Amoeba Music

Reviews 7

MI

Michael Hraba

TL;DR - Amoeba is the only game in town to get fair, ethical pricing on your collection, coupled with actually having the systems to fairly redistribute your music into loving hands. ------- So, this is about the ethics of selling music. I know Cds arent valuable anymore, but there are definitely some rare things that can sell well. The kneejerk is to support your small, independent and cute mom&pop record store that is "local". But, thats complex... theres a reason those have all but shut down, because a lot of times its grumpy old people just sitting on top of their own records, not having to pay rent in an old spot they own, and not really caring about curation or service. Amoeba, in that regard, is the only game in town. If you are thinking of selling anywhere but Amoeba: 1) the small shops dont have the skill or margins to really appropriately pay you out and then restock at a logical profit level 2) the smaller shops are niche, and wont have the staff to really perceive the value or worth of your collection 3) the smaller shops have niche audiences / locations / and buyers as well... which means that, even if they purchased it at a fair price, they likely wont have the resources to properly target and distribute your music back into the hands of the people that want them. 4) the smaller shops dont have the resources, time, or energy to properly sell / distribute your excellent music back into "real" people, versus selling it on Discogs, Ebay, Amazon one-at-a-time, or GEMM to the highest bidder who might just collect, and file away, your music. I am an audiophile and collector, so I am not trying to sell 40 of the same scratched Zeppelin CDs. I brought in a bag of 60-80 CDs, most were incredibly rare OOP Italian lounge soundtracks and the like. At this south bay "small, local, independent" shop, the gentlemen were not trying to have one over on me, nor were they anything but polite or enjoyable. But the simple fact is they dont have the time and resources to sort through or assume anything about your music. If they dont know it, it might as well be a scratched up Korn or Green Day album. This south bay indie spot offered $20 cash, $30 in store. That same day I took the identical collection to Amoeba on the way home: $150 cash, $250 in store credit. I dont think the smaller indie store was purposefully undervaluing versus just not knowing how to price rare OOP import stuff. If you care about your excellent music getting back out into the hands of the people that will enjoy it, its important to philosophize about how this will happen, and figure out the best infrastructure to achieve this. I could have made a bundle one-off selling them to rich people who just hit internet buttons, I could have just cleared my head and sold them wildly undervalued to a mom and pop (where they likely would have sat for a decade)..... or you can sell them to the only people who will have the systems in place to both pay you fairly, and re-distribute efficiently. Ameoba is the only game in town.

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TolitoGangster

This is the biggest and best record store on the west coast of the United States of America,they have the best and largest selection of music CDs,vinyl records,DVDs,casette tapes and music magazines,this store is top of the line,you can find the best in dance music 12 inch singles,Latino music,Hindi music,Asian pop music,Euro dance music,dance pop,r&b,soul,hiphop,alternative rock,grunge,heavy metal,classic rock,reggae,freestyle dance pop music,house,techno,west coast rap,dubs,tribal music and trance,clasic pop music albums from Americas pop,oldies,50s music,40s music,big band,jazz,70s rock,80s music,regional Mexican,salsa,merengue,reggaeton,bachata,Brazilian samba and gregorian chant music are just some of the music styles you will find at this place,this the best music store ever,people of all ages from young adults to senior citizens to children will love visiting this store,this is the mecca of music,they have a very helpful knowledgeable staff,highly recommended

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CH

Chris Connelly

There isnt much to say about Amoeba Records that hasnt been said. This is one of the best remaining independent record stores in the world. Period. The staff is knowledgable, the neighborhood oozes rock history, the place is gigantic, and on top of it all, theyre one of the few record stores still drawing top notch in-store performances. Places like this are disappearing fast, and I can only hope that this one sticks around for as long as possible. You can find both new and used vinyl; new and used CDs (definitely spend some time in the used CD section - there are good odds what youre looking for will be in there); new and used DVDs; new and used box sets (Ive never been to another record store with more box set options); and an enormous collection of rock and roll posters. This is a must visit spot in San Francisco for any music fan or record collector. I love Amoeba, and feel lucky to be able to call it my neighborhood record store.

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Christian Menges

Visited Amoeba on 15th of May and was blown away by their collection. Did a research on Jazz vinyl and picked up some really well packaged stuff.All records are in closed plastic bags with a lot of tesa on it. You are not able and not allowed to open it up to view the record. So, I bought some old stuff ..McLean, Booker Ervin, Dollar Brand etc... Later I opened the bags and had a bad surprise about a few of these records. A lot of damages and scratches on them. So I wonder how professional they really are. Also, already back at home I throw an eye on my bills and recognized that they charged me 20$ more than I should pay. Stupid stuff...this can happen, but all together pisses me off a lot. They have great stuff there, but for the condition they are way too expensive!!!

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RU

russ sweetser

If youre already from the West coast, then Amoeba records is probably as familiar to you as Safeway and In and Out burger. Hell, Id been in LA for 3 days and went to Amoeba, and I had been in SF for about a week and went there. Music fans just find out about it and go there. Basically, if you had a dream that you walked into a room that had all the music in the world, youd look up in the dream and it would say "amoeba" and youd go "whoa" like you were Ted Theodore Logan, and then youd wake up and tell someone that dream, and theyd take you to Amoeba, and youd think you had "the gift" or something. Then you could rent a small shop in the haight and read palms. I like a record store, especially in this day and age, so I like amoeba.

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A Private User

Amoeba records at one time was something great. No longer, try to sell them your used dvds and cds and see if they give you anything close to a fair deal. I have shopped in San Francisco record stores for over 23 years and I will no longer support this lame organization. You can find everything this place has to offer on Amazon or Ebay and at better prices. Like a previous review said, Amoebas best records are in the hold pile for their employees. The dvds they think will sell at most stores would be $19.99, here they are $22.99 - a lame greedy group - Rasputans records has better prices and they have to pay better for used items than those lame bastards at Amoeba. I refuse to support Amoeba anymore, they can go to hell.

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SH

Shanon Corbin

Crate Diggers. Musicians. Film Buffs or just a mind curioius to hear the sounds of life come to Amoeba Music on Haight Street. Amoeba offers the young Cameron Crowes music as a background to the movie of their life, up and coming writers inspired by Dream Hampton, Lester Bangs or Toure come here to dig deep in the wonderful rows and stacks of the music placed here before the writing begins. Amoeba is a sancurary of music -- like Gary Burtzs album offering a Mystic Brews of Jazz or Hip-Hops Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy offering Cancer for Cure while Breaking Atoms to Step into the Arena of ideas to make life pop and colorful. Trade in some music or movies or just visit and listen. and enjoy. Amoeba Music.

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