Record Store Day 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 nearly 1400 independently owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally. They got the idea from the emerging Free Comic Book Day, which celebrates Comic Book Stores on the first Saturday each May. The first Record Store Day took place on April 19, 2008, and today there are thousands of Record Store Day stores participating, on every continent except Antarctica.

Bruno Mars is the Record Store Day Ambassador for 2026 — and Bruno Mars – The Romantic Tour plays Nissan Stadium on Wednesday, May 6 at 7:00 PM. “Independent record stores are so important because you get the chance to immerse and surround yourself with music and that’s why I’m so excited to be this year’s Record Store Day Ambassador. I love collecting vinyl because nothing is better than sitting on your couch putting on a record and just listening to music like that. It feels like a lost art. To actually sit down, put a record on, and consume it is a very Romantic idea. Go out and support your local independent record store on Record Store Day this year.” — Bruno Mars.

This 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. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, DJs spinning records, and on and on.

For example, 11,000 copies of the LP “Bruno Mars – The Collaborations,” a compilation album featuring some of Bruno Mars’ most iconic collaborations to date featuring “Uptown Funk” with Mark Ronson, “Die With A Smile” with Lady Gaga, “APT.” with ROSÉ, and more, will be made available on RSD scattered throughout the hundreds (if not thousands) of participating scores worldwide, celebrating Bruno Mars being the Record Store Day 2026 Ambassador. To find out about the hundreds of titles for RSD, please read this before you go: https://recordstoreday.com/NewsItem/11535

Nashville Area RSD Pledge signed stores that have signed the Record Store Day Pledge, which means they have agreed to act in the spirit of Record Store Day and sell the commercial Record Store Day releases to their physical customers, on Record Store Day; not to gouge them, or hold product back to sell them online, include Grimey’s, Vinyl Tap, The Great Escape Nashville and The Great Escape Madison, Boulevard Record Shop, McKay Books, Swaggie Records, analog your life, and Dead End Records in Nashville; Carpe Diem and Luna Record Shop in Franklin; Towne Square Records & Comics in Gallatin; and others in the area. These stores are also participating Alison’s Record Shop; New Life Record Shop; The Shop Vintage & Vinyl in Mt. Juliet; and Third Man Records and Novelties. Look up all of them on the RSD website, at: recordstoreday.com/Stores