Dartmouth Sound Off: Record Store Day to be Celebrated Saturday
In an age where the demise of physical copies of music (and the stores that sell them) seems inevitable, some establishments still manag to survive. While the part of me that’s an economics major is not so vehemently against the corporatization of music distribution and production (it’s all about increasing efficiency!), the music and cultural enthusiast in me admires the preservation of any indie entity. Music is a unique industry because the prevailing artists on the charts and airways are unfortunately not always the most talented nor create the highest quality products. By supporting indie stores, you are supporting opportunities for artists in local scenes to get more exposure, and, most importantly supporting the idea that artists should be judged by their merit and not their bankroll that backs them up.
With these principals in mind, Record Store Day will be celebrated this Saturday, April 20. Occurring on the third Saturday of April, RSD recognizes and celebrates the culture surrounding the roughly 700 American independently owned record stores across the United States. RSD is now even being celebrated by hundreds of stores abroad. The exclusive release of CDs, vinyls and other promotional products, as well as events and artist appearances are planned across the country at indie record stores in cooperation. Newbury Comics, for example, will host over a dozen artists in eight of its 28 locations on Saturday.
Although officially started in 2007, the first big RSD events were held the next year in 2008 where Metallica formally kicked off the day with an appearance in Mountain View, Calif. About ten artists had exclusive RSD releases that year, including releases by Death Cab for Cutie, R.E.M., Vampire Weekend and The Black Kids.
Since then, the event has grown to be the catalyst of dozens upon dozens of exclusive releases. This year, artists like Ben Harper, Say Anything, Sigur Ros, Ani DiFranco, David Bowie and Iron and Wine have exclusive releases just for Record Store Day with very limited quantities (as in under 5000, in most cases).
In order for an establishment to be included on RSD, the main business must have a physical store with a majority of their business coming from music retail, as well as privately owned with at least 70 percent of the ownership in the same state as the physical operation. These parameters were put in place to make sure that the stores included were “real, live, physical, indie record stores — not online retailers or corporate behemoths,” according to RSD’s website.
Unfortunately, the closest independent record stores listed on the website are a drive away. The Newbury Comics in West Lebanon is the nearest, followed by Phoenix Records in Grantham, NH. Both have signed the RSD pledge, which while not requisite for being listed in RSD’s database, a majority of the listed stores have signed. Businesses that have signed the pledge promise to sell the RSD releases to physical, rather than online, customers on April 20 at a fair price, and generally “act in the spirit of [RSD]”.
For more information about RSD (http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home), visit their website and check out their Twitter (https://twitter.com/recordstoreday)