Record Store Day Is Coming!

That’s right, this year’s Record Store Day will be held on April 20, 2013. You can find a complete list of all the free goodies available at this year’s event here. Although there’s nothing on said list that immediately leaps out to me as something of interest for horror fans, we still recommend that you participate. Why miss on out some free goodies and special sales (on both music and movies)? Our fans will be pleased to hear that we’ll be continuing our tradition of offering some free spooky music downloads on the big day as well.

Lately, it seems to have become fashionable to poo-poo Record Store Day. While I can understand not liking how it’s become more focused on big name artists and some of the exclusive releases aren’t free, I find the claims that it was orchestrated from the start by major record labels since they don’t want to switch over to downloads to be particularly irksome. I could buy that if it had been all major bands featured from the start, but that just doesn’t work considering what I’ve seen since I first started following the event in 2008. Considering the usual ham handed manner in which big businesses go about trying to come off as a grassroots effort, I find it hard to believe that something as smooth as the way Record Store Day was handled was orchestrated that way. Since most of the big labels are connected to movie studios, then why didn’t they try doing “Video Store Day” as well? Although there is a movement to get such a day established on the same level as Record Store Day, it’s clearly the product of an independent video store in Canada.

Also annoying is when the people expressing the above opinions say that we should just let record stores die off, rationalizing that the employees will be able to find jobs elsewhere. Yeah, because worked out real well for people in Michigan once the auto industry there went kaput, didn’t it? People seem all too eager to forget that the closing of brick and mortar retail stores effect far more than the employees of said store. I’m not just talking about the various music and movie distributors taking a big hit, either. Physical media replicators, the people whose job it is to sell discs to stores and the people who physically transport merchandise across the country all suffer if your local music store closes. And considering that audio dramas are popular enough among truckers that companies rent ad space at rest stops to promote them, I’d imagine they would also lose money (and potentially have to let people go) as well. It’s a great big cycle of suck and we can’t afford to let it happen, especially in today’s economy. So when the 20th rolls around, be sure to get out there and support your local record store!

2 comments

3 pings

  1. I don’t think people poo-poo RSD, as much as the “exclusives” meant to ensnare collector scum. Record stores and comic book stores both sell niche products, yet Free Comic Book Day – the day I think RSD tries to emulate – understands that its day is supposed to promote a weakened industry, not remind people of why that industry became weak in the first place.

    In my opinion, Video Store Day misses the fundamental reason to have a self-celebratory day. I don’t usually buy things at a video rental store, unless it’s a former rental on sale, and/or the store’s going out of business. I wish Eyesore Cinema continued success, but when Le SuperClub Vidéotron/Jumbo Video is the one major brick-and-mortar video rental business in Canada, it’s not a good idea to wave the “independents rule! majors suck!” flag.

  2. While you’re definitely right about a lot of the complaints regarding Record Store Day focusing on the “exclusives” more than the day itself, there are those who poo-poo RSD as a whole. Video Store Day is definitely facing an uphill battle. You can lure people in with freebies, but Impulse rentals are a whole different animal than impulse buys. But on the other hand, rental stores can offer better across the board deals than a retailer could in a single day and not take a major hit (half price rentals vs. 50% off everything in the store). I do think there’s some potential there.

    I agree that the video rental industry should embrace the majors (in theory), but that’s also a tricky situation. I don’t know what Jumbo Video’s reputation is like in Canada, but there’s still a ton of ill will towards Blockbuster in the US for forcing numerous independent rental stores out of business and their attempt to get major studios to adopt pan and scan the de facto standard for DVDs. Teaming up with them would be an instant credibility-killer for VSD.

  1. […] store Day is here at last. Seeing as how we’ve already discussed why this day is so important and showed you where to find the list of all the freebies available this year, there’s not […]

  2. […] it inconveniences ALL the customers and not just one. I know this was touched on already back in this year’s Record Store Day promotion, but theses supposedly “obsolete” stores keep people employed and we can’t simply […]

  3. […] was noted last year, it’s important to support your local record store. Despite big push towards streaming media, […]

Leave a Reply to The Abominable N. Oremac Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Bad Behavior has blocked 12906 access attempts in the last 7 days.