About Goldmine

Goldmine

Goldmine is an American music magazine focused on the collectors' market for records, tapes, CDs, and music-related memorabilia. Established in September 1974 by Brian Bukantis in Fraser, Michigan, it is one of the longest-running music collector publications in the world. Now owned by Veeps, a subsidiary of Live Nation, and based in New York City, the magazine is published bi-monthly, with Patrick Prince serving as editor since 2015 (he also edited the magazine from 2010 to 2012). Its official website is goldminemag.com.

Each issue features news articles, interviews, discographies, histories, and current reviews of recording stars of the past and present. Discographies list all known releases. Coverage spans rock, blues, soul, Americana, folk, new wave, punk, and heavy metal. The magazine's legacy includes the Goldmine price guides — once the standard references for record valuation — and the Goldmine Grading Guide, first published in the 1980s and refined in the 1990s, which was quickly adopted by online sellers and remains the standard for grading 45s, LPs, and related ephemera.

Publication at a Glance

Goldmine is a bi-monthly English-language magazine based in New York City, owned by Veeps (a Live Nation subsidiary) as of 2026. It was published bi-monthly until 1977, when it became a monthly publication, and returned to a bi-monthly frequency at the beginning of 2022. The magazine was long produced on newsprint in a tabloid format; the October 2021 issue brought a significant redesign — perfect-bound rather than stapled for the first time, newsprint eliminated for good and replaced by high-quality glossy pages.

Founding in 1974

Goldmine was established in September 1974 by Brian Bukantis in Fraser, Michigan, focusing from the start on the collectors' market for records, tapes, CDs, and music-related memorabilia. For decades it was the indispensable meeting place for record collectors: each issue combined editorial features — news articles, interviews, discographies, histories, and reviews — with extensive marketplace listings, making it "the Collector's Record & Compact Disc Marketplace." The April 17, 1992 issue (Vol. 18, No. 8), featuring Mötley Crüe on the cover with articles on the MC5, Anthrax, the Misfits, and a review of the Seattle rock scene with Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden, typifies the magazine's role as a snapshot of music culture and collector activity.

The Krause Publications Years

For much of its history, Goldmine was published by Krause Publications of Iola, Wisconsin — the collecting-publications house behind the vast line of Goldmine price guides. Publisher Greg Loescher, who led the magazine in the 1990s, played an instrumental role in establishing the first Goldmine Record Album Price Guide, spearheaded by record-collecting savant Tim Neely; Neely's first effort featured 40,000 records, and later editions boasted 110,000 records. The guides branched out into jazz, country, R&B, comedy, and Christmas records, with the Standard Catalog of American Records as the former flagship book of the line. Editors during the Krause era included Jeff Tamarkin (1981–1996), and writers included Dave Thompson, Harvey Kubernik, Colin Escott, Gillian G. Gaar, David Nathan, Steve Roeser, Jay Jay French, Cub Koda, and Debbie Kruger.

The Price Guides

The Goldmine price guides were, for decades, the standard references for valuing recorded music. The line's last publications were the 10th edition of the Record Album Price Guide in 2019, the last Price Guide to 45 RPM Records in 2018, the last Jazz Album Price Guide in 2016, and the final Standard Catalog of American Records in 2016. KP Books, which published what remained of the price guides, was part of the sale of the entire F+W books division to Penguin Random House, which now owns the Krause Publications trademark. By then, online sources for valuation had become more reliable and current, and the guides had become essentially obsolete.

Though the pricing books are history, their legacy lives on in the Goldmine Grading Guide, first published in the 1980s and refined in the 1990s — the standard for grading 45s, LPs, and related ephemera, adopted by online sellers everywhere.

50th Anniversary and the Veeps Era

The magazine marked 50 years of publication in 2024; a retrospective, "Looking back at 50 years of Goldmine," traced its journey from a Michigan collector paper to a national music magazine. Ownership changed hands several times: in the summer of 2021, Goldmine was arranged to be purchased from Active Interest Media by New York-based Project M Group, which owned magazines and websites mostly related to music and alternative lifestyles. With the October 2019 issue reflecting the change in ownership, and the October 2021 issue bringing the glossy redesign, Goldmine was — for the first time since 1983 — no longer published out of Wisconsin. It also opened its own online record store, with exclusive vinyl LPs and bundled products. As of 2026, the publication is owned by Veeps, a subsidiary of Live Nation. In August 2026, nearly all of the publication's staff were laid off amid mass layoffs affecting BrooklynVegan and Alt Press.

Editorial Content

Goldmine has been called the world's most renowned publication for music collectibles and music memorabilia, covering all genres but anchored in rock and roll. Each issue features articles about and interviews with recording stars of the past and present, reviews of new releases, and music collecting news and tips. Features from its pages cover music history, record collecting, reissues, and rare finds. Cover artists have ranged from Mötley Crüe and Sly and the Family Stone (the February 1994 20th-anniversary issue) to Marillion, David Bowie, and Rainbow.

The Grading Guide

The Goldmine Grading Guide deserves special mention: first published in the 1980s and refined in the 1990s, it was quickly adopted by online sellers and is today the standard for grading 45s, LPs, and related ephemera. Its condition grades — from Mint through Near Mint, Very Good Plus, down through Poor — are the lingua franca of record collecting worldwide, used by sellers on eBay, Discogs, and in record shops everywhere.

Cover Artists and Interviews

Goldmine's covers read as a history of popular music itself: Mötley Crüe on the April 17, 1992 issue (Vol. 18, No. 8, Issue 306), Sly and the Family Stone on the February 1994 20th-anniversary issue (Vol. 20, Issue 354), Marillion on a March 2009 issue, along with features on David Bowie and Rainbow. The magazine's interviews and discographies have documented recording stars of the past and present across rock, blues, soul, Americana, folk, new wave, punk, and heavy metal — with discographies listing all known releases, a feature that remains invaluable to collectors.

The magazine's fiftieth-anniversary retrospective, "Looking back at 50 years of Goldmine," traced the journey from a Michigan collector paper to a national music magazine — and noted that the October 2019 issue was the first to reflect the change in ownership, with the magazine's evolution continuing into its second half-century.

Each issue of Goldmine features news articles, interviews, discographies, histories, and current reviews on recording stars of the past and present, with discographies included listing all known releases. Coverage includes rock, blues, soul, Americana, folk, new wave, punk, and heavy metal — the full breadth of the recorded-music collecting universe.

Official Website

The magazine's official website is https://goldminemag.com, featuring articles on music history, record collecting, reissues, and rare finds, alongside the online record store with exclusive vinyl LPs and bundled products. Since 1974, Goldmine has remained the premier periodical for collectors and enthusiasts of records and compact discs, offering in-depth articles, discographies, and marketplace coverage across five decades.