Record Store Day

Yesterday was Record Store Day, an internationally celebrated day to celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store. I had ventured out with my son today and was happy to see some of my local record stores lined up out the door and down the block. I was proud to see this, both as a music fan, someone who still enjoys browsing through bins in record stores and as a father sharing this experience with my son.

But being who I am, I quickly found myself thinking “how can we get people to start shopping for music again, with the same passion we’re seeing exhibited on Record Store Day?” This thought was quickly followed by, would we want to? Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see that sort of passion exhibited every day, it would do wonders for the music industry. But part of what creates the enthusiasm for buying music on Record Store Day is that it is a unique event. So maybe I shouldn’t be thinking about how I can recreate Record Store Day every day, the focus should be more on creating other events that help bring out the passion for music we see from Record Store patrons on Record Store Day.

People like events. People like to be part of an event. Record Store Day is just one example of one of these events. In the comic book industry the busiest day of the year is Free Comic Book Day. For a local independent artist, their biggest show is usually the CD release show simply because it’s an event. People need a reason to do something and turning something into an event makes it something more. 

There are people who actually go shopping on Record Store Day with no intention on buying anything, they just go to be part of the experience. The casual social shopper doesn't just come out on Record Store Day. I’ve heard the same thing said about Boxing Day. When you think about it, stores seem to be moving away from offering the massive discounts on Boxing Day and most of the sales are not much different from what you'd see through out the year. Ironically, most stores have stopped offering the massive discounts because they've realized that people will go shopping on Boxing Day just because it's Boxing Day. 

The great thing about Record Store Day from the social aspect is that even if you're not buying music, you're still out with other music enthusiast, talking about music, celebrating what you love about music. 

The bigger picture...if we want to build on the momentum of Record Store Day and encourage the passion share by music enthusiast on Record Store Day all year round, we have to create our own events. We need to find something that brings everyone together to share their passion. Sadly, music used to be the thing that could bring people together...maybe that's where we should start.