The people behind the one-day indie-music-retail blowout Record Store Day are hoping so; they’ve declared the third Saturday of every month Vinyl Saturday, on which limited-edition vinyl releases will be available at participating indie shops. The first installment is Saturday, June 20, and there will be four special releases on shelves that day:
• A Wilco seven-inch (“You Never Know” b/w “Unlikely Japan,” recorded in 2003);
• A Green Day seven-inch (“Know Your Enemy” b/w “Hearts Collide”);
• A Modest Mouse seven-inch (“Autumn Beds” b/w “Whale Song”–this will actually be at all record stores on the 23rd, but Vinyl Saturday participants will allegedly get it in time to sell it Saturday); and
• A Pete Yorn/ScarJo seven-inch (a duet b/w a Yorn demo).
By some measures, this list is certainly impressive. But like the list of Record Store Day exclusives before it, I can’t help but feel that the organizers aren’t doing themselves any favors by being so genre-narrow, particularly when one looks at the types of records that sell lots of copies on days when indie retailers aren’t banding together to fight for survival. And that restrictiveness is certainly not a question of whether or not major labels will participate; all four of the bands above are signed to subsidiaries of The Big Four.
I’d think that people invested in the survival of record stores would want to broaden their consumer base, rather than superserving a slice of the pie that in recent years has proven hostile to paying for music on an aggregate basis. (Divide the number of words written about your recent-vintage bloggo darlings’ albums by said records’ sales; chances are that number will be much greater than one.) Plus there’s even more chance for cross-pollination between genres then: A 7-inch of Chrisette Michele’s “Epiphany” backed with her cover of “Don’t Speak” could draw in fans of No Doubt / Gwen Stefani, for example. Or, heck, William Beckett’s cover of “Heartbeats” could be a nice b-side for a single by The Academy Is…; his band has a rabid fanbase, and I’d think bringing them into new retail realms would be a greater boon in the long run for those businesses’ survival than clinging to some outdated notion of “cool.”
Record Store Day Presents – Vinyl Saturday! [Each Note Secure; HT Radio Exile]
[Pic via Collector's Quest]
As one of the co-founders of Record Store Day and the owner of Criminal Records in the ATL (yay, me!) I just want to point out that the RSD organizers have zero say in the production of any of the special pieces for RSD and our new Vinyl Saturday parties. Goodness, do you think the ScarJo 7″ is going in my personal collection? Yeesh.
The exciting thing for me, as a regular guy working behind the counter is the thought that perhaps I can produce a 7″ or something cool and find an audience (maybe on Vinyl Saturday) for some awesome ATL band.
Do, or do not…or comment; and do nothing.
You know, an American Idol 7-inch seems….wise.
@eric@criminal.com: hey, no need to get defensive. i’m just pointing out that whoever is making the decisions about what goes where might be wise to cast their net a little wider.
and joe is right about the american idol 7-inch.
Those Darlins are giving a pair of Blublockers to Those who buy the vinyl.
@Joe Gross: A double A-side with both versions of “No Boundaries” perhaps? ;)
That said, I hate the damn song, haven’t heard it since the finale, and yet I couldn’t get it out of my head for an entire day on Monday.
In addition to contemporary artists, I think it would be cool to re-introduce some older releases (from the 1980s and backward).
Aw jeez, Maura. Apologies for defensive posture, I left out the LOL or the smiley face thing. All of us behind RSD are volunteers and sometimes, it’s like….well, for example, I’ve received tons of complaints that there wasn’t enough hip hop stuff for RSD and I’m always like, “I know, right?”
Last year I was trying to get a Jonas Brothers LP made, and the label was all, ‘say what?’ and I think that would be really cool and would sell crazy well, I mean, they’ve got turntables at Toys R Us.
They still aren’t getting that the vinyl surge is a youth movement.
I know what will drag people back to the record stores. If only they’d offer the following along with every LP purchase: http://consumerist.com/5277740/weezer-introduces-weezer+branded-snuggie-a-piece-of-us-dies-inside
I’ll take back every nasty thing I said about Record Store Day or record stores in general if they’ll provide me with more New Order 7 inches. That’s all I ask.
@cheesebubble: That’s not a bad idea. Sundazed and Insound are doing this with a couple of classics by the Ramones and the Mats – but you can also find the originals cheaper on ebay quite often, which defeats the purpose of this a bit…