The rarest records available on Discogs are getting increasingly expensive, according to a report shared by Discogs.
The report compared prices on sales of rarer records between now and 2010 to come to their conclusion, noting that five records have sold for over $10,000 via the online music marketplace in the last year alone. One of these, a rare Canadian copy of Prince’s infamously deleted The Black Album, sold for $27,500.
Discogs’ report also notes that data on the most expensive record sold each month has increased significantly, with averages increasing from $2,000 to $12,000 since 2015.
"There’s no desire to find a deal or hunt for the perfect piece; just buy, sell, buy, sell," the report says of these inflated prices, adding: "That kind of behaviour usually leads to artificially-inflated prices and a bubble."
Discogs also notes that the marketplace could be helping to drive up these prices. However, the report adds, if you take a wider look at the market for these more expensive records, outside of Discogs, it may not be the site is fully responsible, but is rather "just helping ridiculously-expensive vinyl become more mainstream."
You can read the full report for yourself here.
Discogs recently launched a platform for rarer and hard-to-find vinyl, called Exclusives.
