What happens to your collection?

[Tom 1960]

I imagine perhaps this topic has been discussed in some shape or form here in the past. Knowing some of us here, a lot of us here have rather extensive music collections. Say you pass away tomorrow, what happens to your music collection? Is it left for family members, friends to deal with? Have you made provisions to perhaps donate it to a charitable organization or perhaps maybe to a local radio station? I'd be very curious to read some of the responses. Not that I plan on going anywhere hopefully not for a long time, it is something that that has definitely crossed my mind. 

[Rooster_Ties]

I’m only 51, and my wife and I have no kids.

If we both perish tomorrow, I guess it’ll all go to the cat.

[ejp626]

I'll probably leave a note that the Mosaics may still have some resale value but almost nothing else is particularly rare and certainly not worth sorting through to try to put up on eBay (or entice a college radio station with it).

As I mentioned elsewhere, my children are basically appalled by the idea of having a big stack of CDs, so I assume they'll take it to a used music shop (if those even still exist) and what isn't taken will end up in the dump.  Same thing with my books, though I expect in my next move (probably downsizing to a condo), I'll get rid of the vast majority of them.

Certainly a bit depressing if I think too long about it.

[porcy62]

I wrote in the testament I want be buried with my records and hi-fi like a pharaoh, my heirs may have the CDs.

Edited September 23, 2020 by porcy62

[Dan Gould]

I have been thinking that *if* I received a terminal diagnosis I would want to spend a lot of time giving "final spins" to a lot of music, and might also take time to separate out the wheat from the chaff, as it were, for my wife. (If I had a bucket list it would be short to non-existent.)

[ejp626]

22 minutes ago, porcy62 said:

I wrote in the testament I want be buried with my records and hi-fi like a pharaoh, my heirs may have the CDs.

That sounds good, though I might prefer the Viking burial approach where all my junk is loaded onto a ship in Lake Ontario and then set on fire.

[ghost of miles]

31 minutes ago, porcy62 said:

I wrote in the testament I want be buried with my records and hi-fi like a pharaoh, my heirs may have the CDs.

😄 I’ve told my girlfriend that I want to be entombed pyramid-style in my small house, with five different CDs inserted into the player every day, and a fresh pot of coffee brewed each morning in case I “wake up.” 

More likely, however, that the bulk of it will be digitally donated to the radio station where I work. Even though CDs themselves are a dying format, I might advise the physical retention of those with valuable liner notes or essays... and certainly that will be the case for many of the box sets. Not sure what, if anything, will be of much fiscal value if I live a relatively normal lifespan.

Edited September 23, 2020 by ghost of miles

[felser]

I'm thinking that if I get to retire at some point, I'll make a document for my wife to give her some options to consider, depending on her desires and financial condition (which should be OK) and try to specify what's worth selling, and what's not. Also will try to deal with most of the dispostion myself in retirement years if I can.  May be that having someone like DustyGroove swoop in and handle it in my absence would be worthwhile.  Pennies on the dollar, I know, but at least it's handled then and the music should eventually find good homes.  My daughter has said that she wants my collection if I pass, so if that is still the case, that will likely be the disposition, but I'm not totally convinced.   She couldn't tell you who Billy Harper, Charles Tolliver, or Lloyd McNeill are .   For now, the music keeps me sane and motivated while I work.

Edited September 23, 2020 by felser

[Dan Gould]

I think anyone who has his heirs utilize Dusty Groove should make sure their LPs have some identifying mark .... so that someday a new owner might come here and post about the markings on their LP(s).  Bonus points if someone is still here to say "I knew Felser! Well, only online ..."

 

[HutchFan]

My oldest son is a musician and music-lover.  So he's asked for my collection when I shuffle off this mortal coil.

I have told him that I plan to cull it down at some point in the future.  I don't plan to leave him my entire collection, only stuff that's special to me.  There'd be too much.

That said, I don't expect the collection down-sizing to start anytime soon.  I'm 52 years old now, and I'm in relatively good health.  Hopefully, I have a couple decades of new music discoveries ahead of me, knock wood!  

 

[BillF]

1 hour ago, porcy62 said:

I wrote in the testament I want be buried with my records and hi-fi like a pharaoh, my heirs may have the CDs.

 

 

2 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

I’m only 51, and my wife and I have no kids.

If we both perish tomorrow, I guess it’ll all go to the cat.

Edited September 23, 2020 by BillF

[Jim Duckworth]

Neither of my children care for either Jazz or cd's and only one likes vinyl.  Poor Mrs. Duckworth has suffered enough with this collection mishegas, so I don't know if I will honor the requests of a couple of my friends who have asked for a 10 minute super market sweep of my collection.

[Hardbopjazz]

It will go into a wing named after me of a museum called trash  😀

[gmonahan]

My poor son will get to deal with it. I've drawn up some suggestions (including putting Mosaic boxes, booklets and cds back together!), but what he does will be up to him. I'll be past caring.

 

 

 

gregmo

[mikeweil]

It all depends on my daughter wanting this big lot or not. If not, I will think of donating different parts to institutions or people that can make use of it, or leaving instructions  where to sell it. Same for my library.

[AllenLowe]

they will bury me face down with as many LP's as will fit inserted into my butt crack, vertically, facing into the sky.This is

a re-creation of an old collector's ritual (or maybe it has to do with virgin sacrifice. I don't really remember).

Edited September 24, 2020 by AllenLowe

[sgcim]

A friend of mine was so spooked by the pandemic in NY, he called me from his lawyer's office to tell me he had just left me his record collection of largely Blue Note records.

AFAIC, it will probably be like the scene in "Zorba the Greek", where the people raid the rich woman's house, grabbing things off her corpse, but in my case it will be the rest of my family.

Edited September 24, 2020 by sgcim

[Matthew]

It got to a point, after moving and packing three times is three years, with more moves to come, I sold and gave away everything -- books, lps, cds, art, anything thing that I had is gone. It all feels very light. I morn the loss at times as I did have a good selection of materials, but everything now fits into one box. As I said, it has it's good and bad points, but paying $100.00 for an Apple Music subscription, I can keep up with the music I enjoy, and I'm not leaving anything behind.

[medjuck]

Haven't given this much thought, but I think I'll suggest that my kids contact this board and see if they can find someone who will sell off the stuff and donate it to Jim to maintain the board. (Even though I often think it should be left to rot.) 

Edited September 25, 2020 by medjuck

[Brad]

If I should pass away, I don’t really care what happens to my collection.  However, before that day takes place, I’d recommend that they sell it to a big record store like Princeton Record Exchange just to save them the aggravation of selling a piece here or a piece there. They won’t receive full value but it will be worth it to be rid of the collection in one fell swoop. 

[Hot Ptah]

I have one heir, a daughter who likes literally nothing in my music collection. I have told her, “don’t take it all to the dump. There are some valuable things in there. Sell it for the highest price you can get.” I have no idea what she will do with it. 

[Dan Gould]

4 minutes ago, Hot Ptah said:

I have one heir, a daughter who likes literally nothing in my music collection. I have told her, “don’t take it all to the dump. There are some valuable things in there. Sell it for the highest price you can get.” I have no idea what she will do with it. 

Shouldn't you leave instructions on what is valuable or maybe contact info for a local brick and mortar that would purchase, or Dusty Groove?

If she doesn't know what might be valuable or how to get it sold, I would bet on it heading to the dump.

Or being sold for $1 per in your front yard.

Edited September 28, 2020 by Dan Gould

[cliffpeterson]

Whenever this topic comes up I am reminded of John Corbett's experience with the stuff Alton Abraham left in his house:

 

https://soundamerican.org/issues/sun-ra/anything-can-happen-day-sun-ra-alton-abraham-and-taming-freak

 

My memory is that the above constitutes a chapter in his book "Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium."

 

 

[Dan Gould]

46 minutes ago, cliffpeterson said:

Whenever this topic comes up I am reminded of John Corbett's experience with the stuff Alton Abraham left in his house:

 

https://soundamerican.org/issues/sun-ra/anything-can-happen-day-sun-ra-alton-abraham-and-taming-freak

 

My memory is that the above constitutes a chapter in his book "Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium."

 

 

That was a great read; thank you.