Save The Date: Record Store Day 2023 Is Coming

The day to find that exclusive b-side, vinyl variant, or something totally random is coming: Record Store Day. This year, the vinyl celebration falls on Saturday, 22 April. Save the date.

Record Store Day is for independent stores and is dedicated to the committed staff, dedicated customers, and the artists who come in and perform exciting gigs for a small group. Independent record stores provide a place of discovery, education, live music, and community and are essential to music lovers.

The exclusive RSD releases haven't been announced yet.

Upon Record Store Day's 15th anniversary last year, we caught up with some store owners to get their take on the vinyl boom, what exclusive releases they’re excited about and more. 

"When we first started, the releases selling on vinyl were fairly niche, and people into more 'mainstream' music wouldn't even consider buying vinyl," Jeb Taylor from the Music Farmers Vinyl Record Shop told The Music.

"While that niche market is definitely still there, there is such a broader customer base now that means some really big, commercially successful records are also some of the biggest-selling vinyl records; Taylor Swift and Harry Styles would be two great examples of this, some of the biggest selling artists on vinyl over the last few years."

Zed Williams from Cottonmouth Records commented on the booming popularity of vinyl, "It comes down to tangibility. People want to be immersed in their music. See, hear and feel it. You can’t do that with a streaming service. Also, the majority of the money goes back to the artists, which is how it should be."

According to Billboard, "Vinyl album sales grew by 46.7% in the week ending Dec. 22 (compared with the previous week), powered by holiday gift shopping. The top-selling vinyl album of the week was Taylor Swift’s Midnights, which sold 68,000 copies – the third-largest sales week of the year for an album on vinyl. (Midnights’ vinyl sales profit from its availability across five vinyl variants – all colored vinyl editions, including one exclusive to Target)."