As a collector, I still buy more vinyl, and the more I buy, the more I want, leaving the question?  ‘Does anybody know what was released by these artists?’ and ‘Was I missing releases from my favourite artists?’  Visiting record and book shops here in South Australia and interstate over many years, talking to many collectors and shop owners, it was clear publications on Australian music were minimal with some information incomplete or missing.

For my own benefit, I decided that if I knew of any record release I did not have in my collection, I would include it in my insurance spreadsheet as a separate entry so that when I went record shopping I would have a list of wants.

The list became a vital tool as I started to buy records that I already had in my collection, due to not being able to remember the thousands of records that I already have.

The list soon became hundreds of pages and the next question was, ‘If I have trouble finding releases, surely other collectors have the same problem?’  It would be nice to have a publication that gave me the information up-front, rather than spending countless hours searching through hundreds of internet sites and book shops wasting my time. Hence the birth of The Aussie Vinyl Collectors Guide.