Record Store Day 2011
Looking to celebrate ‘Record Store Day’?
This is a holiday that is celebrated internationally and is observed on the third Saturday of April each year. The purpose of this holiday is to celebrate the art of music. Fans, artists and over 700 independently owned record stores in the United States as well as other record stores from across the world come together on this day.
The official founding of this day was in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. Hundreds of artist participate in the day. Some make special appearances and performances. Others go all out on ‘Record Store Day’ and meet their fans and issue special vinyl and CD releases to mark the occasion.
Just a couple of the artists that are celebrating this day are Flaming Lips and Radiohead. Flaming Lips celebrate ‘Record Store Day’ with vinyl releases. Radiohead released a new single. What are you doing for this holiday?
- Record Store Day 2008.
For some music fans, an MP3 player crammed with thousands of songs is enough. For others, appreciating the music they love is still a more tactile experience.
“There are a lot of people out there — collectors, who listen to the entire album and want that physical item. And by collector, I just mean somebody who has a collection, somebody who wants a CD for the backup, the liner notes, something that sounds better in their car” – says Steve Wiley, co-owner of Hoodlums Music and Movies in Tempe.
Despite dire predictions that digital music downloads would kill the brick-and-mortar music shop, Hoodlums will celebrate its third Record Store Day on Saturday.
The annual event is when many of the nation’s 700 or so independent music stores revel in the fact that they’re still alive and kicking. This year – close to 200 recording artists have put together special products to be released exclusively in these indie shops on ‘Record Store Day’.
“Mumford & Sons and The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen — the stuff the big artists put out always goes fast. The Ryan Adams piece is pretty great, from what I’ve seen. And there’s a ton of good stuff from little artists who have these small but rabid fan bases. There are a lot of 7-inch singles and a lot of vinyl, definitely some CDs, singles, three-CD live sets that you can’t get anywhere else. Last year, we had at least 50 people lined up outside before we even opened” – says Wiley.
The independent spirit is best exemplified by ‘Record Store Day’, a day where artists and retailers find common ground with music fans through a special day of new releases, promotions, and in-store performances (occurring simultaneously worldwide). The fourth annual ‘Record Store Day’, set for this Saturday (April 16th) the brainchild of a collection of independent music retailers, fosters an appreciation for a more nostalgic time, when the record store was the focal point of interaction and served as a primary channel, before iTunes, hype blogs, and satellite radio for discovering new music. ‘Record Store Day’ occurs at a fortuitous time in the music calendar when artists typically are ready to introduce new material and prepare for the summer festival season.
Michael Kurtz (Executive Director of the Music Monitor Network) a coalition of independent music stores, and one of the co-founders of ‘Record Store Day’, credits the success of the day to the tireless efforts of local record stores, who ‘don’t want to feel beholden to anyone and want to cut their own path’, along with the enthusiasm of artists who were critical in both promoting, and creating special product for the event. The enthusiasm of artists in giving back by participating in Music Store Day is a shared appreciation by artists, fans, and retailers alike, and is a reflection of the inner music store geek within every musician. One can imagine a teenaged Michael Stipe striking up a quick friendship with Peter Buck, at a campus record store in Athens, Georgia, communing over their shared love for Patti Smith and Television.
Last year, ‘Record Store Day’, reached new heights in terms of participation by retailers, quadrupling to over 1,600 stores, with stores nationwide generated their largest day of sales since 1991, and the biggest day of sales for vinyl in history, according to data released by Neilson Soundscan. ‘Record Store Day’ continues to grow both in scope and ambition. What started out as perhaps more out of a spirit of defiance demonstration has evolved into a widespread celebratory mood, embraced by a diverse range of artists, both emerging and established, who recall a more innocent time when the Saturday morning visit to the record store was a voyage of discovery.