Ask HN: Investments on Vinyl Records?

7 points by mrdobelina 7 years ago | 10 comments

Hello,

Me and my two co-founders we're working on an iPhone app (for now) for vinyl record lovers and collectors.

We're having good traction and retention, testing some different pricing model and looking forward to a monthly subscription plan.

The industry is a niche, a bigger one actually, and it's 15 years that is constantly growing. A mix of nostalgia and need of the people to own a physical product rather than an mp3.

We're looking for investors or acceleration programs, but I'm always hesitant in what direction to look for in our case, considering the niche.

Should we look for pure investors (for the sake of just money) or should we look for someone who's a vinyl collector?

The market is there, opportunities as well, but this won't be an "AirBnB/Uber business opportunity" (well at least for now!).

I know it might sound like a dumb question but somehow is not.

I truly believe in this project (I'm coming from a failed vinyl record project which actually was well known between vinyl record lovers), I want to make it happen and I'm trying to figure out what would be the best approach to connect with someone who believe in us, the project and our vision.

If anyone interested I'll share the links as I don't want this post to look spam.

umen 7 years ago |

im vinyl collector and know this niche very well ... what is your app doing and why i need it ?

mrdobelina 7 years ago | |

At the moment you need our app when you are at a record store or a flea market with thousands of records and no turntables to preview them.

Instead of jumping from Google to Discogs and YouTube you open our app, snap a pic of the barcode or search by cat number/release name and we give you the full tracklist with audio and video preview

https://youtu.be/kMG5cim3vis

Happy to share some free download codes if you're on iPhone

_fourzerofour 7 years ago | | |

Let me preface everything I'm about to ask with the fact that I only have one vinyl, so take it with a grain of salt, but I'm curious:

I always figured that the lure of vinyl music was the physical possession, and as someone once described to me the "richness" of analog sound. If your app lets someone preview a record, but really proxies it with digital sound, it seems like it defeats that purpose. Is that the case, and if so, where's the value add?

iDemonix 7 years ago | | |

Sounds like a nice idea, but as someone that does buy a fair bit of vinyl (both for listening, and sampling), I find that part of the fun is just browsing through and taking a chance on some obscure records, and seeing what you found when you get home. If you don't like them, you can sell them on.