Record Store Day - Thoughts on how it could be better?

The labels could have records only available and mom and pop stores but allow them to reorder the popular ones AND release new titles the whole year and not 500 in one day.

 

If you did that people wouldn’t buy the reissues in such quantities. Like it or not, it’s tapping in to the scarcity animalian side of our brains. And, it’s keeping record stores afloat so tough bananas.

 

What you have now is like beanie babies. Some people get in to make money, some get in to the fad and that actual fans stop buying because they are not getting what they want. When that happens they stop buying from the flippers and then they stop buying from the record store. And the ones that got in because of the fad ... well they stop buying too. So you end up with nobody buying rsd stuff and the record stores get screwed in the end.

 

That won’t happen cause as the numbers of flippers goes down then the music fans who are late risers will come back. It’s not perfect, but you fans will be fine. It’s not about you, it’s about keeping record stores out of the red and into the black. And, it’s working in that regard. Eliminate the limited numbers of those records, and the sales numbers would evaporate.

 

How to make it better?

First of all, it's important to understand that the RSD experience differs significantly depending on what store you go to. Some stores do it right, and some are totally clueless. Record stores are like any other kind of business - some are going to be better than others. Some people are good at some things, but not great at others. The nicest and most helpful store owners might nevertheless have the logistical skills of a 5 year-old.

My suggestions for making it better include:
1) Better quality control on the product (the miss to hit ratio on these things is not great)
2) Accurate accountings on how many items per release are pressed. Claiming 5000 but making 10,000 is not cool. There's enough manufactured scarcity for this day's items to begin with. To that end...
3) Get numbers on as many things as possible. Way too few RSD releases are numbered. It helps keep things honest and improves collectibility. If numbering slows up the production process - good. Because my next point is...
4) Make fewer items. It has gotten to the point where way too many things are released on RSD. To that end...
5) Consider eliminating the "RSD first" type of release. If the pressing plants are getting gummed up to support the timely production of items that are going to get a general release soon later anyway, it begs the question of how important these titles are. I say this as a reflection of my own preferences, though - I've never bought one of these on RSD and never heard others in line ever exhibiting interest in these. However, if these are a big part of RSD for a lot of people, then I guess don't get rid of them.
5) Better policy enforcement. Stores caught selling items above what they're allowed, and stores that hold back stock for employees or preferred customers should be shown zero mercy and banned from participation.
7). RSD organizers should establish an on-line marketplace whereby authorized participating stores may sell unsold stock. The details can be flexible, but I was thinking something like after 48 (or even just 24) hours, stores that want to can pledge any of their unsold stock to this process. RSD website would take the orders, and they would be fulfilled by whatever stores pledged stock, on a first-come, first-served basis. All items would be sold to customers at the regular retail price - or less. Or maybe start at retail and then a week later discount by 20%. The point would be to help stores get rid of stock that wasn't sold right away; enable those who don't live near a good participating store or don't want to line up early a chance to buy from a centralized website; reduce the temptation for customers to pay an exorbitant amount of money to an ebay flipper the first weekend. A system like this would also provide more accurate data than currently, regarding what titles sell and where and how much. I realize that plenty of stores already engage in their own on-line sales, but doing it this way could get all of the items under one roof, so to speak, and make it easier for the customers.

Ultimately, though, all changes and policies should be toward the desirable goal of making certain that one must be physically present inside a brick-and-mortar record store on RSD in order to buy anything, and that they only be allowed one title per person.

 

Take orders from their patrons for 60-90 days.
Press up enough to satisfy that, and whatever the store owner thinks he can move at retail.
Enough of lining up and hoping.
You're asking the public to support shops, then making people jump through hoops to get what they would like.
Crazy.

Excited about the music i see being released, less excited fighting to get it, or having to overpay a speculator to get it.
Shouldnt be that tough of a fix.

 

Good Lord, where do some of you folks shop? Fighting for records, extra high prices, nothing to choose from, surly owners...what?

I went to three stores in two cities yesterday (because I don't have stores close by either) and had a great time at all three. And bought stuff at all three (both RSD items and regular stock...I make a point to do that). It seems like some have determined if it's bad for them it's can't be good for anyone else.

RSD is one of the best things that's happened to independent record stores since vinyl's big return.

 

1. Release the list
2. Release a few titles from said list per month to cut down on crowds, flipping, and stores not getting stock. One day per month = less strained pressing plants, too.

Done.

Make it monthly and you’ve got a gift that keeps on giving.

 

Boom.

 

Some of these suggestions are completely off the rails . . .

This isn't the Super Bowl or a Marvel Comics Universe film premiere, where one well-funded and well-compensated organization has near total power. It's a cooperative event that's dependent on a lot of people at a lot of companies hitting deadlines and budgets, without a huge payout at the finish line for any one of them. I would assume these things are one-off projects on a slate of dozens if not hundreds for each label.

 

Nice thoughts there, eddiel. I'm glad for those of you are are close enough to take advantage. Good show!

Despite missing RSD each year, I have had the good fortune on a few occasions to have Barry at Red Devil Records in San Rafael, CA (good guy, great store) hold a few LPs for me that didn't sell out on RSD and make them available to me via shipment.

 

Look, RSD is great in that it is the reason many of these titles get released. I'm all for keeping that going.
But in order to get many of these releases, you have to buy them from flippers.

How much does a record store make on a RSD album that sells for $30?
I honestly don't know what the current markup is, but I bet it is not that much.

Now how much does a flipper make on a $30 album that has been marked up 2-4 times cost?
A lot more than the record store!
And since the people that run RSD limit the amount of releases to record stores, they are creating this market for flippers.
And these are lost sales for the record stores.

In order to help the record stores gain some of this income back, they should be allowed to place orders for the records through the record stores on record store day.
If a record is not in stock, let the record stores place orders for them.
No pre-orders, or post record store day orders. Just orders on record store day for the LPs at list price.
And no limit to the amount of records one can order, just that you have to actually go to the record store on RSD to place the order.

Imagine how many more people would go to a record store on RSD if they knew they could get the release they wanted at list price.
And imagine how many more records the records stores would sell.

 

I agree with you that a de-cluttering/downsizing is long overdue there. As for the computer -- he's never had a problem ordering anything for customers through his usual channels and the telephone. Why RSD admins should care, I don't know.

Anyway, I think the extremely limited quantities thing can be a double-edged sword for stores. It can attract customers, but it can also pi$$ off and push away customers if they believe they're the victims of a bait-and-switch ad promotion: "I waited in line for two hours thinking I'd get a copy of mono Piper, but now all that's left is an RSD pink vinyl Don Ho "Tiny Bubbles" 7" and the usual store stuff I could have gotten anytime".

 

"Limited Edition" is a marketing practice that applies to a great many things, so obviously many people think that it does create sales. The difference is that in the realm of audio recordings, and especially vinyl recordings released on LP, the quantities really are limited because we're not talking about a market with tens of millions of customers. And if the demand really is a resounding one, and all units are sold and many people complain about not getting one, then maybe there'll be a general release in the future. But it makes no sense for labels to offer more product than can be sold quickly.

 

Better yet:
- have a pre-order, in store ONLY, of a limited selestion of more desirable releases. Pre-pay, or at least deposit at cost.
- in store pickup ONLY, no shipping
- additional releases as current RSD practice

This would get people like me in the door TWICE and would discourage most but not all flipping. Enthusiasts get what they want. More people get what they want, more records sold, MORE HAPPY BUYERS

 

This sounds like My local used record store (Omega Records Dayton), which I visited on Friday.
Since the 2 Bolan RSD releases were UK only I didn't feel the need to rush down to my local shop on Saturday morning.
I went there on Sunday afternoon to see if I could score this...

There were sold out, but it wasn't the end of the world. I did pick up a few used albums for my collection.
What helps shop owners is customers making repeated visits to the store.
I talked to the owner of my local shop.
He said that RSD is good for moving used vinyl.
He still prefers repeat customers.
How many people who only visit on RSD are going to visit the store any other time?

Darryl

 

Thread summaries:

No one goes to Record Store Day, because it's too crowded.

No one buys anything on Record Store Day, because it's all sold out.

I should get what I want when I want it, without waiting in line, paying re-seller markups or even visiting the store on Record Store Day. Limited editions shouldn't be limited to people who did.

 

I had been thinking of something like that back when this year' RSD was announced several weeks ago - what if you could just call your local record shop six weeks in advance and place an order, then drop by on RSD and pick it up? The record store only buys what it knows it will sell (unless they want a couple extra copies for the rack for walk ins), people who really want stuff get exactly what they want, and record labels get to sell a buncha records, maybe more than they thought they would originally. Heck, you could even let people pre-order multiple copies and let 'em flip 'em if they think they can do it profitably. No more lines, no people turned away with nothing, less of a need to have a guy at the door doing crowd control. As it is now, record stores just have to make an educated guess about what will sell and in what quantity, but in the information age there should not be a need for guesswork. Let the people tell you what they want and you get it from the distributor and sell it to them. It'll still be "Record STORE Day" because it leaves out the huge online retailers who command sales every other day of the year.

 

problem is that they don’t get everything they order. So you show up and get even more pissed.

 

I agree with you, it would be great to have second run.

 

In order for my scenario to work, labels and distributors would have to work together to meet the demand. That's why I suggested that the orders be placed weeks in advance, so that there would actually be enough product to fill the orders. It would probably have to be more than six weeks in advance.

The biggest obstacle to this as I see it is that I'm sure that pressing plants just can't turn on a dime like that - many of these albums probably were pressed months ago and you can't just go back a couple months later and say, "Hey, we need 120 more copies of this." But it might also turn out that some of these titles don't need the number of units that they get - did 13,000 people really queue up yesterday for Let's Feed Ice Cream To The Rats? I'm thinking not.

 

That gets right to the heart of the matter: stores order records but can't get them, which leads back to the politics of the big store vs. little store who-gets-what-and-how-many-copies.

 

To the people who have something to complain about, their complaints are the most real and tangible reality. Now my impression of Record Store Day was that I showed up, waited 90 minutes or so and walked out with exactly what I wanted, and could have walked out with much more if money were no object, so my expectation is that next year I'll be able to do the exact same thing, but who knows, next year it may be me storming out of the store at 10:30 with nothing in hand and no clear path to get it. And that's gotta be frustrating. I knew that if I waited in line for something that sold out just before I entered the store, I was going to be mightily disappointed, but I accepted the risk when I left the house that morning. I was the literally the 11th person in line for something that they only had 10 copies of. Fortunately no one ahead of me was particularly interested in Pink Floyd. But it was all dumb luck and could easily have gone another way.

 

You do know that since RSD started, vinyl is the only area of growth in physical music right?

 

This doesn't make any sense. Do you mean to say he won't order product with a computer, during the weeks before record store day?