How Record Store Day Kickstarted the Vinyl Revival
How Record Store Day kickstarted the vinyl
revival
In
2008, only a tiny percentage of releases came out on vinyl and sales of vinyl accounted for
just 0.3% of physical album sales. Fast forward to the
present and almost all key releases come out on vinyl as well as the CD and
digital formats. In
2017 vinyl accounted for 19% of physical album sales, making it the tenth
consecutive year to witness a rise in the sales of the vinyl format.
In
2008, £2.9 million was spent on vinyl in the UK. By 2017 the sum had risen to
£88.7 million, according to the Official Chart Company.
The digital
generation has discovered the joy of owning vinyl and it
is no coincidence that the initial rise started following the first Record Store
Day (in 2008 in the USA; 2009 in the UK).
Since then, sales
of vinyl in independent record shops have risen from 78,400 units in 2008 to
1,280,700 in 2017. And overall sales of vinyl records have increased five-fold
since 2013 – from 831,000 units to 4,319,300 units in 2017.
Much of the credit for the resurgence
of vinyl must go to the inspirational idea of having a day to celebrate record
shops. Record Store Day was founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 2008 by a group
of record store owners: Michael Kurtz, Eric Levin, Carrie Colliton, Amy
Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. It has since grown into an annual,
worldwide celebration of record shops by artists, record labels and most
importantly of all, music fans. For record shops the event, which takes place
on the third Saturday of April is more important for trade than Christmas.
Here, in co-founder Michael Kurtz’s
own words, is the story of Record Store Day - how a little idea has developed
into one of the most important dates in the music calendar.
Record
Store Day was originally pitched to me as an idea by Chris Brown, one of the
guys who runs Bull Moose out of Portland, Maine. Bull Moose is the largest
retailer of new and pre-loved music, movies and video games in Maine and
Seacoast New Hampshire with 10 stores, employing over 100 people. Chris had
observed how the comic book industry ran an event called Free Comic Day and
suggested that we organize a similar event for independently owned record
stores. I run an organization called the Department of Record Stores. DORS is
now the largest of the indie coalitions in the US and Canada. Part of my job is
bringing together indie retail stores for an annual event called Noise in the
Basement, held in Baltimore. At the 2008 event I posed the idea for Record
Store Day to folks in my group, as well as to Newbury Comics, Criminal Records,
and the Coalition of Independent Music Stores. At the time, everyone was
grousing about all the negative press on record stores and how, even though
there had been a good deal of expansion in our world over the past few years,
everything that was reported about record stores in the media was bad. Record
Store Day would simply be an excuse to throw a party for ourselves and the
artists we love, as well as get the real story on record stores out to the
media. Chris originally pitched the idea of Record Store Day, which I took to
some of the other great indie stores in the country as well as to the Coalition
of Independent Music Stores and the Alliance of Music Stores (two noteworthy
indie coalitions).
After getting the stores on board, I felt that
the best way to see if the idea had legs was to see if the artists themselves
would support us. Paul McCartney had recently released Memory Almost Full and had celebrated its release with an
intimate in-store event at Amoeba Records, in Los Angeles (with Ringo in the
audience!). Shooting for the stars, I reached out to the Hear Music/Concord
label (owned by TV producer, and huge music fan Norman Lear). I asked them if
they would alert Paul to what we were doing with Record Store Day and see if
Paul would give us a word of support. I was stunned when an email from Paul
appeared in my inbox saying “There’s nothing as glamorous to me as a record
store. When I recently played Amoeba in LA, I realized what fantastic memories
such a collection of music brings back when you see it all in one place. This
is why I’m more than happy to support Record Store Day and I hope that these
kinds of stores will be there for us all for many years to come. Cheers.”
Almost all the folks who run record stores
grew up with The Beatles so getting a note from Paul gave us the strength to
say “Yes, we are pretty cool. We can do this.” From there the messages started
cascading in from the likes of Chuck Berry, Mike Patton, Tom Waits, Nick Hornby
and Cameron Crowe, amongst many others. I then took the message of Record Store
Day to Mike Sherwood at Warner Bros and to Marc Reiter, who was based at a
management firm called Q Prime to see if Metallica would get involved in their
hometown of San Francisco.
One
of the most exciting days of my life was getting the call from Marc saying that
the band loved record stores and the idea of Record Store Day so they would
help launch it at Rasputin in their hometown of San Francisco. Having Metallica
participate was especially gratifying to me as I always thought Lars Ulrich got
a raw deal from the media for having the audacity to speak up about not
embracing peer-to-peer networks because he thought Metallica, along with other
artists, should be paid for their work. What a concept.
Anyway,
Metallica ended up being incredibly nice to work with and they treated their
fans like royalty insisting that they be given time to meet and talk with each
and every one of them circling and fanning out from the store for what seemed
like miles. It was, as Lou Reed, once sang, a “perfect day”. Others joined in
like Steve Earle who performed at Manifest Discs in Charlotte, NC and Panic at
the Disco played at Waterloo Records in Austin, TX. Pretty much all the major
labels and distribution companies embraced the idea and created wonderful
promotional/collectible pieces like vinyl LPs and 7-inch singles to give out
freely to music fans on the day. We even had various commercial products made
for us by artists like REM, Stephen Malkmus, Built To Spill, Death Cab For
Cutie, and Jason Mraz. A group of about 200 or so stores in the USA jumped into
the fray and before we knew it the news media was reporting our positive story
pretty much everywhere from the NY Times to the BBC to CNN. This was our
beginning.
2009
was our second year for Record Store Day and I don’t think anyone was prepared
for what took place, or how exciting it would be. The labels and distributors
showed record stores a massive amount of love and created close to 100
commercial pieces made specifically for Record Store Day and independent record
stores. We had Radiohead, the Flaming Lips, Wilco, the Smiths, Iggy Pop and the
Stooges, Iron And Wine, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Sonic Youth, Leonard Cohen,
the Killers, Bob Dylan, Slayer, Dead Weather and the Black Kids involved in one
way or another.
Apple
Records even gave the stores beautiful hand numbered Beatles’ lithographs. Jeff
Tweedy from Wilco issued a statement saying, “My introduction to a lot of great
music and to the music business came from hanging around and eventually working
at independent record stores. It’s the life I know. Nothing beats browsing in
your favourite store, listening to music, finding something new or old that
you’ve been searching for, being ignored by the store clerks, all that. Without
these stores, there’s just no way Wilco would still be around. They’ve been
there with us from the very beginning, through thick and thin. Even if I wasn’t
in a band, I’d still support Record Store Day.”
With
artist statements like Jeff’s coming out with regularity and a press release
from NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg declaring Record Store Day as an officially
recognised day by the city of New York, media coverage on Record Store Day began
to build. By the time the day hit, Record Store Day reached the No.5 Google
news item of the day, ranking #34 as the most googled term of the day. 10% of
all tweets for that day were about Record Store Day, and our story went
worldwide. The result was the creation of a new event that hundreds of both
established and developing artists embraced, including Ani DiFranco, Wilco,
Disturbed, Erykah Badu, the Eagles of Death Metal, Talib Kweli, the Silversun
Pickups, Chris Cornell, Ashford & Simpson and so on. Record Store Day now
brings even more people through the doors than Christmas.
The
dark side of Record Store Day was having a few embittered indie stores attack
the organisers of Record Store Day. This was a bit of a shocker, but as I
reached out to each of the stores to work with them so that they could fully
understand what we were doing, everything came together. For the most part, the
American indie record store community is fully now behind Record Store Day, so
all the hard work was worth it, and we accomplished what we set out to do.
The
bad press, paranoia and the weirdness has gone, replaced by innovation fuelled
by local community spirit. It’s the essence of rock n’ roll. You could see this
in the indie record store that Record Store Day erected on site with Zia
Records (out of Arizona) at the Coachella Music Festival in California. Over 80
bands stepped in to participate and meet fans and over 30% of everything sold
was on vinyl. It was a huge success, allowing us to take our story directly to
the music fans at arguably the world’s coolest three-day music festival.
Progress in rolling out Record Store Day internationally has gone well, with
over 300 stores joining in from around the world. Our main task now is working
to help international stores get commercial pieces made for Record Store Day in
their respective countries so that Record Store Day can continue to grow and
strengthen local record stores everywhere.”
The UK record shops were first involved in 2009 but
only a handful of shops took part with a limited selection of releases. Since
those humble beginnings it is now the most important day in music retailing for
record shops. Each store celebrates Record Store Day in its own way. As part of
their individual celebrations, most shops have a day of bands playing in-store,
unique offers, and product giveaways.
The record companies have embraced Record Store Day.
Last year there were more than 400 exclusive releases that could only be
obtained from independent record shops. The film Last
Shop Standing featured
scenes from Record Store Day of a staggering 900 people queuing outside Rough
Trade East in London, and more than 400 people waiting outside Record Collector
in Sheffield. People are often astonished to see this, not realising just how
big the event has become.
What Record Store day achieved was to encourage music
fans back into visiting independent record shops. Once there, they discovered
and, in many cases, re-discovered the pleasure visiting a record shop can
bring. By releasing exclusive records, it re-ignited the interest in record
collecting.
The event has attracted extra publicity by each year
appointing a Record Store Day Ambassador. In recent years artists such as
Metallica, Chuck D, Dave Grohl, Jack White, St Vincent, Iggy Pop and in 2018
rap duo Run The Jewel have fulfilled the role, giving media interviews and live
events to help promote the day. Many artists have fond memories of making their
first record and finding that the local independent record shop would be the
first to stock it. By supporting Record Store Day those artists are giving
something back.
In 2017 Record Store Day celebrated its 10th anniversary and each year is better than the last.
Every year the event makes changes that lead to improvements both for the
retailers and customers. They have done sterling work taking on the scourge of
Record Store Day, the “flippers”, a term used to describe the people who queue outside
shops on Record Store Day, purchase the most collectable items then go home and
immediately put them on eBay to make a vast profit. These people are despised
by shops, labels and music fans as they deprive true vinyl fans of titles they
want in the same way as ticket touts do with concert tickets. Johnny Marr
referred to flippers
as tossers and urged people not to
buy from them. If a shop sells a collectable Record Store Day piece for £20 and a flipper turns around and sells it for £100, then the shop and the record label have made a
small profit on the £20 whilst the flipper has made £80.
If labels sell the record for a
higher price, the artist gets more royalties, with the flipper making less
profit but neither label nor shop wishes to increase the price. Record labels
and shops are not in the business of making flippers a living. They are in the
business of giving music fans what they want.
Record Store Day rules say that it is first come first
served. In the early days of the event, shops would inform me that they would
have people at the front of the queue that they had never seen in the shop
before spending a four-figure sum clearing many of the collectable releases
out. Since then I have always advised new shops taking part in the day for the
first time to limit the queue to purchasing a maximum of five titles for one
copy of each. After that they would have to return to the back of the queue if
they wish to purchase more. This ensures the stock is spread out and limits the
impact of flippers.
It is also the disgruntled who shout loudest.
Following Record Store Day 2017, the internet was full of people complaining
about flippers. Record Store Day founder Michael Kurtz commented: “There are about 600,000 pieces
that were sold on Record Store Day, out of 650,000 that were shipped to stores,
and of those, I think about 7,000 ended up on eBay. So that’s about 1 per cent.
That’s good to know, that almost 99 per cent of everything goes home to a music
fan.”
I think that shows that things are not as bad as some
media commentators would have us believe. Record Store Day organisers have done
their utmost to make life difficult for flippers. They watermarked the cover photos of stock with giant
anti-resale text saying “support record shops not flippers”. This made the artwork unusable, thereby safeguarding
it from pre-selling on the internet. Flippers had to wait until after Record
Store Day to obtain the real photos up online.
Many observers lay the blame for flipping with eBay,
for apparently doing nothing to stop it. Record Store Day organisers have
appealed to eBay not to allow listings, but to no avail. With Record Store Day
stock, flippers often post things on eBay that they don’t even have. Often the stock is not even shipped yet.
They are taking a gamble that on the day they can queue early and obtain the
item and fulfil the order they have already taken. Flippers are the parasites
of the music industry, so save your ire for them not the Record Store Day
organisers.
The UK event
is organised by ERA (Entertainment Retailers Association) and the work this
organisation has done in shaping Record Store Day has been outstanding.
Formed in
1988, when it was first known as BARD (British Association of Record Dealers),
the Entertainment Retailers Association is a UK trade organisation which acts
as a forum for the physical and digital retail and wholesale sectors of the
music, video and games industries.
It represents
all types of retailers who sell both physical and digital music, as well as
video and games sellers, and is a must-join body for independent record shops
as membership has many advantages.
ERA membership
benefits for record shops include:
-
Free sign up to Record Store Day for eligible record
shops.
-
Payment for music data if the shop contributes to the
Official Charts. In some cases, a shop may receive more than the £100 cost of
ERA subscription.
-
Access to chart data, free legal advice from the ERA
office, plus much
more.
If you are
planning to open a record shop, joining ERA is essential. The ERA board is made
up of 18 to 20 members covering the full spectrum of entertainment retail.
Currently the board consists of representatives of 7digital, Amazon, Deezer, Game, Google, HMV, Isotope,
Proper Music, Sainsburys, Sky, SoundCloud, Spotify and Tesco. Six people sit on
the board to represent the independent record shops.
The
organisation has a fascinating history and is modelled on a USA trade
association known as NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers)
which was formed in 1958. This trade body looked after the interests of music
retailers, wholesalers and merchandisers. Each year they would hold a huge
conference attended by members from all over the country. It was re-named
MusicBiz (Music Business Association) in 2013.
NARM had
carried out its work for 30 years when one of its board members Russ Soloman
(the founder of Tower Records in the USA) paid a visit to Steve Smith the chief
of Tower in the UK. Russ asked Steve if they could meet up with the UK
equivalent of NARM. Steve informed him that no such trade body existed.
Determined to
do something about this, Steve Smith hosted a get-together with Russ Soloman
and other NARM members with the senior executives of UK multiple retailers,
wholesalers and independent record store owners. At that meeting it was agreed
that retail should have a voice within the music industry and Steve Smith was
elected the first Chairman of BARD.
It was not all
sweetness and light
at the
beginning, and BARD was certainly not welcomed with open arms. There was a fair
share of scepticism from the independent record stores who suspected that BARD
would become a talking shop for, and controlled by, the multiple music
retailers of the time such as Woolworths, Boots, WH Smith, HMV, Virgin, Andys
and Our Price. However, when
it became clear which issues BARD was looking to address, the independent shops
realised there was a lot of common ground, and were won over. Soon BARD began
to have a big impact on how the industry worked. The first major achievement
was to create a joint venture with the record labels for compiling and managing
the sales charts and to secure payment for its members sales data.
Unbelievably, this information had previously been supplied for free. This
arrangement forms the basis of today’s Official
Charts and has since become a regular source of income to ERA and its members.
One of the
most important decisions from an environmental point of view BARD took was not
to go along with the longbox packaging adopted by stores in the USA to display
CDs. Millions of trees have been saved by this decision. When the CD was
marketed in the USA, retailers complained that CDs did not fit into the old LP
racks. Instead of informing retailers that if they wanted to stock this
exciting new format they would need to purchase new racking, the record
companies pandered to them by supplying CDs in long boxes which although only
slightly wider than a CD were the same height as an LP. This meant record shops
could use the LP browsers to rack out CDs. With millions of CDs being sold
every year the sheer waste and extra cost of so much needless packaging was
mind-boggling. Fortunately, BARD had the foresight to resist using the longbox
packaging in the UK. It was decades before the Americans came to their senses
and started packaging CDs the way we do in Europe.
Initially, the
organisation was run by people who already had a full-time job in the music
industry, such as Brian McLaughlin the managing director of HMV and Andy Gray
owner of the Andys record shop chain. But after a while it made sense to employ
somebody full time, and ex-CBS man Bob Lewis was appointed to the role of
Director General. One of the
first issues he addressed was the chaotic shipment of new release product. It
is hard to believe now, but back then the UK delivery system did not enable all
retailers to sell new releases at the same time. BARD created a level playing
field and achieved cost savings by requiring all product to be shipped for
release on a Monday.
Next on the
agenda was to sort out the confusion created by not having a uniform standard
for barcodes which made reporting chart information difficult, time consuming
and costly. In addition to these administrative improvements, BARD started
making voluntary contributions to support the fight against music piracy as
well as negotiating with banks to reduce fees being charged to its members.
Many of today’s industry events such as the BRITS and the Mercury
Music prize came out of collaborations between BARD and different sectors of
the industry. The Mercury Music prize was created by BARD board member David
Tyrell and Jon Webster from the BPI whist BARD members participated and helped
the growth of the BRIT Awards.
Bob Lewis
retired from the job of Director General in 2004 having done a brilliant job of
bringing together all sides of retail to work together. He had always been able
to negotiate from a position of strength as more than 90% of music sales in the
UK were conducted by BARD members.
Bob passed the
baton of Director General on to Kim Bayley who had started her career as a
commercial lawyer before joining BARD in 2002 as Director of Development.
One of her
first tasks was to expand the membership to encompass all forms of retail
including the nascent digital music sector. Her role also involved fighting
piracy, a major problem for the industry then which was depriving artists and
retailers of income. In 2002 alone almost 300 artist sites providing illegal
MP3 downloads and approximately 450 auction sites were taken down.
Under her
leadership and due to the changing nature of the membership the name was
changed to ERA (Entertainment Retailers Association). The organisation
represents those who sell music, video and games including record shops,
supermarkets, online retailers and digital services so the British Association
of Record Dealers
was a name
that no longer reflected the membership.
Kim also
encouraged Paul Quirk, an independent record shop owner who sat on the board as
an independent record shop representative to organise the first indie record
shop conference, which was held in Birmingham. He persuaded retailers and
suppliers to meet up for one day to showcase products and discuss the future of
the indie retailer. It gave the record shop owners a valuable opportunity to
question the policies of the suppliers at a time when many shop owners
suspected that record companies no longer cared about them, and that their
priorities were now selling to supermarkets and the internet companies.
Paul Quirk’s message to the shops was “Be independent but don’t be isolated“. He
emphasized that the idea of the conference was for record shops to communicate
with each other and work together in unison.
Further indie
record shop conferences were held in Birmingham in 2006 before relocating to
London in 2007 and 2008. One thing ERA could not do was negotiate pricing with
record companies. This resulted in some record shops who belonged to ERA
forming a new group calling themselves The Coalition to fulfil this role and focus on independent retail.
Around 25 shops signed up, the idea being that together they would be in a
stronger position to negotiate deals with the record companies. The Coalition
did not last long, however. Arguments on whether to allow all record shops to
join or whether to restrict the membership to “cutting edge” shops created a
split in the ranks.
Apart from
reaffirming ERA’s position as
the organization best-placed to represent indie retail, one positive legacy of
The Coalition’s brief existence was that many of its members’ shops took part
in the UK’s first Record
Store Day. After hearing that the USA had started a day celebrating independent
record shops, Spencer Hickman from Rough Trade decided to bring the event over
to the UK. He was the driving force behind Record Store Day, encouraging both
shops and record companies to take part and attracting some excellent media
coverage of the event. With only a small
selection of official releases to mark the occasion, it was up to the shops to
make the day a success.
Spencer
continued organising RSD, with ERA first getting involved in an administrative
role and providing the
services of industry PR Steve Redmond. ERA also set up the Record Store Day website with a store locator facility, which proved a
significant success in putting the individual shops on the map. For the first
time, potential customers could submit their postcode and immediately be
pointed in the direction of their nearest independent record shop.
In 2012, it
was decided that Record Store Day would stage a launch event designed to bring
in extra publicity. Exclusive releases would be announced and there would be a
party for retailers and the media. Spencer Hickman pulled off a coup in booking
a couple of top artists - Public Image Ltd and Orbital - to play at a secret
location in Shoreditch.
On the week of
the event, disaster struck. The person in charge of looking after the bands and
venue for the evening pulled out. Not only that, when the ERA representatives
arrived at the venue, they discovered it was a shell with no facilities such as
a green room.
While frantic
calls were made to draft in an event organiser to sort out the mess, ERA’s Kim
Bailey headed to the pub across the road to see if by chance they had a room that
could serve as the green room. Thankfully for the bargain price of £50 the pub agreed to let Kim rent an upstairs room,
fully equipped with balcony, bar and sofas, but no staff. Although Kim and Paul
Quirk had no experience in this field, they set to work on the rest of the
event. They were handed a rider (catering agreement) from the bands requiring
food, wine and beer. No problem, they thought. The green room was in a pub with
a bar. Sadly, the pub did not stock any of the wines or beers that the band had
requested. Kim and Paul set off through the streets of Shoreditch on a treasure
hunt. Luckily, they found a beer and wine warehouse which could supply the
required brands of booze. The warehouse even lent the duo a trolley. It was
tiresome work dodging the crowds as they returned to the venue with Paul
pushing the trolley while Kim held on to the stock.
They had just finished loading the drinks in to the dressing room when one of the managers approached. He informed the duo that the band would not perform unless they provided a dozen fluffy white towels. With only 30 minutes before Public Image Ltd were due to take the stage, the duo set off again. It was now 9.30pm, where on earth in London could you pick up fluffy white towels? They started popping in to hotels explaining that they had a packed venue with the legendary John Lydon waiting to perform, but the gig could not start till they had procured a dozen fluffy white towels. After some early rebukes, they found a friendly Sex Pistols fan working at the Shoreditch Premier Inn who kindly lent them the towels for the evening.
After all this
palaver and against all the odds the evening turned out to be a huge success.
Paul has fond memories of John Lydon and the band staying long after the event
finished, happy to chat to all who wanted a word with them and Kim serving
Coronas from the bar.
The following
year, the Record Store Day launch party took place at Rough Trade East with Tom
Odell headlining. It is now a much-anticipated day and
in subsequent years many of the shops also started holding their own launch
parties.
Record Store
Day does attract criticism a lot of it unjust. Nothing is perfect, and each
year ERA have taken steps to address any issues that have cropped up. To
counteract complaints, ERA launched a communications offensive, visiting as
many record shops as possible as well as holding regional meetings for shops to
offer feedback on the day. In the early years the event had problems with
product being sold online before the day. ERA brought in strict rules
forbidding any retailers from doing this. Shops were removed from Record Store
Day if they breached the rules. This eliminated the problem as no record shop
in the country would risk losing the right to take part in this amazing event.
Those who
criticise often have short memories. Before Record Store Day started, the only
queue you were likely to see outside a record shop was for a closing down sale.
ERA have
attracted sponsorship from the likes of Rega Turntables and Friels First Press
Vintage Cider, Fred Perry and Sound Performance to help fund the event.
Each year for
Record Store Day, Rega produce 500 RSD turntables of which thirteen are signed
by artists such as Liam Gallagher, Jarvis Cocker and Tim Burgess. I am proud to
say that I started the ball rolling with Rega’s involvement in the day. Before
the Last Shop Standing film was
released I gave a talk at the End of the
Road festival where I showed a trailer for the film. In the audience were a
couple of the team from Rega who informed me they would be happy to sponsor the
film. I was delighted they got involved, and from there it led on to them being
an RSD sponsor.
Friels have
proved a very popular sponsor. Anybody who sends record shops free cider is
immediately loved. They even produce a Record Store Day cider and do a
brilliant job of promoting the day through giveaways and competitions via
social media.
ERA took on a
young graduate, Megan Page, to work full time on the event and she has taken to
the role with relish, working tirelessly as the link between shops, suppliers,
and the media.
In 2015 they
secured the support of BBC 6 Music to promote RSD. The station spends the time
leading up to RSD playing tracks from forthcoming RSD releases, interviewing
artists and staff in the shops taking part in the big day. The day before RSD,
they broadcast the Lauren Laverne show live from a record shop. In 2016, it was
Resident in Brighton, 2017 was Vinyl Tap in Huddersfield and in 2018 Spillers
in Cardiff.
A great
initiative has been to set up a private Record Store Facebook group for ERA
members. Here, shops can communicate with each other, ask advice from other
shops and even arrange to swap excess stock. What ERA have created is a record
shop community. In the past record shops were in competition with each other.
Now they work together in a spirit of co-operation.
A major
initiative was to re-introduce a record token scheme. Can you remember when you
were a child and your Gran or Auntie would be stuck for ideas on what to buy
for your birthday or for Christmas? A record token was always the perfect
answer. Each year thousands were sold,
redeemable at any record store across the country. As well as providing a
steady source of income for shops, they also enticed people into record stores
who may not have otherwise considered entering. Many children’s first experience of buying a record was redeeming a
record token at their local shop.
The
EMI-administered record token scheme was a consistent success. However, in 1995
WH Smith broke rank and decided no longer to accept universally-redeemable
record tokens and, instead, introduced its own token scheme, “locking in" the
customer transaction and taking advantage of its network of stores in most
towns across the country. Soon, HMV followed suit. Without the support of two
of the biggest retailers in the country, EMI decided to abandon the record
token. At this point, independents needed to come together and start a new
scheme selling tokens which could be redeemed at any independent record shop in
the country. Sadly, nobody took the
initiative, and this has cost them millions of pounds in lost revenue.
While many
stores have begun selling record tokens which can be redeemed only at their own
store, the great thing about EMI’s record
tokens was that if you lived in Inverness you could buy a record token for
somebody living in Bude, confident that the recipient could spend it locally.
During the past few years I have been in record stores dozens of times when
people have come in to purchase record tokens, only to see them leave
empty-handed after finding that a single-shop scheme did not suit what they
needed.
ERA recognised
this problem and invested considerable time and money to come up with a
solution which offers the opportunity for shops to sell their own record tokens
alongside a national record token scheme. For shops who do not do their own
record tokens it is a godsend. If you are looking for a present, why not go out
and buy a record token?
What the team
from ERA have achieved is remarkable. They have made a major contribution to
the vinyl revival and I have no doubt that we have more record shops trading
today thanks to their efforts.
Record Store Day is always the best trading day of the year for the retailers. Despite the stress and the extra workload, it is also the most fun. Here are a few of my observations on how the day could be made even better and more importantly help to secure the future of independent record shops.
The industry ought to encourage more artists to be involved
in the day itself. That does not mean just releasing product. It is fantastic
to see so many groups playing in-stores on Record Store Day, but it tends to be
local bands or artists yet to hit the big time. The day lacks big names playing
stores. I am sure if artists were aware that record stores would like them to
play then many would be delighted to support them. This is about communication. It is
down to labels to reach out to their artists and let them know that shops need
their support so popping in for a signing or to play a few numbers would give
them such a boost. So many artists release product on the day; how about a bit more support for the shops
selling their releases?
The very first Record Store Day featured both
Metallica and Steve Earle making appearances in shops. I don’t feel we have had any artists personally involved
since then who are of that status. If you are a musician, a DJ or work in the
media, offer your services to your local record shop for Record Store Day. Give something back to the people
who have helped you on the road to success.
The product gets better each year. One gripe is that
some of the stock doesn’t arrive until the day before, or in some cases,
doesn’t even arrive in time for the Record Store Day itself, which is
unforgivable. Staff in many shops have worked well into the night to get stock
processed for the next day. This time would be better spent preparing for the
day’s events.
Stock should be shipped earlier. It is not as if record companies don’t know in
advance when Record Store Day is.
Another criticism levelled against Record Store Day from
small independent record labels is that, because
pressing plants are working flat out in the months leading up to the day itself
manufacturing RSD product, there are no opportunities
for smaller labels to get records pressed during this period. This issue has
received plenty of negative media coverage, but it all comes down to long term
planning by the labels concerned. Everybody knows when Record Store Day is and
that pressing plants are going to be stretched to full capacity between January
and March. The music industry is no different from any other business; forward
thinking is required.
Furthermore, looked at from the other side of the fence,
this is a problem that reflects the continuing success of RSD. I recently
visited a new pressing plant in Portsmouth, where the owner noted with
satisfaction that his order book was already full for many months ahead. Such
is the continuing strength of the vinyl revival, that there are simply not
enough pressing plants to cope with demand for the format.
Music fans
may have noticed that on many occasions an artist releases the vinyl at a later
date than the CD. This is not a clever marketing trick. More often it is a
failure to plan effectively. The label will set a release date to coincide with
a tour, then they discover the pressing plant can’t press the vinyl in time for
the release date. The CD release goes ahead, as planned, at the start of the
tour. But the vinyl release is unintentionally delayed until such time as it
can be pressed. It is important for all involved in the industry to understand
just how long it takes to get vinyl pressed and to plan accordingly.
Then there is the accusation that Record Store Day is
just a cynical opportunity for major labels to rip off music fans with
over-priced product. It is important for consumers to appreciate that a small
run of vinyl - maybe coloured or a picture disc, often containing a download
code and/or booklet - is an expensive thing to manufacture. The artist, the
writer, the sleeve designer, the label manager, the label, the distributor and
the shop will all be taking a small percentage of the sale of the record. Add
VAT and you get a better understanding of the true cost.
It’s all very well harking back to the golden age of
vinyl in the 1960s, when a record cost the equivalent of £2.99. But in those days a pint of milk cost £0.06p.
And besides, big-selling albums were pressed in batches of 5,000, so
manufacturing costs were far lower.
It would help if all involved sought to educate the media
and the public that the event is called Record Store Day. I have had people
mention to me no end of alternatives
Record Shop Day
Vinyl Day
Record Vinyl Day
Record Day
World Record Day
Record Store Day is a brand that the music industry can
be immensely proud of, so all of us involved with it should take care to
emphasise the correct name.
It is imperative that shops have artists performing on
the day. Many shops offer free coffee or bake record-shaped cakes. Some shops
continue the celebrations on through the evening, holding a pop quiz, or a
vinyl listening evening where customers can bring their favourite record to be
played. Many have DJ sets or more bands playing. There are endless ways for
them to engage with their customers beyond simply encouraging them to buy
collectable vinyl. My top tip, which has
been adopted with considerable success by some stores, is to keep the
celebration going throughout the whole weekend. It requires some creative
thinking to entice the customers back again on the Sunday.
I always recommend to the shops I deal with to do a
one-day sale where all non-Record Store Day product is 20% or whatever discount
they wish to give for that day only. That way customers will stay in the shop
and browse instead of just buying their collectables. I like the idea of doing
a “CD is not dead” promotion where they offer a discount on the CD stock,
ensuring they are appealing to buyers of all formats.
Another of my suggestions is for
shops to print their own vouchers offering £5 off a £20 or more purchase in
May. This ensures the customer returns. Shops who have implemented this idea
tell me they receive 25% - 30% of the vouchers back.
Record Store Day is a wonderful thing
despite what the doom-mongers say. It gives a boost to local economies with
most shops having artists play in the shop or outside bringing free music to
the masses. Independent businesses such as coffee shops, bakers, Hi-Fi dealers,
fashion retailers and brewers have all linked up with record shops to make a
great day even better.
This article is taken from the book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen
Over 220 independent record shops are featured
The
books of Graham Jones are available in record shops or online. The latest book
The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen' has been turned in to a
film. It is released on 13 April on DVD and is available in record shops.
Distributed by Proper Music.
www.thevinylrevivalfilm.com
The books of Graham Jones are available in record shops or online. The latest book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops that Made it Happen has been turned in to a film. It has just been released on DVD and is available in record shops or online. Distributed by Proper Music.
Each week I record The Vinyl Revival Record Shop Podcast. It contains lots of funny tales from the crazy world of record retailing. It is also available on Spotify.
Twitter: @Revival_Vinyl
My blog has over 100 features on record shops and vinyl.
grahamjonesvinylrevival.blogspot.com
For film screenings and talks contact Graham.
As the person who has visited more record shops than any other human, I often
get asked my advice on buying turntables. I always say do not purchase a budget
model. What is the point of buying one that costs the price of a few
albums? The sound will not do the recordings justice. For a long time, I have
recommended Rega Turntables as they are superb quality
at great prices. They got more brownie points for sponsoring 'Record Store
Day' and manufacturing limited editions just for record shops.
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