Author Archives: dc119200

Vinyl enthusiast turned out in record numbers this year in New York City for the sixth annual Record Store Day (www.recordstoreday.com).    Nearly 20 stores in the city participated this year in the event that has gained popularity in a resurgence of an old tangible music source—the vinyl record.  The day continues to top the sales of each preceding year and has spread to international status.

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The way people attain music now has changed drastically since vinyl’s dominance years ago before the takeover of tape cassettes and compact discs.  Now the public can listen to their favorite albums or songs for free on the internet or digitally download them.  But Record Store Day’s increasing success has added to the survival of vinyl amongst all the technological competition.

Williamsburg and Greenpoint, conjoined neighborhoods in Brooklyn, have become one large community that represents a strong appreciation for vinyl retail.   For residents of NYC and tourists alike, the area offers a destination for the most record store locations.

The recently opened Rough Trade Shop in Williamsburg is a new expansion from the London based company and the biggest record store in NYC.

Manager Andy Larsen seemed pleased in this year’s outcome.  “The day was really great, a nice welcome to New York City.  Over a thousand people came,” she said.  “We had ten bands and two DJs perform in the store.  It was a great success.”

A store participating officially in RSD must sign the “Record Store Day pledge” that states, among other stipulations, that they will not gouge prices or hoard exclusive items to sell online.

The rules are enforced strictly.  Co-op 87, a tiny record shop that specializes in used vinyl, also located in Williamsburg, was recently taken off the RSD’s list of participating stores.

“We are actually banned from the Record Store Day organization,” Co-op employee Nate Stark said.  “This year we only had a small amount of releases that we were allowed to carry.”

Stark explained that Co-op 87 had stayed open for 24 hours last year and was told they had violated the pledge.  The store still continues to have their “24 hour marathon” every year as a tradition and they remain a positive competitor amongst neighboring stores.

Overall all, record stores, participating officially with RSD or not, exceeded in sales that culminated close to a 60% increase from previous years according to Nielsen SoundScan.  The Billboard vinyl chart that week reflected the success of the young holiday as most of the high ranked albums were RSD releases.

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