Rare records on Discogs are getting more expensive, study finds

A new study by Discogs has found that rare records on the online marketplace are getting more expensive.

"Top-end prices are at an all-time high, and vinyl is as cool as ever," the report read. "It’s even led to some fear of vinyl being commodified the same way modern art has, functioning purely as a material to be bought and sold by investors. This means deep-pocketed buyers would purchase high-end items at the top of the market in hopes of selling for a tidy profit down the line."

The marketplace also revealed that in the last 12 months, five records "broke the $10,000 plateau, which happened only once before in the site’s history". They were two promo copies of the Beatles' 'Love Me Do', a Japanese version of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon', an unreleased Sex Pistols single and the record-breaking sale of Prince's 'The Black Album.'

The report continued, "We can’t definitively say what the spate of brain-scrambling sales mean, but we’ve tried to suss out fancy-vinyl-buying prospects by combining data from our most-expensive lists, cultural pulse-taking, and analysis."

Check it out the study in full here.

In October, Discogs launched its new online marketplace for hard-to-find releases.

Recognising the resurgence in tape sales and popularity over the previous few years, Discogs' inaugural Cassette Week also took place last month.

Reverb.com recently launched a new app for buying and sell records.