Local music buyers are beating
the high cost of music by buying
used rock albums from local stores
By Kate McElroy
R Battalion Staff „
ock and roll music used to
be a cheap thrill. During the six
ties, 10 bucks would buy a Roll
ing Stones' album and concert
ticket. But to quote Bob Dylan,
the times they are a-changing:
Steely Dan's latest album
"Gaucho" has a list price of
$9.95. And some popular
albums released 20 years ago
may have risen to today's in
flated price.
"A lot of people come in here
everyday just to look at the used
albums," he said. "Sometimes
we get something in that's hard
to find — stuff that's not availa
ble anymore or we can't get it."
w,
hen a customer does
spot a used album he wants, he
should check the album careful
ly before buying it.
"Bascially make sure it's in
good condition," James said.
to be in good shape."
Because Budget is smaller,
James determines the number of
records he'll buy and for what
price on an individual basis.
Music Express has a set policy.
"We have a limit on how
many, on how much we can
spend each day," Burner ex
plains. "We have to turn quite a
few people away each day and
we tell tnem to come a different
day." Music Express will buy
ten albums at one time from a
person, and a limit of 50 albums
a day.
"We pay $1.25 for single
albums, $1.75 for double
albums," he continued. And if
there are three or more in the
album set, the price goes up
accordingly. For example, Bur
ner said he would buy "Wings
Over America," an originally-
priced $11 three-record set, for
about $2.25.
Burner said the average seller
is a college student, but he does
get some business from local re-
sidents. Most of the used
albums both stores have are rock
music because that's what the
people are selling.
Cuts on album covers may be small holes near the comer,
slashed comers or cut-away squares. The albums may be
former hits that just don't sell anymore, or albums that
never did.
One cheap way to beat the
high cost of music is to just listen
to the radio and wait for the
good songs. A more practical
method is to sell old unwanted
albums back to record stores and
then buy used records.
Used record stores are succes-
ful in large cities — Houston's
The Record Exchange and Third
Planet are two of the city's most
popular. While no store in the
Bryan-College Station area spe
cializes in used records, two loc
al businesses do buy and sell
them.
Managers at both Budget
Tapes and Records, on Universi
ty Drive, and Music Express, on
Church Street, find the used
album market good business.
"It's a lot more popular be
cause of inflation, " said Buck
James, manager of Budget
Tapes and Records. "There are
people who go into stores speci-
ricafly looking for ... the good
deals. They constantly browse
to see whaPs new."
Bruce Burner, assistant mana
ger of Music Express, agrees
that the bargain albums com
mand a good market.
B,
"Take the album out and look at
it.
"If you look at an album you
can usually tell — 'this guy
bought this album, probably
played it a couple of times and
didn't like it.' Make sure it's not
too warped."
Burner said, "They're wel
come to take the album out the
cover and look at it. And if we're
not busy and there's not a lot of
people here, normally if they
ask to hear some of it (on the
store sound system), we'll put it
on."
Both stores make sure their
used albums are worth buying.
"1 don't buy them unless
they're in excellent condition
and if I think it's salable," James
said. "I've found from experi
ence, you can take an album in
real good condition and you can
sell tor a price that has a reason
able mark-up. But you can take
an album that's scratched, mark
it down so low where you can
almost give it away, and it'll sit
there in the rack forever.
"I think I have a good reputa
tion — when people buy a good
album here they know it's going
•
Another way
cutout albums
ss money on
"cut-outs" — overstocked albums.
"They're albums that have been reduced in prax tur une
reason or another," said Buck James, store manager of
Budget Tapes and Records. "A lot of times the artists dies or
the band breaks up. Or it's just a bad album."
He says the overstocked albums are a sign of overoptim
ism by a particular label. "They (the companies) press too
many albums/' he said. "They anticipate an album selling."
Instead about 100,000 copies of the album sit in a warehouse.
"So they mark it down," he said.
Cut-outs may also be obscure or out-of-print albums as
well as fairly recent popular records. Last December Hast
ings' Records and Tapes had a tag sale on cut-outs which
included George Benson's"Livin' Inside Your Love," a mil-
lion-seller two-record set, for only $4.99. Carole King's clas
sic "Tapestry" was only $3.99, and Steely Dan's fairly
These albums, like most cut-outs, aren't guaranteed,
Bruce Burner of Music Express said record stores cannot
cut-outs back to
*
Any cut-out sold for more
Wilson's "The Wildest Show in
Texas." James said the average
price is about $2.25.
Music Express has about 140
used records in about the same
price range. John Sebastian's
"Welcome Back" goes for $1.50,
while Cheap Trick's "All Shook
Up" is $4.99. That's $3 to $4 dol
lars cheaper than the list price.
Texas A&M University stu
dents Kathy Tyllick and Paul
Schertz say they always look for
used records when they shop
for albums.
"We think its a good bargain
because our taste isn't middle-
of-the road or top forty,"
Schertz said, proving his point
by clutching an obscure Bob
Dylan album, "and a lot of peo
ple get rid of their old albums."
They said used record selec
tions are much bigger in Hous
ton stores, but at least the
albums are being sold here.
There are no signs of a used cas
sette or 8-track market in this
area.
loth stores sell the records
back at an extremely low price.
Budget Tapes and Records,
which has a small selection,
prices the albums anywhere
from $2.25 for "Donald Byrd's
Best" to $4.50 for Bowley and
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