New York – While the Black Friday shopping experience has become as big a part of the Thanksgiving ritual for some as Thursday’s turkey feast itself, 2013 marks just the fourth year that Record Store Day has organized it’s own holiday event for the more than 700 independently owned record stores in the U.S. (and thousands more internationally).
But like its bigger annual sibling in April, the Record Store Day Black Friday event is now established enough to help draw hordes who line up for hours at Main Street retailers for the music release equivalent of the flat screen TVs that traditionally attract crowds to the big box stores.
This year’s list of exclusive releases and RSD premieres has another terrific batch of titles from new bands (LA folk rockers Dawes, alt-rock favorites Atlas Genius, Swedish trio NoNoNo) and established artists, such as U2. RSD co-founder Michael Kurtz credits the latter with the fall event’s existence: “We really owe it all to U2…very soulful people who genuinely care about Mom and Pop stores.” The band is once again stepping forward with an RSD exclusive (see below).
Warner Bros. Records has been an official sponsor of Record Store Day since it began. For the label’s head of marketing and strategy, Brian Frank, it was his own experience “interacting with the physical product” as a music shopper that makes him “proud to be with a company that values vinyl,” adding: “It’s encouraging that kids are appreciative of the sonic quality” of vinyl, while recognizing the value in both physical and digital product.
For Frank, one of the values of independent record stores is the “discovery that these stores bring. Being able to see what’s actually there and thumb through it is a unique experience,” adding that “getting to know the real-life people who work there adds to the community aspect of the shopping experience. It’s not often you can get your own personal concierge.”
Carl Mello, a senior buyer for New England retailer Newbury Comics, said that while the “indie music world never stopped buying vinyl,” the 28-store chain has shown “meaningful growth” in vinyl sales over the last 5-6 years and that “this year, the growth is accelerating, with no end in sight.” Purchases are split evenly among the “older” crowd and college students.
There’s certainly a “something for everyone” feel to this year’s 100 special releases, including:
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Nirvana’s In Utero 2013 Mix on vinyl, with original album producer Steve Albini remixing and remastering;
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a live 7” with Brandi Carlile’s “Raise Hell” b/w The Lone Bellow’s “You Never Need Nobody”;
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a new song from U2 on 10” vinyl: “Ordinary Love” b/w a new recording of “Breathe”;
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a six-song collection, on CD and orange vinyl, from Dawes, Stripped Down At Grimey’s, recorded during an in-store appearance at the Nashville retailer earlier this year;
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re-releases of five Clash albums, the first five Cheap Trick studio albums as a vinyl box set, and Miles Davis’ seminal Kind Of Blue on vinyl;
- an ep on both CD and vinyl from Flaming Lips of music inspired by the film Enders Game;
- and a collection of The Doors, specially curated by RSD with rare mono mixes and live tracks of many fan favorites.
To those who gripe that they’ve gotten shut out of the special releases, RSD’s Kurtz notes: “People have wish lists but it doesn’t mean they’ll get everything they want. If (a title) is mass-produced, a release can lose some of it’s cache.”
