Over the last 10 years, comic cons have really flourished. More than just marketplaces, they’re fan gatherings, going from grassroots events to being embraced by Hollywood. Under the tutelage of Disney, for example, there’s now the regular, official Star Wars Convention with thousands of attendees and all the actors and production team on panels. That’s the equivalent of one of the major labels such as Universal, Sony or Warner throwing open their doors for a convention for all the people that buy their records – as opposed to leaving the ‘live experience’ to completely separate businesses, outside of the vinyl sphere.
Coming down a level, if you look at the various UK comic cons happening this year, you start to form a blueprint of how and where record fairs could go next.