Doing anything nice for Record Store Day?

i should mention that for the first couple of years anyway, i really liked the overall vibe of RSD. i worked the first three or four years behind the counter and it was fun to see people bringing their kids in and get the whole experience and yeah, usually a band or DJ or something made the event a little bit more fun and festive.

but. BUT. there were always a queue of people i’d only see twice a year, ready to throw elbows in order to get the most useless metallica demos or whatever. total punishers. knobs who’d literally just rush from store to store to store trying to suck up whatever crumbs were left. sad shit.

my pal has always refused to participate in the RSD shit, and instead drops a crazy stack of classics, which is a great way to participate in the day without having to give the RSD people a single cent - his insta has the hints of the jazz and reggae to come, the rock and indie and metal stuff will be get posted later on this week: https://www.instagram.com/daybreakrecords/

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Mate of mine is after that Mr Benn album too.

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What are the RSD Fees all about??

the RSD sales folks have historically required a “minimum order” before they’ll allow you to use their branded material or promote your store on their website or in their marketing. it’s been years since i’ve had to deal with it - but you don’t get to order just a few RSD exclusives and be on your way.

if (for example) you own a specialty shop and stock jazz/hip hop/funk/soul/r&b, you may want a subset of what RSD offers and have no interest ordering a jesus jones live album or a set of shitty ted nugent demos on white vinyl. but those sales teams will drop hints off the record (har har) that by not ordering a full complement of RSD exclusives, your fill rates on the items you DO want might be pretty low.

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Bloody hell, naively I had absolutely no idea all those sorts of shenanigans went on. It’s never been my thing but essentially I thought it was done for the right reasons (perhaps it was at the very start) but then it becomes just another way for someone to make CREAM.

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I have generally ignored it as most of the stuff seems to be micro alterations of easily bought and not very interesting(to me anyway) records. Although last year they did include the first re-issue of the Eunice Collins 45, which was very nicely pressed(all originals are rough) at a regular price. So a one eyed browse online will be the total endeavour again this year for me. Probably not in the spirit of the occasion, but a lifetime of record shopping will do that to a chap.

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Jesus! My interest was well on the wane, but that’s just about killed it altogether. Greedy cunts.

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Looked through the release list, wasnt inspired.

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Yep, other than the aforementioned Mr Benn, which I accept is niche, the rest of it is easy to ignore.

Our store has a nice little gig instore at 5 before he plays later that night somewhere nearby

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puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuump

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I’ll be continuining my distain for it, but then meeting the other shop owners in Newcastle, for drinks…

I just haven’t got the patience to explain to people who I might never have seen in 9 years of having the shop, that rather than walking out of my shop when I say I don’t hold any RSD stock, that they might want to look through the 15,000 other records I have and they might find something they like in there…

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Eurrrgh! The worst. You just know these people call records ‘vinyls’.

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“Vinyltok” just made me feel 10 years older
Let the kids have their coloured vinyl!

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My algorithm must know that I have a 4 year old and I like records so its just shown me this RSD ‘special’. FFS

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I for one won’t be mentioning the V word anytime soon… :+1:

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To parrot what others have said to some extent, I think it’s well intentioned but it’s no longer really about the record or even music at all I suppose.

I think the last time I bothered was when they released the La Isla Bonita 12” maxi-single with Obi-Strip, early 2019 I guess. That was sort of a rare instance where something was being offered that I had an interest in, otherwise it’s usually weird stuff that I have no use for. At that point, if there’s nothing interesting, it’s just shopping — and I can do that any day.

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As someone who runs a small label, I’m pretty aware that the corporate side of RSD is “not good”. Clearly, I also won’t be queuing for, I dunno, a Ghostbusters picture disk at sparrow-fart to flip on eBay.

I was more thinking of going to a nice shop (maybe even second hand), hearing friends play music and having a social one. Like I said Idle Moments has good people DJing, Gerry Rooney is doing a little pop-up round the corner. That kind of thing.

I met about half the people in my life due to those black discs, I’m not ashamed to celebrate the culture a bit.

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I’m going to have a wander round a few spots. Couple of beers, Saturday afternoon in town etc etc. But now I know there’s a Ghostbusters on vinyl I guess that’s the major goal for the day!

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