A TREASURE trove of rock memorabilia and music is winging its way around the world from Hampshire.
For a fledgling firm is hitting all the right notes with music fans and can already boast of selling to every country around the globe.
Iconic Culture was set up last September by 29 year-old Julian Brown after he was made redundant following a restructure at the NHS.
Julian, who was a project assistant, ploughed his redundancy cash into buying and selling lots of records on the Internet.
Now the business, which is based at the borough council-run Eastleigh Business Centre at Wessex House, Eastleigh, is flourishing.
Vinyl records, CDs, old tour T-shirts, memorabilia, promotional items plus rare collectors' material and autographs are being snapped up world wide via eBay and the firm's website www.iconic-culture.com.
For Julian, who started collecting records when he was 13, it has meant a hobby has turned into a full-time job and a labour of love.
He said: "I started Internet buying for myself nine or ten years ago and I have found some great things at car boot sales and in charity shops."
His own tastes range from Bruce Springsteen and Rammstein to Nirvana and Johnny Cash. But Julian says that Iconic Culture caters for just about all music lovers.
Weekends are taking up visiting record fairs, charity shops and car boot sales.
Although Julian says he has never come across any "Holy Grails" such as a genuine A&M pressing of the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen or Led Zeppelin's first album featuring turquoise lettering the trawls can throw up quite rare items.
He said: "There have been a couple of foreign Duran Duran promo items that we sold to a guy in Italy, some nice Oasis promos and some Beatles Japanese coloured vinyls."
But Ian warned: "People think anything by the Beatles is worth hundreds of pounds but it does not work like that."
Iconic benefited from a grant from Eastleigh council's enterprise scheme when the company first set up and Julian, who lives in Chandler's Ford, believes the future looks bright.
He said: "They say music is dying because of the downloads from the Internet but vinyl sales are rising and there will always be collectors out there."
Iconic Culture is one of 80 firms at Eastleigh Business Centre, which provides low-cost serviced offices on flexible terms with an extensive range of business support services.
Centre manager Sandra Giles said: "We are very proud of Iconic Culture and pleased to be part of their success.
"Having innovative and successful companies at Wessex House encourages other local firms and entrepreneurs."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article