Manchester, UK | Man who set up second-hand CD business in garage is about to make £30 million: Steve Oliver, who co-founded MusicMagpie in 2007 initially to buy and sell secondhand CDs online, is due for a big pay out when the company lists on the stock exchange. A former record shop boss who started a business in his garage is to set to net a more than £30 million fortune. Steve Oliver, 50, co-founded MusicMagpie in 2007 initially to buy and sell secondhand CDs online. It has since grown to also become a leading reseller of mobile phones, other electronic gadgets and books. Mr Oliver will be one of the big winners under a planned stock market listing which could see the business valued at just under £210 million. As well as selling £12.2million in shares, he would retain a 9.5% stake worth nearly £20 million. Mr Oliver and co-founder Walter Gleeson set-up MusicMagpie from the garage of his home in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The pair worked together at high street chain Music Zone – where Mr Oliver was managing director – before its collapse.
Bristol, UK | The hidden gem record store tucked away behind busy Bristol shopping street: “Every day someone comes in and says, ‘I didn’t know this existed’” Pleasantly surprised at my own hipness, I correctly identify the punk rock pounding from Gastro Vinyl’s record player as a Savages album. My smugness dissipates, though, as store owner Alex Reed talks me through a section for vinyl releases from recent years, the names on the covers mostly alien to me. “Melvins had a big influence on grunge – this is their new one,” he says. “You’ve got Dälek here, who do really dark soundscapes. And this is from Les Claypool, an incredible bass player, really funky.” Getting recommendations from a music fan with encyclopaedic knowledge is one of the joys of visiting Park Row’s Gastro Vinyl, which reopened from lockdown on Monday. It is a small space, only a couple of metres wide and not much more in length, but it is crammed with a wonderfully eclectic music collection, covering everything from Bristol folk punk outfit Surfin’ Turnips to classics from the likes of Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison. Alex, 44, reckons the shop is home to a couple of thousand records. It also sells music magazines going back to the 1970s, books, and cult DVDs and videos, with a coffee counter at the back.
South Bend, IN | South Bend Record Show back for another year amid pandemic: The largest one-day sale of recorded music in Michiana is back again, with something for all music lovers! The show has been going on for years in South Bend, and dealers tell ABC57 News it’s more than just selling records, it’s meeting the people that bring them back to the record show year after year. “I love interacting with the people. I’ve always been a people person, you know and it’s been great,” Rodney Branham, a record dealer from Michigan said. Sunday, over 30 dealers came from seven states to the South Bend Record Show, each bringing with them a large collection of records, vinyl, CDs, and memorabilia. For owner Jeremy Bonfiglio, the South Bend Record Show is an experience full of comradery with both the dealers and the customers and their shared love of music. “For us dealers, there’s nothing better than seeing somebody who has been looking for a long time, find something that they really want to play… It makes their day, it makes our day.”
Keynsham, UK | Longwell Records to open new Bristol shop in Wapping Wharf: The owner of the Keynsham business is hoping its new home can host performances from some “big names.” An independent record shop that has brought artists including Razorlight to Somerset for performances at its store in Keynsham is opening a second shop in Bristol. Longwell Records’ new store will be based in retail hub Cargo 2, a series of converted shipping containers in the harbourside neighbourhood of Wapping Wharf. The business will occupy the unit formerly home to ethical clothing shop Found Hea, which has moved after three years to focus on its new joint venture with another independent retailer Fig 1 at Quakers Friars within Cabot Circus. Set to open within the next few weeks, the shop will stock new and used vinyl records and t-shirts with designs by local artists including Oli T and Inkie. …“I’m really looking forward to becoming part of Wapping Wharf’s very supportive independent community and bringing some added spice to an area that is already a fantastic location. I am hoping to bring some quite big names to our new home, making the most of the great relationships we have with many record labels.”
Pete Townshend claims The Beatles copied The Who: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ was inspired by ‘A Quick One, While He’s Away,’ he claims. “…Come on. The Beatles copied us! Paul McCartney came up to me at the Bag O’Nails (gig venue), which we mention in the album artwork. “He was always very, very sweet to me. I should say that first. But he said to me that he really loved our mini opera, which was called “A Quick One, While He’s Away.” That was on the album that preceded The Who Sell Out (1966’s ‘A Quick One’). And he told me they were thinking about doing similar things. “I think anybody that was even a little bit art school back then, a little bit adventurous — and, of course, the Beatles were encouraged to experiment to the max in the studio — would have thought about doing something which was a concept.” Going on to lavish ‘Sgt. Pepper’ with praise, Townshend continued: “There isn’t much of a concept to that record but to this day, whenever I sit down and get the vinyl out, stick it on, something always leaps out that I’ve never noticed before. “I think the same is true with (The Beach Boys’) Pet Sounds. Those two albums are seminal changes in what we all believed was going to be possible if you were in a band making records, just extraordinary leaps of faith that the audience would accept it.”
