Record Store Day

[boris]

When RSD started it seemed like a genuine attempt to help small independent record shops increase their profile and custom but now, as far as I can tell, it's become elitist and a fad.

Looking at this year's (tomorrow's, even) releases there are about half a dozen that I might consider paying the inflated prices for, but none that would have me up queueing to get in before the doors open. I'll take my chances and hope that I can grab them later in the morning or else wait a few weeks and grab them on ebay or discogs, probably cheaper than they will be tomorrow.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Record Store Day

If it were called Record Shop Day I would be happier.

[MsD]

Record Store Day

People are already queuing. In the rain.

[Leon Tricker]

Record Store Day

People in Southsea (Portsmouth) queued overnight. There's a weekend-long event here.

I'm not a fan of off one-off releases / limited editions generally, but those produced for record store day seem particularly exploitative.

[IronSeaPower]

Record Store Day

Right now, there are 548 examples on e-bay - each placed, presumably, by lovers of record store day.

[Benjm]

Record Store Day

Among the many jewels on offer, Rough Trade have a 7" of You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties by Jona Lewie for £9.99.

Surely most of the fun of acquiring something like that would be finding a copy in a charrer for 49p. If I was a kid who only knew the song from the advert and shelled out a tenner for it, I wouldn't be feeling that kindly towards the shop that had sold it to me once the penny dropped.

[Fussbudget]

Record Store Day

Most of the reissues make fuck-all sense. Who wants a limited edition reissue of We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang ("in original picture sleeve with original B-side"!) when you can pick up a copy for 50p in a charity shop or on Discogs.

Record Store Day would really benefit from sticking to new releases only, there is no point having 500+ releases on that day with most of them pointless major label reissues, especially if as is reported it creates backlogs at vinyl pressing plants and messes with indie labels' release schedule.

[IronSeaPower]

Record Store Day

I suppose many people (and definitely one) attracted to this thread may have seen this already..

http://thequietus.com/articles/19946-record-store-day-2016-shops-bad-reissues-bleugh

[Fussbudget]

Record Store Day

Thanks, that was a good read.

Off topic, but the Quietus website really does look dreadful on a laptop screen. The text column on the left is super narrow, and the white space on the right takes up almost a third of the width of the screen. The only way around it is to zoom in, but that makes the font comically big.

[Benjm]

Record Store Day

IronSeaPower wrote: I suppose many people (and definitely one) attracted to this thread may have seen this already..

http://thequietus.com/articles/19946-record-store-day-2016-shops-bad-reissues-bleugh

Ahem, just repurposing my content, as we say.

[caja-dglh]

Record Store Day

Other Music (NYC) to close. It looks like even some of the strongest can't survive.

[Reed John]

Record Store Day

I honestly don't know where the closest bricks & mortar record shop is to me. Possibly Maryland or in Philadelphia. Maybe in Marple.

We had some second-hand stores, but the proprietors have retired and/or decided to just do all of their business online. The same has largely happened to baseball card/sports collectible shops and, of course, book shops and camera shops. The stuff is still available, but the store-owner can't justify the cost of renting and staffing a storefront.

I suspect that the only way to keep one of those in business as a physical store is to own the building and be so big or so spectacular, or both, that people will come from a far distance for the experience of being in your store. And/or, be in Manhattan or central London so that there are loads of aficionados nearby simply due to population density, but even that's not a guarantee of survival.

[WOM]

Record Store Day

Reed John wrote: I honestly don't know where the closest bricks & mortar record shop is to me. Possibly Maryland or in Philadelphia. Maybe in Marple.

I'd give that a miss.

/potger

[Fussbudget]

Record Store Day

Reed John wrote: I honestly don't know where the closest bricks & mortar record shop is to me. Possibly Maryland or in Philadelphia. Maybe in Marple.

Hold on, what? Do you not even have some HMV-type chain stores left?

Plenty of British towns still have record shops.

[Reed John]

Record Store Day

I've been to Repo Records. If a record shop can survive anywhere it's on South Street.

But I live about four hours from there.

[WOM]

Record Store Day

Fussbudget wrote: Hold on, what? Do you not even have some HMV-type chain stores left?

Toronto (area) has a bunch of HMV left, but I think it's the only chain still hanging on (and by its fingernails). They carry some vinyl, some CDs, but mainly movies (2 for $20) and piles of tat. Posters, mugs, Tardis salt & pepper shakers, etc Oh, and graphic novels. Basically they cater to nerdy 14 year old boys and those who shop for them.

[Benjm]

Record Store Day

Well, this year I cracked and bought a Record Store Day release, albeit a week later after it had gone online at Norman.

It's a 12" of Time Zone's World Destruction, which features previously unavailable material and was only a couple of quid more than a decent copy of the original would cost on eBay, so I'm not feeling too bad about it (beyond the urge to provide a detailed explanation of why I'm not a complete sap).