Record Store Day

Record Store Day
Type Cultural, commercial
Celebrations Live performances, limited edition music releases
Frequency annual

Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday every April to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store".[1] The day brings together fans, artists, and thousands of independent record stores across the world.[2] A number of records are pressed specifically for Record Store Day, and are only distributed to shops participating in the event.

Background

Sparked by a comment by Bull Moose employee Chris Brown that something could be done along the lines of Free Comic Book Day,[3] and with inspiration from a brainstorming session during a record store owners' meeting in Baltimore, Record Store Day was officially founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner,[1] and is now celebrated at stores across the world, with hundreds of recording and other artists participating in the day by making special appearances, performances, meet and greets with their fans, the holding of art exhibits, and the issuing of special vinyl and CD releases along with other promotional products to mark the occasion.

Each store holds their own party for the day, to celebrate the perceived individuality of each store, and the place it holds in its community. Although Record Store Day, the day, only occurs once a year, Record Store Day, the organization, provides promotions, marketing, and other opportunities for stores throughout the year, maintaining a website, social media and other means of promulgating its views about the value of independent record stores. Record Store Day is managed on a day-to-day basis by the Dept. of Record Stores, along with the Coalition of Independent Music Stores and the Alliance of Independent Media Stores.

Impact

Universal Music's sales manager, Marc Fayd’Herbe, has described Record Store Day as "the single best thing that has ever happened" for independent record shops.[4] The 2013 event was credited with the highest U.S. vinyl sales,[5] and the 2014 edition resulted in independent retailers recording the highest percentage of physical album sales, since the SoundScan system was introduced in 1991.[6] In their 2015 Libera awards, the American Association of Independent Music awarded Record Store Day its "Marketplace Ally" award.[7] Record Store Day 2016 produced the biggest week of sales for the vinyl LP format since the introduction of SoundScan.[8]

The event has been criticised for catering to record collectors, rather than casual music fans, and delaying the release of non-affiliated records by monopolising the capacity of record pressing plants.[9] Major labels have been accused of hijacking the event, and the policy of shops being obliged to buy on a no-return basis has been criticised, along with many of the limited releases being re-sold online within hours, at inflated prices.[10][11]

Record Store Day by year

2008

The unofficial ambassadors for the 2008 Record Store Day were James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo of Metallica. Metallica officially kicked off the event at Rasputin Music in Mountain View on April 19. There were approximately 10 special Record Store Day releases in the first year, including releases by Death Cab For Cutie, R.E.M., Stephen Malkmus, Vampire Weekend, The Teenagers, Black Kids, and Jason Mraz. Billy Bragg met Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz in an airport and agreed to help kick off Record Store Day in the UK with a special live appearance. Approximately 300 stores launched Record Store Day in the USA, including Waterloo Records, School Kids Records, and Vintage Vinyl. The first organized involvement by UK stores included Piccadilly Records in Manchester, Jumbo Records in Leeds, Resident in Brighton, Sister Ray and Rough Trade in London, Rapture in Witney, Oxfordshire, Spillers in Cardiff and Avalanche Records in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

2009

The second annual Record Store Day was celebrated on Saturday, April 18, 2009 with approximately 85 special releases and appearances by the likes of Slayer, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Iron & Wine, The Stooges, MC5, Wilco, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, The Eagles of Death Metal. The total number of artist appearances in the US was approximately 500. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy announced that "there would be no Wilco if it weren't for independent record stores" and the band made a surprise appearance on Record Store Day @ the Disc Exchange in Knoxville, TN. Eagles of Death Metal's Jesse Hughes announced that he was the official "Ambassador of Record Store Day" and the band made an appearance at Rhino Records. Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that the City of New York officially recognized Record Store Day as a city-wide event and the judges on American Idol talked about their favorite records in honor of Record Store Day in the episode of American Idol prior to the event. Even though 95% of the special releases made for Record Store Day were for the USA, the event began to grow internationally with over 1,000 record stores in the US, the UK, Ireland, Japan, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany all participated in the international event.

2010

The third annual Record Store Day took place on Saturday, April 17, 2010. The official ambassador for the event was Joshua Homme.[12] The official book of the event was "Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops by Graham Jones". KCRW's Gary Calamar and Phil Gallo also released their own self-published book, "Record Store Days", which talks about independent record stores, with artist quotes provided by www.recordstoreday.com used throughout the book, and a specific chapter devoted to Record Store Day. NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg and New York City once again honored the day. Anything Anything with Rich Russo released a vinyl album of local bands performing on his radio show as well as doing a bus tour visiting numerous New York and New Jersey record stores. Several artists made in-store appearances to mark the event:The Smashing Pumpkins announced that they would kick off the tour promoting their new album with a special Record Store Day concert at Amoeba in Hollywood, CA. Other artists to announce special appearances included Frank Black, Exene Cervenka, Angie Stone, Jason Derulo, Alice in Chains, Mastodon, Josh Ritter, HIM, Slash, Sick Puppies, Care Bears on Fire, and Emmylou Harris. The year's event was also celebrated by giving young artists an opportunity to showcase their talent in the form of a national "Record Store Day: High School Battle of the Bands".[13] Local, participating independent record stores nominated one local high school band by picking a cut from the band's supplied recording and entered their name and song cut into the contest. A panel of record executives and members from the Fender Corporation judged the entrants. Nine national semi-finalists were chosen to appear on a limited edition, compilation vinyl LP of their winning songs. Pressed by Gotta Groove, the LP features digital convenience. On the day of the event, it was announced that the grand prize winning band was SANUK, an indie band of HS students from Indianapolis, Indiana. They received a generous prize package of musical gear from the Fender Corporation and recording time with recording greats - Jack Ponti and Kevin "The Caveman" Shirley. SANUK was championed by their local record store, Indy CD & Vinyl. The sponsors of the contest were Caroline Distribution and EMI Label Services, Fender,[14] and Fender Music Foundation. Aside from the Band Battle contest, many participating record stores had a line-up of live talent performing throughout the day. In 2010, more than 1,400 independent record stores participated in the unofficial holiday. More than 1,000 were from the US alone. Record stores saw a 41% increase in sales over the previous year's celebration, and a 109% increase over the previous Saturday's sales.[15] By this time, the event had become such a nationally recognized event, that in the U.S., it was even referenced on "Saturday Night Live."[16] During the year, the first Black Friday Record Store Day was also held, on November 26, 2010.

2011

The fourth annual record store day took place on Saturday, April 16, 2011. The official ambassador for the event was Ozzy Osbourne.[12] Over six-hundred artists celebrated the event with in-store appearances, making it the world's largest music event of its kind. Artists who made in-store appearances included Beastie Boys, the Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, My Chemical Romance, Wiz Khalifa, Todd Rundgren, Anvil, Del McCoury and the New Orleans Preservation Hall JazzBand, Regina Spektor, Jack White and Jerry Lee Lewis, the dBs, The Raveonettes, TV on the Radio, Frightened Rabbit, the Deftones, Chuck D, the Beach Boys' Al Jardine, Lonely Island, and Josh Groban. Most of the releases for the year were limited between 300 and 7000 copies worldwide. According to Billboard Magazine, the 182,000 bump in unit sales in the week that Record Store Day was held was directly attributed to the success of the event itself. The official film of the event was "Sound It Out", a feature-length documentary directed by Jeanie Finlay, documenting the Sound It Out Records shop in Stockton-on-Tees, the very last record shop in Teesside. The film premiered to critical acclaim at SxSW and had its joint premiere at SheffDocFest and the Edinburgh International Film Festival. During the year, the second Black Friday Record Store Day was also held, on November 25, 2011.[17]

2012

The fifth annual Record Store Day took place on Saturday, April 21, 2012. The official ambassador for the event was Iggy Pop. Over 400 different releases were made for the day. To coincide with Record Store Day 2012, the UK's Official Chart Company launched the Official Record Store Chart, a weekly music chart based solely on sales from independent record shops.[18] The chart was first issued on 20 April 2012, the eve of Record Store Day 2012.[19]

2013

Ahead of the 2013 edition, held on April 20, Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz was awarded a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, on behalf of RSD participants, by the French government.[20][21] The official ambassador was Jack White of White Stripes fame and founder of Third Man Records. The White Stripes album Elephant was reissued in a limited edition 10th anniversary double LP, consisting of one black-and-red colored disc and one white disc, the band's signature tri-color scheme.[22]

Boards of Canada used RSD 2013 to launch a viral marketing campaign for their much anticipated album, Tomorrow's Harvest, when a new vinyl record by the band was placed in a New York City record store for purchase. The record allegedly sold on eBay for $5,700 but the buyer ended up being a fraud. It was later sold in a closed auction for an undisclosed sum.

2014

Record Store Day 2014 at Drift Records, Totnes, England.

RSD 2014 was held on 19 April 2014. Official ambassador for this year was Chuck D.

2015

Record Store Day 2015 took place on April 18. The ambassador for the event was Dave Grohl.[23]

2016

Record Store Day 2016 took place on April 16. Exclusive releases included albums by David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Madonna, Gerard Way, Patti Smith, Deftones, Frank Zappa, and the Doors.[24] Having kicked off the first Record Store Day with an in-store appearance, Metallica served as ambassador for the first time this year, marking the occasion with an album recorded live at the Bataclan in Paris, with all money raised going to victims of the terrorist attack at the venue the previous November.[25] The band also reissued their first two albums, Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning,[26] to coincide with the event.

2017

Record Store Day 2017 will take place on Saturday 22 April.[27] It will be the tenth celebration of independent record stores.

Plaque commemorating the creation of Record Store Day

See also

References

  1. 1 2 About Record Store Day
  2. ↑ Passey, Brian (February 26, 2011). "Vinyl records spin back into vogue". USA Today. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "The business of Record Store Day". Fortune. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  4. ↑ Britton, Luke Morgan (31 March 2015). "Universal call Record Store Day 'the single best thing that has ever happened to the indie stores'". NME. IPC. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Record Store Day Drives Vinyl Sales to Historic Peak in SoundScan Era". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  6. ↑ "Record Store Day Breaks Sales Records, Nirvana Tops Vinyl Singles". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  7. ↑ "The 2015 Libera Award Winners! | A2IM". a2im.org. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  8. ↑ "Record Store Day Spurs 131 Percent Gain in Vinyl Album Sales in U.S.". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  9. ↑ Sisario, Ben (18 April 2014). "Watch Out, iTunes. Vinyl Still Lives.". New York Times. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Hebblethwaite, Phil (17 April 2014). "Is Record Store Day In Crisis? A Quietus Investigation". The Quietus. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  11. ↑ Swanson, Dave (31 March 2015). "The Flipside of Record Store Day: In the U.K., Not Everyone Is a Fan Read More: The Flipside of Record Store Day: Not Everyone Is a Fan". Diffuser. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Ozzy Osbourne named Record Store Day Ambassador". Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  13. ↑ Record Store Day 2011 web site
  14. ↑ "Record Store Day Battle of the Bands" News, Fender web site
  15. ↑ "Record Store Day a $ucce$$". Hits Daily Double. April 20, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  16. ↑ "Record Store Day is 'more important' than Christmas". LA Times. April 21, 2010.
  17. ↑ Wax Poetic-Vinyl Fanatics Unite!: Record Store Day Presents Black Friday 2011
  18. ↑ "New chart for record stores". Sky News. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  19. ↑ "Chart for independent record sales". UK: MSN Music. 18 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  20. ↑ "Midem 2013: un bilan positif en dépit de la crise - 10/02/13 - Cannes", Channel Riviera, February 8, 2013 (French). Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Record Store Day Head Michael Kurtz Knighted by French Minister of Culture". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  22. ↑ Rawden, Jessica. "The White Stripes Releasing 10th Anniversary Elephant LP on Record Store Day", Cinema Blend. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  23. ↑ Mokoena, Tshepo (2015-02-12). "Dave Grohl announced as Record Store Day 2015 ambassador". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  24. ↑ Grow, Kory (March 8, 2016). "Record Store Day 2016: David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Metallica Lead Releases". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Metallica release live Bataclan album as Record Store Day ambassadors 2016". Newsbeat. BBC. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  26. ↑ "Celebrate Record Store Day with Us". metallica.com. February 23, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  27. ↑ http://www.recordstoreday.co.uk

External links

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