Overheard at the record store

While browsing at Bantu Records, minding my own business, I got dragged into an argument by a couple – the woman insisted that I look at her partner’s vinyl collection and pass judgement. I use that phrase because you could see she really wanted me to back her up and make him feel small. It seems she was not turned on by his collection. So I agreed. Silly decisions because it was about well past 7pm at night, and both looked red about the face.

So I looked at the photo she thrust under my nose – a panoramic shot of a very impressive lounge with album covers aesthetically arranged on the shelves – much like a bibliophile might have wall-to-wall books. And what I saw was a warm and fuzzy collection of faves, classics and must-haves running from D’Angelo to Yussef Dayes, Sade and Khruangbin. 

Breathing heavily next to me, she asked: So what do you think?

I told her honestly that this was a beautiful collection – a sensitive soul with good, contemporary taste lived there. 

He said nothing. Just nodded appreciatively. 

But I know all of this music, she exclaimed. If you’re a real vinyl collector I shouldn’t recognise most of the music; it should be rare. She was really needling him.

I knew I should have stayed out of it, but I couldn’t resist sharing my TED Talk – not so eloquently that time, mind you but in essence:

Collecting is not a competition. Music is personal. It is collected in any form expressly for the pleasure of listening, not for impressing. A real collection tells you something about the person who built it, not about what he paid for it and the lengths he went to to procure it. Mine has records from the charity store, and shows the results of hours of solitary crate-digging not knowing what I was looking for, and brand-spanking new, out-of-the-box vinyl I knew I shouldn’t be spending money on that month. 

Chasing rarity is another hobby entirely. If you take away the love of music and only worry about rarity, you’re just collecting bragging power. That, for me, is a turn-off.

The couple, if you’re interested to know, were in their late 20s, I would guess – reportedly the biggest drivers of the vinyl revival. According to Statista, while sales are still far from the glory days of when more than 300 million were sold per year, but in 2025, about 48 million units were sold and the growth of vinyl sales shows no signs of slowing down, with the market projected to keep climbing to about 60 million units by 2030. 

My own collection is modest and growing slowly – after someone helped themselves to my first collection. I had been quietly collecting but had never owned a working record player. And now, thanks to the wonderful Maghmood at Oddly Curated, I do.

It’s not a cheap exercise.

I’m constantly torn between replacing what I had, adding new listening experiences or sticking to my default setting: jazz – to my small shelf. My last acquisition was an emotional, spur of the moment one: I decided to take the girls to Mr Vinyl to buy their first LPs and I’m pretty proud of their choices – one bought Radiohead’s The Bends and the other Michael Jackson’s Thriller. My next purchase is hopefully winging its way over soon – Christian Scott’s Stretch Music (the album with the red cover) – ordered three months ago. And I’m still hoping Bokani Dyer will re-issue World Music. I believe it was pressed, but had to be recalled due to a fault. 

A new release or a classic averages R700, but seeing their faces flush with excitement every time they found a favourite artist and came running to show me took the sting out of the hefty swipe. We must have spent about two hours there, but next time we’re going crate-digging.