Ex-racecourse boss does some blue sky thinking to go back to his musical roots
AFTER STEPPING DOWN FROM RUNNING UTTOXETER VENUE,
AN EX-RACECOURSE boss who worked closely with some of the biggest bands around has launched an online record store.
David Macdonald, from Hinckley, in Leicestershire, has set up Blue Sky Vinyl – buying and selling vintage records online.
David left his job as executive director of Uttoxeter Racecourse earlier this year after 14 years at the helm.
During his stint there, he used his music industry contacts to attract the likes of Kaisar Chiefs, Madness and the Human League.
He previously booked The Smiths as president of Edge Hill University students’ union – with thousands of students turning up to a 450-capacity venue and having to be kept out by the police – shortly before their famous Top of the Pops performance of This Charming Man in the mid-80s.
After that, he went on to have a successful career in live music promotion before joining the racecourse – putting on Stock, Aitken and Waterman shows featuring the likes of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Rick Astley, as well as electronica gigs featuring Paul Oakenfold and Judge Jules.
The 58-year-old said his Blue Sky Vinyl Facebook page was now live and he has around 1,000 records already for sale via the Discogs online music marketplace.
He said: “How big it goes, I don’t know – I’m taking the first steps right now.
“I got a proper designer in to create the logo, inspired by the colours on the Mr Blue Sky sleeve by ELO and the idea of ‘blue sky thinking’ – creating something fresh and new.
“We’ll have to where it goes in terms of retail and eventually setting up a shop, but it’s starting online.
“There’s also the potential to go into running events for collectors.”
DAVID IS NOW SELLING VINYL RECORDS ONLINE
Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, he was influenced by punk and new wave music and loved The Clash, The Ramones, Buzzcocks and The Damned. He is also a massive Gary Numan fan.
He said: “As a music-obsessed teenager growing up in the Lake District, I worked at a petrol station on the pumps for £1 an hour. I’d work for 100 hours a week and spend all my earnings on records.
“Vinyl’s more than just listening to the music – it’s the touch; the feel; all those great memories of sitting in your bedroom studying the artwork on the record sleeves.
“I more recently started collected all the vinyl I had as a teenager, travelling up and down the country to find the records, and fell in love with it all over again.
“There’s definitely a growing market for vinyl now – it outsold CDS last year for the first time since 1987 – and in the pandemic, a lot of people have looked at their lives and what’s important to them.
“I felt now was the time to follow my passion. I’d had an amazing time at the racecouse, but I spent 14 years travelling 130 miles a day up and down the motorway.
“I worked it out and the distance could’ve seen me travel to the moon and back.
“The punk and new wave stuff was very much my thing, but I’ve more recently got involved in learning more about prog rock. “I was brought up early on with Pink Floyd, Hawkwind and Wishbone Ash.
“We’re not interested in the easy listening stuff you’d find in charity shops – Engelbert Humperdinck and that kind of thing – but anything else is of interest and we’ll try to give the best price.
“We’ll be trading in used vinyl initially and I’m more than happy to drive out and look at people’s collections.”
As a music obsessed teenager I worked at a petrol station for £1 an hour and spent all my earnings on records. David Macdonald