RECORD STORE DAY – is it a curse or a blessing for the vinyl industry?
The first ‘official’ Record Store Day occurred on 19th April 2008 but was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of store owners and employees to celebrate and spread the word about the record-buying culture surrounding nearly 400 independently owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally.
Today, Record Store Day (RSD) is still celebrated on the third Saturday of April and is hailed as a global celebration. It is a day when music lovers come together to support their local record shops, discover exclusive releases, and revel in the unique experience of browsing through racks of vinyl records.
In the early 2000s, when most record shops were closing down, RSD pumped millions of pounds through tills and undoubtedly played an essential role in the resurgence of vinyl sales. It helped turn younger generations onto the world of physical music and promoted the record shops that are the vinyl community’s cultural hub. RSD is remarkable in its achievements, and its early years should be remembered.
RSD is offered nearly 400 new releases this year, (2024) but is it necessarily a good thing for the smaller independent market? The event has traditionally been a crucial sales opportunity for these shops, driving foot traffic and boosting sales. Still, the challenges posed by Brexit, such as increased regulations, customs delays, and additional costs, have made it more difficult for independent record stores to import and export records, especially when on a deadline.
Shane Whittaker is the head honcho at Curved Pressings in the UK and currently resides in Ibiza. He has been pressing records for underground dance music labels, including Fingerlickin, Bedrock, Ninja Tunes, Cross Town Rebels, Ransom Note and many of the UK reggae labels for over twenty years, We asked him what his views were on RSD and if it was still a good thing for our smaller independent market.
“Well, the average lead time for vinyl is now 12 weeks and has been for most of this year, but from 2020 up to 2023, pressing plants saw a steep rise in demand for capacity that outstripped supply, culminating in a literal vinyl meltdown. This was fueled solely by the huge push from the majors such as Universal to release new pop artists and repress swathes of back catalogue in a worldwide capacity grab focused on profiteering from what had become a media-driven fashion accessory.
So, all the smaller labels and artists who have kept this independent scene afloat were ditched and pushed to the back of the queue to supply this demand. Record Store Day just added to the mayhem of getting all the releases out.
From a manufacturer’s point of view, RSD has always been a double-edged sword, making a hard job harder. With limited capacity, it’s a crazy idea for everyone to schedule their delivery dates on the same day. It always means disappointment for some artists and labels, and when you miss the boat, not getting your vinyl out to shops by RSD would effectively bomb the release.
Record Store Day should be EVERY DAY, not just once a year. I guess there’s just something shoppers and suppliers love about the Black Friday-type panic buy, which is pretty much what a great idea turned into.
The whole thing seems to have slightly fizzled out since the first five years, and this year, at my end of the business, it has been hardly mentioned”
So I think we can all agree that fashion comes and goes, but what is essential is keeping your beloved record shop open by visiting once a week, not just once a year.
Curved Pressings is based in London and offers a high-quality vinyl pressing service along with analogue mastering. Check out their website as they offer Vinyl Special Offers & Packages plus a further 5% if you use the code FORTHERECORDIBIZA.
So just for the record, For The Record Ibiza was not part of the ‘official’ Record Store Day this year, but we made our own rules and on RSD (Sat 20th April) hosted our first Vinyl Fair of 2024 at Word of Mouth Radio Cafe in Santa Eulalia. With over twelve hours of music and a plethora of rare, high-quality, second-hand records and new releases for sale, it was a good day for Ibiza’s vinyl community. No doubt there’ll be plenty more in the next few months so stay in contact and we’ll keep you in the loop with what’s happening over the summer in Ibiza ’24.
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