TOBIAS KAUFMANN

How many records are in the collection to date?

As with many record collectors I have an ever growing collection. When I started listening to vinyl I didn’t buy much myself and I think I’ve probably made the largest growth over the last three years or so. I currently have a total number of around 350 records at the moment but as I said it’s growing all the time when I’m buying more records.

Do you have a certain space or room you listen to your record collection in?

My collection and set-up is in the living room. Actually there is always a record playing when I’m at home. When the kids are awake, it mostly plays in the background, but in the evening I spend a lot of time just sitting in a chair and listening, looking at covers, reading lyrics or reorganising the collection. 

How do you organise your collection? Do you use Discogs at all?

First I started to organise it with a writing program on the computer, but that was a little to work intensive so I changed to Discogs. I mean in most cases you can just scan the barcode and can add it to your collection afterwards, its easy and clear and you can also organise your want list and can directly see if someone is selling a record of it. Discogs is a great idea and so useful for record collectors.

Why vinyl and not another format? How did you get into vinyl?

As a ‘90s kid I grew up with the CD and so as I started collecting music in the first place it was of course CD’s, I was buying and I didn’t even know that my father has an old vinyl collection. I owned many albums from my teenage years and afterwards on CD and now I’m slowly starting to replace them with the vinyl versions. I always liked to have a physical release in my hands which is why I bought CDs. But six years ago, before I found my father’s collection, I mostly listened to music on Spotify. I was in my studies, so there wasn’t that much money, I used to spend much time commuting on the train and so it was the easiest way to listen to music. That changed after I decided to took some of my father’s records with me and started listening. That feeling when you choose a record, look at the cover, pull out the record, put it on the record player, waiting for the needle to drop, it got me immediately. Not skipping through the songs, but listening to the whole album from start to end looking at the cover art, reading the lyrics. As many other collectors would say, collecting vinyl is not just about the music, its about the whole moment, the feeling that comes with the whole process.

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What was the first record you bought?

I didn’t buy much vinyl first, but after some weeks of listening to my father’s collection there was a record fair in a near city and I went with him. I remember how in awe I was, standing in this big room with thousands of records. I didn’t even have a want list or something special in mind, I just went to the first stand and bought some records. I think it was a compilation album from Eric Clapton, a set with two studio albums by The Doors and “Babylon by Bus” by Bob Marley.

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Where do you shop for records usually?

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I unfortunately have no record store in my city and so I shop a lot at online retailers or directly on the artists or labels stores. I also have a penchant for coloured vinyl and limited editions. I mean thats the thing about collecting right? You want something special to collect like when you hold a record in your hands, which is limited to just 100 copies and thinking, “Man there are just 99 other people who own this record”. Many of these coloured or special editions are just available on the artist or labels stores, so thats why I buy must of my vinyl via online. Another way of shopping for vinyl is the local flea markets in the summer time. I buy most of the classic albums like Led Zeppelin, Genesis etc at flea markets. A flea market is always a good choice for a family trip on a Sunday and you can look after vinyl as well, which I´d say is a win win. You can find a bargain anytime at a flea market. A bargain that I found on a flea market was the boxset of the album “All Things Must Pass” by George Harrison. I was looking for a copy of that for a very long time and then on that one flea market it just was in one of those bargain boxes with records, in a good shape and for a very good price. 

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What’s your favourite ever record?

This is as tough as the question about the favourite genre! I must say that I don’t have a favourite ever record. There were many favourite albums over the years, but it changes regularly. I think my actual favourite record, when you consider music is the live album “Guide Me Back Home” by City and Colour, which was released in 2018. I had the luck to catch one of those limited Bandstore exclusive editions, which looks awesome and I’m still addicted to the music on this record. Its a great collection of City and Colour songs and they were all played in those calmer versions, so mostly just Dallas (the singer) and his guitar. I listen to this record at least once or twice times a month, since it was released and never get tired of it.

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Finally then, what will happen to your collection when you pass on?

I actually never thought about it really. I Asked my wife the other day and she said she would totally keep it as a memory. I like the idea that my kids someday find my record collection and start listening to it, as I did with the records that were my father’s.