Record-Rama

Record-Rama was founded by Paul C. Mawhinney, a collector of vinyl records. He opened the store in 1968 in Ross Township, Pennsylvania.{{cite news |author= |date=2008-02-22 |title=Pa. record store owner sells nearly 3M vinyl albums, singles and CDs for $3M on eBay |url=https://www.fosters.com/story/news/2008/02/22/pa-record-store-owner-sells/52618630007/ |work=Foster's Daily Democrat |access-date=2023-02-07 |quote=On Thursday, the 68-year-old Mawhinney closed Record Rama, which opened in Ross Township in 1968.}} According to the store's website, Mawhinney was a significant help in restarting David Bowie's career by getting fellow Pittsburgher and RCA boss Tom Cossie to re-release the album Space Oddity in 1972 after its initial release in 1969 failed to hit.{{cite web |url=http://www.recordrama.com/david_bowie.htm |title=David Bowie Story |accessdate=2009-10-19 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715164146/http://www.recordrama.com/david_bowie.htm |archivedate=July 15, 2011 }} 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 a business around them.

By the mid-1990s, Record-Rama was doing $5 million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|5|1994|r=1}}}} million today) a year of business.{{cite news

| title = Failed deals for fabled musical archive strike sour note with owner, page2

| first = Tim

| last = Schooley

| url = http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2003/04/28/story6.html?page=2

| periodical = Pittsburgh Business Times

| publisher = American City Business Journals

| issn = 1549-1927

| oclc = 40562053

| date = April 25, 2003

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}} In the years that followed, Mawhinney built what he claimed was the world's biggest record collection. He also cataloged records in a directory called the MusicMaster. Mawhinney released the first edition in 1982, and it came in two volumes: one listing by artist, the other by title.[http://worldjournal-gs.blogspot.com/2009/01/record-rama-archives.html Record-Rama Archives] blog on Blogger. Retrieved 2009-10-19. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708073028/http://worldjournal-gs.blogspot.com/2009/01/record-rama-archives.html |date=8 July 2011 }} By 2003, the business had dropped to $500,000 a year, one tenth of what it had been. Mawhinney attributed the drop in sales to large retailers who were able to sell recorded music below cost and illegal Internet downloading.

Record-Rama closed in the summer of 2008 during the 2008 financial crisis.{{cite news

|title = Record-Rama closes

|url = http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_584384.html

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080824222220/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_584384.html

|url-status = dead

|archive-date = August 24, 2008

|agency = Associated Press

|newspaper = Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

|publisher = Tribune-Review Publishing Company

|oclc = 33822100

|date = August 22, 2008

|accessdate = 19 August 2010

}} Mawhinney stated that he had 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.

Mawhinney started his record collection in 1951. The first record he bought was Frankie Laine's "Jezebel". Mawhinney built his collection into the thousands before he founded Record-Rama. After he set up shop, he decided to keep and archive one copy of every record he sold. 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 $50 million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|50|2008|r=1}}}} million today).{{cite news

| title = World's greatest music collection goes on sale

| first = Sean

| last = Michaels

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/feb/19/news

| newspaper = The Guardian

| issn = 0261-3077

| oclc = 60623878

| date = 19 February 2008

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}}

Mawhinney first attempted to sell the collection in 1997. According to the owner, CD Now offered $28.5 million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|28.5|1997|r=1}}}} million today) for the collection plus a $100,000/year job (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|100000|1997}}}} today) to Mawhinney to administer the archive. Mawhinney claims the sale fell through three weeks later when CD Now went to bankruptcy court.

In the fall of 2002, Mawhinney and the Library of Congress were actively discussing the sale of Mawhinney's collection. The parties were unable to reach an agreement due to the scarcity of federal funding and difficulties justifying the purchase using taxpayer dollars.

In 2008, Mawhinney closed his shop and needed to sell the record archive.{{cite news

|title = Pine record collector selling 'history of music'

|first = Regis

|last = Behe

|url = http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/music/s_547964.html

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090803024125/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/music/s_547964.html

|url-status = dead

|archive-date = August 3, 2009

|newspaper = Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

|publisher = Tribune-Review Publishing Company

|oclc = 33822100

|date = January 18, 2008

|accessdate = 18 August 2010

}} Mawhinney listed the collection for sale on eBay in February 2008.{{Citation

| last = Van Buskirk

| first = Eliot

| date = February 19, 2008

| title = 'World's Greatest Record Collection' for Sale on eBay

| magazine = Wired

| publisher =Condé Nast Publications

| url = https://www.wired.com/2008/02/worlds-largest-2/

| issn = 1059-1028

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}} He received a winning bid of $3,002,150 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|3.00215|2008|r=2}}}} million today) from a buyer in Ireland.{{cite news

| title = Record-Rama collection sells for $3M

| first = Ben

| last = Semmes

| url = http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/02/18/daily43.html

| periodical = Pittsburgh Business Times

| publisher = American City Business Journals

| issn = 1549-1927

| oclc = 40562053

| date = February 22, 2008

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}} A few days later, however, eBay suspended the bidder's account and advised Mawhinney that the bid was not legitimate.{{cite news

| title = $3m vinyl sale is scratched

| first = Sean

| last = Michaels

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/feb/26/news

| newspaper = The Guardian

| issn = 0261-3077

| oclc = 60623878

| date = 26 February 2008

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}}{{cite news

| title = Record Rama bidder turns out to be a fraud

| first = Scott

| last = Mervis

| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/2008/02/23/Record-Rama-bidder-turns-out-to-be-a-fraud/stories/200802230165

| newspaper = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

| publisher = John Robinson Block

| issn = 1068-624X

| date = February 23, 2008

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}} Mawhinney relisted the collection in March 2008{{Citation

| last = Van Buskirk

| first = Eliot

| date = March 24, 2008

| title = 'World's Greatest Record Collection' For Sale… Again

| magazine = Wired

| publisher =Condé Nast Publications

| url = https://www.wired.com/listening_post/2008/03/worlds-greatest/

| issn = 1059-1028

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}}{{cite news

| title = Record-Rama music collection for sale again

| first = Ben

| last = Semmes

| url = http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/03/10/daily34.html

| periodical = Pittsburgh Business Times

| publisher = American City Business Journals

| issn = 1549-1927

| oclc = 40562053

| date = March 13, 2008

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}} but it did not sell.

By 2012, Mawhinney had sold various sections of the archive and various formats to other interested individuals. {{citation needed|date=February 2017}} The remains of a once-great collection were housed in a number of storage units that were in danger of being auctioned off due to the cost of maintenance by somebody on a fixed income with no retirement funds.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

Plans for preservation of the archive were set in motion by Audio Preservation Fund in 2012 with the intent to open a museum, online database, and shop under the name The Worlds Greatest Music Collection. Efforts to raise funds to purchase the collection failed, and the Audio Preservation Fund and Mawhinney parted ways when, once again, the prospector went out of business.{{cite web|title=Paul Mawhinney and The Worlds Largest Record Collection|url=http://www.chaoscartel.com.au/2013/news-paul-mawhinney-and-the-worlds-largest-record-collection/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005013354/http://www.chaoscartel.com.au/2013/news-paul-mawhinney-and-the-worlds-largest-record-collection/|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 October 2013|publisher=Chaos Cartel|accessdate=2 October 2013}}

In 2013, a friend of Mawhinney's told him about a classified ad in Billboard Magazine: "RECORD COLLECTIONS. We BUY any record collection. Any style of music. We pay HIGHER prices than anyone else." {{Citation

| last = Reel

| first = Monte

| date = 2014-08-08

| title = The Brazilian Bus Magnate Who's Buying Up All the World's Vinyl Records

| periodical = The New York Times Magazine

| publisher = The New York Times Company

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/the-brazilian-bus-magnate-whos-buying-up-all-the-worlds-vinyl-records.html?_r=0

| accessdate = 25 February 2017

}} Mawhinney made contact with the buyer's agent, and in the fall of 2013, eight {{nowrap|16 meter}} long semis pulled up to Mawhinney's warehouse and departed with what remained of the archive. The buyer was Zero Freitas of São Paulo, Brazil, a Brazilian bus magnate. As of August 2014, Freitas had 17 interns cataloging and recording {{nowrap|500 records}} a day, and he planned to open an online museum.{{Cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/video/news/2014/08/29/brazil-largest-vinyl-record-collection-sao-paulo.cnnmoney/index.html?iid=GM|title = Meet the guy with 5 million LP records|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512203907/https://money.cnn.com/video/news/2014/08/29/brazil-largest-vinyl-record-collection-sao-paulo.cnnmoney/index.html?iid=GM|archive-date=12 May 2016}}

{{reflist}}

• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070331124706/https://www.recordrama.com/ |date=March 31, 2007 |title=Record-Rama}}
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822002859/http://www.thegreatestmusiccollection.com/index.html |date=August 22, 2008 |title=The Worlds Greatest Music Collection}}
• [http://www.vimeo.com/1546186 The Archive], a video from 2008 about Paul Mawhinney and his collection, on Vimeo,

{{Pittsburgh}}

Category:Music retailers of the United States

Category:Companies based in Pittsburgh

Category:Music archives in the United States