Apr
21
2012

The Spirit Of Record Store Day

I'm Pretty Sure This Isn't It

Saturday, April 21, 2012 - 03:45:29 pm
(Posted Under: My War On Everything, Music Music, Instagram Instagram)
Instagram ImageRecord Store Day. We've been looking forward to it for quite a while. It's a cool thing. Especially when you have a cool independent record store, like our beloved Zia Records.

This year there was a Record Store Day exclusive we were actually interested in - the Empire Records soundtrack, on gold double vinyl. That had certainly increased our anticipation of April 21. The whole concept of Record Store Day is just cool, we're suckers for just the Zia $5 RSD t-shirt/glass/locals compilation CD alone, and any excuse to hang out in Zia Tempe will do. Throw in an exclusive release we want to pick up, and you have the makings for a healthy dose of anticipation.

While we weren't quite as early to the University and Maple store as we planned, we walked through the doors somewhere between 9:00 and 9:10. The location of the exclusives bin was hard to miss, as I'm sure it was in any surviving record store this morning. Just look for the circle of music geeks huddled around together. And as one, you know your out of place standing in the store doorway, and gravitate yourself into that mass of people.

Now this is, as I see it, the spirit of Record Store Day. A crowded, but respectful mass of music fans eagerly wanting to pick up that exclusive release that they want (which didn't seem to be the Social Distortion record from what I could tell [wink]). It's stressful and it's crowded, but no-one is being pushy, obnoxious or a jerk. You wait your turn to inch a little closer to the record bin. Because of the volume of people, someone flicking through the vinyl starts calling out the titles, and passes out the wax when someone calls back "I want that". Spirit of Record Store Day.

I stood around for about 20 minutes in the pit, and as far as I could tell was piffed for the record I was after by a girl browsing more directly in front of the bin. Frustrating? Yes. Was it hers fair and square? Pretty much. I lingered and double checked the bin and surrounding shelves while Katie got our Zia swag bags. Then it was time to hit the road, to fulfill our quest that we'd failed at the Tempe store. But that's a story for another blog.

Suffice to say, we did not end up triumphant, though, through no fault of anything but a valiant (and maybe slightly ridiculous) effort. 7 valley record stores in 3 hours, from South Chandler to North(ish) Phoenix. It was Record Store Day after all.

Later tonight, I decided to look online to see what the LP looked like. Because what I did see of it wasn't what I expected. My momentary glance at the LP, before it was hastily clutched the new owners bosom, appeared to be a completely black and white cover, unlike the CD version released almost 20 years ago.

But which wonderful website provided me a glance of this LP cover, mere hours after record stores opened?

Ebay.

Pages and pages of listings for the soundtrack on LP. Prices ranging from $78 through to $250 for this item that had hours earlier retailed for $18.99.

Now is that in the spirit of Record Store Day? Is snapping up Record Store Day exclusives with the sole intention of re-selling them on an action site to make a quick buck (or 200) the point of Record Store Day? No, it's not. At least it shouldn't be. And I have to say, not only is anyone doing this completely missing the point, I can say without reservation that I hope karma sends a pack of horny elephants in the direction of anyone doing as much.

Now, don't mistake that for sour grapes. We missed out fair and square. I'm cool with that. After what Ebay revealed the cover to look like, combined with discovering that it was more exclusive than I'd first thought, I'm not 100% sure what I saw at Zia Tempe was actually that vinyl. Or that any Valley record store even got copies of it in the first place. I know for a fact that Stinkweeds did not, after asking one of Kimber's staff members. We still had a great day, despite the slight disappointment. The phrase "lower than pond scum" would rattle around my head just as much if I'd discovered this happening with some hipster band's exclusive release that I didn't care about. Plain and simple, greedy capitalism isn't what Record Store Day should be about.

Damn the man, save the empire, and all that.
Now Playing: Beat Angels - Snot

Comments

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stuart partridge says on
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 09:05:32 pm

Bless you, good ship Record Store Day, and all we vinyl fiends who sail upon thee.

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