Record Store Day is an international holiday created for the purpose of releasing new and limited vinyl and CD’s by hundreds of artists from all across the globe.
Eric Levine was on the team that helped develop the holiday and also helped to start one of Atlanta’s most well-traveled, iconic and fiercely local record shops, Criminal Records.
“Six years ago when we started, the record stores had become a little less important for some people,” Levine said, “and it was a little confusing because we all had these great record stores that were really fun and having a good time and we weren’t really getting a lot of attention so we simply decided to shine a light on our businesses.”
The holiday is celebrated every third Saturday of April and is devoted to high fidelity fanaticism and the idea that a physical copy of music is fundamental to immersing oneself in a comprehensive listening experience.
Record Store Day was first conceived in 2007 by a team of record store employees who felt the appeal and convenience of digital music had dwindled public interest in records.
The breakneck success of Internet music giants like Amazon and iTunes had digitized vinyl boxes, CD racks and cassette collections and questioned the relevancy of physical music.
“Digital was kind of new and well advertised and well supported so a lot of music fans thought they should give that a try, and of course after living with digital for any amount of time you come to the realization that you don’t have something tangential and sexy that you get to hold and define yourself with,” Levine said.
Despite the mp3 boom of the last decade, Record Store Day has been incredibly successfully at internationally spearheading the movement to make records attractive in the digital age.
More than 1,000 record stores in the US and 1,200 nationally have participated every year, with increasing support from artists such as Metallica, Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne and this year’s official ambassador, Jack White of the White Stripes.
“It’s been beyond our wildest expectations, hopes and wishes. It is easily the biggest crowd-sourced music event ever. We’ve helped reignite the vinyl market and we’ve been able to help individual stores all over world.,” Levine said.
The scope of Record Sore Day has gone further then merely expanding the vinyl market; it has been a call to reevaluate why every local community can benefit from a local record store.
“Your local record store supports your local little league team and your charities and helps and participates,” Levine said, “it’s the very opposite of amazon and iTunes which take from our communities and don’t give back.”
Criminal Records is giving back this Record Store Day by releasing two records recorded live in-store from local bands Von Grey and Christ, Lord.
“This is what a record store could and should be doing, it should be releasing records for your local bands because frankly iTunes is not going to do anything for your local community,” Levine said.
Walking distance from Criminal Records and nestled behind Junkman’s Daughter is Beatlab.
Beatlab is another local record store that specializes in the sale of disk jockey equipment and features a robust supply of used hip-hop, soul and jazz records.
Employee “Mega” has worked at Beatlab since its opening four years ago and finds a similar romanticism in the physicality of vinyl.
“Vinyl is about tangibility, having something physical in your hands, viewing the artwork, sound quality in general. A lot of music nowadays is not tangible, I feel like people want something they can hold they can look at while listening to the music,” Mega said.
For a DJ, crafting an extensive vinyl collection is absolutely essential and the ability to sample and mix records live has turned into an art.
Though Beatlab does not typically release any new music for Record Store Day, it hosts sales of its existing inventory which provide opportunities for new vinyl listeners to experience rare and out of print releases.
“I feel that it’s bringing some awareness of records to younger generations and older generations who feel that vinyl has gone by the wayside. To me, it’s all about awareness,” Mega said.
Beatlab’s selection of new and vintage turntables tries to gives back to the community in a different but equally invaluable way by providing anyone with the means of creating their own albums.
“We support artists in the creative aspect when they’re actually making music through the gear that we sell,” Mega said, “ and once they have the final product we will sell some of their releases here.”
This year Record Store Day is hosting the release of new LP’s, back-catalog reissues and rare singles from acts such as Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Public Enemy, The Black Lips and The Roots.
For a full list of official Record Store Day releases and participating record stores, check out their website.
In other words: “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” – Voltaire