Is Discogs Alienating Its Most Loyal Customers?

There are many explanation why somebody would possibly need to spend time on Discogs. The long-running website is each an extremely detailed supply of data on information each lauded and obscure, and it’s additionally a spot the place you possibly can simply purchase long-out-of-print music for those who, like me, are keen on bodily media. Discogs has additionally offered a helpful glimpse into what information may be ripe for high-profile reissues; writing about Numero Group’s Duster reissue marketing campaign at The Ringer in 2019, Mark Richardson famous that “Discogs provides a helpful snapshot of what’s on the market, who has a given launch, and who needs it.”

What occurs if that steadiness between group and commerce begins to slide away? That’s the situation that Natalie Weiner described in a brand new investigation for The Verge. Weiner factors to a number of modifications that Discogs has applied during the last 12 months, together with elevating the proportion it takes from gross sales earlier in 2023. On the identical time, the corporate additionally started taking a lower of delivery charges; taken collectively, it’s prompted some consumers and sellers to look to different large-scale marketplaces like eBay and Amazon.

One vendor informed The Verge that “[t]he sudden price enhance was an enormous, big blow to lots of people.” It’s price mentioning right here that sellers on Discogs aren’t simply document collectors trying to offload components of their collections; there additionally additionally loads of retailers for whom Discogs gross sales are a considerable a part of their enterprise.

Weiner additionally noticed that Discogs hasn’t helped issues by being extra communicative; she particulars a request for remark that took the corporate virtually a month to reply to. It’s been a difficult time for on-line music communities — see additionally, the problems raised by Epic Video games’ sale of Bandcamp. Given the breadth of music lined by Discogs and the variety of sellers utilizing the platform, it isn’t onerous to see why so many individuals are upset with the corporate.