Do Not Sell At Any Price

A thoughtful, entertaining history of obsessed music collectors and their quest for rare early 78 rpm records (Los Angeles Times), Do Not Sell at Any Price is a fascinating, complex story of preservation, loss, obsession, and art.Before MP3s, CDs, and cassette tapes, even before LPs or 45s, the world listened to music on fragile, 10-inch shellac discs that spun at 78 revolutions per minute. While vinyl has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, rare and noteworthy 78rpm records are exponentially harder to come by. The most sought-after sides now command tens of thousands of dollars, when theyre found at all. Do Not Sell at Any Price is the untold story of a fixated coterie of record collectors working to ensure those songs arent lost forever. Music critic and author Amanda Petrusich considers the particular world of the 78from its heyday to its near extinctionand examines how a cabal of competitive, quirky individuals have been frantically lining their shelves with some of the rarest records in the world. Besides the mania of collecting, Petrusich also explores the history of the lost backwoods blues artists from the 1920s and 30s whose work has barely survived and introduces the oddball fraternity of menincluding Joe Bussard, Chris King, John Tefteller, and otherswho are helping to save and digitize the blues, country, jazz, and gospel records that ultimately gave seed to the rock, pop, and hip-hop we hear today. From Thomas Edison to Jack White, Do Not Sell at Any Price is an untold, intriguing story of the evolution of the recording formats that have changed the ways we listen to (and create) music. Whether youre already a 78 aficionado, a casual record collector, a crate-digger, or just someonewho enjoys listening to music, youre going to love this book (Slate).