National Record Store Day

huh, didn't know that about 90s vinyl. are you saying my butterglory LPs are worth crazy ebay buxx?

haha maybe not butterglory but 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.

i think about all the prog records and folk records i could have bought in the 90s and weep myself to sleep.

did anybody get the New Order 7"? i've got lots of stuff to trade if you're interested.

I was at a Fry's today and they had Plant & Krauss-Raising Sand on vinyl (a double) for $14.99. Which I thought was surprising, given most major title vinyl I see is around $30.00. Fry's does mark stuff down, but I guess the price is also low because it doesn't come with an MP3 code or cd, which I think inspires a heavy markup.

Also, one of the important things about some 90s vinyl is that as the format wound down as a consumer format, pressing quality started to dip. I remember my big sister picking up Stevie Ray Vaughan's The Sky Is Crying on vinyl the day of release in '91*. She took it home and put it on only to discover several skips on both sides. She takes it back, gets another one, same problem. She goes back and the store people tell most of the copies they got were similarly screwed up. She gets it on tape and on x-mas 93 we become a CD family. That can't be the only story like this.

*I wanna say this was the last SRV lp released on vinyl stateside for some time.

Since vinyl constitutes only an infinitesimal fraction of total music sales (albeit a somewhat bigger infinitesimal fraction than a few years ago), even if the mark-up was significant, there's no way it could offset music retail's overall decline. It's just too small a drop in the bucket. (Though for select individual, independent stores where vinyl actually sells, it might make a difference.)

― xhuxk, Monday, April 18, 2011 6:36 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I know Insound.com may be a different category but they are doing pretty damn well in the vinyl selling department! They've put themselves in a nice position though. Plus worldwide sales.

xp while i'm sure that the lower quality control on 90s LPs comes from cutting corners to save $$ on a dying format, my conspiracy theory is that major labels purposely made shitty sounding vinyl so CDs sounded better in comparison.

I was buying new vinyl up until 1989 or so when I heard Skylarking on CD for the first time, the difference to the thin-sounding single LP (should have been a double) was like Dorothy opening her door after landing in Oz into a world of technicolor, my then-favorite album was suddenly SO MUCH BETTER.

For anyone who got the Big Star record: does it even sound that much better than other vinyl reissues of Third? I have the Castle pressing from 1987 and it sounds really great, much better than the reissues of the first two Big Star records that I have at home.

useless response as i have no control group but: it sounds pretty good! all i ever knew was the ryko CD, and femme fatale and the quieter stuff all sounds comparatively lush & textural.

3menwithbeards reissue of third sounds AMAZING. such a good job. makes the ryko cd reissue sound like poop. if you love that album you need that one. cuz its like hearing a brand new album.

i believe there's going to be a more widespread reish of 3rd (incl. CDs) sometime in the next year...

The record store I've been referencing, outside Chicago, said the new Pearl Jam vinyl releases have been slow to sell, oddly. They also couldn't find any mention of a New Order single on their various order sheets.

Did anyone get the Beach Boys 78? I also heard about a "Rumors" double 45rpm LP, but that may have been last year.

josh, the fleetwood mac 2LP 45rpm thing is out now, but it wasn't a record store thing, it's just released normally i think. you can order it here if you want to spend $70 on rumors haha

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/90352

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

The New Order single was UK only, 800 copies (all of which are on ebay right now).

We have Rumors but I forget the price...

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