The record shop revival shows how growth can mean something to communities
4 min read
Record Store Day, taking place this Saturday, brings the high street to life and shows us that connected and buzzing community spaces can be synonymous with growth.
The Small Business Strategy should focus on supporting these community-retail spaces to shift “growth” from a buzzword to a feeling.
“Unlocking growth” and “fiscal rules” tend not to be phrases that flood my inbox, but emails about loneliness and lack of community spaces certainly do. As Labour MPs, it is our job to bring our constituents along for the journey as we embark on a decade of national renewal, and Record Store Day shows us how.
Record Store Day, 12 April, shows us what the high street looks like at its best, and what we can achieve if we focus the strategy on replicating the success of community-retail hubs like record stores.
Around 300 independent stores are taking part in the event this year. On the day, you will see queues and queues of people winding around pavements waiting to get into their local record store, excitedly chatting to each other as they talk about their favourite albums: building connections and even friendships. Even other businesses get involved, with a local brewery in Cheltenham launching a Record Store Day beer, and coffee shops and local restaurants helping feed the hungry queues. This really is a community day.
The digital entertainment and retail association estimates that the event gave a £10m boost to record shop sales last year, merely a cherry on top of the cake for the music industry as it nears £2.4bn in value as of 2024. This would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago, when music sales had plummeted to £1bn, as piracy and illegal downloads threatened the sector's survival. Music streaming emerged as a solution, rescuing the industry from collapse and driving consistent growth since, with an 8 per cent compound annual growth rate for the sector over the past decade.
This boom for music helped lift a similar boom for the local record stores, at a time when high streets are otherwise declining. Acting as a community hub across 100s of towns (including my own – shameless shoutout to Sticky Black Tarmac record shop!), record stores are one example of the valuable cultural and community spaces that could exist on the high street, which genuinely serve the needs of the local community and which boost local economies.
As record shops have grown in number, so too has the music industry in the UK. It’s one of the fastest growing creative sectors – helped in part by the humble record store. If we want growth that means something to voters, putting the conditions in place to allow community enterprises like record stores to thrive, and encouraging experimentation to try new creative spaces, must be a core objective of the Small Business Strategy.
In my role as chair of the Labour MPs group on local growth funding, how we support these types of retail and community spaces is front and centre of my mind. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and we must implement measures to support them effectively. One approach is offering tax breaks for retail businesses that boost industrial strategy growth sectors and local economies, like record shops. Before my election in 2024, I was involved in establishing the Spinners Mill — a space where various creators could set up shop and sell their creative content. Creative business and their communities both thrive.
At Spinners Mill, we waived business rates for creators, making it easier for them to become profitable and to achieve financial stability over time. This initiative not only supported individual entrepreneurs but also breathed new life into the local high street. Creative businesses contribute beyond their own returns, and that should be reflected in the support they are given.
The resurgence of vinyl, and consequently record stores, encourages wider spending, benefiting local economies and enhancing community health. By fostering environments where small businesses can thrive, we not only stimulate economic growth but also create vibrant, connected communities. Supporting small businesses to forge these local connections has to be at the heart of our Small Business Strategy to bring meaning to the language of “growth” and give our high streets the best chance of success. I will absolutely be championing this approach ahead of its publication later this year.
Jo Platt is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Leigh and Atherton.
