Discogs: a survival guide to the most beautiful trap of the web
How can a minimalist stay true to herself without selling her soul to Discogs?
“Getting high on your own supply” (expression I first heard from Apollo 440’s 1999 album and song) should be the mantra for any respectable minimalist: you are taught about the thin line between “need” and “want” and realize most of what you possess doesn’t really serve any purpose. And, as you move forward into minimalism, you start to enjoy what you already have more and more. Every time you are about to fall into the temptation of buying something apparently useless, you may feel guilty of failing miserably knowing you just intentionally threw out some money. NO, NOT FOR RECORDS! Well, not for me at least.
As mentioned in the “previous episode”, records for me are like children, both a blessing (more) and a curse (only for my wallet…and space), my pleasure (almost physical) and my pain (for my back if I carry a lot of them). And the closest thing to a drug if you consider the time and excitement I reserve for my endless research on Discogs. Endless because as soon as I discover “new” music (most likely, old stuff) I jump to it to find out about who’s playing on an album or how much would that record be.
Possibilities are also unlimited on Discogs: you can basically do almost anything music related there. Created in 2000 as a database to catalog discographies and releases, it began to turn “dangerous” as soon as it introduced the Marketplace feature five years later. I can’t remember how or when I discovered this website but I was struck: there would have been no need for Wikipedia, Ebay or Amazon anymore.
The geek in me had then found her virtual place and any person I knew was truly a musical fan like me would have been recommended about Discogs. No, I have no affiliation whatsoever with them (unfortunately).
As by then I was still living in Dublin, where I had the privilege to hang out in beautiful record shops like Spindizzy or R.A.G.E. (thank you guys!) or to many record fairs and charity shops, I’ve already had my fill of vinyl. There was nothing more thrilling than entering the occasional fair and see hundreds of boxes filled with second hand (strictly so, in my case) treasures ready to be flicked through like it was nobody’s business.
Aaaaahhh, those were the days! In the south of Italy there is almost nothing of this, so…happy days for my fellow Discogs sellers!
Then I became minimalist and, even though the emotion remained the same, I tricked myself into thinking I knew better than buying anything vaguely interesting using two tips:
1) This one basically applies to any thing you would like to buy: if you’re not 100% sure of wanting it, leave it there. You can think about it for a day and go back to the shop another day to get it. Most of the times, you’ll forget about it. Same goes for buying online, except that you can add the items in the cart and, maybe, come back another time.
Or, if it’s music, you can have a sample listen from Youtube or Spotify to make sure it’s valuable.
No more buying on impulse=no regrets.
2) If you end up being not fully satisfied with what you bought, how much trouble would it be having it there without using it? You would need to find a way, and the time, to get rid of it. Selling, donating or trashing it is always an action more that you would have avoided if you don’t get it in the first place.
Think about the added value of what you buy to your life and the time every item you get takes out of it (to be taken care of or to be repurposed/sold)
What’s all this got to do with Discogs?
First of all, having all of the possible releases of an album listed in front of me, I got the chance to learn more about grading and the value of a record, that for a collector like me, it’s already more than enough. Thanks to this I could better spot if someone wants to rip me off from afar.
Secondly, the “put it in the cart” rule obviously works here too, but I prefer to use the Wantlist feature instead: this way I get to bookmark all the infamous “vaguely interesting” pieces I’d like to check and, at the same time, I can make friends with the sellers who have more records I’m wanting because the system lets you easily see it. You don’t have to add them of course, but I like to woo my records before I buy them…in bulk (to save on the shipping fees, you know).
…I’m still deleting things I added to my wishlist years ago as I listen to them.
And finally, I come full circle: I have my tiny store on Discogs too and, every time something gets sold, I hope I make someone as happy as I am when I tick some precious black disc off my list.
Minimalism is not about depriving yourself from the joy of being surrounded by beautiful things. After all, nobody will ever own all the beauties in the world, but we can learn to appreciate what we have and be aware of how our passion is fulfilled.