As Record Store Day ushers in a new era in the vinyl industry, the growing pains of the event reflect the overall pains in the booming record business.
For the better part of a decade, people have flocked to independent record stores on the third Saturday of April: . Amid the fanfare and collectors, the event has been credited, in part,
In the first half of 2014, LP/vinyl sales increased 40.4 percent nationally, according to Nielsen Soundscan reports. In 2013, more than 6 million vinyl LPs were sold, up 33 percent from 4.5 million in 2012.
“It continues to be our biggest day of the year by a gigantic stretch. Itap double or more any day even before Christmas,” said Twist & Shout owner Paul Epstein.
Since it was first conceived in 2007, Record Store Day has grown exponentially into a worldwide event, with nearly 1,400 independently owned stores participating in the U.S. and thousands more internationally.
“Last year there was a One Direction album that came from England and suddenly we saw all these young girls,” Epstein said. “Itap just reflective of the fact that there’s a more mainstream audience for vinyl.”
The Factory Shortage
But the growing pains of the now twice-annual event (a second event was added the day after Thanksgiving) highlight the pressures on the overall record business.
The , and specifically in the months leading up to Record Store Day, have strained the dozen or so remaining vinyl factories in the U.S.
“Records went away 30 years ago, and a lot of those factories and machines got disassembled,” Epstein said. “There’s just not the capacity for people to deal with the demand.”
Every year, these record factories start taking orders for vinyl nearly half a year in advance of Record Store Day. With 400 titles on the official list of Record Store Day releases, and many more being released to coincide with the event, vinyl manufacturers are flooded with orders to release in April.
“Itap a stressful time of year,” said Jay Millar the director of marketing for , which accounts for producing 30-40 percent of the U.S. vinyl market. “There are a lot of people who come to us a few weeks before Record Store Day and we have to tell them that we can’t get the order done in time.”
Outside of Record Store Day, it typically takes eight-16 weeks for URP to complete an order. In January, URP had to a put a temporary block on all orders not from current customers, Millar said.
“The calendar year is affected by the needs on Record Store Day,” Epstein said. “I hope that means that they’ll realize they need to increase production and make stuff faster.”
For independent store owners, this can mean they can’t stock certain records that are in high demand when production might take a few weeks.
“Itap a disruption when you can’t stock things that you want when they’re in a backorder cycle,” said Andy Schneidkraut, the owner of Albums on the Hill in Boulder.
Record Store Day sees it as an overall positive.
“It means that vinyl is in demand,” said Record Store Day co-founder Carrie Colliton. URP is about to open a second factory to keep up with the demand.
Broader constituency
As Record Store Day continues to grow in popularity, the event has expanded to cater to the tastes of its more mainstream audiences.
For Schneidkraut at , the , and the many other unofficial releases, are overwhelming.
“I think itap a great celebration in its concept, but I think it might be getting a little too big for its britches,” he said. “In some ways it has lost its focus by becoming so expansive.”
Store owners try to cater to as many customers as possible, running the risk of being short on items in high demand while having an excess of non-returnable product. Itap the same struggle these owners face year-round, multiplied.
“Itap too big of an investment and itap a speculative investment,” Schneidkraut said. “Gross sales will clearly exceed any other day of the year, but your net might not be as good as you would think.”
While it also makes for a risky investment, it also dilutes the “cache of cool” that Record Store Day was originally about, Schneidkraut said.
“Itap like the old Yogi Berra joke, ‘Nobody goes there anymore, itap too busy,’ ” Schneidkraut said.
Colliton at Record Store Day said she wants the event to be for everyone while maintaining the identity of what it set out to do. Every year, Record Store Day consults an advisory group of store owners and buyers across the country to decide what titles will be official releases.
The law of the land
Customers who show up to the iconic Capitol Hill record shop Wax Trax on April 18 will be greeted with a sign on the door that reads:
In November (before Record Store Day’s Black Friday event), the store sold a copy of an RSD-exclusive album early, breaking RSD rules.
The Record Store Day organization asks every participating retailer to sign a pledge: Don’t sell exclusive items early, don’t open at midnight, don’t offer pre-orders or holds and don’t inflate prices beyond the organization’s set range.
The organization informed Wax Trax that it couldn’t participate in the April event. The store is not listed on the RSD website, it can’t use the logo, it can’t promote the event and can’t sell exclusive releases.
“I’m sorry we’re not part of it, but I’m far more sorry for the folks who show up who have been coming in for the last few years,” said Wax Trax co-owner Duane Davis, who reluctantly began participating in Record Store Day three years after the event started.
Three or four stores violate the rules each event, Colliton said. Violators are welcome to return for the next Record Store Day event after their suspension.
Though the day is typically a booming sales day for independent record stores, Davis isn’t worried about missing out on the profits.
“Well itap a very good day, but in the long run, one day out of the year isn’t going to make a lot of a difference,” Davis said.
