Mega Record & CD Fair 2008 Utrecht The Netherlands

In spite of the sleet, many thousends of Vinyl-freaks find their way to the 30th edition of the Mega Record& CD Fair in the Jaarbeurs, Utrecht. I feel a bit of nostalgia when I enter the big main hall and am surrounded by at least one and a half million of old and new records.
Besides all this there’s also a huge number of CDs for sale.

My first goal today will be an interview with one of the organizers of the A.R.C., they have organized this event since 1984. Together with FuryRocks photographer Bianca I'm off to the information desk where Cas Bosland meets us and answers some of my questions.

Over the last years, there has been an increase of visitors to this fair, do you think this will happen again this year?
Cas Bosland: ‘Yes absolutely, most likely we will have about 35,000 visitors this weekend and that's an increase. This year we even had to work with a waiting list for our exhibitors and I tell you, that's quite unique!’

When came the idea to start a record fair?
‘I spent some time in England, it was at the end of the 70s, over there were already some nice record fairs and I thought this would be something for The Netherlands. So somewhere around 1984 we started our first record fair in the Koningszaal in Artis, Amsterdam. It was quite primitive those days, we put about 120 little tables in the room, so the exhibitors could show and sell their stuff. Later on, it all became more professional.’

When did you decide to move the fair to Utrecht?
‘In 1993 the fair was grown to big for the Koningszaal. So we had to look for another location, in the Jaarbeurs we found the perfect location. The first event in the Jaarbeurs was really exiting, for we didn’t know how many people would come over to visit our record fair. We were surprised when we opened the doors, there was a huge, impatient crowd that wanted to come in.’

Did you do something special for this 30th edition of the Record&CD Fair?
‘Yes of course, special events this time are an exhibition of 250 rare and exotic Dutch beat singles from the sixties by Dandy Dace (Dutch sixties throwback/musician), there’s also a vinyl- corner where you can have your records and CDs cleaned and blended. Museum RockArt presents hundreds of Dutch memorabilia. Industrial designer Marc de Sande is in the fair with his own made machine that turns old damaged vinyl into fruit bowls, for example. And then there are the unplugged live performances of Spinvis and the band Johan.’

Is there something you want to tell to the FuryRocks readers?
‘Well, the last couple of years I see more and more metal heads on our fair. There are also more metal items for sale, that’s one of the reasons we created a special Metal Corner on the fair, so all the metal stuff is conveniently arranged.

After the interview Cas Bosland invites us to the panorama terrace for a beautiful view and a good occasion for our photographer to take some nice shots. We say goodbye to the most friendly A.R.C. organizer Cas Bosland and continue our trip at the fair.

I decide to visit some exhibitors on the fair for an interview. One of the first stall that attracks me is Disc Covery Records Ltd. from Accington U.K. (nearby Manchester). The owner is a friendly man and when I ask him if he is in for an interview, he likes to collaborate.

Is this your first time on the fair?
Owner D.C.R.: ‘This is my 15th time on the fair and it’s really fun to be here. Only the sales could be better, I think the financial crisis makes people more careful with their money. It’s the cheap stuff (2-5 euro) that sells best.’

Can we find you at other places, like the summer festivals?
‘In the past I went to the Reading festival as well as Donington. I was once at the Graspop Festival, in Belgium. That was the edition with Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.’
I thank the friendly owner of Disc Covery Records ltd and I proceed my trip.

Next in line is Cherry Bomb Records, the owner is here for the third time and when I ask him about the fair he tells me:
‘For me it is more like a hobby, in the past I had a mailorder company but I could not combine it with my regular job, so now I just do some fairs like this one. But I tell you it’s quite hard to manage, it costs a lot to come over from Sweden to The Netherlands and then there are the hotel costs. It is expensive, but okay, it is also a fantastic hobby, so who am I to complain.’
You can also visit Cherry Bomb Records at festivals like Wacken Open Air and Sweden Rock.
The speciality of Cherry Bomb Records is Scandinavian Punk/Metal and Japanese import.

After this meeting I head off to the Dutch exhibitor Ed from Millennium Records. You find these guys a lot on Dutch festivals and you can also find them on Wacken Open Air, Graspop and some other festivals. I ask Ed how many times they have been on this fair in Utrecht.
‘This is the 30th time, so we are here from the very first beginning. Most people expect Millennium Records to be on this fair, because we are always present. We also have our own spot on the fair, so it’s not difficult for people to find us.’

Are there some special items in your stall?
‘Yes, we have a deal with an Italian Label, that has the copyrights of some old stuff which was never released on vinyl. For example, I have this limited vinyl edition of Dio's Magica. It’s hand numbered and limited to 500 copies. Millennium Records has the copyrights for selling this stuff in the Benelux.’

After my visit at Millennium Records I'm off to Hot Shot Records from Bremen, Germany.
I meet the very friendly owner of Hot Shot and ask him: Is this a good fair?
‘Oh yes, I really can’t complain: this is a good fair for me. I also have a online store and I have been selling a lot last months. There are a lot custumers from the United States who buy on the internet. I think it's because the euro decreases in value, so they can buy more with their dollars over here in Europe.’

Do you have this kind of record fairs in Germany?
‘No, the phenomenon of record and CD fairs is not known in Germany, somehow Germans won’t buy records or CDs on this kind of fairs: they just want to buy it in stores or on the internet. We do just a few festivals, like Wacken Open Air, Sweden Rock and Graspop.’

I walk towards the museum RockArt with a surface area of 400 m2. The museum exposes hundreds of Dutch Nederpop memorabilia like the old 70’s drum kit of Cesar Zuiderwijk (Golden Earring) and the guitar of Dany Lademacher (former guitar player of Herman Brood & his Wild Romance).
On my way back towards the record an CD section, I see a famous actor from the old days. It turns out to be ‘Face’, or Dirk Benedict, from 80’s series The A – Team, who's here for a photo shoot and signature session, for which you have to pay of course.

When I arrive at the Metal corner, photographer Bianca and I decide to interview some of the visitors and ask them what they bought on the fair.
The first visitor we meet is Maike from The Hague, she’s often found on fairs like these and today she is looking for a special item of Finnish band Lordi. It seems Lordi’s The Arockalypse blue/red splatter is released in a limited edition of 500 hand numbered vinyl copies. I wonder if she succeeded.

Not much later we meet the family Van Der Horst from Grootebroek, it’s their family outing and together with the two kids, they are on a bargain hunt. For their kids they have already bought some Star Wars stuff and for themselves they have just bought the new Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy.

Wim from Roosendaal is the last in line for an interview and he is on this fair because his friend persuaded him to come with him. Wim is not regretting this, because he stare his eyes out. There are a lot of bargains Wim explains: ‘I just bought a CD of Steelheart and there are so many other items you can buy for a couple of euros, which is quite cheap.’

The Mega Record & CD Fair is highly recommended, the fair features stuff for every one’s taste and you can find a lot of bargains for little money. I enjoyed my day at this fair and went home with some beautiful stories, and the new album of Motörhead, Motörizer.

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