A Short Prog Shelf

[Progatron]

My wife likes a lot of the music I listen to, but she won't need (or want) to hang on to the physical collection I've amassed. We've already discussed it and she of course has my blessing to sell it any way she sees fit. I've shown her how I have it meticulously catalogued on Discogs, so if she wants to sell it piece by piece she can make a little hobby out of it, bringing in some extra cash here and there (if Discogs is still a thing when I die). She was pretty amazed at the estimated collection value, but I explained that lots of stuff won't sell unless she severely undercuts. Everything is in pristine condition, but for every rare title or boxed set, there's a more common/easily obtainable title as well. Nobody is clamouring to find a used copy of Kind Of Blue on CD. Some stuff like Zeppelin or Beatles is probably easier just to donate somewhere.

She could also go the route of selling it (or a big part of it) all at once, if she can find a buyer. We know the local indie shop owner well, he might be up for taking a lot of it.

[Man In The Mountain]

I'm dealing with this currently. My best friend was a keyboardist and self-proclaimed gear-head, collector of prog, as well an electrical engineer and he built his own modular synthesizer system. In 2010 he was diagnosed with aggressive MS which took away his ability to play or work with electronics. He died last year. And guess what, everything he collected, everything he played, everything he built was left to his widow deal with.

It's really not cool. He had 10 years to deal with it, and he did nothing. He had a storage unit jam packed with stuff that she is paying $75 a month to keep going. Inside we found a broken Hammond A100 and Leslie, Klipsch La Scala speakers that weighted 2 tons and were moisture damaged. Boxes and boxes of keyboard magazines, boxes of old sheet music, old keyboards from the 80's some working some not. He left a vintage Prophet 5, two racks full of studio effects, about a dozen 90's era keyboard synths... not to mentions a couple thousand vinyl albums and countless CDs, VHS, and DVDs of prog. And of course his massive 3 decker MOTM modular system.

You really think a woman in her 60's can know what to do with this stuff?

Nope. A year after his death, she called me, and now I have been cleaning, restoring, and selling this stuff for her the last few months. Some equipment I bring to an audio repair shop in Chicago before I sell them. Just last week I got a synth museum to purchase his modular system, f-ing terrific!!, but trust me, the packaging and shipping of the system is no easy feat. And some of the odds and ends are still left over to sell on Reverb.

I have plenty to go, and dealing with the widow is another thing too. She has a hard time parting with some stuff and feels like she's selling off his soul. I have to play a careful dance with that. Music gear and collections of any type don't get better with age. The longer it sits, the less value it will have. My advice, is think about what you leave behind because it will likely be more a burden, or trash, than a treasure.

[Rarebird]

This woman in her sixties defenitly knows what to do with some of that stuff, but I understand your point.
In a way I would have liked it if my dad would have parted with his collection in time, but well I suppose that was difficult. His health went down in his last year and that was also the year with all covid-restrictions, which ment no gatherings of collectors of traditional jazz, which would have been essential, to get rid of his stuff. And well, he still enjoyed some listening and reading, so he still used his collection. In a way I would have prefered he would have moved to some residential home, but well, you can't always get it the way you want.

[Ridge]

No need to jump into which albums should be included, we can get to that (or get to it now if you like!). But what do you think of this idea? Is it enough to just have let them know that this music exists? Or is this small collection a good idea? What are your thoughts? Sort of a morbid subject, but it's the end of a long weekend, and Father's Day weekend at that, so my mind is on these things...

I really like your idea. Got me thinking about making a 10 title list for my kids (25, 23 and 14 years old). I would probably give them the physical media along with access to the files on some cloud storage, because I would not expect for them to have a CD player or turntable. Kind of makes me wonder what digital media to use, will mp3 be around when I fall asleep in death?

Anyway, thank you for the idea.

[Scrotum Scissor]

After my dad gave away all of his earthly belongings to his newfound fake family (and we fought them, my sister and I), all of whom deserted him once he retired and no longer produced any surplus, my collection of vinyls is arguably the only thing I own of notable worth.

That is, the insurance of it.

Luckily my two sons are already aware of my illustrious and all-encompassing failures in love and life, so there's no shock on their part. They've got their rather wealthy mums to rely on, seeing as these didn't have parents like mine and were reasonably successful at accumulating grass of their own.

I work as a so-called advanced archivist now, so there'll be some preposterous theoretical remedy for where it's all eventually going either way. I've got a few thousand worthless CDs, and I doubt if anyone will want to dwell on it too much for leisure when I'm gone. For study, perhaps - but not for pleasure. Although I find myself hoping someone will listen to that XhohX CD and spread the word, and then pass it on to their offspring in time.

It's progressive.

[IncogNeato]

I managed to instill my only son with a love of music. He's 29 now, has about 500 CDs of his own now. We've never discussed it, but he's getting all my music when I go.

He's had headphones in since he was 5 and loves a wide variety from Slipknot to Nick Cave to Miles Davis.

[Finch Platte]

I have this vision of all my friends and siblings sitting around my living room after I'm gone, going through my CD collection, one by one.

Probably not gonna happen. I like the idea someone stated above, pretty much, after I'm gone, who cares.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr_uHJPUlO8

[progmatist]

As I've mentioned in other threads, my parents live in an "Active Adult Community." When their neighbors kick the bucket, their children will call Goodwill and other such retailers to take away the good stuff. Then hire a junk removal company to haul off the items which aren't so marketable.

[JKL2000]

"For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides,
that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance ..."

- Kahlil Gibran

I take solace in Roger Ebert’s saying “I had no complaints before I was born.”

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I do like this idea. Just like keeping a sweater or quilt or whatever random things that have meaning, this just uses a different medium. Even though this is a suggestion from you (instead of something the others want to keep) I do think its more of a personal touch and more telling of you as a person. And its easy enough that they can toss it if they aren't into that after you die.

[Zalmoxe]

I too think rather often what should became of my 6000+ CD collection. My kids don't seem that much interested in my taste in music. One of them shows some signs of hope, but I am not holding my breath to see them materialize. There's most likely more than 100 grand buried in that collection. That could be good cash to have in hand, at the end of it all, but there is no way I (or anyone else for that matter) can recover that money. I was thinking of donating them to the Toronto Public Library as they do have CDs in their offerings. Another option I was thinking about is to give them away to some Music School, like a conservatory or something but then it would have to be a school that is studying many other things besides the classicals.

[progmatist]

I do like this idea. Just like keeping a sweater or quilt or whatever random things that have meaning, this just uses a different medium. Even though this is a suggestion from you (instead of something the others want to keep) I do think its more of a personal touch and more telling of you as a person. And its easy enough that they can toss it if they aren't into that after you die.

There was an episode of Pawn Stars in which some guy brought in literally a truck load of VHS tapes. Owned by Sammy Davis Jr, who wrote his name on the cover of each one. Rick Harrison didn't even make the guy an offer because he had basically nothing. Had the guy brought in something more personally associated with Mr. Davis, that would've been a different ball game.

[jefftiger]

About 8 years ago, I discussed what to do with my CD collection with my wife, since I was in a phase of getting rid of lots of stuff in the house. I ended up selling off my entire collection (not huge, around 400 discs) on eBay. It took considerable effort and time. As others have mentioned, the run of the mill US releases (e.g., The Beatles, Elton John, Dire Straits) were pretty much valueless and I ended up giving them away to Goodwill since it wasn't worth the effort to list them. I did a lot better with my Italian prog collection, mostly purchased from BTF and Greg Walker, but also with a fair number of Japanese mini-LP CD releases. Prices for these ended up being all over the place, but I did pretty well. It was worth the effort to sell them. I ended up selling a lot of the Italian prog to one collector in Colombia (with a US mailing address). I perhaps could have gotten better prices, but he was interested in almost all of what I put up for sale and we did deals for various lots on eBay.

The one release that made it all worthwhile was a complete surprise. I had purchased U2's "War" at its initial CD release in around 1985 when I lived in Boulder. I thought that it was a completely standard domestic release, although it was pressed in West Germany. When I did some research on its value, I found that it was a supposedly rare WEA "reverse target" pressing (kind of like the upside-down airmail stamps, I suppose!). See http://www.keithhirsch.com/the-west-...t-cd-of-u2-war for details. I still doubted its value but put it up for sale on eBay with the hope that maybe I'd get $50. It ended up generating an international bidding war and sold for $951! That was pretty amazing.

[moecurlythanu]

^ That is pretty amazing!

[Plasmatopia]

Even though my wife likes some of the music I listen to, I doubt she'll keep much of my collection (about 1500 CDs). My son likes a lot of the same music I do, so it's kind of a no-brainer that he will take all that and most likely all my guitars, basses, etc.

[IncogNeato]

Even though my wife likes some of the music I listen to, I doubt she'll keep much of my collection (about 1500 CDs). My son likes a lot of the same music I do, so it's kind of a no-brainer that he will take all that and most likely all my guitars, basses, etc.

Same boat.

[fiberman]

Great thread Jed. It continues to be very thought provoking and I've not yet decided my take on the subject. I do know that even at 71, as one of the elders on PE, that I feel like a wolf in sheep's clothing as far as buying CD's goes. Being retired and able to shop around the thrift stores at will, I find so many great CD's for practically nothing and I am taking full advantage of the situation. There are so many albums (CD's) that I have never even seen before and so many others that I have passed on through the years being not able to afford to buy everything I wanted, I just keep buying, kudos to my wife who lets me indulge in this quest, what happens to them later is not something that concerns me now. I spent a small fortune early in my life on LP's. cassettes, reel to reel, you name it I bought it BUT always within our budget. Now all bets are off and as far as I am concerned at this point the person who dies with the most CD's wins. And I'm off and running!

[progmatist]

About 8 years ago, I discussed what to do with my CD collection with my wife, since I was in a phase of getting rid of lots of stuff in the house. I ended up selling off my entire collection (not huge, around 400 discs) on eBay. It took considerable effort and time. As others have mentioned, the run of the mill US releases (e.g., The Beatles, Elton John, Dire Straits) were pretty much valueless and I ended up giving them away to Goodwill since it wasn't worth the effort to list them. I did a lot better with my Italian prog collection, mostly purchased from BTF and Greg Walker, but also with a fair number of Japanese mini-LP CD releases. Prices for these ended up being all over the place, but I did pretty well. It was worth the effort to sell them. I ended up selling a lot of the Italian prog to one collector in Colombia (with a US mailing address). I perhaps could have gotten better prices, but he was interested in almost all of what I put up for sale and we did deals for various lots on eBay.

The one release that made it all worthwhile was a complete surprise. I had purchased U2's "War" at its initial CD release in around 1985 when I lived in Boulder. I thought that it was a completely standard domestic release, although it was pressed in West Germany. When I did some research on its value, I found that it was a supposedly rare WEA "reverse target" pressing (kind of like the upside-down airmail stamps, I suppose!). See http://www.keithhirsch.com/the-west-...t-cd-of-u2-war for details. I still doubted its value but put it up for sale on eBay with the hope that maybe I'd get $50. It ended up generating an international bidding war and sold for $951! That was pretty amazing.

As I've mentioned in other threads: if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, my parents, and/or brothers and sisters-in-law aren't going to spend months or years selling my collection. They're going to sell what they can immediately sell in bulk, and donate the rest. The harder ones to sell will end up in the dumpster behind the thrift store. The bulk purchasers will donate what they can't sell, which will eventually end up in the same dumpster.