What should I do with old OBCs?

[Spikemark2]

Posted: 2/13/10 at 11:05am

I have about 100 lps and cassettes. I tried to donate to BCEFA but they can't store them forl the flea market so is there a place to sell them, either a store or website? I could then donate the cash directly.

[Dre2387]

Posted: 2/13/10 at 11:53am

ebay is your best bet.

[DonelBee]

Posted: 2/13/10 at 3:40pm

I think you probably intended to type "OBCRs" -- because you have Recordings....not Original Broadway Casts.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 2/13/10 at 4:13pm

You could hold onto them until right before the flea market, or donate them to one of the groups that sells LPs at the flea market.

In the meantime, want to send me a list of what you have? :)

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 2/13/10 at 6:13pm

Have you tried Princeton Record Exchange? Now they won't give a lot for Lp's (an nothing for common titles like ANNIE, CHORUS LINE, MY FAIR LADY etc)but if you have some of the more obscure items in near mint condition they may buy them.

If you don't mind the effort E-bay (or Amazon Marketplace) might work as well but the bottom really fell out of the market for Lp's in general (and cast albums in particular) about 10 years ago. T This is partly due to postage costs. You can sell an LP for $1 but have to charge another $5 to cover postage.

I tried offering the Lp's to collectors on here but while lots of people are happy to get the albums for free no one wants to spent the $ on postage.

I have been donating some of mine to the local Goodwill store. It's funny to part with a mint copy of ILLYA DARLING that I sought out through a mail order auction some years ago at a premium price, but the recent excellent CD reissue renders the LP superfluous. Now it will sell for $1.49 at Goodwill and hopefully find a good home.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 2/13/10 at 8:17pm

I'll never forget my mission to rid myself of my cast album LP's circa mid nineties. Living in Seattle, there were absolutely no used music stores interested. I had no pc at the time so eBay and Amazon weren't an option. Finally on a trip to Vancouver,Canada I filled my car with records.

I found a used CD/LP store and asked the owner if he bought out of print vinyl cast albums. By this point I knew only to offer my rarest in the collection. He wasn't interested in re-issues but I could sense his collector's mentality stirring when I'd put certain show titles in front of him. He was weak for things like "Illya Darling", the OLC of "On the Town", "Jimmy" and even off Broadway stuff like "Fly Blackbird" and "Whisper in the Willows." We discussed amounts for each album and I cooly accepted while I was dancing inside myself knowing I was making a killing on these unfortunate relics. I'll always remember after cash exchanged hands, his looking me in the eye and saying, "I think I'm going to regret this."

Whatever LP's I still have I plan on donating to thrift shops. Though I rarely listen to them, I still can't part with my vinyl collection of British shows that never made it to CD.

[Producer2]

Posted: 2/13/10 at 9:08pm

I say keep the records!!!!!!! A million years ago when records were fading out, I transferred all of my records to cassette tapes. Instead of keeping the records, I melted them in the oven and turned them into candydishes for the holidays- but that's a different story. I absolutely regret what I did! You might too one day!

[Spikemark2]

Posted: 2/13/10 at 9:13pm

LP's - probably nothing of any value
Anything Goes, No No Nanette, Oklahoma film, Half a Sixpence, Dear World, Damn Yankeed, Company, Sound of Music Bway and film, West Side Story, Flora with Veanne, Camelot, Day in Hollywood, Showboat with Raitt and Cook, Merrily, Dames at Sea, My Fair Lady, Stop the World, Forum, Mattress, King & 1, Music Man, Funny Girl and the concept Evita.
obcR's.
And about 50 cassettes - probably the only one unusual would be Metropolis.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 2/14/10 at 1:54am

Cassettes generally have no market value now. Even Cassette walkman devices are hard to find.

The Lp's you list are all fairly common and realtively easy to find on vinyl.

You raise an interesting question: What to do with vinyl? I discovered E-bay when itv was new and was able to sell off a large chunk of the Lp duplicates and triplicates I had accumulated over the years. Even on Lp the London cast of BARNUM brought a large number of bids. But within a few years intereset dwindled.

Libraries have switched to CDs and rarely accept LP donations.

The library at Goodspeed used to accept donations but wound up with too many d8uplicates. (Also, Goodspeed took over publishing of SHOW MUSIC magazine and then suddenly stopped publishing it and refused to return the materials to the original owner effectively putting a valuable publication out of business. So naturally I do not promote any donations - money or materials - to Goodspeed any more.)

Surprisingly there is no official archive of the American Musical Theatre. The R&H Library at Lincoln Center still has Lp's but I imagine they are well stocked with Annies and Funny Girls.

I have a huge collection of theatre books and recordings and I have instructed my family not to worry about keeping any of it once I am gone. The pleasure of collecting this material is in the now and for me personally. In 10 years I cannot foresee it having any significant resale value.

[alterego]

Posted: 2/14/10 at 6:34am

The Lincoln Centre used to have a vinyl library (I doubt that they would have disposed of their collection - I'm sure it would be in storage somewhere). I remember looking through the collection and being surprised just how basic it was - I would have put them to shame. Maybe they would be interested in taking some off your hands?

I have a few hundred OBC, OLC and Australian Cast albums on vinyl that I just can't part with (many have never been released on CD). There is something special about every now and again finding one of these relics opening the "huge" cover and placing vinyl on a turntable (thank God I kept it).