A man from Leeds has turned his “lifelong hobby” into a thriving business.
John-Paul Craven is a part-owner of the Record Plant in Farsley. He now buys and sells vinyl records and has hosted a pop-up record fair in the Leeds Corn Exchange.
Craven said they started the record fair because he didn’t want vinyl to “die off “.
The first event was last weekend and they are being hosted inside Leeds Corn Exchange at the end of every month till the end of the year.
In a world full of Spotify playlists and TikTok trends, some may question the place in our lives for a physical record. When an artists entire discography is at your fingertips in a few clicks, what is the point of spending time and money on vinyl?
Source: Emma Haresign | All Rights ReservedMatt Bradshaw, assistant manager at Jumbo Records feared that vinyl would disappear in the early 2000s due to an increase in people buying CDs.
Nevertheless, vinyl made its comeback. According the the British Phonographic Industry, revenue from vinyl LPs rose by 2.9% to £145.7 million in 2024.
Bradshaw said “people want the physical products, they want to actually own it.”
“There has been a rebellion with younger people wanting to express themselves and show off their collection”
Source: Emma Haresign | All Rights ReservedVinyl collector, Judith Webber said she got back into vinyl again around a year ago.
Webber said she was “brought up on vinyl” and is now attempting to regain her collection.
She said “its the thrill of picking something physical up and taking it home. Its like the difference between taking a book home and reading on a kindle”
“Having the physical thing there all the time is important to me.”
With over 70 records in her collection, Webber was searching for a record by Split Ends, a band from New Zealand popular in the 70s, which is notoriously hard to find in the UK.
Craven stocks all sorts of records in his shop and at the pop-up fairs and has been collecting records since he was 3 years old.
Now, over 40 years later he is still consistently buying records for his own collection, “I still get excited when I see things I have been after.”
Source: Emma Haresign | All Rights ReservedThe permeance and physicality of vinyl music seems to be what draws people in and keeps them there, being able to see what your listening to or show off your personal collection is part of the selling point of physical music.
The greatest proportion of people listening to physical music is those aged 18 to 24, based on research by Key Production.
Ltylee from Warrington said she listens to vinyl because “its keeping physical media alive and it gives more money to artists than streaming does”.
Alongside the physicality of records, certain artists have been dubbed as influential to the physical music industry.
Craven said “Artists like Taylor Swift has been really important for pushing the format, people want to buy that artists record and they want all the colour variants and different sleeve variants”
Swift’s upcoming album release date is set for Friday 3rd October, seven weeks after the initial announcement. Since the album was announce Swift has released eight different vinyl variants of the same album, which her fans have sold out.
The collector mentality of vinyl is something you just can’t get when streaming music, downloading the album is no match for owning all the different collections and variants.
Social media benefits this collector mentality as people can show off their collections according to Craven.
Vinyl records can be expensive and require extensive care and consideration in order to listen to them. Which ever way you frame it, vinyl is significantly less convenient.
Craven said “I think it is where people start to think its a more enjoyable way to experience things, its ritualistic for people”
“Life is now very convenient and easy so some people like having something that is quite as easy”
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