National Record Store Day

Spent the day DJing at a newer store in my area where the owner didn’t manage to get any RSD product, not out of any principled stand but because the shop is new enough that he just didn’t get to it in time. Instead he did the thing where he put out a bunch of boxes of really primo used stuff that he’d been saving for the day, plus a bunch of crates of $0.50 records on the sidewalk that were actually decent-enough classic rock, and people still went wild, customers waiting outside in the morning and coming through all day, buying huge stacks, hanging out, great vibes all around. That’s my favorite version of Record Store Day, when it feels more like a community event – the store felt like an oasis from the kinda-hostile, anxious, stressful vibes of the other RSD-focused stores in the area. He probably made 75% of the money he would have made if he’d carried official RSD stuff, but also had 0% of the stress, and also it seemed like a lot of the people who came out will be back as actual normal customers in the future, rather than flippers who just show up once a year. I was trying to convince the owner to do it like this every year and I think the idea definitely appealed to him.

I think it's totally fine for stores to participate or not, some need it and some don't. It is a drag overall, the releases are kind of lame and the prices are wild but I worked it for the first time after managing to avoid being on that day for years and people were much nicer and chiller than expected. And we got a lot of kids coming in for stuff which is always fun because they are just supper enthusiastic and sweet (though of course two chud hunting 50 yr old dudes were first in line).

Maybe I'm nut but store hoarding super good used shit to put out on RSD (even posting for weeks in advance what they are holding back until that day) annoys me as much if not more than RSD. Just put it out! What about the people that come in your store every week? Why encourage the mad rush? IDK I'm probably being a crank because I'm in stores all the time and hope that I'm seeing the best stuff a store has to put out at any given time. Who knows.

my local shop i posted about upthread who were not participating were nice and busy on the day, picked up a copy of songs for drella

and what does a beatnut buy on the day after RSD in the woods of western mass? we have stickers on our discogs stuff and maria left them for me so that i could see some of the stuff they got. it was my day off!

colon/blades - siempra
drums of haiti
talking heads - road to nowhere 12-inch
goofus five 1926-1927 comp
home movies ost - pino donaggio
stevie wonder - for once in my life swedish p/s 7-inch
talking heads - the lady don't mind 12-inch
theresa lindsey - gotta find a way 7-inch
john dankworth - movies 'n me comp (a killer break on there....)
kung fu soundtrack - jim helms
sister nancy - one two
lo jai - acrobates et musiciens
hurricane polymar ost
los corraleros - nuevo ritmo! (1966 columbian cumbia)

want that Sister Nancy album

for the first time ever, i went to my local store and bought nothing. one RSD release i might've bought but they didn't get it, nothing else on the list appealed to me in the slightest, and my store has raised prices since an ownership change. you can't find a more "i don't care, i'll pay more to support my store / i refuse to use Amazon and streaming services" than i am, but i just felt bummed out and left.

why is the Andre 3000 flute album $85? is there a decent reason for that? or is it less than that at most places?

that's a few dollars more than it is at most places and about 10-15 dollars more than Amazon, but it is a 3 LP set.

Yeah that's gouging. I think it's like 69.99 suggested. Which is still insane but stores are only making like $10 off that.

Or maybe it's closer to 74, I can't remember, it's all too horrible.

my local had it for $75. I remember because I gasped.

I would wait it out a bit those Andre 3000 records are future cut out bin material if I've ever seen it

otm

it's gonna be Big Boi Presents... Purple Ribbon All-Stars – Got Purp? Vol. II all over again.

wholesale costs for record stores have gone up $8-$10 lately in the last year or so. Both for new releases and catalog titles. $30 is becoming a new standard LP price, $42 on the high end. Doubles are $45+

(and not all labels/distro have increased prices, btw)

I was going to say yeah if you really are jonesing for Andre 3000 flute jams, give it a year and someone's just going to hand you a copy for free somewhere.

I just checked and the cost price for that Andre 3000 album where we order from is $65. I think we have it on sale for $82. We had a few people ask about it late last year so got three copies in. We're yet to sell any of those. Either the novelty wore off or people were understandably put off by the price. They'll be heading for the clearance bins everywhere here just like those 5 LP sets of Tool's Fear Inoculum and Lana Del Rey's poetry album.

Why is everyone suddenly interested in paying silly money for a triple LP of new age flute jams

seriously, I recently bought an original 1962 mono copy of Charles Mingus' "Oh Yeah" LP, arguably one of the greatest jazz albums ever made, I paid $60 on eBay

($20 less than Discogs median, to continue my "we are past peak vinyl" argument across multiple threads #onethread)

Ploughing through the list to see if anything I wanted was now available online. Found a couple, but still not bothered.

okay i cracked and bought the ashaye 'dreaming' 12" for £16, super happy with that

and the spoonfed hybrid album off discogs for £4.99 which is surely a huge typo on the part of the seller (it's £41.99 from everywhere else!) so i feel quite bad about that and if they cancel it's fine but eh...

haha well that didn't take long:

"hi nick sorry i made an error in the listing price it is £44.99 so will have to cancel your sorry for my mistake regards pete "

seriously, I recently bought an original 1962 mono copy of Charles Mingus' "Oh Yeah" LP, arguably one of the greatest jazz albums ever made, I paid $60 on eBay

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Monday, April 22, 2024 9:58 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

this means nothing if you don't tell us what condition it was in!!

let me guess: the disc was cracked in half but the seller said it was a good "starter copy"

nah it was VG+, sounds amazing

I just checked and the cost price for that Andre 3000 album where we order from is $65. I think we have it on sale for $82. We had a few people ask about it late last year so got three copies in. We're yet to sell any of those. Either the novelty wore off or people were understandably put off by the price. They'll be heading for the clearance bins everywhere here just like those 5 LP sets of Tool's Fear Inoculum and Lana Del Rey's poetry album.

― kitchen person, Monday, April 22, 2024 8:31 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

my local shop has the same problem, anything priced $75 and up they have real trouble selling despite how many people are "interested". a bunch of people wanted that 5xLP LCD Soundsystem live thing that got repressed but I don't think anyone actually bought it. he also has several copies of the Andre 3000 thing. but his sales seem to be pretty good otherwise.

xp good deal!

it just occurred to me i was checking back on this thread to see what condition sleeve's sleeve condition was in

haha, the sleeve is very nice as well!

lol

my local shop has the same problem, anything priced $75 and up they have real trouble selling despite how many people are "interested".

Probably more appropriate for 'post a controversial music opinion', but I think any multi-disc album that costs more than $40 should also be released in separate sets, "Use Your Illusion"-style

Or, at least offer us a 33.3-rpm version of non-double LPs on a single disc (or 2 if it's in the 90ish min range), instead of padding the cost (and annoyance factor) with the 45-rpm trend

eh, I don't think having a 2xLP and a 3xLP version of the same album out there is really a great idea. I think the Chemical Brothers' last album did this, which was weird because the album was only 47 minutes long. the 3xLP doesn't even have any extra tracks, one side is like 5 minutes

I do think bands need to be more willing to shuffle tracks around in order to accomodate the vinyl split rather than put a 42 minute album on two LPs. AnCo's Strawberry Jam is one of those, I think they wanted For Reverend Green and Fireworks to be on the same side (which makes sense) but they could've done it by changing the order. might annoy the purists but whatever.

i just buy CDs if something is long. i don't tend to listen to an entire double album in one sitting and never a triple album. i remember in the late 90s and early 2000s when i would buy rap albums that were 3 LPs and i basically never played them. thus, the humble CD. i remember when that cool Trad Gras Och Stenar box came out and the vinyl version was around a hundred bucks and the CD set was 20! i never looked back. and tracks weren't cut in half either.

^^^ this, I refuse to buy vinyl with split tracks, hate it so much. just gimme a CD.

I guess I didn't explain my idea very well: for albs that would fit on one record, but are released on double vinyl (prob because they get the unnecessary 45 rpm treatment), figure out a way to put them on a single disc for those who don't want the 45 rpm edition, and for 4+ LP releases priced at $75+, split them in half

or, you know... don't do any of that at all and release it as a pono player exclusive, as the real rsd gods intended.

also, for some relevant discourse-
fleet foxes, like the assholes they are, actually did follow the spirit of rsd and released a vinyl exclusive live album. i want to hear it! haven't bothered with fan uploads or youtube, but it looks mighty healthy: https://www.discogs.com/master/3463574-Fleet-Foxes-Live-On-Boston-Harbor

there are some audiophile pressings of Genesis albums that just came out at 45rpm...do I want a 4 disc Lamb? fuck no. Likewise I do not want Supper's Ready split over two sides, wtf.

I assume with the chemical brothers (and other dance stuff) it gets split across multiples to make djing easier? Wider grooves, easier to cue? Excuse me if this is dumb or obvious

well in the old school economy, 45 pressings were generally louder and, therefore, would sound p fucken spiff in the club sound system. but that was like... dance music that's supposed to go BOOMBOOMBOOM with the bass and whatnot. chemical bros makes some sense, but i don't understand the treatment for stuff like, say, genesis. you're not getting much of an upgrade between the stellar vinyl reissues from about a decade ago and the tiny bit of increased loudness on the expnaded 45 pressings.

yeah I understand why the Chems would do that but still you can do 46 minutes on a 2xLP @ 45 RPM, no reason to release a 3xLP version at the same time

I do like stuff like the Underworld Pearl's Girl 3x12" where there's a separate track on each side, but that's when vinyl was a lot cheaper...it cost me like six bucks

STOP MAKING NEW RECORDS THEY ARE DUMB AND TOO HEAVY AND THE CORNERS ARE SO SHARP THEY SUCK PLUS THE PLANET!!

(btw, i'm frantically searching for an old wordpress/blogspot post from the mid-2010s where the dude sought out full lengths pressed at 45. there was a lot of stuff from the 80s and a lot of british pop music. from what i remember he was only interested in having lps pressed at 45 and didn't care about the music; all he wanted was the thing. he was way ahead of his time.)

did the 45 rpm lp thing start with chris cutler's early eighties re records releases? i think they're the only examples i've heard (& they do sound good)

Well, Pil's "Metal Box"...

I bought a 2x45rpm reissue of New Hope For The Wretched by the Plasmatics (second hand so it wasn't expensive) and regretted not just waiting to find a single LP version. that is not a record that benefits from the 45rpm treatment

I bought a 2x45rpm reissue of New Hope For The Wretched by the Plasmatics (second hand so it wasn't expensive) and regretted not just waiting to find a single LP version. that is not a record that benefits from the 45rpm treatment

oops