Where do you buy rare music? (Syko's desperation thread)

[Syko Nachoman]

There's an artist who I'm mildly obsessed with, but because all of their albums were released in very small quantities, and most of their discography came out before making MP3 versions available for sale through Amazon/iTunes/etc. was the norm, I'm struggling to find about half of the things they're released. They have 13 full albums and about as many EPs, but most are proving to be very difficult to find.

Places I've tried:

• Amazon/iTunes MP3 stores: Gets you a whopping one album.
• Spotify also just has that one album.
• Physical CDs for sale on Amazon, eBay, and Discogs: Easy way to find three additional albums, plus a CD version of the album that's already readily available in MP3 format. Mild progress!
• The band's Myspace page contains three of those same four albums, making it totally redundant.
• The band's Bandcamp page only contains a single album. Luckily, it's not one of the above four albums, so I'm up to five!
• One of their old records labels also has a Bandcamp page, which allowed me to buy two more albums. Seven! But still a long ways off.
• Archive.org: The artist posted six old EPs here, allowing fans to download them for free. However, there are no full albums, and I'm not all that interested in the EPs. So we're up to 7 albums and 6 EPs.
• A few people have posted a couple random songs from the albums I don't have on YouTube, but nothing close a complete album. (There actually is one of the band's complete albums on YouTube, and... it's the same one that you can easily buy in MP3 format from everywhere. Of course.)
• Using archive.org to look up the defunct websites of the record labels that some of these albums were released on. Some of them offer free MP3 samples of one or two songs from the albums. I was able to get a couple extra songs that way, but obviously I'd rather have full albums, not just samples.

By my count, there are still 6 full albums and 10 EPs that I don't have. I've searched various CD-selling websites all across the interweb, but to no avail. In the off-chance that some website actually had anything from this artist, it was one of the same albums that I already own.

If anyone wants to join me in my endless misery of searching and not finding, the name of the artist is The Capstan Shafts, and here are the albums I'm looking for:
The Sleeved and Grandaughters of the Blacklist
Springboard in the Boxwine Set
The Megafauna Undermined
Bug Tragic (might be an EP? supposedly available on archive.org, except that it isn't)
Dreamilys Throttled Revolts
The Cretin Flowers Long Player
The Complete Ladder the Christmas Monkey EPs (this is a compilation of songs from several of the EPs that I don't have)
Miles Per Famine EP (the only individual EP that has stoked my interest, because apparently it's very good)

So, having exhausted all of the obvious interweb places, where on earth would I go to try to find these albums? As I mentioned before, most of the record labels that originally released these albums are now defunct, and there doesn't seem to be very many, if any, any physical copies floating around. But I also know that obscure record collectors exist, and that there must be some sort of tactic they use to find what they're looking for. I also occasionally see people on the internet talking about how great [insert name of one of the albums I don't have] is. Maybe I should bug those people to see if they can help me find stuff.

My most desperate thought, so far, has been to look at the profiles of people who have rated these albums on RateYourMusic, ask them if they happen to still have a physical copy of the album, and, if so, whether they'd be willing to sell it to me. But that feels a little intrusive. Imagine if someone contacted you out of the blue because you rated a random album on a website ten years ago.  I'm assuming there are better ways.

Anyway, send help. I've already spent far too many hours on this.

[daniel]

Have you reached out to them, assuming they aren't ghosts on social media or email, and asked where you can find or buy them?

[D]

I know you already mentioned it but Discogs always struck me as the kind of place where members would be more amenable to you messaging them about a potential purchase given that the marketplace is such a large part of the site, so might be worth a try?

[wildmaven]

It took me years to find the album in which my husband sang background vocals, and I finally found it through an online shop for a physical store that only sells LPs. I then took it to my Dad who still has a record player and he recorded it to a CD. LOTS of work but that feeling of finding it was so worth it!!!

[Syko Nachoman]

Thanks for responses so far

Jan 12, 2020 15:21:15 GMT -8 daniel said:

Have you reached out to them, assuming they aren't ghosts on social media or email, and asked where you can find or buy them?

I know the artist currently has a new band with an active Bandcamp page, so maybe contacting him there would work. I'll see if there's an easy way to get in touch!

Jan 12, 2020 16:37:11 GMT -8 D said:

I know you already mentioned it but Discogs always struck me as the kind of place where members would be more amenable to you messaging them about a potential purchase given that the marketplace is such a large part of the site, so might be worth a try?

I haven't explored Discogs thoroughly, so I'm not too familiar with the marketplace other than the page of CD/vinyl listings that I found on Google. I'll look into figuring out ways of getting in touch with people, though. Do you know of any other websites that are similar to Discogs in that respect?

[Inkjet]

Wikipedia says he only put out 7 full albums and 10 EPs. Are you sure you’re not looking for singles at this point?

Just curious. We all know how accurate Wikipedia is.

[User 180565 is taking donation]

Jan 12, 2020 18:27:45 GMT -8 Inkjet said:

Wikipedia says he only put out 7 full albums and 10 EPs. Are you sure you’re not looking for singles at this point?

Just curious. We all know how accurate Wikipedia is.

*edits wiki to 20 albums just to drive syko mad*

[Syko Nachoman]

Jan 12, 2020 18:27:45 GMT -8 Inkjet said:

Wikipedia says he only put out 7 full albums and 10 EPs. Are you sure you’re not looking for singles at this point?

Just curious. We all know how accurate Wikipedia is.

I just checked the edit history of the Wiki page, and it looks like that statement about album count was last edited in 2007. But he did release a bunch of things in 2008-2011, including several full-length albums.

[D]

Jan 12, 2020 17:30:24 GMT -8 Syko Nachoman said:

Jan 12, 2020 16:37:11 GMT -8 D said:

I know you already mentioned it but Discogs always struck me as the kind of place where members would be more amenable to you messaging them about a potential purchase given that the marketplace is such a large part of the site, so might be worth a try?

I haven't explored Discogs thoroughly, so I'm not too familiar with the marketplace other than the page of CD/vinyl listings that I found on Google. I'll look into figuring out ways of getting in touch with people, though. Do you know of any other websites that are similar to Discogs in that respect?

Discogs and RYM have been the only sites along these lines for as long as I can remember. If you look up an album on Discogs, you'll see there's a section with a list of people who've marked that they own it. Should be easy enough just to drop them a message - especially if you can triangulate individual people who own multiple albums you want.

[Shady]

Have you found any fan sites, forums, Facebook groups etc? There might be other fans with ideas. Alternatively ask in local record stores. It may be unlikely they have anything if it’s pretty rare, but they may have sources they can look into or be able to point you in the right direction. Did they ever tour? If you found places they visited around the times of album releases, record stores in those areas might have CDs or LPs if they were promoting at the time.

All real long shots there.

[📚 Dianne 📚]

You probably already thought of eBay?

[Syko Nachoman]

Jan 13, 2020 1:58:23 GMT -8 D said:

Jan 12, 2020 17:30:24 GMT -8 Syko Nachoman said:

I haven't explored Discogs thoroughly, so I'm not too familiar with the marketplace other than the page of CD/vinyl listings that I found on Google. I'll look into figuring out ways of getting in touch with people, though. Do you know of any other websites that are similar to Discogs in that respect?

Discogs and RYM have been the only sites along these lines for as long as I can remember. If you look up an album on Discogs, you'll see there's a section with a list of people who've marked that they own it. Should be easy enough just to drop them a message - especially if you can triangulate individual people who own multiple albums you want.

OK, so I found a record store's account on Discogs that "owns" 12 of the albums and EPs I want. However, they have a store set up with about 1,900 items that are "for sale," although they have over 18,900 items marked as "owned" in their collection. Does this mean that they aren't looking to sell the other 17,000 items? None of the 12 items I want are listed as for sale. Would it be rude if I bothered them anyway and asked, "Hey, would you be willing to part with these 12 things for some as-to-be-determined amount of $$$?" I haven't used Discogs to try to buy stuff before, so I have no idea. 

[D]

Feb 5, 2020 19:21:17 GMT -8 Syko Nachoman said:

Jan 13, 2020 1:58:23 GMT -8 D said:

Discogs and RYM have been the only sites along these lines for as long as I can remember. If you look up an album on Discogs, you'll see there's a section with a list of people who've marked that they own it. Should be easy enough just to drop them a message - especially if you can triangulate individual people who own multiple albums you want.

OK, so I found a record store's account on Discogs that "owns" 12 of the albums and EPs I want. However, they have a store set up with about 1,900 items that are "for sale," although they have over 18,900 items marked as "owned" in their collection. Does this mean that they aren't looking to sell the other 17,000 items? None of the 12 items I want are listed as for sale. Would it be rude if I bothered them anyway and asked, "Hey, would you be willing to part with these 12 things for some as-to-be-determined amount of $$$?" I haven't used Discogs to try to buy stuff before, so I have no idea. 

I've never used it either but if they're a record store then I can't imagine them being annoyed with such a question. Do they have a website or an eBay account or something? If they do could be worth contacting them there instead.

[User 180565 is taking donation]

Dont tell them it's hard to find or they might jack the price up.

[Derek‽]

Feb 5, 2020 19:21:17 GMT -8 Syko Nachoman said:

OK, so I found a record store's account on Discogs that "owns" 12 of the albums and EPs I want. However, they have a store set up with about 1,900 items that are "for sale," although they have over 18,900 items marked as "owned" in their collection. Does this mean that they aren't looking to sell the other 17,000 items? None of the 12 items I want are listed as for sale. Would it be rude if I bothered them anyway and asked, "Hey, would you be willing to part with these 12 things for some as-to-be-determined amount of $$$?" I haven't used Discogs to try to buy stuff before, so I have no idea. 

I’ve never used Discogs and don’t know the user culture there as it pertains to claiming ownership, but if a store claims to have a huge inventory and it’s unwilling to sell you ~90% of what it has, I would doubt it even has the items in question. Unless the “store” is just some guy selling a portion of his basement collection, I’d assume they mark anything they’ve ever sold as “owned” just to pad their numbers. That’s no different from Amazon or Walmart or any other retailer keeping product listings online when the items haven’t been available for months or years, then suggesting other items as substitutions—bait and switch.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to ask. If they don’t currently have a copy of any of the albums, they might be able to procure one if they have records of past sales. Just be advised that you’ll pay a premium for this as there are no guarantees as to what the real owner(s) might ask for the albums, plus the store’s finder’s fee mark-up.