Launched back in 2000 with just a handful of listings, the Discogs database now contains details of more than 10.7 million physical music releases – 5.9 million of them on vinyl. Considered the go-to resource for record collectors and sellers worldwide, the community-built and developed website has 5.4 million users and its marketplace sees more than 19,000 purchases of vinyl records made every day. It’s the biggest virtual record shop in the world.
Almost anything can be found on Discogs, whether it’s a David Bowie reissue LP for less than £10 or a rare 7" of the Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen – which last year sold for $15,882 (£12,264).
“Just keeping Discogs online costs around $1 million a year in hosting and management fees due to the amount of traffic,” says chief operating officer Chad Dahlstrom.