We were lucky to catch up with Hector Listensto recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hector, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

Vinyl record sales have continued to increase year over year. Vinyl regained popularity in late 2010s and has carried its demand through the pandemic years and well into 2024. Vinyl variants have become very popular in recent years. Record labels and artists offer vinyl variants as a way to provide consumers several options to choose from. Some fans collect their favorite vinyl variant, several, or all variants of the same album to support their favorite artist.

Vinyl prices have steadily increased in the past couple years as well due to inflation. When I first started collecting, a single vinyl used to retail between $18 – $25 dollars. Now a single LP can retail upwards of $60. A trend that has impacted the industry is the increase of vinyl variants with exclusive bonus tracks, alternate covers, and/or other special content. This tactic is used to increase album sales as many fans will want to purchase all the different variants to have all bonus tracks or alternate covers to complete their collection. In the past, this would not be too much of a concern from a music collector perspective. However, with vinyl prices continuing to increase, collecting vinyl is starting to become a luxury hobby.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Hector and I am a music lover turned vinyl collector. I love physical media and have been collecting since 1999. I started with collecting CDs from my favorite artist, Britney Spears. In 2017, Urban Outfitters released Britney’s debut album …Baby One More Time on vinyl for the first time. This kick started my vinyl collecting journey. In August 2017, I created my Instagram account @hectorlistensto in which I document my physical media collection (mostly vinyl records) I started posting pictures of my collection and started interacting with other collectors from all over the world.

Fast forward to 7 years later, my collection has grown to 647 vinyl. I have done collaborations with some record labels to promote albums and have also worked with brands to promote vinyl related products such as turntables, speakers, and other accessories.

This hobby has also provided me with business opportunities and I have worked with companies to create video and photography content for their products as well. I pride myself with creating quality content even if it’s just to post on my account and share it with my followers and it’s been gratifying to see others appreciate the content I create and wanting to collaborate.

I’m very grateful for the opportunity to connect with others and I’m looking forward to continue growing my presence online and share my adventure with anyone that is passionate about music.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my social media audience by being genuine and interacting with others that share similar interests and hobbies. I like to chat and collaborate with people that share the same passion and are driven by their love for music and enjoy this hobby.

My advice to those starting their journey to build their social media presence is be to just be yourself. Share what you’re passionate about (even when you might feel you’re the only one out there that cares), if you want to curate a specific brand for your followers, be consistent. If you don’t want to follow trends, don’t. Do what you like and what brings you joy. Lastly, don’t chase a number of followers, chase genuine engagement and connections. After all, you want to enjoy what you’re doing instead of having it become a chore.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a content creator is being inspired by others. I love learning what drives people and what they are passionate about. Seeing others enjoy what they do fuels me to continue to find joy in what I do and allows me to challenge myself and harvest my creativity to make quality content.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hectorlistensto
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hectorlistensto