On April 20, 2024, the 17th annual Record Store Day was held at record stores across the world, giving vinyl fans and collectors a chance to buy previously unreleased or new variants of vinyl records.
Record Store Day is an organization that gets in contact with artists, labels and vinyl pressing plants to create a list of albums that are all scheduled to be released on the same day, exclusively to local record stores.
“Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1400 independently-owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally,” states the Record Store Day website.
The purpose of this is to promote supporting independent, local record stores, as well as promoting the vinyl collecting hobby in general.
“Today, Record Store Day is celebrated at independently-owned brick-and-mortar record stores around the world,” the RSD website states.
Many of the albums on the list have previously never had a vinyl release. If they already have a vinyl release, RSD usually orders a unique color variant or adds bonus tracks to make it more collectible.
Some of the most notable artists with RSD releases this year were Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, The Talking Heads, Paramore, The Doors and many others alike.
Mitchell Zager, a Moorpark College student expressed his feelings about this year’s Record Store Day event.
“The list wasn’t the best for me this year, but I definitely wanted to get my hands on that Wallows album,” commented Zager.
Some RSD releases are reissues from previous years with a new colorway, such as Lil Uzi Vert’s “Luv Is Rage” which was previously released on yellow vinyl in 2018. This year the vinyl was issued on a unique clear with pink splatter vinyl.
Other releases have never had a vinyl release, like Lil Peep’s “Star Shopping” 7-inch vinyl. Every release is sought after, even if the vinyl already has a popular and common release, like the previously mentioned Wallows’ “Nothing Happens” vinyl.
The RSD edition of “Nothing Happens” is a 5th-anniversary special edition that comes with various additions like new art, bonus tracks and a poster.
Redlands Vinyl Records and Collectibles had a successful RSD this year. Brandon, an employee who worked at the store during the event, said it was great as usual.
“In the digital world a lot of customers often buy things online, so having an in-store-only day really helps me, and the vinyl fans get back into the swing of old times,” Brandon said.
Zager, who visited Salzer’s Records in Ventura this RSD, also added that despite the list not matching his taste exactly, he still enjoys going to the event just to enjoy the annual ceremony.
“I always enjoy it, the energy is great and you get to enjoy the hobby with a bunch of other passionate people,” Zager says.
Some customers shop with the sole intent of reselling online at a hiked-up price since it can be very difficult to find the RSD releases for retail prices after the event. Brandon said [record stores] usually limit releases to one per customer in an effort to prevent this.
“It’s all fair game though, if they want to buy and resell that’s their choice, but it also only strengthens the real customers and RSD fans,” added Brandon.
Every vinyl released on Record Store Day is limited to a certain number, and in many cases, that specific colorway cannot be reissued after RSD. This leads to an incredibly unforgiving reseller market.
Some customers think this is a problem with RSD. However, all the reseller’s stock comes from local record store stock, so this flaw doesn’t come at the expense of the retailer, but it can frustrate the customer nonetheless. Customers will show up hours before store doors open just to secure a good spot in line, however, not every store will get every release.
The next Record Store Day will be April 19, 2025, but RSD also hosts a Black Friday event where records are re-issued for the holiday season. This year’s RSD Black Friday will be on Nov. 29.
