Record Store Day: Spin Your Attention To Indie Stores, Artists, Labels

ACROSS AMERIA — Record Store Day is Saturday, a one-day celebration of the nation’s nearly 1,400 independently owned brick-and-mortar record stores.

Since the first Record Store Day in 2008, the event has turned into a celebration of record store owners, the artists whose releases are featured and the customers looking for rare titles and hard-to-find 7-inch 45s.

The stores’ promotions are as independent as their businesses are, but with a range of genres and artists to fit any groove.

For several years, according to promoters, 60 percent or more of records released on Record Store Day have been from independent labels and distributors, according to recordstoreday.com.

The 2023 Record Store Day release list includes new releases and re-releases of old classics, and are available on vinyl, CD or both.

Local Record Store Day celebrations often include performances, cookouts, body painting, meet-and-greets with artists, parades, DJs spinning records and record releases on independent labels.

On the first Record Store Day, Metallica spent hours at Rasputin Music in San Francisco meeting fans. As Record Store Day has grown, thousands of artists, whether internationally famous or from your neighbor’s garage, participate in local events. The first “Record Store Day ambassador” was Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes (Eagles of Death Metal) in 2009.

Other ambassadors have been Joshua Homme (Eagles of Death Metal, Them Crooked Vultures, Queens of the Stone Age), Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Jack White, Chuck D, Dave Grohl, Metallica, St. Vincent, Run The Jewels, Pearl Jam, Brandi Carlile, Fred Armisen and Taylor Swift.

Some cities have declared Record Store Day an official holiday. Among them are New York City; Los Angeles; Las Vegas; Boise, Idaho; Charleston, South Carolina; and Raleigh, North Carolina.