Record Store Day 2015

I'm with RSD on this one. The label complains RSD prohibits direct to customer sales - DUH. Record STORE Day. The point is to get people into brick and mortar stores buying records not to buy records from indie labels with bands you may have never heard of before. Also, the pressing plants aren't gummed up by RSD releases exclusively - they are gummed up by the overall rise in vinyl pressings year round. If they are so concerned, plan for RSD in advance.

 

I find it funny that Howling Owl and Sonic Cathedral are complaining that RSD won't allow direct to consumer sales by labels. Uh yeah, the whole point is to get people to go to record stores on the day. Anyway, it was set up to help record stores wasn't it?

Some interesting points by RSD though. I didn't know that the majority of the releases were by indy labels rather than major labels and the increase in titles isn't necessarily down to major labels as those have not really increased. In addition, overall releases are down by 10% over last year.

 

Every RSD these threads deviate into the same comments. Look this is not the stock exchange, want do you want, an SEC type of control board to ensure that on one makes money on items? Come on guys these are only records no one is getting rich on reselling a couple of them.
If you want some of the items get up early an go wait on line. I'm 61 if I can do it so can you. Sometimes I'll lose out on a title, if i want it bad enough i'll pay the ebay price or wait.
I've been to stores that charge well over the list prices for items, you know what i do? I don't go back back to them.
It's better that we have RSD than if it didn't exist, for me it gives me two days a year (black friday and RSD) to look forward to getting something cool for far less than the price of rare OOP collectible records.

 

Agreed.

And who let the grownup in on this thread anyway?

 

Isn't the most likely explanation that this release is Jan Haust's quid pro quo for allowing Columbia access to the basement tapes? They get to release the big box set, he gets to release the boutique vinyl collectible.

 

I usually don't wait because I don't really care if I miss out on anything. Last year, I did (I wanted that Miles Davis box) and it was really cold! The way my local shop is set up, it was single file so being about 50 people back, I was outside for a while. Doubt I will ever do that again.

 

Could be, but he can keep it.

 

The prestige box was totally worth it. Love the packaging

 

But who needed to wait. I picked up a new copy of the Miles Davis box just 2 or 3 weeks ago on Amazon. I will be travelling for this one, so I'll pick up volume #2 after RSD as well.

 

AFAIK, nothing really stops the indie labels from selling 500 coloured vinyl for RSD and 500 black vinyl only direct to customers 7 days later.

Pressing plants don't barely accept non-RSD vinyl requests the first several months of the year. Is it really fair to expect small bands/labels to think 4 months in advance? Should a band wait 5 months between finishing an album and having CD/LP/Digital/Tour/promo all ready to go at the same time? The vinyl wait time is much shorter the other months of the year.

While 75% of titles may be indie, I wonder what the overall percentage is when you realize the major label stuff has edition counts 10X - 25X higher than the small indie stuff. Anybody got a 2014 April RSD list with all the edition counts/labels listed?

 

Yes, but look at the pressing quantities. Between just The Doors and the two Bowie singles, that's 30K pieces of vinyl. That's a lot of pressing time taken up for Indies who want to do small runs.

 

yeah...well i am 67....."where did my spring go , where did my bones go where did my go go"*ray davies........besides...one has to choose which store to go to to stand in line...(whines...i dont wanna!)...and the ones who are first are the ebay sellers...sure i will give it a go....but i wont get there 'till opening time.....maybe there will be a senior citizens priority....haha

 

your just a young feller...ha...i am 67...and i dont wanna stand in line for hours...maybe being a senior citizen will grant me first entry...(NOT)....these saggy olde bones just aint up to the battle....but i will make an effort...i suppose rockaway records is my best bet....amoeba would be impossible...but i wont get there until just before opening time....with me cane and.....

 

I'm just waiting for all the exclusives to get sent to Amoeba and all the other "independent" stores in the big cities, and leave nothing for anywhere else.

Besides, the pickings this year are atrocious.

 

You need to do what I do, have a young son-in-law with the same taste, we go together, bring folding chairs, coffee and sit and wait. About 15 minutes before opening he runs our chairs back to the car and away we go. I actually look forward to it, especially because it allows me to feel young twice a year. It's like waiting for Zep tickets outside MSG 43 years ago.

 

Well that wouldn't be that surprising. What I was surprised to find out was how little the majors did release in terms of total titles.

 

The Dylanologists may not have seen this thread, but doesn't Garth Hudson own all the Basement Tapes tapes?

Maybe he made a deal with Columbia - in exchange for him lending all his tapes for the Basement Tapes box last year, he gets to do a limited release of the original album from his tape copies. Wasn't the material recorded in mono?

 

Recorded for mono rather than in mono, but that's what I'm guessing is the situation. Hudson sold the tapes to Jan Haust a while back, and Haust struck a deal with Columbia rather late in the day, it seems, the details of which nobody knows for sure. Haust is Canadian, as is the label releasing this, and I believe he may have had prior involvement with the label, though a web search for the label doesn't yield much info. A recreation of the original mono Basement acetate seemed like an obvious contender for an RSD release when the box set was announced, and I'm assuming that's what this is until we hear otherwise.

 

Maybe Sony simply licenced a limited edition of the 1975 Basement Tapes on vinyl because they have no interest in releasing one themselves now that the Bootleg Series is on the shelves.
They do this with Music On Vinyl or Mobile Fidelity all the time.

 

I doubt this is the 1975 album given that it seems to be a single LP and has this pseudo-bootleg cover:

 

The same principle could still apply : Sony might agree to licence a limited edition of a mono selection. Their own vinyl being another beast altogether.
Again, they do this with Music On Vinyl and Mofi all the time.

 

My willingness to wait in line for RSD is directly related to the outside temperature projected that day.

 

I seriously question whether I give a damn.

 

OK, still almost a month to go and I'm already feeling panicky. I'm usually able to get everything I'm after (and I get a lot) in one sweep (sometimes have to hit a second store), but this year there is so much I want that I'm starting to draw up my battle plan maneuvers. Do I race first to the oldies/psych section, rock or jazz? I may have to enlist (bribe) a friend to help me out, but none of my friends are record-nutty enough to get up that early. I'm not crazy about getting up that early myself, but I do enjoy the camaraderie of our tribe: sharing RSD stories, finding out what they're looking for. It's part of the fun. I'm also proud of the helpfulness of the shoppers once inside (this is usually San Francisco Amoeba I'm talking about). That said, I show no mercy when it comes to that last copy. A twelve-year-old girl virtually begged me for my copy of that live Devo LP last year ("They're my favorite group" -yeah, right; tell your father you tried), but I held strong.
One great thing about RSD is it's my quickest shopping session, because it's more grabbing than shopping. I know what I want, I have my list and my elbows are ready (I'm still upset about missing out on that 13th Floor Elevators 45 a couple years back). But, while the grabbing is over quickly, waiting in the check-out line takes four times as long. This is when you (hopefully) meet more great people. Then, when you get your stash home and exult in your plenty, the excitement slowly fades and you begin questioning your sanity anew: the ridiculous amount you spent on things you don't really need. Although I'd like to brag and show off all the nifty items I bought, I'm too embarrassed and don't want to cause my friends concern. God help me, I love this sickness! But don't let it happen to you. GOOD PEOPLE OF SAN FRANCISCO, STAY HOME THIS APRIL 18!

 

I know I'll be there early, but I may be there late too just to see the faces on the kids who casually stroll in at 4 PM and ask for Deja.