How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

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33033
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Collection Storage / Organization / Display

Post by 33033 »

Buried_slag_debris wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:49 am
Would love to hear how people organize and store or display their collection haha. Mine has been out of order for years now - but I know roughly where everything is. I am also in an apartment - so space is limited. Special packaging is all over the place - as it doesn't store well for the most part. Still always trying to figure out how to reorganize it all better. I am sure I am overthinking it.
When I moved into the place I'm in now, I finally sat down and organized my LPs alphabetically in the kallax in my living room. I've shifted everything down a whole square to fit in some of my cassettes but this makes it annoying because it's stacks behind stacks, and digging through it can knock a few down. I need to invest in a proper cassette wall rack. I have a couple of floating shelves in my office to hold cassettes but they're so small it makes it quick to fill up...
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Re: Collection Storage / Organization / Display

Post by totalblack »

my collection is fairly condensed, and i try and keep it that way by slimming down on a fairly regular basis. I have this metal shelf for regular cassettes which fits about 800, and i’m not really interested in owning more than that currently. Tapes are sorted by label \ location \ artist like UK 80s, Japan, American 90s, Sweden, etc.
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LPs are in a pretty standard format, I have a single 5x5 kallax which fits everything in it, sorted alphabetically. One cube which fits metal stuff that is basically dangerous to be around anything else. 7”s, 10s and box sets together at the end.
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Other A5 and odd size packaging also is just shelved as it fits. A few random boxes with unorganized tapes in them, which needs to be fixed since things get lost all of the time. One cube with A5 favorites, grey wolves, slaughter, zero cabal, etc. Odd sized packaging takes up a lot of space.
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Cds are mostly kept at work since it’s my preferred format to listen to while working, so the ones here are shamefully just piled at random. My cd player at home doesn’t work right now anyway so they don’t get much attention.
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Re: Collection Storage / Organization / Display

Post by Exclusionzonedayton »

Pretty much all my stuff is alphabetical now. My records are in milk crate type containers. Tapes are mostly in a book case. I have two wall hangers and a couple of the old three drawer tape holders. CDs are all in book cases. My biggest annoyance is that as I add new stuff I run out of empty space and have to rearrange to make room for new ones in the correct spot.
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Re: Collection Storage / Organization / Display

Post by Vivian »

Thank you for those pictures, storage is a neverending story, even for "gear" when you collect metal junk for example.

I missionned a local wood worker (woman) to build me some furnitures and "wall shells" in order to stock (massive) amount of tapes, cds and vinyls. she finished yesterday !
Alphabetical classification makes, most of time, sense I guess. For some "series" I prefer label classification too with no alphabetical order (like catalog number for example).
I'll try to picture it tomorrow. I may be slow in doing that due to fact I don't have internet access at home (by choice).
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Re: Collection Storage / Organization / Display

Post by Buried_slag_debris »

My collection is all over the place and not organized as of the last few years. I wrestle with how to organize it, and then end up just leaving it as is. For the most part I know where things are - but a few are lost in the unorganized sea. I have downsized over the years, and then upsized, then back down … I am 45, and have been collecting music since I have been about 12. There are a few punk cassettes still left from my early years.

CD closet is still under construction (they use to be displayed in the main room). In there I am hoping to have some shelves that store the unique packaging I have.
The tape shelf I built was not big enough. So I have a few boxes, and stacks with tapes that still need a place to be stored.

I use to build all my own shelves in my apartment - but things got too out of hand (too many LPs, no decent tools, no work space to build), I switched to Kallaxs for the LPs. I always view it as temporary until I get a better place - in some future year.

Not sure if you all follow Giovanni Donadini on IG (Caned Icoda) - but highly recommend him. He builds these beautiful storage / wall shelves. Very inspiring!
I would love to build something similar (if I ever own my own place) in place of the Kallaxs.
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Re: Collection Storage / Organization / Display

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kicks ass
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Re: Collection Storage / Organization / Display

Post by Andreas »

I have about 2000 records according to discogs, most of which are CDs. The "active" collection is stored in a home made wall-mounted bookshelf covering a whole Wall of my living room. It's sorted by genre right now: three shelves metal (+Magma), one shelf noise/industrial and "regular music", and one with prog, art music, & recent acquisitions.

The noise CD section is sorted by region now: Nordic countries, mainland Europe + UK, USA, Japan.

For tapes I have four "gallery shelves" from Ikea (i think), semisorted by scene/label/region. Gothenburg here, Unrest there, Stockholm somewhere else. The fourth shelf with black metal tapes is in my bedroom, so I can feel safe knowing the Blazebirth Hall fellas are watching over me.

LPs are stored in an ugly old black Ikea cabinet of unknown origin, the noise section (about 25%) is just alphabetical here.

Compilations are extracted throughout the collection and gathered in their own piles. A cabinet in the "home office" / cat room stores piles of old stuff that I can't/won't get rid off for various reasons but don't want to display. In the grip of nostalgia...

Let's see if I can upload a photo or two...
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How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by holy ghost »

How do you organize your collections? Do you sort alphabetically, by genre, some other crazy way?

My records are sorted alphabetically except for classical which lives in it's own section, and there's a special "b-list" section in the basement for stuff not on high rotation, or I'm debating selling but can't actually part with. Then there's "discogs crates" which are on sale and I take to record shows. I did my first one recently and came home with $400 even after buying and trading quite a few records there.

After collecting music for thirty years my collection is fairly large and I'm trying to downsize and focus on "certified bangers" rather than "the hot new thing" and I have a hard time parting with stuff if it has even the slightest type of "emotional attachment" to me. Some things can go no problem and others I know I'll never play again but I can't part with them. Yet I cannot just sell things to a store and get pennies on the dollar for them.

Anyway - share about your collections. Are you a relentless hoarder or do you flip with a Marie Kondo-esque fury? How does everything get stored?
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by 33033 »

It was only I think during the pandemic that I actually organized my LPs alphabetically. Before it was an unruly mess with newer stuff near the top and older at the bottom. I have yet to organize my tapes but lack a proper unit to store them in an easily accessible fashion. CDs I need to take a gander again as well as I have a bunch in storage, a bunch hanging around my CD player.

I've actually been parsing down my LP collection to the "essentials" over time. I try to be ruthless because sometimes I'll have something on LP that I can easily get on tape or CD, but only when it's not something that's upper tier favourite. Usually it's a case of "when is the last time I thought about this band or recording?" and if I don't feel the pull it's gone.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by -NRRRRK- »

For "regular" music:
Cut down on CDs about two years ago and sold about 3/4 of them. The rest is neatly tucked away.
Buying and listening only to LPs. Collection is not that big compared to other collectors. Got it ordered by genre and alphabetically then. Works well for me.

Noise and pe stuff is located in my homeoffice, collection is not that huge so stuff goes in in the order I bought it. Buying mostly CDs and tapes here.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by MuhSteve »

I have been collecting / buying stuff for over 40 years. Everything is in alphabetical order. Solo artists filed under surname and projects that begin 'The', like say The Rita or The Dead Mauriacs are filed under 'R' and 'D' respectively. I have thousands of records, thousands of CD/CDRs and thousands of cassettes. (And a re-inforced floor). Everything is triple filed. I don't bother with genres - it's all good stuff. (Ha!).
Never sell is my advice. Wait 'til you're dead then it's not a / your problem. I often dig out forgotten gems I haven't heard in 10 / 20 years and enjoy (when previously I thought it was a bit naff).
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by Bubble-Congeries »

Alphabetically by artist, in order of year. OST's and comps at the end.

I already have more than I can listen to, and am glad I don't have so much shit as to necessitate sorting by genre, though I do sort films by types/style, then alphabetically more or less (anime is grouped together, western animation together, with subtypes, i.e., kids animation, grouped together within these larger groupings).

I keep different formats sorted seperately.

I sell nothing. It's all going to be buried with me beneath a great pyramid. In truth, I probably will die prematurely. And a lot of my stuff will become garbage, if for no other reason than for being rendered unsalvageable due to all the rotting corpse vapors soaked into everything following my unattended death.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by Namahs »

Bubble-Congeries wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:49 am Alphabetically by artist, in order of year. OST's and comps at the end.

I keep different formats sorted seperately.
Same here. Artist/band, albums in release order. If I have doubles of some album then they are sidebyside in order of release year.
All cds are in same shelf besides my Motörhead collection is in its own.

I have small box of tapes (only like ~30) and vinyl same situation only few so no specific order.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by holy ghost »

33033 wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 9:39 pmI've actually been parsing down my LP collection to the "essentials" over time. I try to be ruthless because sometimes I'll have something on LP that I can easily get on tape or CD, but only when it's not something that's upper tier favourite. Usually it's a case of "when is the last time I thought about this band or recording?" and if I don't feel the pull it's gone.
This is pretty much where I'm at - to be honest I feel like I only have so much time in my day/year/life and looking at some wicked sick LP I played once 6 years ago and then shelved is somewhat frustrating. I have sold things before and then years later felt a pang of regret but usually that quickly passes and it's pretty easy to find a stream of whatever I'm looking for. With the glut of vinyl we'll see when it loses fashion I imagine it won't be too hard to buy whatever you want back if you really felt that pang of remorse. I don't think I could ever sell anything that had true historical or emotional value and thankfully I've never been in a position where I needed to sell my records to pay my bills.
MuhSteve wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 4:34 am I have thousands of records, thousands of CD/CDRs and thousands of cassettes. (And a re-inforced floor).
This is incredible. I've long harboured a concern about my house collapsing from the weight of too many LPs in the spare room. I don't think it will happen, but it's always one of those dumb "what if" scenarios that play out in my brain. Definitely more so when I had a lot of records on the second floor, now I don't even really pay it any mind.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by SS1535 »

I sort metal and noise/industrial separately, and then those collections are each organized by project title (in whatever random order they fall under). Of course, like formats are stored together. I also use Discogs as a general alphabatized list of everything I own. The hardest things to sort, though, are splits! Which project to I put them with--especially when they are cross-genre splits like Reek of the Unzen Gas Fumes/Xenophobic Ejaculation?

I don't plan on selling off portions of my collection, but, then again, I don't tend to add to it as much as others seem to with their own. When I consider purchasing an item, I only pull the trigger if I think it is something that I have to have in my collection for one reason or another. If something doesn't fall under the "must have" umbrella, then I am satisfied with online streams for whenever the urge to listen to it arises.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by mouthofinfinity »

Alphabetical by artist (in order by release), splits by first artist listed, comps, soundtracks, odd sizes. 7”s and cassettes are organized the same way in their own sections. Same with Japanese stuff, but on its own shelf. Then there’s a shelf for artists that I have more than 20 releases from (Swans, NWW, TG/PTV, Muslimgauze). Cassettes that aren’t easily organizable are in bins. Basically, I have too much shit. I’ll usually evaluate my collection once a year to see what I can get rid of, but I buy way quicker than I sell.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by Joie de la Blumpy »

Very roughly, by genre. I am incapable of getting rid of shit, even shit of which there are multiple copies. Even shit like Pavarotti Christmas discs n shit. I mean, you never know when shit'll come in handy...

I like some shit.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by D345 »

I moved to new apartment so this could have been a good opportunity to sort out my shit in some kind of order but now they are like they have always been: by format in their own shelves but without any order. It's funnier to find some record when you don't know where exactly it is. Chaos reigns
But he was always more concerned with making his guitar sound like a dying horse, more than anything else.

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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by NihilBaxter »

I like the idea of my record collection changing over time, in terms of quality over quantity, instead of ever growing and hoarding tons of stuff. I prefer owning physical copies of records that are truly personal favorites instead of owning, for example, every considered classic 2nd wave black metal album.

I don't get rid of stuff super fast either since my collection is quite small, but i guess we all know how fast stuff we were hyped for when it was announced just didn't do it (for ourselves) in the end... So every now and then i'm trying to sort out stuff like that.

Of course, i've sold some stuff before that i did regret afterwards, but only a few records. And even in times of discogs, where it would usually only needs some cash + patience, that pain of regret was never so bad that i found myself buying another copy of those records tbh.
holy ghost wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 10:00 am I have sold things before and then years later felt a pang of regret but usually that quickly passes and it's pretty easy to find a stream of whatever I'm looking for.
IMHO that's a really good thing of our times. I started collecting ~18 years ago, when it was kinda hard and often quite impossible to find everything online, but that got more and more easier with the time i got deeper into listening and collecting music. No need to keep a copy of that cringe deathcore CD that got me into more extreme music (unless bought at a memorable gig or any other kind of personal connection/memoires) just for the use of maybe listen to it once every 10 or 15 years... If i'm feeling nostalgic after a few beers, streaming that stuff will do.
On the other hand i can totally understand everyone who started collecting 10, 20 or more years before p2p or streaming became a thing and that just won't do it for them.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by theLackwit »

I'm going to take this opportunity to share my record room. I generally have between 1500 to 2000 items, scattered across vinyl, CDs, and cassettes. Generally when I'm reaching the top end of that range, I will weed through my collection and find items to sell. It's getting harder and harder as time goes on, as I'm now eating into the items I have more emotional attachments to. But I find that I need to sell off items in order to mitigate my spending habits. If I'm collecting an artist, I tend to compulsively buy anything else of theirs I can find in order to build my collection of items by that artist. One example of this is Muslimgauze, who I was buying compulsively to the detriment of my wallet. I had forty to fifty items (vinyl, CDs, cassettes), and I had to make the decision to sell almost all of it just to curtail any future spending. Muslimgauze collecting is a never ending pursuit, and I already have one of those quests in the search for Coil items. I decided to just keep the VOD Muslimgauze CD set to fill that space in my collection. I sold all of the CDs to a friend, and still have vinyl and cassettes up for sale, but the fact that they are mentally occupying a "for sale" status in my head keeps me from overbuying more of them and adding to the collection.

I also find that I don't listen to things on repeat like I did when I was a teenager. Now, there are so many artists and albums that I'm interested in and so much access to everything online that I have a backlog of items to listen to and end up listening to an album only once because I need to move onto the next thing in my limited time. So, I end up keeping items because of what their potential is, rather than because I'm going to listen to it over and over. I find that I need to overcome how much I like the idea of an album or artist in order to let it go to someone who might listen to and actually appreciate the music for longer than one spin.

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My collection, which you can see above, is organized alphabetically for the most part. I used to have it by genre, but as I winnowed things down, everything moved towards the noisy, so I just put it all into one big bucket.

I do have certain things broken out, the most obvious of which is the front facing Charli XCX albums, which I hope I don't get judged too harshly for. I have a smaller collection of hyperpop, and they're all kept on that shelf behind the Charli XCX records.

The tall brown column shelf in the first picture holds items that I want easy access to, the ones I value more; Coil, the Body, Swans, Sun City Girls, Death Grips, the Bug, and broken ghostly electronics, like Shackleton, Demdike Stare, and Andy Stott.

There are a couple of other wall hung boxes for CDs and cassettes that serve the same purpose of housing my more highly accessed items. Odd sized items, like box sets and other out of format sizes, are scattered around as space permits as you can see from the photos.

The black boxes on the wall beside the brown column in the first picture are actually IKEA shoe shelves that are holding records. My record room is fairly small, and those IKEA shoe shelves have a low profile that allows the door to swing open. The long horizontal shelves holding CDs and cassettes are supposed to be upright DVD shelves, also from IKEA, but they worked better for me hung up horizontally on the wall with cleats.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by Namahs »

Rad record room! Would be great to have one someday
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by holy ghost »

theLackwit wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 9:04 pm I find that I need to overcome how much I like the idea of an album or artist in order to let it go to someone who might listen to and actually appreciate the music for longer than one spin.
Fucking THIS ^ my friend - at the moment I'm resisting the urge to buy whatever "cosmic" death metal album is getting megahyped because I'll probably play it once and listen to Morbid Angel again. You should see the clog of "cavernous" death metal albums from 5-10 years ago and the lousy US black metal from 5-10 years before that. I'm trying to work out a mental list of essential records I want to add rather than just fly by night stuff.

Presently I know for me if I get that burning compulsion to buy something and I wait a few days that impulse will burn up like a fog when the sun comes out.

That being said - I have been cleaning and organizing my record room lately and there's not a lot I feel compelled to purge. I think I have 200 items in my discogs store and another 100 or so to add, and that's it. I sold about 50 LPs to a used shop last week, I sent S&W a big box of consignment stuff over the summer and I flipped a whole bunch of records at a sale last month, and overall I'm really happy with how my quest to downsize is going.

Also great room - I like the one wall that's been wallpapered and the Burning Witch poster is a nice touch!!
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by Mattias Gustafsson »

My collection is organized after different genres, labels, members, countries etc. It’s controlled chaos but it’s the only thing that works for me. I have tried alphabetical once but it felt completely wrong. It’s hard to explain but a genre like Country can be organized in different places in the shelves. Mainstream stuff, genres like Outlaw, Bakersfield, private presses, what decade it was recorded etc. I listens to almost every genre and when find something I really like I usually go trough the whole discography. It’s a bad habit and not healthy but the last years I have slowed down.
I have a room in our house where I have all the records, tapes and my recording equipment.

I started to sell tapes a decade ago when I needed money for new records. Sadly before I started to use Discogs. But I realized I don’t need to own everything from every artist I followed cause most of them were played one time and only collected dust. A few years ago started to clean out my 7” collection cause it was the same there. Mostly hardcore, punk and various genres. I don’t regret it at all cause I hadn’t played them for decades.

The last years I have realized that I don’t need to buy everything. I have a few labels, artists I follow but nowadays i rather buy a pricy original pressing I know I will play and really want. Than 15 new records I play once and put directly in the shelves. Boring I know.
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Re: How do you organize your collections?/When do you sell off records?

Post by 33033 »

Just sold off a few and got a pretty decent price at a local shop. Basically it was stuff I liked but didn't feel the need to own on vinyl, can later track down CD or tape. Mostly some death metal, Thin Lizzy, Jag Panzer and "Secrets of the Beehive" by David Sylvian.
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