News - 22/04/2014

Record Store Day 2014 a resounding success

Record Store Day 2014 a resounding success


And so the 8th edition of Record Store Day has come around bringing with it hundreds of one-off releases planned to celebrate the day and lengthy cues to secure them outside all major record stores in the country.

At Rough Trade East in London the cue at 10:30AM was still over 200 meters long and those who showed up between 7 and 8AM had to wait a good 45 minutes in line before being allowed into the shop.

Amongst the special activities to celebrate the day over in the US Jack White recorded, cut and sold a 7-inch single in 4 hours, making it the fastest record ever to go into production. The single contained “Lazaretto”, a new track from White’s upcoming album as well as a cover of Presley’s “Power of my love”.

Of course as the event gets bigger and bigger there are some issues floating to the surface. For starters, some independents are grumbling that the sheer number of special releases and the relative short supply of pressing plant (especially in the UK) means that their records are being put in the back burner or delayed.

Also, as the majors are getting in on the action (even One Direction had a special release this year), there are concerns that the spirit of the day is being diluted and that they may take over precious time at pressing plants from the independent industry.

Whilst these concerns are certainly founded, there’s no denying that seeing lengthy cues outside record stores - even if it’s only once per year - to buy Vinyl releases priced £20 to £50, is a reassuring sight for the industry and that the scaling issues faced by any growing event are just a footnote. 

Whatever the problems happening on the supply chain side of things, 240 shops taking part across the UK and over 600 special releases can only be a good thing. The fact that we still have 240 shops that can take part is amazing.

Sure, some of the people in line may be buying releases as collectibles for the resale market, but the majority are just regular music lovers who want in on the action, and the industry can't get enough of those.

(Andrea Leonelli)

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