Whether one is just getting started or adding to a long-standing collection, one thing is for sure: when buying vintage vinyl, knowing which online stores are the most reliable is critically important. Here is a helpful list of the top four quality online stores with highly diverse selections of vintage vinyl: Experience Vinyl, Friday Music, Discogs, and Amoeba Music.
Experience Vinyl
Since its establishment in 2016, Experience Vinyl has cemented its status as one of the most trustworthy brands in the vinyl community. Co-owned by Matt Sorum, drummer for Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver, Experience Vinyl’s core tenets are authenticity and customer freedom. While they are known for their vast catalog of new releases and exclusive pressings, Experience Vinyl also happens to have a great inventory of vintage records. The inventory here comprises over 40,000 titles running across various genres such as classic rock, jazz, punk, indie, and blues.
What really sets Experience Vinyl apart is the company’s commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. Each vintage record will be fully inspected and graded so that album buyers receive their albums in the best possible condition. In addition, it has an enormous number of signed LPs and highly unique collector’s editions, so for collectors, it is a goldmine. In addition to its commitment to customer service and ease of shopping, Experience Vinyl offers serious reliability for people looking to buy vinyl.
Friday Music
Friday Music is the perfect online marketplace for audiophiles looking for reissues of high-quality music, along with remastered classic albums. With a focus on premium vinyl releases, Friday Music also offers a handpicked selection of vintage records. With expertise in multiple genres—like classic rock, pop, and jazz—Friday Music looks for the best sound quality inside each record.
This site specializes in vintage records, with its collection consisting of albums that often contain first pressings and limited editions. Records come very detailed in their descriptions, including grading information to let collectors make informed decisions. Whether you’re looking for a pristine copy of a timeless classic or a rare gem, Friday Music has dependable and quality picks when it comes to vintage vinyl.
Discogs
Discogs is more than just a marketplace; it’s a global community of music fans and a vinyl record database. Online since 2000, Discogs has become one of the biggest record buying and selling platforms, where more than 13 million listings are showcased. From there, it has expanded to include an extensive catalog—every conceivable genre or rarity imaginable, making it an essential reference for vintage vinyl collectors.
An easy-to-use interface allows record collectors to seek out a specific pressing or simply track their collections, creating wish lists. Each listing contains highly detailed information on the condition of the record, the label, the year of release, and the country of origin. The platform features an extensive feedback feature that shows it is open and secure for every transaction. Having sellers from all over the world gives Discogs users unrivaled exposure to uncommon and hard-to-get old records, placing them at the top among serious collectors.
Amoeba Music
The name Amoeba Music comes with a great reputation in the music retail business due to its famous gigantic store in Los Angeles, California. Its online store brings that huge selection and expertise to a global audience seeking vinyl records in all their forms. With genres ranging from rock and jazz to soul and funk, Amoeba Music’s digital catalog is immense.
The vintage section itself is incredibly well-organized, with descriptions of the record and grading. Amoeba Music only sells quality products; their staff goes through each album before listing it. Besides vinyl records, one can find many other items related to music in Amoeba Music. Moreover, a reputation for excellence has placed Amoeba Music’s online store as a valuable resource for collectors seeking vintage vinyl.
Online markets are awash with high-quality vintage vinyl records; it simply comes down to knowing some of the best ones. Each one of these record stores has its strength: Experience Vinyl with its carefully curated selection along with its extremely high-quality reissues, Friday Music, Discogs with its gigantic international marketplace, or Amoeba Music and its legendary retail acumen. These online marketplaces empower collectors to fill their collections with rare and classic albums.