Kent vinyl shops prepare for Record Store Day

The initiative was started in 2007 and has more than two hundred stores taking part across the UK.

Transcript

00:00 Final Records, the sound of music in Kent for decades has made a major comeback.

00:17 Falling out of fashion following the rise of the CD, Records are firmly back on the

00:22 charts.

00:23 In no small part thanks to Record Store Day, where artists have been providing limited

00:28 edition records to independent music shops for over a decade.

00:33 The Entertainment Retailers Association say Record Store Day is responsible for 10% of

00:38 all annual sales of physical music products that are sold on the high street.

00:44 There are some absolutely fantastic independent record shops all across Kent and I think what

00:48 record shops are, is they're more than just record shops in this day and age.

00:52 They're cultural hubs and spaces that bring like-minded music fans together.

00:56 I think in a world which has become very digital, people really do enjoy having something physical.

01:02 It's the nostalgia of Final Records, it's the physicality, it's not just the music itself

01:08 but it's the artwork, it's the liner notes, it's the posters, the inserts, it's the whole

01:13 ritual and experience of putting it on the turntable and turning it over halfway through.

01:17 Gatefield Sounds in Wisterborough has been taking part in Record Store Day since it first

01:22 started in 2007.

01:25 It is a boost for us in our business and we're very fortunate as a record store to have an

01:30 event like this.

01:31 Many businesses don't have an event on the scale that Record Store Day is.

01:38 We have people in our queue every year who meet up just at this time every year and they've

01:43 been doing this for years and have formed quite a bond and look forward to seeing these

01:47 friends that they've met during their experience of just queuing up through the night to get

01:54 their records.

01:55 Look, it may be a tiny bit quiet where I'm stood right now outside Gatefield Sounds on

01:59 a Thursday afternoon but come Saturday morning this street will be packed.

02:04 People queuing all the way down there to try and get their hands on exclusives and rarities

02:09 from their favourite artists.

02:11 One of those in line will be Bill Hicks who has been collecting vinyl for over a decade.

02:17 What is the appeal of Record Store Day for you as someone who's collected it for so long?

02:23 Something that is rare, not valuable, I'm not interested in the value.

02:27 The community spirit, talking to people in the queue.

02:31 It's the pleasure of owning them, the quality of them, they sound better.

02:36 I proved that to myself 30 years ago in Hong Kong when I played Peter Gabriel's second

02:41 album on CD and vinyl and I said to my then wife, "Vinyl sounds better."

02:47 With nearly £10 million of estimated sales value going into this weekend, stores across

02:52 Kent won't be expecting a needle drop in record sales any time soon.

02:57 Oliver leads the sacks giving vinyl a spin for KMTV in Whitstable.