Record Store Day (RSD) – April 19th 2014
The day brought both excitement and disappointment as we all awaited hundreds of special releases to be sold in record stores worldwide. Queues elongated outside stores for what seemed like miles. With RSD getting bigger and bigger every year since its launch in 2007, things aren’t looking promising for the annual event.
Paul Weller issued a statement last week saying he ‘won’t be taking part in Record Store Day again’. Paul had received enormous amounts of messages expressing anger and disappointment at the exploitation of these “limited editions” by touts. He complained copies of his 7″ single ‘Brand New Toy’/’Landslide’ were being sold on eBay the day before Record Store Day and also heard stories of people queuing outside their local record shop only to be told there were none left at opening time.
Paul Weller said this in his statement “I am a big supporter of independent record stores but the greedy touts making a fast buck off genuine fans is disgusting and goes against the whole philosophy of RSD”
The organisers of Record Store Day issued a statement in response to Paul Weller stating “once again some people are seeking to exploit the goodwill of artists and labels by selling RSD exclusives at vastly-inflated prices on eBay”
Its not only the avid music fans that are harmed – its the small indie labels and those in between too. There are only so many vinyl presses around and with nobody making the machinery to open more, demand outstrips supply. The people with priority of these factories are the major labels. The indie labels are squashed.
Not every band or label decided to release a special edition vinyl this year, nevertheless, some have still felt the knock on effects of the rush. Some album releases have had to be moved back as RSD releases got immediate priority.
We spoke to Ernest Drake, owner of Drake Records, record store and label in Cologne. “It’s become a flood of releases really”, explains Drake, “Majors have begun to realise that MP3’s are rather a problem than a sales option and that the CD is dying, so they try to push vinyl back on the market by force”
“Why have all these Ltd reissues for just a single day, and afterwards everybody has to pay a lot more for than any average repress. That doesn’t always make sense. Some people do realise that.”
Taking part in Record Store Day can also prove financially costly for the businesses Ernest points out “This month I would have needed an extra clerk just for all the RSD ordering business” He added “And judged by online sales this month there’s a clear tendency that a lot less gets sold than in previous months” And its not just online where sales have taken a turn, “Customers in stores after RSD are less than usual so far, apart from late RSD item sales after Saturday.”
It is most definitely not just Drake Records and Paul Weller’s fan base that feel both the positive and negative effects of Record Store Day. It seems the only people really benefiting from RSD are the capitalists – the touts and huge corporate labels.
Record Store Day should be every day.
Visit Drake Records at https://www.facebook.com/drakerecords
