Celebration of Indie Record Stores a Huge Hit

On Saturday, April 18, independently owned record stores around the world took part in Record Store Day, a celebration of the culture of indie record stores and the unique place that they occupy nationally and in their local communities. And, by all accounts, the second annual event, sponsored by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), was a huge success.

"The Record Store Day reports have been streaming in since Saturday, and I think we can say with a certain amount of certainty that Record Store Day 2009 was a huge success," said Michael Kurtz, president of Music Monitor Network, one of the event's organizers, via e-mail. "The level of support that came from the artists themselves was once again fantastic. And, just as importantly, the ownership of Record Store Day by each locally owned business was inspiring."

Central to Record Store Day is its focus on indie record stores, and, so, this year, in solidarity, the American Booksellers Association placed an ad in Record Store Day Magazine, a publication of the Music Monitor Network, available free at participating record stores. The IndieBound ad celebrated the passion shared by customers of indies for records and books that surprise, entertain, and, maybe, change a life.

NARM promoted Record Store Day in Bookselling This Week, and the events' organizers provided a list of indie record stores that are now included in IndieBound.org's store search. And, beginning in May, Record Store Day Magazine (formerly monitorThis!), will feature a list of the top ten bestselling music-related books at indie bookstores for the month.

"Book and record stores share the same dedication to their local communities," said ABA COO Oren Teicher. "Record Store Day celebrated that commitment, as well as all the great characteristics that make indie record stores unique. We were happy to have a small part in this year's celebration, and look forward to working with our colleagues at indie record stores again in the future."

This year's Record Store Day featured a "buy vinyl -- make your own t-shirt" promotion with Universal in which free "iron-on transfers" were given away with the purchase of vinyl. The alt-country band Wilco provided the stores with a special edition live concert DVD that, with purchase, allowed fans to go online to download an entire second live concert on video for free.

Overall, the stats for this year's event were impressive. Record Store Day debuted last year with about 600 stores. This year, more than 1,000 stores helped celebrate Record Store Day, with about 250 of them in various countries, and the rest located in the U.S. According to Kurtz, on average, Record Store Day 2009 sales, as compared to 2008, were up over 20 percent. The event made Google's top five news stories of the day and was the 35th most Google-searched term for the day. National events and performances increased to about 500 from 300 in 2008, "with a much wider spread of well known and developing artists."

Kurtz said, "Along with the Wilco DVD, the Record Store Day vinyl pieces were definitely the biggest hit. We do need to work to diversify genres for commercial products a bit more next year, and we've made note of that. The promotions on www.recordstoreday.com were much stronger and the site itself was much better run this year (thanks to our NARM and Warner Bros sponsorships!)."

The day certainly generated tremendous support from musicians and celebrities. The Record Store Day website was inundated with heartfelt remarks from the likes of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and hundreds of other artists, as well as music fans, who penned testimonials about their love of independent music stores.

A few musicians noted the natural comparisons between indie record stores and bookstores. "At the risk of sounding over the top, like book stores, I think of the 'Record Store' as a holy place," said musician and songwriter Marc Teamaker. "Especially ones that are independent and carry vinyl."

For Record Store Day 2010, "we have to build on what we've done so far and work even closer with our distribution, label and studio partners ... so that we can reach these fans/customers beyond Record Store Day," Kurtz said. "The more we are allowed to create this positive energy, the more it will spill over into other things, and the more it will help everyone sell more music and DVDs. And, we can have some fun doing it!" --David Grogan