Record Collector
| Editor | Ian McCann |
|---|---|
| Categories | Music magazine |
| Frequency | four-weekly |
| Publisher | Diamond Publishing |
| First issue | March 1980 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Language | English |
| Website | recordcollectormag.com |
| ISSN | 0261-250X |
Record Collector is a British monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.
The first standalone issue of Record Collector was published in March 1980, though its history stretches back further. In 1963, publisher Sean O’Mahony (alias Johnny Dean) had launched an official Beatles magazine, The Beatles Book. Although it shut down in 1969, The Beatles Book reappeared in 1976 due to popular demand.
Through the late-70s, the small ads section of The Beatles Book became an increasingly popular avenue through which collectors could make contact and buy, sell, or trade Beatles records. Reflecting a burgeoning collecting scene in the 1970s, as time went by, the adverts were becoming dominated by traders who were interested in rare vinyl outside of that within the Beatles world. In September 1979, The Beatles Book came with a record collecting supplement, and the response was positive enough for O’Mahony to launch Record Collector as a separate entity in March 1980.
By June 1980, Record Collector was a glossy A5 publication which ran to no more than 100 pages. With the addition of another editorial staff member – Peter Doggett, who stayed with the magazine for almost 20 years – Record Collector began to take shape and assume its own identity. Aimed at the collector’s market, early issues would focus largely on the music of collectible artists from the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Uniquely, Record Collector features would consist of both prose pieces on the history of the artist, and detailed discographies of their UK releases. These discographies would provide all the information needed for collectors to pore over, and which enabled them to differentiate between different pressings of outwardly identical releases – catalogue numbers, release dates and distinguishing features of the records/record sleeves themselves. In particular, they would also include a valuation of each record, so that dealers and collectors had a springboard to work from .Grease Records shop Nr Southport assisted with the record grading in conjunction with Sean O'Mahoney. Mike Adams who was then co-owner of the little shop also hosted The Record Collectors Show for 21 years on BBC Midlands and assisted on early editions on the magazine.
Collectors who couldn’t make it to London and other major cities where record fairs were being held, or the biggest record dealing shops were based, found themselves limited by their situation. The mail order listings in Record Collector were important, and one of the few places for buyers and sellers to make contact with each other. At its height, this section was up to half of the publication. However, at the turn of the 21st century with the success of selling to consumers on-line via sites such as eBay, many sellers now use this type of method the amount of lisitings has greatly declined.
...
Wikipedia