Portsmouth DJ Matt Handy has more than 15,000 electronic dance records for sale through Facebook and his business Hands On Records

Matt Handy specialises in electronic music and his business Hands On Records has built up a catalogue of thousands of records which he sells and ships all over the world from his Portsmouth base.

His love for the genre started in 1986 when aged 12 he bought his first record, and then grew when he started playing decks a year later.

His teenage hobby turned into successful career, seeing him pick up awards from Mixmag and the International DJ Competition plus more, and it has seen him DJ at some of the biggest clubs on the planet, such as Ministry of Sound, Turnmills, Pacha and Es Paradis.

He said: ‘It has been a lifelong passion for me – vinyl and music. Buying and selling records, teaching others how to DJ and putting on events.

‘Portsmouth is where I have played a lot, some of my very first events where at South Parade Pier.

‘I’ve also organised lots of other events in the area over the years including some very unique parties on Spitbank Fort. I also organise an event called Contact which is celebrating its 22nd birthday this August at South Parade Pier, amongst other events.

‘I started Hands On Records 26 years ago, trading out of my car boot, and I built it up until I had two shops, one in Fareham and one in Albert Road, which was very popular.

‘But I shut the physical shops in about 2006 due to the increase in popularity of digital music, downloads, YouTube, streaming etc.

‘Since this I have been concentrating on selling online though and send records all round the world on a daily basis with a large customer base worldwide.

‘Luckily for me, vinyl is really popular again.’

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Aside from his huge collection that he has listed for sale, Matt has a personal collection of more than 7,000 records, which he says he wouldn’t part with.

He said: ‘There is some really rare stuff, and some that’s two a penny, but some of it is really sought after like from Sasha and Digweed.

‘Certain genres are really popular too, I have house music from the 80s up to about 2005, covering about 30 years of electronic music, a very broad spectrum.’

He has recently found success promoting his business through Facebook and selling through Facebook Marketplace.

He said: ‘I do an online Facebook live show playing vinyl every Friday which has now had over ½ million views.’

For more go to facebook.com/handsonrecords

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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