
Ask HN: Investments on Vinyl Records? - mrdobelina
Hello,<p>Me and my two co-founders we&#x27;re working on an iPhone app (for now) for vinyl record lovers and collectors.<p>We&#x27;re having good traction and retention, testing some different pricing model and looking forward to a monthly subscription plan.<p>The industry is a niche, a bigger one actually, and it&#x27;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.<p>We&#x27;re looking for investors or acceleration programs, but I&#x27;m always hesitant in what direction to look for in our case, considering the niche.<p>Should we look for pure investors (for the sake of just money) or should we look for someone who&#x27;s a vinyl collector?<p>The market is there, opportunities as well, but this won&#x27;t be an &quot;AirBnB&#x2F;Uber business opportunity&quot; (well at least for now!).<p>I know it might sound like a dumb question but somehow is not.<p>I truly believe in this project (I&#x27;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&#x27;m trying to figure out what would be the best approach to connect with someone who believe in us, the project and our vision.<p>If anyone interested I&#x27;ll share the links as I don&#x27;t want this post to look spam.
======
umen
im vinyl collector and know this niche very well ... what is your app doing
and why i need it ?

~~~
mrdobelina
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](https://youtu.be/kMG5cim3vis)

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

~~~
_fourzerofour
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?

~~~
ziari
It's analogous to watching trailers on YouTube before heading to the IMAX
movie theater. You're making a better informed decision. They aren't
substitute goods.

~~~
mrdobelina
Haha that's an awesome comparison.

Yes, Ziari is correct. We help crate diggers to make a better informed
decision.

~~~
ziari
BTW, I'd be happy to use it and share feedback. (email in profile)

~~~
mrdobelina
Ok sent you a mail

