Record Store Day
| Record Store Day | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Cultural |
| Date | Third Saturday in April |
| 2011 date | April 16 |
| 2012 date | April 21 |
| 2013 date | April 20 |
| Celebrations | Live performances, cook-outs |
Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music.[1] The day brings together fans, artists, and the over 700 independently owned record stores in the United States, along with hundreds of independent record stores across the world.[2]
Record Store Day was officially founded in 2007[1] by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner and is now celebrated globally[1] with hundreds of recording and other artists participating in the day by making special appearances, performances, meet and greets with their fans, the holding of art exhibits, and the issuing of special vinyl and CD releases along with other promotional products to mark the occasion.
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[edit] History
[edit] Record Store Day 2008
Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day 2008 at Rasputin Music in Mountain View on April 19, 2008. There were approximately 10 special Record Store Day releases in the first year, including releases by Death Cab For Cutie, R.E.M., Stephen Malkmus, Vampire Weekend, The Teenagers, Black Kids, and Jason Mraz. Billy Bragg met Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz in an airport and agreed to help kick off Record Store Day in the UK with a special live appearance. Approximately 300 stores launched Record Store Day in the USA, includingWaterloo Records, Looney Tunes CDs & LPs, Silver Platters, Twist & Shout, School Kids Records, Vintage Vinyl, Easy Street, Zia Records, Criminal Records, and Grimey's. The first organized involvement by UK stores included Piccadilly Records in Manchester, Jumbo Records in Leeds, Resident in Brighton, Sister Ray and Rough Trade in London, Rapture in Witney, Oxfordshire, Spillers in Cardiff and Avalanche Records in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
[edit] Record Store Day 2009
- Official Ambassador: Jesse Hughes[3]
The second annual Record Store Day was celebrated on Saturday, April 18, 2009 with approximately 85 special releases and appearances by the likes of Slayer[citation needed], Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Iron & Wine, The Stooges, MC5, Wilco, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, The Eagles of Death Metal.[citation needed] The total number of artist appearances in the US was approximately 500. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy announced that "there would be no Wilco if it weren't for independent record stores" and the band made a surprise appearance on Record Store Day @ the Disc Exchange in Knoxville, TN. Eagles of Death Metal's Jesse Hughes announced that he was the official "Ambassador of Record Store Day" and the band made an appearance at Rhino Records. Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that the City of New York officially recognized Record Store Day as a city-wide event and the judges on American Idol talked about their favorite records in honor of Record Store Day in the episode of American Idol prior to the event. Even though 95% of the special releases made for Record Store Day were for the USA, the event began to grow internationally with over 1,000 record stores in the US, the UK, Ireland, Japan, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany all participated in the international event.[citation needed]
[edit] Record Store Day 2010
- Official Ambassador: Joshua Homme
The third annual Record Store Day took place on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Them Crooked Vultures' Josh Homme was announced the official "Ambassador of Record Store Day 2010"[3] and the band issued a special 10" vinyl record with unreleased music. Blur released "Fool's Day", their first single since 2003, available to record stores in the UK. The Smashing Pumpkins announced that they will kick off their new album with a special Record Store Day concert at Amoeba in Hollywood, CA. Other artists to announce special appearances included Frank Black, Exene Cervenka, Angie Stone, Jason Derulo, Alice in Chains, Mastodon, Josh Ritter, HIM[disambiguation needed 
], Slash, Sick Puppies, Eagle Us Pets, Care Bears on Fire, and Emmylou Harris. Over 150 special limited edition releases were released that year, including pieces from John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Devo, The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Gogol Bordello, Built to Spill, Gorillaz, The Rolling Stones, LCD Soundsystem, Terrible Things, Ani DiFranco, Hold Steady, Muse, Credible Threats, Modest Mouse, Josh Ritter and Great Lake Swimmers. The official book of Record Store Day 2010 is "Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops by Graham Jones".[citation needed] KCRW's Gary Calamar and Phil Gallo released their book "Record Store Days" about independent record stores, with artist quotes provided by www.recordstoreday.com used throughout the book, with a chapter devoted to Record Store Day. NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg and New York City once again honored the day.
Record Store Day was also celebrated by giving young artists an opportunity to showcase their talent in the form of a national "Record Store Day: High School Battle of the Bands".[4] Local, participating independent record stores nominated one local high school band by picking a cut from the band's supplied recording and entered their name and song cut into the contest. A panel of record executives and members from the Fender Corporation judged the entrants. Nine national semi-finalists were chosen to appear on a limited edition, compilation vinyl LP of their winning songs. Pressed by Gotta Groove, the LP features digital convenience. On Record Store Day, April 17, 2010, it was announced that the grand prize winning band was SANUK, an indie band of HS students from Indianapolis, Indiana.[citation needed] They received a generous prize package of musical gear from the Fender Corporation and recording time with recording greats - Jack Ponti and Kevin "The Caveman" Shirley. SANUK was championed by their local record store, Indy CD & Vinyl. The sponsors of the contest were Caroline Distribution and EMI Label Services, Fender,[5] and Fender Music Foundation. Aside from the Band Battle contest, many participating record stores had a line-up of live talent performing throughout the day.
In 2010, more than 1,400 independent record stores participated in the unofficial holiday. More than 1,000 were from the US alone. Record stores saw a 41% increase in sales over the previous year's celebration, and a 109% increase over the previous Saturday's sales.[6]
Record Store Day has become such a nationally recognized event in the U.S. that it was even referenced on "Saturday Night Live."[7]
[edit] Black Friday Record Store Day 2010
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The first Black Friday Record Store Day was held on November 26, 2010.
[edit] Record Store Day 2011
- Official Ambassador: Ozzy Osbourne[3]
The fourth annual Record Store Day took place on Saturday, April 16, 2011.
Over 600 artists celebrated the event with in-store appearances in actual stores, making it the world’s largest music event of its kind. Participating artists included Beastie Boys, the Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, My Chemical Romance, Wiz Khalifa, Todd Rundgren, Anvil, Del McCoury and the New Orleans Jazz Preservation Band, Regina Spektor, Jack White and Jerry Lee Lewis, the dBs, The Raveonettes, TV on the Radio, Frightened Rabbit, the Deftones, Chuck D, the Beach Boys’s Al Jardine, Lonely Island, and Josh Groban. Over 150 exclusive releases were made exclusively for Record Store Day, including releases by Daft Punk, Bruce Springsteen, Big Star, The Decemberists, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, R.E.M., A Day To Remember, The Beach Boys, The Doors, Adele, Duran Duran, Pinback and Rush. Another 50 or so releases were released exclusively at participating Record Store Day stores for a limited period of time. These included albums by Fleetwood Mac, Todd Rundgren, and Eric Clapton. Another 100 or so releases were made in very small runs, or for regional areas. These included releases by Yeasayer, Of Montreal, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. Most Record Store Day releases for 2011 were limited to runs of between 300 and 7000 units worldwide. Record Store Day products are often hand numbered and limited editions making them highly collectible by music fans.
Neko Case also designed her own personal Record Store Day t-shirt that was sold in stores.
According to Billboard Magazine, the 182,000 bump in unit sales for the week of Record Store Day was directly attributed to the success of Record Store Day itself.
Record Store Day is celebrated fully in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Germany and has participating stores in Spain, Croatia, Japan, and about 25 additional countries. Record Store Day is now widely thought to be the most popular music holiday in the world. Record Store Day is managed day-to-day by the Music Monitor Network (a coalition of independently owned music stores in the USA) in partnership with the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, and the Alliance of Independent Media Stores. In the UK, Record Store Day is managed by Rough Trade. In France, Record Store Day is managed by CALIF. In the Netherlands, Record Store Day is managed by Record Store Day Netherlands, and in Germany Record Store Day is managed by PopData.
The official film of Record Store Day 2011 is SOUND IT OUT a feature documentary directed by Jeanie Finlay about Sound It Out Records in Stockton-on-Tees, the very last record shop in Teesside, in the North East of England. The film premiered to critical acclaim at SxSW and had it's joint UK premiere at Sheff/Doc/Fest and Edinburgh International Film Festival.
[edit] Black Friday Record Store Day 2011
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The 2nd Annual Black Friday Record Store Day was held on November 25, 2011. Bands such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Black Keys, The Doors, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Kings of Leon, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones, Ryan Adams, Soundgarden, Wilco and over 50 other artists participated during Black Friday.[8]
[edit] Record Store Day 2012
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- Official Ambassador: Iggy Pop
The fifth annual Record Store Day will take place on Saturday, April 21, 2012.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c About Record Store Day
- ^ Passey, Brian (February 26, 2011). "Vinyl records spin back into vogue". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2011-02-25-vinyl25_ST_N.htm. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- ^ a b c "Ozzy Osbourne named Record Store Day Ambassador". http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=154340. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- ^ Record Store Day 2011 web site
- ^ "Record Store Day Battle of the Bands" News, Fender web site
- ^ "Record Store Day a $ucce$$". Hits Daily Double. April 20, 2010. http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/newsPage.cgi?news08028m01. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
- ^ "Record Store Day is 'more important' than Christmas". LA Times. April 21, 2010. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/04/on-the-charts-record-store-day-is-more-important-than-christmas.html.
- ^ Wax Poetic-Vinyl Fanatics Unite!: Record Store Day Presents Black Friday 2011
