Amidst the clamor of swiped credit cards, weighed down shopping carts and swarms of impatient consumers, audiophiles around the country embarked on a slightly different journey than the materialism of Black Friday: the support of their local record store.
Going halves with the biggest shopping holiday of the season, the fourth annual Record Store Day (a time dedicated to the independently owned, locally supported, brick and mortar music shops) sought out to save the smaller side of the music industry: Vinyl Records.
In 2007 the confined precepts of the digital entertainment age marked the decline of a local musical community found in neighborhood record stores. This proved cause for alarm for Record Store Day founder Chris Brown of Bull Moose Records. Brown teamed up with various store owners and music producers who shared similar worries to create support for the nonpartisan face of music. Although the third Saturday of every April is more often associated as the original and highly celebrated day, in 2010 a second day honoring records was added.
In a YouTube video celebrating the 89 album releases during this year's Black Friday, Brown announced just how beneficial the invention has been.
"At the independent level there are more [record stores] than there were a few years ago," he said. "The demand of vinyl is increasing."
This year's RSD had help from artists from the Avant-garde pop culture such as Dr. Dog, M-83 and Edward Sharpe as well as timeless classics David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan offering their support with vinyl-only record releases. Not only did they release new albums but also special and limited collectible reissues featuring colored vinyl and exclusive content. Surprise-in store-performances also popped up sporadically throughout the 700 independently owned stores in the country. All attributed towards the survival of the non-corporate sub-culture of music.
RSD is essentially still in the honeymoon phase of the movement, but with the high demand of vinyl and more stores getting involved by the minute proves there is a new day on the horizon for local record stores. For more information regarding a full list of albums released, participating stores and upcoming dates visit their website at www.recordstoreday.com.
Benjamin Rader can be reached at benjamin.rader@student.shu.edu.
