National Record Store Day

the old half speed master of rumours sounds great and you can probably find one for ten bucks somewhere. maybe.

Wow, I didn't realize Charly/IA did a Red Krayola single too:

http://antonesrecordshop.com/content/product.php?productsku=IA14345

anybody still looking for the red krayola single? i snagged one this morning while i was killing time at a record store.

Here's a little photo story about Record Store Day in Glasgow, featuring the shop I work in amongst others... http://radar.scotsman.com/viewpost.aspx?id=417

pity the guy who did that story didn't get up to Volcanic Tongue

*it's a pity, I mean

Agreed, I would have been very interested to see their RSD too.

It was highly recommended

If anybody wants another chance on some RSD items we've got some left at Tunes in Hoboken. Unless someone picked them up in the past five hours, we've got the live Television record, the psychedelic comp, the Mastodon record, the Flaming Lips box, etc. If you're in the area, call ahead and see what is left tomorrow morning at 11:00.

Three out of five autographed Big Star test pressings discovered thus far: one in Louisville, one in Seattle and one in Sydney. Two to go!

We will be taking part in the Black Friday event this year, which is happening on Friday 25th November. Here's the UK release list... http://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/exclusive-product.aspx and the US list... http://www.recordstoreday.com/SpecialReleases

Any chance of making this thread "International"? Thanks.

I was really thinking of doing the ebay thing this year, and I loaded this thread up to research what was selling big in previous years. Eh...looks like you guys really don't like ebayers!

if it's happening w/ actual exclusive releases and music that can't be legally acquired otherwise, yeah I think it's nagl snarfling them up and instantly flipping them on eBay for twice the price

if it's pointless vinyl repressings of famous albums that only aspie completists really need to own, I p much don't give a shit

that's how I break it down to an extent

I got a rsd exclusive lp version of an os mutantes luaka bop album off ebay. (was usa only)

At least a third of (not a third off) the original price.

so...

I think that to buy these releases with the explicit aim of selling them on ebay for your own profit is really bad Adam.

Whatever one thinks of the releases themselves, Record Store Day is aimed at the good cause of trying to keep smaller independent stores alive and to encourage people to visit and rediscover the ones that are still around. For us it is an incredibly important point in the year and to have it compromised like that can only be a bad thing.

yeah big name stuff from the 90s is worth tons...I think 1994 was the lowest production year for vinyl, so like the labels did say, Siamese Dream, in low quantities on vinyl to keep billy feeling cool and shit but yeah i saw that for 90+ at my local shop.

Ha, i just saw one of those Pumpkins lps for $40 @ Half-Price Books.

There is only one way of halting the "ebay flipping".

And that is to make as many as demand requires.

But, of course, there are too many people that like to get 'very limited' editions, particularly those that are in positions of being able to pick them up ahead of shop openings.

(coming soon: The limited pressing of an authentic facsimile A&M "God save the queen" limited to 100 copies, 50 of which will get actually sold in a shop, etc)

I really wish this day would just focus more on the idea of celebrating the recod store, instead of turning it into collector scum fighting with each other to grab eBay fodder. Like I really enjoy the vibe of the day, especially stores that have fun with it - serving pizza, guest djs, more of a party vibe. But I'm so over the part where its just people scrambling to get stuff they can flip on eBay.

thing is if they did that and scaled back the collectable shit most stores wd take a fraction of what they do on the day under the current 'model'

I'm sure it's galling to know that ppl aren't coming in your store to buy stuff because they want to listen to it, but afaik stores aren't obliged to order all the super desirable stuff if they find it unseemly

I understand why these exclusive things work to get people in the door, but I also kind of feel like a lot of people that come in for that stuff would only come in on that particular day anyway. Its just weird, I like the idea of celebrating record stores like this, I just hate how its evolved.

I'd love to celebrate RSD. But my nearest 'authorised' shop is 2 hours away, and I don't get to travel specifically to outlying shops anymore. And I am by no means miles away from actual cities either.

So, if there's something I 'really' want, e-bay is my only option.

I don't buy 'silly priced' stuff, but.

I think that to buy these releases with the explicit aim of selling them on ebay for your own profit is really bad Adam.

Record Store Day is aimed at the good cause of trying to keep smaller independent stores alive and to encourage people to visit and rediscover the ones that are still around

Yeah but I don't see how this is hurting the record store. Someone who otherwise wouldn't bother going in that day may be spending a good chunk of change on records. What I do with something once I've bought it is my own business.

No, you aren't hurting the store, but you are hurting other fans who would like a fair shot at buying something they really want without paying jacked-up eBay prices. I mean, sure, you can do it, but its kind of a dick move.

Whatever one thinks of the releases themselves, Record Store Day is aimed at the good cause of trying to keep smaller independent stores alive and to encourage people to visit and rediscover the ones that are still around. For us it is an incredibly important point in the year and to have it compromised like that can only be a bad thing.

― brain (krakow), Monday, March 5, 2012 3:16 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I totally agree with the above. I love RSD and our store always treats it as a holiday. Anyone intentionally buying up RSD exclusive records for the purpose of reselling on Ebay instead of letting an independent record store customer have it to own it is being shitty.

I mean, you are correct that what you do once you make the purchase is up to you. Just know that independent record stores think you are being crappy.

and actual music fans think you're scum

and so you are basically a jerk.

me or adam?

tbrr tho

for headline-grabbing-but-dumb things like the Blur single from a couple of years ago, every aspect of its creation, marketing and distribution was engineered with the understanding that it was gonna be sold for greatly inflated prices to collectors

bearing that in mind I'm not sure that's a demonstrably worse outcome than three Blur superfans in every town getting a copy and never parting with it because they were such superfans

i meant people who are buying out RSD stock to specifically resell...

what do you guys think of free flexi-discs instead of exclusive vinyl? basically remove the collector element from it.

bearing that in mind I'm not sure that's a demonstrably worse outcome than three Blur superfans in every town getting a copy and never parting with it because they were such superfans

How about just pressing enough copies to meet demand? Not every fucking thing needs to be a super-duper collector's item due to forced scarcity.

Sorry for doing this, but I just realised there are two ongoing threads for this, so I'm going to cross-post what I posted on the other one:

I'm not really into RSD as a concept, but I will heartily endorse the Kogumaza/Hookworms split 7" that is coming out for it.

― emil.y, Monday, March 5, 2012 5:13 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well to use Blur as an example again, 1000 copies of their single got pressed iirc - 'enough copies to meet demand' would be many, many times that in the UK, even considering no-one buys physical singles anymore

this would lose a big part of the hook for the story and it wouldn't get as much media coverage

But don't you think first new Blur single in X number of years is a big enough hook in and of itself?

maybe, but if you didn't have to break a sweat to get one ppl wouldn't turn up on the day and it would put a spanner in that element

it's a tightrope, 's what I'm sayin'

what if they made it free?

record stores should just make the prices higher on the rsd stuff. or is there a limit to what they can sell them for.

You should have to show a receipt for a record you bought in the shop earlier in the year, and then they give you the RSD specials for free. Ha!

one of these days i'll remember to buy some of this stuff. i always forget. the sad thing is maria put our info on their website and now people call me every year - or twice a year now apparently? - and i have to give them the bad news. but other people around have this crap so i point them in the right direction.

plus, you can put a limit on how much of it people buy, right? i don't know, seems like if people get mad at people who buy too much of it for reselling there must be something they can do. i don't begrudge people who do it. land of opportunity and all that.

i started pricing my beatles/floyd/zep up a while back. it did start bugging me when one dude would wipe out my beatles section and i knew they were just going online with them. my prices were cheap. now i raise them just enough so that kids who want beatles records don't get scared away but the resellers think twice about buying. i mean i have a whole store filled with cheap stuff they could make money on. i'd much rather have ten normal people buy beatles records - and come back and buy more and bring their friends - then one dude flipping shit. its just a smarter way to make money.

record stores should just make the prices higher on the rsd stuff. or is there a limit to what they can sell them for.

― scott seward, Monday, March 5, 2012 5:46 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dunno but most of it tends to be higher than average anyway I think

not a RSD thing but close enough - Tom Jones has a single out today on Jack White's label and they did 100 colour 7"s just to sell in my local shop, I guess cos it's the nearest one left to where he grew up - they sold them at £15 a throw and they went in 30 minutes

i've always wondered about this, what the barrier was for retailers to sell things online and cut out the flipper. is it a contract thing?

just our word, really.

i am sure there are store's that do but it just defeats the whole purpose to us. the purpose of the day is to get cool shit in the hands of our customers and we work really hard at making it a special day and getting really especially great stock for that day. we think of it as a customer appreciation day.

A friend who owns a record store thinks there should be some way of giving preferential treatment to regulars ahead of the ebay vultures. I know the point is to bring in new customers but he says that every year a bunch of people swoop on the limited vinyl on RSD and are never seen again.

i didn't just mean the record day stuff but for general backstock as well.
also, are you also not allowed to reserve copies for regulars?

it wouldn't really truly BE a record store day without collector scum though, right? though i like the idea of creating a myth that record collecting is a sunny happy place where everyone works together hand in hand. with free food! i'm all for it.

Well, you can't really reserve a copy of anything because you have no idea what you are getting out of your order.
It is like a lottery system so no store gets better stock than another.

I don't want record stores to die, I love them but RSD has evolved into something ridiculous. I remember the first year, was pretty relaxed (I lived in the bay area at the time), went to a few shops they had some good specials and exclusives and free pizza or whatever. Nice vibe. The next year I moved to NY and things took off a little bit more, remember waiting in line and people snapping stuff up and the vibe was pure collector scum. Other Music was an hour wait by midday and Generation records in the Village just had you in a massive queue that snaked around the store then you got to the counter and picked your exclusives off of a pre-printed list where they crossed out out-of-stock items. It's basically turned into a collector scum distribution system and the most disheartening part is that many of the most coveted exclusives seem to be more and more major label stuff. Last year there were ~500 official exclusives, gimme a break. Would love for a store owner/clerk to be candid about how this affects their business positively.