Kansas City, MO | Stores, customers in Kansas City celebrate Record Store Day: Record stores across the country celebrated “Record Store Day” on Saturday. This annual music event celebrates the culture of independently owned brick-and-mortar record stores worldwide. “I got out at 3:30 this morning and waited in line, and then I got out again, so twice,” Timothy Mallon Josey Records customer said. “It’s been really good for us this year. We had people lined up and down the street around the corner,” Josey Records Sales Associate Jeannie Chism said. The first Record Store Day took place in April 2008. The goal is to support and boost sales at local shops while bringing collectors, fans, artists and employees together to celebrate the culture of brick-and-mortar record stores. “They come out with all these exclusive releases, limited pressings, first-time pressings, first-time color variants of records that you can only get by physically coming into the store on Record Store Day,” Chism explained.
London, UK | Vinyl enthusiasts spin into action on UK’s Record Store Day: It was 8.30 am (0730 GMT) and the line was growing in front of Flashback Records in the Shoreditch neighbourhood of Britain’s capital. Saturday marked the UK’s annual Record Store Day, created to support independent outlets, and vinyl enthusiasts were eager to get their hands on special reissues and new releases. The first fans arrived at 4.45 am, although the store did not open until 9 am. The excitement reflects a new golden age for vinyl, with sales thriving despite their predicted demise 20 years ago. Martin Wolyniec, 45, with a graying beard and blue eyes and accompanied by his niece Amelia, stood in the line outside the store, holding a list of specials released for the day. On it was an album by the English band Groove Armada, the duos Orbital, and Everything but the Girl, and if the pair were “lucky”, a record by the singer Kate Bush. Minutes later, after a search inside, Wolyniec emerged victorious, brandishing a square bag filled with coveted album sleeves.
Jacksonville, FL | Hundreds line up for Record Store Day at Tiger Records in Riverside: The top sellers included Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Paramore. Hundreds of people lined up outside a Riverside record store Saturday morning for a chance to get their hands on a special release from their favorite artist, in honor of Record Store Day. Tiger Records, like many independent record stores around the country, celebrated the 17th annual Record Store Day on Saturday. It’s typically a day for music lovers from across all genres to come out and find something they love. “Hundreds of releases all come out the same exact day. …Some people in Jacksonville waited overnight to get their hands on limited edition LPs. Siboni said he saw about 20 people in line with sleeping bags outside the store around 8 p.m. Friday. “We came in today at 7:45 to get ready, and the line was probably, maybe like, 300 deep down, down a couple blocks,” said Siboni, adding that his store sold around 1,000 records all day.
NZ | Music lovers celebrate vinyl on Record Store Day: It’s the biggest day of the year for record stores throughout the country, with music lovers out in force. Record Store Day has been held annually since 2007 to celebrate independent record stores and the music they sell. Many artists release special records to mark the day. At Real Groovy in Auckland, there was a magic show, face painting and a street party, while at Flying Out Records, local musicians including Luka Buda, Ebony Lamb and Thee Golden Geese performed in-store all day. At Aotearoa’s longest-running independent record store, Slow Boat Records in Wellington, a queue started forming at 3.15am. Co-owner Jeremy Taylor told Music 101 that Record Store Day was “actually bigger than Christmas now.” In 2023, Taylor Swift’s Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions was the hot item. This year, it was Olivia Rodrigo’s cover of Noah Kahan’s ‘Stick Season’ on 7-inch vinyl, he said.
Springfield, MO | Springfield music store sees record turnout on yearly Record Store Day: Saturday marks one of the biggest days of the year for audiophiles and music lovers, Record Store Day. Record Store Day (RSD), created in 2007, is when independent record stores nationwide celebrate brick-and-mortar culture, and artists release special vinyl and CD releases not available anywhere else. “They do limited runs, of maybe 1,000 or 1,500, and that’s worldwide. So you are getting something that’s actually very…it’s individual. Like you’re not going to see them probably ever again,” said Stick It In Your Ear Owner Erik Milan. Stick It In Your Ear in downtown Springfield has participated in RSD for years, and Milan says this year had a record attendance. The music store opened at 8 a.m. and had a line all the way around the block, taking over an hour to get everyone through the initial line.
Taylor Swift Sells 1.4 Million Copies of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ on First Day of Release in US: After one day, Poets earns Swift her single-largest sales week for an album in the U.S., surpassing the 1.359 million sold of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in its first week. …With 1.4 million copies sold across all of the CD, vinyl, cassette and digital download versions of the album, The Tortured Poets Department garners the single-largest sales week for any Swift album. Previously, her largest sales week was registered by the opening week of her re-recorded 1989 (Taylor’s Version) last year, when it sold 1.359 million copies. The Tortured Poets Department (abbreviated as TTPD) was initially released on April 19 as a standard 16-song digital download album, as well as an array of 17-song physical configurations. Two hours after the album’s release, Swift announced an expanded 31-song edition of the set and released it as a digital download and streaming album. She wrote: “It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album…”
Gen Z listen to more vinyl, CDs and cassettes than any other age group, survey shows: More than half of surveyed 18-24-year-olds are listening to physical music. A new survey has found that Gen Z are listening to more vinyl, CDs and cassettes than any other age group. The study, carried out by the UK’s biggest vinyl packaging firm Key Production, found that 59% of surveyed 18-24-year-olds reported listening to physical music releases. This was a significant increase on the 40-45% reported by 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55-65 age groups. Additionally, when asked about buying CDs, the 18-24 bracket sat alongside the 45-54 age group in leading the pack, with 34% of those surveyed reporting doing so. Another key finding of the survey was that 18-24-year-olds were most willing of the age groups to pay a small premium on buying vinyl LPs if the records were to be produced with a proven reduced impact on the planet. The figure for that age bracket stood at 71% of surveyed people. Sales in the vinyl market rose in 2023 for a 16th consecutive year.
Lafayette, LA | Lafayette label embraces cassette tape’s unexpected comeback: For modern audiophiles, vinyl records are the pinnacle of the listening experience. In 2023, vinyl records outsold CDs for the first time since 1987. But making vinyl records can be incredibly time consuming, with production times ranging anywhere from six weeks to six months. Now, Citronel Sounds, a new Lafayette company, is empowering artists to embrace the DIY spirit through the humble cassette tape. Citronel operates not only as cassette producers, but also as an accessible record label working to record and promote new artists. Longtime music enthusiasts Alaric and Sidney Bloss started the company as Alaric aimed to launch his first solo album Pensive. (Alaric and Sidney are married.) In an increasingly digital age, Alaric wanted to create something tangible. His first inclination was to look toward vinyl, but he soon realized vinyl wasn’t as feasible as he’d hoped. “The lead times are just kind of crazy about vinyl. Like I don’t feel like waiting months for something,” Alaric says. “So I just kind of figured out what we needed to do, bought a cassette machine, and then went from there.”
Washington, DC | Artists are all-in on vinyl. See how records are made in 2024. A 12-inch vinyl record can hold about 44 minutes of music. But manufacturing one can take multiple days — a complex but delicate process involving sapphires, rubies and silver. Music fans may love the immediacy of streaming music, but that hasn’t stopped them from bringing vinyl records mainstream. Revenue from vinyl jumped 10 percent to $1.4 billion in 2023, and outsold CDs for the second time since 1987, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Kacey Musgraves are leaning in, releasing vinyl albums with new colors, cover art and, sometimes, exclusive tracks. Last week, The Washington Post visited Nashville’s United Record Pressing, which made the first Beatles single in the United States in 1963, to witness the 2024 vinyl-making process and watch a Tyler, the Creator record get pressed. Follow along and find out how records are made—from lacquer to label.
