Record Store Day

Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music^[1]. The day brings together fans, artists, and the over 700 independently owned record stores in the United States, along with hundreds of independent record stores across the world.^[2]

Record Store Day was officially founded in 2007^[1] by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner and is now celebrated globally^[1] with hundreds of recording and other artists participating in the day by making special appearances, performances, meet and greets with their fans, the holding of art exhibits, and the issuing of special vinyl and CD releases along with other promotional products to mark the occasion.

Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 Record Store Day 2008 1.2 Record Store Day 2009 1.3 Record Store Day 2010 1.4 Record Store Day 2011 2 References 3 External links

History

Record Store Day 2008

Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day 2008 at Rasputin Music in Mountain View on April 19, 2008. There were approximately 10 special Record Store Day releases in the first year, including releases by Death Cab For Cutie, R.E.M., Stephen Malkmus, Vampire Weekend, The Teenagers, Black Kids, and Jason Mraz. Billy Bragg met Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz in an airport and agreed to help kick off Record Store Day in the UK with a special live appearance. Approximately 300 stores launched Record Store Day in the USA, including Waterloo Records, Silver Platters, Twist & Shout, School Kids Records, Vintage Vinyl, Easy Street, Zia Records, Criminal Records, and Grimey's. The first organized involvement by UK stores included Piccadilly Records in Manchester, Jumbo Records in Leeds, Resident in Brighton, Sister Ray and Rough Trade in London, Rapture in Witney, Oxfordshire, Spillers in Cardiff and Avalanche Records in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Record Store Day 2009

Official Ambassador: Jesse Hughes^[3]

The second annual Record Store Day was celebrated on Saturday, April 18, 2009 with approximately 85 special releases and appearances by the likes of Slayer^{[citation needed]}, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Iron & Wine, The Stooges, MC5, Wilco, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, The Eagles of Death Metal.^{[citation needed]} The total number of artist appearances in the US was approximately 500. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy announced that "there would be no Wilco if it weren't for independent record stores" and the band made a surprise appearance on Record Store Day @ the Disc Exchange in Knoxville, TN. Eagles of Death Metal's Jesse Hughes announced that he was the official "Ambassador of Record Store Day" and the band made an appearance at Rhino Records. Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that the City of New York officially recognized Record Store Day as a city-wide event and the judges on American Idol talked about their favorite records in honor of Record Store Day in the episode of American Idol prior to the event. Even though 95% of the special releases made for Record Store Day were for the USA, the event began to grow internationally with over 1,000 record stores in the US, the UK, Ireland, Japan, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany all participated in the international event.^{[citation needed]}

Record Store Day 2010

Official Ambassador: Joshua Homme

The third annual Record Store Day took place on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Them Crooked Vultures' Josh Homme was announced the official "Ambassador of Record Store Day 2010"^[3]and the band issued a special 10" vinyl record with unreleased music. Blur released "Fool's Day", their first single since since 2003, available to record stores in the UK. The Smashing Pumpkins announced that they will kick off their new album with a special Record Store Day concert at Amoeba in Hollywood, CA. Other artists to announce special appearances included Frank Black, Exene Cervenka, Angie Stone, Jason Derulo, Alice In Chains, Mastodon, Josh Ritter, HIM, Slash, Sick Puppies, Eagle Us Pets, Care Bears on Fire, and Emmylou Harris. Over 150 special limited edition releases were released that year, including pieces from John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Devo, The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Gogol Bordello, Built to Spill, Gorillaz, The Rolling Stones, LCD Soundsystem, Terrible Things, Ani DiFranco, Hold Steady, Muse, Credible Threats, Modest Mouse, Josh Ritter and Great Lake Swimmers. The official book of Record Store Day 2010 is "Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops by Graham Jones".^{[citation needed]} KCRW's Gary Calamar and Phil Gallo released their book "Record Store Days" about independent record stores, with artist quotes provided by www.recordstoreday.com used throughout the book, with a chapter devoted to Record Store Day. NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg and New York City once again honored the day.

Record Store Day was also celebrated by giving young artists an opportunity to showcase their talent in the form of a national "Record Store Day: High School Battle of the Bands".^[1]Local, participating independent record stores nominated one local high school band by picking a cut from the band's supplied recording and entered their name and song cut into the contest. A panel of record executives and members from the Fender Corporation judged the entrants. Nine national semi-finalists were chosen to appear on a limited edition, compilation vinyl LP of their winning songs. Pressed by Gotta Groove, the LP features digital convenience. On Record Store Day, April 17, 2010, it was announced that the grand prize winning band was SANUK, an indie band of HS students from Indianapolis, Indiana.^{[citation needed]} They received a generous prize package of musical gear from the Fender Corporation and recording time with recording greats - Jack Ponti and Kevin "The Caveman" Shirley. SANUK was championed by their local record store, Indy CD & Vinyl. The sponsors of the contest were Caroline Distribution and EMI Label Services, Fender,^[4] and Fender Music Foundation. Aside from the Band Battle contest, many participating record stores had a line-up of live talent performing throughout the day.

In 2010, more than 1,400 independent record stores participated in the unofficial holiday. More than 1,000 were from the US alone. Record stores saw a 41% increase in sales over the previous year's celebration, and a 109% increase over the previous Saturday's sales.^[5]

Record Store Day has become such a nationally recognized event in the USA that it was even referenced on "Saturday Night Live."^[6]

Record Store Day 2011

Official Ambassador: Ozzy Osbourne^[3]

The fourth annual Record Store Day will take place on Saturday, April 16, 2011. The Experience Music Project in Seattle is kicking off Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses,^[7] an exhibit based around the grunge band Nirvana. Panda Bear has brought forward the release of his fourth studio album Tomboy. The Flaming Lips are to release a new box-set collection of their Warner Brothers albums issued under the title Heady Nuggs: The First 5 Warner Bros. Records 1992 – 2002. Sugar Hill Records will release a trio of Nickel Creek titles on deluxe vinyl. The Rolling Stones will be releasing a limited edition 7-inch of Brown Sugar. Superchunk and Coliseum will release a limited edition 7-inch covering Misfits' Horror Business bundled with Bullet. Phish will release Two Soundchecks, a Limited Edition 7-inch vinyl record, marking the band's first ever live vinyl release and their first release in conjunction with Record Store Day. Phish bassist Mike Gordon will also be releasing his 2003 solo debut Inside In on vinyl for the first time as a deluxe double-LP set with three previously unreleased outtake tracks, as well as Moss Remixes, a Limited Edition 7-inch with two remixes from his latest solo album Moss."^[8] Gorillaz are going to release a limited edition version of their fourth studio albumThe Fall for the event. The album gets a CD release two days later. Green Day and Husker Du are releasing a split for Record Store Day,^[9] while Foo Fighters have announced they are releasing a covers album.^[10] Radiohead will be releasing a two-song release that contains the songs "Supercollider" and "The Butcher".^[11]