Record-Rama
Encyclopedia
Record-Rama was the name of a Record
and CD
store in Pittsburgh, PA. It was founded by Paul Mawhinney, who over the years claims he has built the world's biggest record collection
.
's career by getting RCA
boss Tom Cossie to re-release the album Space Oddity
in 1972 after its initial release in 1969 failed to hit. Mawhinney started the shop after his personal collection reached the many thousands. It was his wife who told him to get rid of the records, or start up a business around them. By the mid-1990s, Record-Rama was doing $5 million dollars a year of business. In the years that followed, Mawhinney built the world's biggest record collection. He also cataloged records in a directory he released called the MusicMaster. The first edition was released in 1982, and it came in two volumes; one listing by artist, the other by title. By 2003, the business had dropped to $500,000 a year, one tenth of what it had been. Mawhinney cites big chain stores like Wal-Mart undercutting his prices as the main factor in the drop of sales.
's "Jezebel
". He built his collection into the thousands before he founded Record-Rama. After he set up shop, he decided to keep one copy of every record he sold in the shop, thus the final copy of anything was kept and archived. In 2003, at over 2 million items, Mawhinney's collection was more than twice the size of the collection at the Library of Congress
. By the time the store closed in 2008, the collection stood at more than three million items and was valued at $
50 million.
The library of Congress was set to purchase Mawhinney's collection for several million dollars, as recently as the fall of 2002. That agreement fell through because of budget cuts and difficulty in justifying the purchase using taxpayer dollars.
Mawhinney decided to sell the record archive again in 2008. The collection went on sale on eBay
in February 2008. A winning bid of $3,002,150 came from Ireland. The bid turned out to be a fraud a few days later. The collection went on sale again on eBay in March 2008 but did not end in a sale.
engineering, decided to do something to save the collection by forming a non-profit organization, The Audio Preservation Fund, with the intent to open a museum
, online database
, and shop
under the name The Worlds Greatest Music Collection, while expanding the collection via both donations of records by individuals and by incorporating other major record collections from around the world.
The first step was finding half the $3 million asking price, mostly from donations and good will gestures from wealthier philanthropists, then approaching outside agencies for grants to finance the building of the museum, with the location yet to be decided. At the same time, the mammoth task of cataloguing all the duplicates in the collection and making them available for sale was planned to aid raising the initial sum.
Initial efforts to raise funds to purchase the collection did not meet goals required by the Mawhinney estate. It was decided by the estate and the Audio Preservation Fund to discontinue work together. This allowed Mr. Mawhinney to pursue other options for fund-raising, as his health was of great concern. The Audio Preservation Fund continued as an establishment and currently accepts donations of recordings. It places these recordings in libraries, archives and museums around the United States, including the Library of Congress (Culpeper, VA), Texas Music Museum (Austin, TX), Center for Texas Music History (San Marcos, TX), and ARChive of Contemporary Music (New York, NY).
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
and CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
store in Pittsburgh, PA. It was founded by Paul Mawhinney, who over the years claims he has built the world's biggest record collection
Record collecting
Record collecting is the hobby of collecting music. Although the main focus is on vinyl records, all formats of recorded music are collected.-History:Record collecting has been around probably nearly as long as recorded sound...
.
Beginnings
Record-Rama was founded by Paul Mawhinney, himself a collector of vinyl records, and a significant help in restarting David BowieDavid Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's career by getting RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
boss Tom Cossie to re-release the album Space Oddity
Space Oddity (album)
-Release history:-7" open reel tape releases:There was only one release of Space Oddity on open reel, in 1972 duplicated by Magtec, North Hollywood, CA 91605. This is a high speed 7.5 ips release...
in 1972 after its initial release in 1969 failed to hit. Mawhinney started the shop after his personal collection reached the many thousands. It was his wife who told him to get rid of the records, or start up a business around them. By the mid-1990s, Record-Rama was doing $5 million dollars a year of business. In the years that followed, Mawhinney built the world's biggest record collection. He also cataloged records in a directory he released called the MusicMaster. The first edition was released in 1982, and it came in two volumes; one listing by artist, the other by title. By 2003, the business had dropped to $500,000 a year, one tenth of what it had been. Mawhinney cites big chain stores like Wal-Mart undercutting his prices as the main factor in the drop of sales.
Closure
Record-Rama closed in the Summer of 2008, during the global credit crunch. Mawhinney stated that he'd been squeezed out of business by the recording industry and large retailers who can sell compact discs to the public for less than his wholesale costs.The biggest record collection on Earth
Mawhinney started his record collection in 1951. The first record he ever bought was Frankie LaineFrankie Laine
Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
's "Jezebel
Jezebel (song)
"Jezebel" is a 1951 popular song written by Wayne Shanklin. It was recorded by Frankie Laine with the Norman Luboff Choir and Mitch Miller and his orchestra on April 4, 1951 and released by Columbia Records as catalog number 39367...
". He built his collection into the thousands before he founded Record-Rama. After he set up shop, he decided to keep one copy of every record he sold in the shop, thus the final copy of anything was kept and archived. In 2003, at over 2 million items, Mawhinney's collection was more than twice the size of the collection at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. By the time the store closed in 2008, the collection stood at more than three million items and was valued at $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
50 million.
Selling the collection
One of the first attempts to sell the collection was in 1997. CD Now offered $28.5 million for the collection plus a $100,000/year job to Mawhinney to administer the archive. The sale fell through three weeks later when CD Now went to bankruptcy court.The library of Congress was set to purchase Mawhinney's collection for several million dollars, as recently as the fall of 2002. That agreement fell through because of budget cuts and difficulty in justifying the purchase using taxpayer dollars.
Mawhinney decided to sell the record archive again in 2008. The collection went on sale on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
in February 2008. A winning bid of $3,002,150 came from Ireland. The bid turned out to be a fraud a few days later. The collection went on sale again on eBay in March 2008 but did not end in a sale.
Current plans for the collection
The most current plans for the archive were enacted by William Vanden Dries. Vanden Dries, despite having a degree in aerospaceAerospace
Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...
engineering, decided to do something to save the collection by forming a non-profit organization, The Audio Preservation Fund, with the intent to open a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
, online database
Online database
An online database is a database accessible from a network, including from the Internet.It differs from a local database, held in an individual computer or its attached storage, such as a CD....
, and shop
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
under the name The Worlds Greatest Music Collection, while expanding the collection via both donations of records by individuals and by incorporating other major record collections from around the world.
The first step was finding half the $3 million asking price, mostly from donations and good will gestures from wealthier philanthropists, then approaching outside agencies for grants to finance the building of the museum, with the location yet to be decided. At the same time, the mammoth task of cataloguing all the duplicates in the collection and making them available for sale was planned to aid raising the initial sum.
Initial efforts to raise funds to purchase the collection did not meet goals required by the Mawhinney estate. It was decided by the estate and the Audio Preservation Fund to discontinue work together. This allowed Mr. Mawhinney to pursue other options for fund-raising, as his health was of great concern. The Audio Preservation Fund continued as an establishment and currently accepts donations of recordings. It places these recordings in libraries, archives and museums around the United States, including the Library of Congress (Culpeper, VA), Texas Music Museum (Austin, TX), Center for Texas Music History (San Marcos, TX), and ARChive of Contemporary Music (New York, NY).
Further reading
- Record-Rama closes, article on Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewPittsburgh Tribune-ReviewThe Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
. - The Archive, video about the plight of the Paul Mawhinney and his collection, on VimeoVimeoVimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It was founded by Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick in November 2004...
.
Main links
- Record-Rama — official website.
- The Worlds Greatest Music Collection at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
— (former) official website.