Steve Aoki launches company focused on grading physical music assets

While on stage, Steve Aoki is known for throwing cakes, off stage, he is continuing to diversify his already impressive resume of passions and organizations, continuing to reinforce his love for trading cards, web3, and now physical music media.  While music consumption has evolved dramatically over the past few decades, many collectors still prefer the physical ownership of a CD or vinyl record and may be curious about the value of the items they have sitting on their shelves at home.

Much like the grading systems for comic books or trading cards such as Pokémon, Audio Media Grading accesses the quality, rarity, and edition of physical musical media and gives the item a graded score.  To showcase how the service works, Audo Media Grading posted several items via their Instagram, including two Steve Aoki releases, a Japanese import CD of his newest album, Hiroquest, as well as a Neon Future Odyssey limited signed vinyl.  The assets are displayed in a virtual rotating case complete with a tag on top to showcase the details as well as a graded score.

As of now, the website is open and accepts vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, and 8-Track, for grading and the service starts at $50 an item.  The grading occurs on a scale of 1-10 and gives audiophiles and serious collectors a certificate of authenticity to quantify the value of their items.  Taking to social media, Steve Aoki was very excited to launch this new venture and did so by stating:

“Introducing Audio Media Grading, the world’s first music grading company.  I’ve partnered together with the folks from @CASGrading to create a new business where you can grade your vinyl, cassettes, CDs, and 8Track to classify and log your audio media. A tool for music collectors and audiophiles, you’ll now finally be able to see how your content grades in comparison to others saved pieces.”

With physical media sales on the rise again, it is a good time to shuffle through the collection and find out if any of those old records or CDs lying around have any extra value through Audio Media Grading.

Image Credit: Aldo Carrera