Monday, March 21, 2011

The Cost of Music


Just a quick follow up to the post below about Books, Strings & Things.
The actual price label pasted onto a vinyl album here shows the typical cost in the early 70's.
You can still buy them for that price, or less, at flea markets and thrift stores.

7 comments:

  1. At one point in the mid-eighties, we actually had some records or tapes either priced at or priced so that the total would come to $6.66.

    Our typical record price had gone up to 7.66-9.88 in the 80's.

    BS&T Opened in 1964 or 5. The earliest record of book purchases that I
    could find went back to 1965. If anyone has a 3x5 inventory card (usually manilla or orange with the title and sales info with dates stamped on the back) that was accidentally left in a book, I would love to have one to scan in.

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  2. Oh my god Shelly, I had forgotten about that demonic subtotal. Thanks for the memory. I have a photo of another price sticker that I'll post just for you. It was something over $6.

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  3. I bought ZZ Tops Rio Grande Mud album at BS&T about 1972-73.Picked it while flipping through bins just because I liked the front & back of the album jacket! Still have it.Gotta go buy a new turntable now !!

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  4. I still have a bunch of old vinyl from BS&T, and even buy more at flea markets whenever they're in good shape ....

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  5. I still have our collection of over 300 vinyls, many bought during those years in Blacksburg with their price tags still attached. Some merchants used to put the tag under the plastic cover so it couldn't be peeled off.

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  6. BS&T was like heaven to me. As a kid I'd drift from aisle to aisle, listening to the music playing, flipping through the albums, looking at the books, turned on to photography, sneaking peaks at nude photography, hiding in the small dead end of shelves near the front window just behind the register - eaves dropping on the conversations...who got high, who screwed who, it was awesome. Some really cool people went through those doors.

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  7. I bought tons of records at BS&T back in the mid 80s. I remember a typical price at that time was $5.44. And at some point, maybe around 1984 or so, they started carrying a few compact discs. Those were probably $20-$25. I never got a CD player until a couple years after I graduated, but if I had gotten one earlier, I'm sure I would have bought some CDs at BS&T.

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