The Brazilian collector has purchased about 8 million records, many from the estates of major record dealers in the U.S. He has a full time staff cataloging his collection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Freitas
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/27/record-collector-zero-freitas-worlds-largest-vinyl-hoa...
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/the-brazilian-bus-magnate-whos-buying-up-all-the-worlds-...
And finally, an interview with Freitas https://thevinylfactory.com/features/inside-the-worlds-biggest-record-collection-an-interview-with-z... where is says
U.S. Americans have the cult of memory. So the estimation is that the percentage of digitalised music reaches the level of 80% of all works ever released there. In a country like Brazil, it does not reach 20%. I’d say it’s probably even less because this is just 20% of the mainstream commercial market and outside it it must be close to zero. I have thousands and thousands of records with gospel music that were not digitalised. Even the majors that are the most organised of the music labels have no idea of exactly how many records they have produced. The available information is very vague.
And this whereby I must be one of those crazy people: I have no contact with other collectors. In general they are crazy people. I do not belong to a collectors’ club. I made friends with some, mainly through theatre, but I don’t talk to them about records and music, because they talk about it all day, and I find it kind of a sickness.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/27/record-collector-zero-freitas-worlds-largest-vinyl-hoa...
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/the-brazilian-bus-magnate-whos-buying-up-all-the-worlds-...
And finally, an interview with Freitas https://thevinylfactory.com/features/inside-the-worlds-biggest-record-collection-an-interview-with-z... where is says
U.S. Americans have the cult of memory. So the estimation is that the percentage of digitalised music reaches the level of 80% of all works ever released there. In a country like Brazil, it does not reach 20%. I’d say it’s probably even less because this is just 20% of the mainstream commercial market and outside it it must be close to zero. I have thousands and thousands of records with gospel music that were not digitalised. Even the majors that are the most organised of the music labels have no idea of exactly how many records they have produced. The available information is very vague.
And this whereby I must be one of those crazy people: I have no contact with other collectors. In general they are crazy people. I do not belong to a collectors’ club. I made friends with some, mainly through theatre, but I don’t talk to them about records and music, because they talk about it all day, and I find it kind of a sickness.