Philadelphia - Record Store Day Celebrates Independent Music Retailers
As the weather warms, my favorite bands announce their summer tour schedules, festival tickets go on sale, and I get excited for Record Store Day, April 17, 2010. Record Store Day is when hundreds of independent brick and mortar record stores partner with thousands of musicians to provide consumers and fans with a variety of unique goods and experiences, including limited-edition products, in-store performances and signings, sidewalk parties, free prizes, amazing discounts, and much more. It’s an opportunity for music fans and merchants to unite over their shared appreciation for tangible music goods, the smell of old vinyl collections, and supporting local artists and retailers.
According to the RSD website, "A Record Store Day participating store is defined as a physical retailer 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 dealing with real, live, physical, indie record stores—not online retailers or corporate behemoths)."
Legendary singer and songwriter Sir Paul McCartney claims, “There’s nothing as glamorous to me as a record store…what fantastic memories such a collection of music brings back when you see it all in one place. This is why I’m more than happy to support Record Store Day and I hope that these kinds of stores will be there for us all for many years to come.”
Check out last year’s festivities at Grimey’s record store, featuring performances by The Avett Brothers, Mute Math and others.
You can read more about Record Store Day and find a participating record store in your town on the RSD website.
What do you love about independent record stores? Please let us know in the comments!