Independent record shops in big cities like Chicago and New York reported strong sales and even long lines during the third annual Record Store Day on Saturday. In Milwaukee, things were a little more subduedthere didn't appear to be any risk of a Black Friday-caliber stampede at the Exclusive Company locations I visited, but they were nonetheless bristling with traffic, activity and conversation, reminders of how buying music used to be a social experience.
Record Store Day is a curious campaign. Other "buy independent" efforts warn of how big-box retailers price out local businesses, but corporations aren't to blame for the plight of the local record store. If anything, Walmart, Target and Best Buy are actually retreating from the music industry, devoting less shelf space to CDs than they have in decades. This campaign's real villain isn't corporations but rather consumers themselves, who last decade decided that music was a commodity they no longer felt the obligation to pay for.
Record Store Day's challenge, then, is to make these consumers change their behavior without shaming them. That can't be easy, especially for frustrated record store owners whose regulars these days seem to offer more words of support than actual business. Today's music enthusiast writes lavish blog posts about the importance of supporting independent record stores with one hand, while downloading free music with the other.
Judging by the publicity it received, this year's campaign was the most successful yet, though it wasn't without headaches. As usual, record shops complained of not receiving half the stock of exclusives that they ordered, and profiteers took advantage of those shortages, snatching up bulk copies of the rarest records to sell them online.
There's a good chance, then, that Hold Steady fans weren't able to find the band's Heaven in Whenever 12-inch, limited to 600 hand-screened copies. There's also a good chance they aren't able to afford the $150 that record is now selling for on eBay. Record Store Day can sometimes feel as much like a reminder of the ugliness of human nature as it is a celebration of independent record shops.
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