Floyd’s The Wall first issue will sell for £50 in mint condition, but The Division Bell and Pulse – issued 15 years later – will sell for at least three and ten times more respectively. Why?  Both Division Bell and Pulse were released in the CD age and vinyl pressings of most releases around this time were limited.

By more luck than judgement I own a sealed copy of Keane’s magnificent Hopes and Fears – I bought the CD version at the same time which is all I play – and a reasonable copy of this vinyl will sell for £250. So tip number 2 – records issued in the ‘90s and ‘00s may be more valuable than you think simply because most of the output was issued on CD rather than vinyl.

What sells?

What sells and what doesn’t? Generally easy listening, compilations and chart toppers will not fund your retirement but vintage ska/reggae, progrock and eclectic genres such as northern soul and dancehall will command high prices. Metal, punk and grunge are also enjoying a renaissance – Metallica, Megadeth and Saxon picture discs will turn you an excellent profit if you have any to sell.  Jazz will usually outperform classical.

Japanese and audiophile pressings – such as Mobile Fidelity, Masterdisk, Nautilus and Quiex – will also attract premium prices. I am often asked why Japanese pressings command higher prices than European and US copies of the same album, and there are two reasons. Firstly, the 1973 oil crisis caused US and European manufacturers to reduce thicknesses of LPs to save money: Japan never suffered the same oil shortage and maintained the thickness and quality of its output.

Secondly, the Japanese market demanded lyric sheets – written in both English and Japanese – together with a paper banner (OBI) containing more information about the LP. These album inserts were not replicated in Europe or the US and have become very collectible.  My Japanese pressing of ELP’s first album is perhaps the most sensational vinyl recording I have experienced and running close is the Mobile Fidelity original master recording of Supertramp’s Crime of the Century.  

So tip number 3 – sort the wheat from the chaff and sell your vinyl in bundles by genre and perhaps by rarity and/or quality. If you have a few rarities and/or audiophile pressings, sell them individually on eBay and the buyers will pounce.  For a larger quality collection consider an auction.

Buyers are very smart and will know which artists and LPs they can turn a profit on and they will know if you are a private seller selling a genuine collection or if you are a dealer turning a house clearance.  A collection from a private seller will normally sell for more than a collection punted by a dealer and the more information you give, the higher the price you should achieve.

So tip 4: dish out all the info and in your listing, confirm the vinyl and sleeve grades and cat number for each LP in the collection and add some pictures (of each album, if a small collection) and give some general commentary – e.g. if mainly un-played or played on a top quality hi-fi system, then say so. 

Investing in the now

Finally, what about new releases?  Are any of the current crop worth investing in – perhaps for your children’s pension pot?

Well an annual ‘’record store day’’ occurs in April each year to promote independent record stores and artists will release records to be sold only in these stores – some of these records have already become collectible – for example, Blur’s Fools Day single (limited 1000) released for the 2010 Record Store Day now fetches £250 in unused condition – not bad for a £5 investment if you were lucky to get one.! Not all Record Day releases do so well so again you need to be savvy if you are a buyer.

My fave new band of recent years is Everything Everything – go see them live – and I managed to purchase each of their three albums for £20 by pre-ordering (again I bought the CDs to play). These three are now valued in excess of £500 in sealed condition.  My son prompted me to purchase Foals’ ‘’What Went Down’’ box set by pre-order for £30, released last month: these are now selling for almost £100 just a month later.

So my last tip: choose your bands carefully and a little insider knowledge is key so get to know your local independent record shop: they will inform you what’s hot and which issues need to be pre-ordered. For the ‘’record’’ (sorry) the best-ever record shop in yesteryear was Henry’s in Southampton and today I just love Drift Records in Totnes.

Hold… or sell?

Having read this, you might decide that what you have, you hold – and cling onto your collection in order to enjoy better prices later on.  There’s no reason why you shouldn’t as their rarity and popularity should continue… although there are no guarantees. But having established the value of your collection, do make sure that it is not only properly stored but also adequately insured!