Record Store Day: What's It All About?

Brisbane music fan Steve Bell recently turned his back on two degrees (business and law) and vocations as a solicitor and music magazine editor to realise his lifelong dream of owning a record store — having worked at Skinny's for many years he's now the proud co-owner of new Brisbane music shop Sonic Sherpa. Ahead of Record Store Day he looks at what prompted the annual celebration of the independent music retail experience, and just why your local record store can add so much to your own enjoyment of music in its physical form.

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Back in the dim, dark days before the juggernaut of technology stamped its presence upon many of the most enjoyable aspects of modern life, your local record stores used to do a lot more than just sell different types and styles of music. Staffed and run by people who'd more often than not dedicated their entire lives to either making or appreciating music, record shops represented a music hub for their respective community — a place where music lovers could congregate to meet like-minded souls who shared their passion for the most commonly appreciated but most often undervalued of our society's major art forms. Lifelong relationships were formed while flicking through the racks, great bands formed from record store notice boards and a myriad of lives were changed for the better just by random meetings in these most unheralded of retail environments. The very act of searching for that mysterious musical treasure became an art form in and of itself: indeed questing for that furtive piece of music by a beloved act that had so far avoided your grasp — the title either specific or nebulous — was for many the most intoxicating (and least harmful) of all the potential addictions offered up by society.

"Lifelong relationships were formed while flicking through the racks, great bands formed from record store notice boards and a myriad of lives were changed for the better."

Over time, sadly, this experience became diluted; first by the advent of the internet — which allowed not only basically unfettered access to downloaded and streamed music (free and otherwise) but also the ability to peruse physical music products from the vapid safety of one's computer screen — and then also by the onset of corporate-driven chains who used economies of scale and arguably unscrupulous marketing practices (using recorded music as a loss leader, for instance, to get people into their stores with the hopes of upgrading their purchasing practices to whitegoods down the track) to take market share from the smaller music retailers who represented their competition. These changes provided greater and cheaper access to music, but also acted to devalue its acquisition as an experience. In terms of downloaded music it rendered redundant those magical elements of physical product such as artwork, liner notes and album credits — aspects which had long abetted the true music lovers' appreciation and enjoyment of a particular release. Where the record store experience was communal, the digital experience was insular and individual. Yet economics prevailed and record stores started closing in insurmountable numbers early this millennium — it even seemed for a while that the entire record store experience would soon be relegated to nothing more than dusty memories, a relic of a bygone age.

But now the wheel has turned, and Record Store Day is a shining signifier of a most unexpected (but entirely welcome) resurgence by the physical medium of music and the accompanying rebirth of the humble record shop. People are returning to the physical form — most notably vinyl — in unprecedented numbers, fuelled by both older punters yearning to revisit their youthful follies and younger consumers excitedly discovering the joys of the tactile musical experience. They're realising that perhaps their parents were actually right (for once) and that music really does sound better heard through the dulcet analogue tones of vinyl than via compressed digital technologies, that the artwork adds immense depth to the experience, and are even becoming accustomed to the ritual of getting up and turning over the vinyl and hearing that first crackle (and the accompanying slight shiver of anticipation) as the needle drops to signify an impending new burst of music. People are dusting off old turntables — or buying new ones — and rediscovering the joy that, not just the music itself, but the experience surrounding it can bring.

"It's all about getting people to remember (or discover for the first time) how special that record store experience really can be."

So now on the third Saturday of April each year Record Store Day celebrates this revival by focusing on the experience only available at independent brick and mortar music retailers: bands come down and play at shops to give punters extra value for turning up, plus labels unleash exclusive (usually limited) physical releases especially for the day which can only be purchased from participating RSD outlets. You can't download these items or buy them online or from chains, you have to head to an actual record store to join in the festivities — it's all about getting people to remember (or discover for the first time) how special that record store experience really can be. The initiative was conceived in the States back in 2007 by a conglomerate of indie record store owners as a way to celebrate the unique culture surrounding their shops — it kicked off on April 19, 2008, and already for this year's instalment there are participating RSD stores on every continent except Antarctica.

It's received support from some pretty high profile quarters along the way as well. Way back in 2009 Jesse Hughes from Eagles Of Death Metal proclaimed himself to be "Record Store Day Ambassador" in an act of solidarity with the event, and since then that honorary role has been co-opted annually by Josh Homme, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Jack White, Chuck D, Dave Grohl and in 2016 the whole of Metallica (who appeared at San Francisco's Rasputin Music back on the first RSD in 2008 for a meet and greet with fans) — that's a pretty hefty list of music heavy-hitters throwing their weight behind the concept. In terms of product it's also grown from ten RSD releases in the beginning to over 400 in 2016 (over 90% of which are on vinyl) — it's impossible to pick a sole highlight from this year's schedule, although Xiu Xiu dropping a limited double-vinyl recording of the Twin Peaks soundtrack they first played at Brisbane's Gallery Of Modern Art during the recent David Lynch exhibition is a cool example which appeals on numerous levels. Indeed being an open source event (meaning shops, bands and fans celebrate however they like), this level of inspiration and creativity gets to the crux of Record Store Day's rationale for existence.

So Record Store Day isn't just about scoring that new limited release from your favourite artist to get one up on your friends and family in the cool stakes (although that's a big part of it). It's also about celebrating your local record store and all that it brings to your local community. We missed record shops when they were briefly all but gone, and Record Store Day exists so that we don't get complacent and take them for granted ever again. That ultimate record missing from your collection is out there somewhere, and it may just be closer to home than you realise — either way you're bound to have a lot of fun finding out!