Record Store Day (RSD) returns this year on Saturday, April 20, growing steadily and reaching more and more music fans each year. RSD was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding the nearly 1,000 independently owned record stores in the US and the thousands of similar stores internationally. There are Record Store Day participating stores on every continent except Antarctica. Learn more at: www.recordstoreday.com
“An Independent Record Store means ‘Passion’ to us,” says Sarah Dash of Labelle fame. “The passionate individual owner’s heart and love of music provides customers with an outlet for the emotion, love, and desire of music. The Indie Record Store is the heartbeat of the music business.”
RSD is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store — the staff, the customers, and the artists — to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities. An RSD participating store is a stand-alone brick and mortar retailer whose main primary business focuses on a physical store location, whose product line consists of at least 50% music retail, whose company is not publicly traded and whose ownership is at least 70% located in the state of operation. In other words, we’re talking ’bout real, live, physical, indie record stores, not online retailers or corporate behemoths or chains.
Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities are programmed independently by each store including performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, DJs spinning records and more. Some even have late night after-parties.
Please use the Participating Store Search on the RSD website to find a store near you and contact them directly to find out how they’re participating. Stores may choose to sell releases online starting Sunday, April 21. Call ahead and check with your local store.
The titles on the RSD 2024 Official List will be released at participating record stores on RSD, April 20. You can choose to view the List on the RSD website now, with added detail and artwork, or you can print out a PDF that can be used as a Wish List or shopping guide. RSD does not sell the releases, and there is no website where these can be pre-ordered.
“Music is an important part of our culture,” said Chuck Berry shortly before his death in 2017, “and record stores play a vital part in keeping the power of music alive.” These events and the records will keep Berry alive through his music and the fans who enjoy it.
The official RSD participating stores in the Nashville area are Vinyl Tap, The Groove, Grimey’s, Swaggie Records, The Vinyl Bunker, Third Man Records and Novelties, Boulevard Record Shop, The Great Escape Madison, The Great Escape Nashville, New Life Record Shop, Alison’s Record Shop, McKay Books, and The Shop Vintage & Vinyl in Mount Juliet.
