Is Music Grading the Next Big Thing?
Rob, CEO of Audio Media Grading (AMG), discusses the emerging music grading market with the host, explaining how physical music media like CDs, vinyl, and cassettes are professionally graded and preserved similarly to collectible cards. The conversation covers grading standards, market trends driven by grunge and hip-hop collectors, and how celebrity investors like Steve Aoki have backed the five-year-old company.
Summary
The episode explores Audio Media Grading (AMG), a new company that professionally grades physical music media—CDs, vinyl records, cassettes, and more—similar to how collectible cards and comics are graded. The host receives his sealed copy of Alice in Chains' 'Jar of Pearls' graded as a 7, which he discusses with Rob, AMG's founder and main visionary.
Rob explains AMG's grading methodology, which distinguishes between sealed and unsealed products. For sealed items, graders examine cellophane integrity under magnification, looking for scratches, tears, stains, fading, and any damage. Unsealed products are evaluated for CD condition, scratches, and paint damage. The company uses a 1-10 grading scale based on the gold standard, avoiding half-grades for simplicity.
The market is in early stages ('first inning'), with significant growth in collectible sealed albums from the 1990s grunge and hip-hop eras (1989-1997). Notable sales include a retail Biggie CD that sold for $27,000 and an Eminem 'Infinite' album that sold for $104,000. The host and Rob identify grunge (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains) and golden-era hip-hop as the most collectible genres, with Taylor Swift dominating pop and the Beatles and Eminem as all-time GOATs.
The company has backing from major investors including billionaire Alexis O'Nahan, musician Steve Aoki (who invested after receiving Rob's personal message), and Jeff Wilson. Rob's breakthrough moment came when he messaged Steve Aoki at 11:30 p.m. with schematics and business concepts; Aoki responded within 30 minutes, leading to the company's formation.
AMG also grades other music collectibles including seven-inch records, autographed items (authenticated through JSA partnership), and custom display slabs. The company offers full customization, allowing collectors to display items in personalized configurations on their walls.
The hosts discuss the cultural context of music collecting in the 1990s, including long boxes (cardboard packaging for CDs used in record stores from the late '80s to mid-'90s), MTV as the primary music discovery channel, and the nostalgia driving the current collector market. Rob emphasizes AMG's role in preserving historical pieces and family heirlooms, sharing a story of a collector who found their father's lost Led Zeppelin album, had it graded, and reunited it with the original owner.
Key Insights
- Rob explains that the primary factor lowering graded music ratings is scratches on cellophane, with fraudsters attempting to replicate authenticity by applying new cellophane over damaged original packaging, making cellophane texture expertise critical for authentication
- Rob identifies the golden era of hip-hop and grunge (1989-1995/1997) as the primary driver of the music grading market because collectors in that age demographic now have disposable income to pursue premium versions of albums from their youth
- Rob received a response from Steve Aoki within 30 minutes of sending an unsolicited 11:30 p.m. personal message with business diagrams, which Aoki's business partner Dougie Behe recognized and championed, leading to AMG's formation five years prior
- AMG intentionally designed grading to preserve historical pieces and family heirlooms rather than for resale, with Rob noting that less than 1% of his personal collection is appraised and comparing the preservation mission to how comic books and video games are graded despite not being playable or viewable in standard ways
- Long boxes, cardboard CD packaging used only for a few years in the early 1990s, became highly collectible and rare because environmental concerns led artists like David Bowie to eliminate their use, making sealed albums in long boxes particularly valuable to grunge-era collectors
Topics
Transcript
[0:01] There is an interesting market that no one thinks about. It is in its initial stages. I would say it's the first inning, something new that people are evaluating and sealing. I recently participated in this market and I'm going to invite the CEO of one company about this , but it's music evaluation. This is my favorite album of all time. As a child, I was, I think, 14 years old when it came out. Nutshell is my favorite grunge song. Maybe I'll put it at the [0:31] end too. I can put most of this CD. Hmm, that meant a lot to me. Rob—my buddy, the founder of, uh, Audio Media Grading, AMG Grading , and he…
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