Opinion: Why Record Store Day does the exact opposite it was set out to do - Simon Smith

It was the day before Record Store Day (RSD), and I was in my local independent record shop picking up a couple of albums from the great stock they have there. I enjoy visiting there for the vibe, and because I know that I can ask about new releases and get the low down of bands that I might not have heard of before. Some of my favourite albums have come from recommendations from this particular shop, and from those whole swathes of related music that I have come to cherish.

On this particular day the shop was about as full as usual with a few people digging in the vinyl and browsing the CD selection. Outside, though, were a group of hardy souls sitting on camping chairs in the rain. They were waiting for RSD, and the shop opening again some eighteen hours later. I have to admit that I my initial thought on seeing them was as somewhat contemptuous “you mad bastards”.

As I was getting my records though I started feeling a bit bad about this. After all weren’t these people just like me: music fans who like to experience their passion in physical form? Surely, I thought, this has got out of hand. Surely RSD isn’t about having to spend the best part of a day shivering in the cold just to obtain a bit of vinyl; however nicely it is packaged.

The original idea of RSD was a brilliant one, get artists to release something special on vinyl on a particular day and only release the product to independent record stores, which had been on the decline for well over a decade previously. Surely everyone wins? The record stores get exclusive gear to sell and more customers through the door (especially with live performances in store too), artists get to give something special back to the fans and get greater exposure, and fans get more vinyl to add to their burgeoning collections.

Well yes I think it was a good idea, but I’m not so sure it still is because while there are still some brilliant RSD releases by independent artists and bands, the vast majority of them now seem to be hugely expensive records dumped onto the market by major corporations keen to exploit the obsessive instincts of music fans and make a fast buck on a format that they had previously abandoned. What’s more these massive labels are now using their corporate muscle to monopolise the limited worldwide capacity of pressing plants, meaning that smaller operations are not only getting pushed out of RSD; but having their regular releases of innovative new music horrendously delayed because of pointless rehashes of music that has already been put out there many times before.

If that were not enough an ICM poll ahead of RSD found that over half the vinyl currently purchased would never be played, with an amazing 48% of buyers not having a daily means on which to play their purchases. So its win-win for the majors, not only do they get to peddle the same old stuff for a huge mark up to people who don’t even play the stuff; AND they also get to stifle the smaller competition who now have little idea when they can set release dates and frequently have to rely on the goodwill of their customers to pay for pre-orders months before they will receive their records or otherwise face disastrous cash flow problems. Let’s face it, if a major record label has something genuinely good to sell they’re not going to release it on a day what so much else is coming out…RSD is the record industry equivalent of burying bad news.

OK, so the small bands and labels are losing out, but this wasn’t really about them was it? Surely it was about saving independent record shops? Well yeah it was. So why, in that case, are more and more independent record shops, like their counterpart labels, pulling out of RSD? Much of the problem is the same, cash flow. Unlike from small labels, record shops are required to pay up from for RSD stock. It is these small businesses that are asked to take all the risk, which is why you can usually find a well-stocked RSD section in most of them well after the date. Basically the shit they’ve had to buy in order to get the good stuff that people are prepared to queue overnight for. For many it’s increasingly a risk that is not worth taking, because it’s a huge outlay to make all at once.

RSD was originally about reminding people that their local record shop was still there, usually tucked away in a corner of a town where the rents are cheap. It was a celebration of all that is good about these places. And while many shops still go to a huge effort to make RSD enjoyable for people by putting on events and stocking more than they can realistically afford, every year seems to take the event further from its original goal.

More than that RSD now does the exact opposite to what it set out to do:

• It focuses the whole vinyl part of the music scene on just one day, rather than getting people into shops throughout the year.

• It means that fewer independent labels are participating in RSD because they can’t guarantee they will get their records pressed in time for the event, let alone for their regular releases

• It results in fans either having to spend a cold night on the street or pay huge premiums to those who flip their purchases on eBay straight away, money that is certainly not being seen by the shops themselves

• It removes the joy of making great ‘finds’ in record shops because the list is announced in advance, and shops now tend to take ordered from the queue outside the shop…for many RSD is over 15 minutes after the shop opens.

• It means more money is being shelled out on more re-issues rather than on genuinely new and innovative music. There is a law of diminishing returns here that will do record shops no favours in the long run. You can’t take a punt on new sounds if you’ve spent all your money on eBay or in a queue.

Let me be really clear here. I love Independent Record Shops and always go out of my way to search them out when I visit somewhere. I can spend hours in them and lose myself digging in them and I spend quite a bit of money in them. My argument is that, from my perspective, RSD is now less about stores and record buyers, and more about ‘the industry’. That very same industry that has turned a blind eye when record stores have closed in their thousand. It is surely time to still have RSD, but spread the promotions and events throughout the year to attract people over a period of time, because RSD seems to have lost its original focus and message.

So please continue to support and celebrate your local stores throughout the year. They need you and your continued regular custom.

Check out Simon's 'Psych Insight' writing on the ace 'Backseat Mafia' blog.