As you may or may not know, April 21st is Record Store Day. This basically entails record stores having a lot of "exclusive" limited edition vinyl and everyone and their mother comes and buys records and supports record stores and all that jazz.
What you may also not know is that my lovely boyfriend Greg is an avid record collector and runs a record shop all his own in New Jersey. Since we've been together my appreciation of the medium has expanded immensely - as has my collection - and as of this weekend I will have an entire room in my apartment stocked with wall to wall vinyl in the thousands. Can't. Wait.
Because of this, when I mentioned to Greg that Record Store Day was coming up soon and inquired about what his store would be doing to "celebrate" the day expecting excitement, I was actually pretty surprised by his reply. This is what he later posted on his Facebook page, in response to this article about Record Store Day titled "Yes April 21st is Record Store Day and yes it's going to be annoying" which pretty much sums it up:
I wholeheartedly agree with this article. As a collector of all things vinyl and the proprietor of my own record shop, I don't give a flying fuck about Record Store Day. It doesn’t help vinyl stores stay in business. It doesn’t help bring in new customers who will continue to shop all year round. It was a good idea when it started in 2007 that became bastardized and over commercialized each year they’ve done it. RSD is not about supporting your local brick and mortar shop: It’s all about the limited edition pieces and how much of your hard earned money you are willing to waste on this crap. Or how much money you can make selling it on ebay days later. That’s why I’m giving away free records at my shop on Record Store Day. Screw you guys. Thus ends my bitter, crotchety old man rant. Thank you for listening.
So there you have it. What are your thoughts on Record Store Day? Has it lost its way and just become just another Hallmark Holiday? Does it actually help record stores in any meaningful way? Do you REALLY need that brand new EVE 6 vinyl with limited edition earbuds (ALSO, who the fuck listens to records with earbuds anyways? and who the fuck still listens to EVE 6?)?
Personally, I think I'll be spending Record Store Day hanging out in my vinyl lounge and visit record stores on some of the other 364 days that they are open and in need of business, thank you.
To find out more about Greg's awesome shop, join the HPRS Facebook Group!
