Record Store Day

[jff]

which store does your friend own? which 5k? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

as far as RSD i bet some of the store owners kept a few of the rarities for themselves to sell on ebay.

 

Full Moon Records in Candler Park. He has a good dollar bin. Buy ten get two fee. Sometimes it gets picked over, though.

 

Sweetwater 420 Festival 5K. My first one. Unfortunately, due to a glitch with the timce chips I'll never know my running time or how I placed in my age class.

 

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Much appreciated.

 

I'll bet you're right about some store owners doing that. I think Eric from Criminal (one of the guys who invented RSD) said in an interview that he knows of some store owners doing that in the past.

[Vacant Horizon]

Full Moon Records in Candler Park. He has a good dollar bin. Buy ten get two fee. Sometimes it gets picked over, though.

 

Sweetwater 420 Festival 5K. My first one. Unfortunately, due to a glitch with the timce chips I'll never know my running time or how I placed in my age class.

 

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Much appreciated.

 

I'll bet you're right about some store owners doing that. I think Eric from Criminal (one of the guys who invented RSD) said in an interview that he knows of some store owners doing that in the past.

 

I'm friends with a dude named Judd who works(ed?) at full moon. cool place. i always forget about going over there. criminal is okay, but lately seems to be focused on sundries rather than music. i'm a sweetwater fan too!

[LouieB]

I agree the pressings are far too limited. It's like they want them to wind up on ebay. Once again, the record industry fails to adapt.

My sentiments exactly. If they want to keep folks coming into the stores buying stuff (both CDs and LPs) then they have to make it attractive AND get the merch into the stores folks want. If you dangle this special stuff out there, folks will also come in and buy regular stuff. I can't tell you how many folks I saw buying used LPs, and not obscure stuff (hell a copy of two of used Fleetwood Mac on vinyl was sold at Lauries), but just regular current and back cateloge titles at reasonable prices. It is the same thing that all industries do to keep people coming back.

 

LouieB

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

For anybody who didn't get the Justin Townes Earle 7", Bloodshot Records had them available this afternoon for $7.41, including media mail shipping. I was glad to be able to order one, since it didn't look like my store had any.

 

For what it's worth, I bought more regular stock stuff than I did RSD goodies. I don't stop by the shop too often, only because I know I can't make it out the door without spending $50+, even if I only look through the jazz section.

 

ETA: looks like the JTE 7" is sold out now.

[titchyman]

My first RSD this year..

 

Got myself:

Fleet Foxes 12"

Gorillaz 12"

Radiohead 12"

Iron & Wine 7"

Black Mountain 7"

 

A couple of ideas for future RSD's - give people the option of pre-ordering from the record stores the items they actually want, so shops know how much of each record to order. Obviously would only work if pressing no's were increased. Then on the day of RSD you could just walk in and pick up your vinyl. You're still buying from the store on RSD, you just get more of a chance of picking up the items you want.

 

Also if the stores took the factory wrapping off the RSD releases, then then couldn't be as easily sold on as "new - factory sealed" on ebay.

 

And why not make customers sign a pledge like the stores have to do? Not sure the logistics behind this though..

 

I think there is always going to be people buying limited releases to sell straight away online, just like ticket scalpers, the important thing is that everyone else has a chance to buy the records they want in the first place.

[jff]

I'm friends with a dude named Judd who works(ed?) at full moon. cool place. i always forget about going over there. criminal is okay, but lately seems to be focused on sundries rather than music. i'm a sweetwater fan too!

 

Yeah, Judd's cool. I don't know him well, but we had a good conversation about the Turtles last year when I finally found a copy of Turtle Soup.

 

I don't drink much beer anymore, but the two Sweetwaters I had after the race (a 420 and an IPA) were very satisfying.

[LouieB]

For anybody who didn't get the Justin Townes Earle 7", Bloodshot Records had them available this afternoon for $7.41, including media mail shipping. I was glad to be able to order one, since it didn't look like my store had any.

 

 

ETA: looks like the JTE 7" is sold out now.

Just as an FYI, only one side of the JTE is not available on vinyl and that is the Springsteen cover. Much of what was being sold on RSD was simply PR of material that was already readily available either currently or can be accessed as used LPs or singles at your local record store. So if all you want is to be able to hear "Racing in the Street" you are out of luck (unless you see him in concert), but you can get Justin's current album on vinyl anyway. And you can get certainly get it on CD.

 

Really the whole point (beating this dead horse until it is ground into horse hamburgers...) is that the come ons for RSD are an excuse to get loads of customers in the door to buy new and used material from stores that need your business. Cleary it doesn't hurt the record stores to sell these special releases, since they get to mark them up and sell them immediately, but it is only an excuse to get you to come in and buy all the merch that day, which these stores did. I slso bought a bit of non-RSD material, both new and used. But I am not relying on my RSD purchases to fill my entire music world for a year.

 

This entire RSD is really sort of laughable if we weren't all so tied into getting our grubby hands on the 45s we think we need or on the albums we ain't gonna get (talking to you Big Star). And all of this material is going to be worth far less in the long run than it is now on eBay, because in a year most of us aren't going to give a shit about JTE's 45. It is fun now, but really worthless in the long run.

 

(If someone wants to go find out how much the Jesus Lizard 45s from a couple years ago are worth, I am going to guess not a hell of alot....)

 

LouieB

[GtrPlyr]

I must say that most of the RSD releases had zero interest for me. My turntable only does 33 1/3 and 45 so gimmicky releases on 78s were out. I haven't bought 45s since the 80s so those were out. I'm a full album kinda guy so there wasn't a lot available for me, especially seeing that the Big Star, Television and a few other releases I was interested in were either sold out or not there to begin with. Instead of buying some new RSD stuff I'd only listen to once, I ended up with a few old favorites on vinyl and a few CDs. I usually go record shopping once a month so this day isn't probably aimed at me anyway. It was good seeing all the people nonetheless, though the zoo like atmosphere was a bit off-putting. Seeing all the sellers on eBay of the RSD stuff is also very off-putting.

 

I like some of the ideas proposed above for improving RSD. Unfortunately things will probably stay the same for next year.

[brianjeremy]

Makes me wonder if they're going to do another Black Friday RSD-related thing again this year...

 

Been in contact w/ some RSD people about the Death Cab thing...lot of people unhappy and they're trying to work something out....

[Vacant Horizon]

Yeah, Judd's cool. I don't know him well, but we had a good conversation about the Turtles last year when I finally found a copy of Turtle Soup.

 

I don't drink much beer anymore, but the two Sweetwaters I had after the race (a 420 and an IPA) were very satisfying.

 

Judd's a vinyl nut.

[nodep5]

I like what LouieB is saying about the long term view of the RSD releases, but not just from a financial worth position, but also from the true inherent value it holds in terms of my appreciation of music. The older I get, the more children I have, and the less time, money, energy I have to or want to devote to things like a rare 7" or what have you, I begin asking myself "do I really need this?". How often do I listen to my cherished Uncle Tupelo 7"s that i hold so damn dear to my heart. Bottom line, it is more for me now than ever about the music and becoming less about the artifact. I don't know what it is about obsessiveness and music that go hand in hand, but it is hard to manage that, but I'm trying. I walked out of my bad RSD experience this year with my head high, saying "probably didn't need that Fleet Foxes 12" anyway". Now that may have just been a way of tempering my disapointment, but crap, less than a week later, I really don't care, let alone a year later.

[LouieB]

I stopped in at the Jazz Record Mart today and they had some of the Vanguard and other reissues still available. Obviously no Big Star. They also had copies of the Syd Barrett. What's with them remixing this material in 2010. I didn't buy it but I may go back and get it for the hell of it. Of course by then it could be gone. The Vanguards were selling a couple bucks cheaper than I saw them other places.

 

LouieB

[LouieB]

And I just found out that the Dylan at Brandeis is available on vinyl starting May 11 for a very reasonable price. Guess I wasn't paying attention.

 

LouieB

[LouieB]

A few weeks on and RSD is now a distant memory, but I went to the Jazz Record Mart and bought two copies of the Syd Barrett LP. There were several other LPs still available including a bunch of the Vanguard reissues and a Vanguard comp of pscychadelic bands. They also had a bunch of the 45s by the cash register including Big Star and Hendrix and a bunch of other stuff. (Obviously NO Big Star LPs though...) Anyway just in case someone is still hankering after some RSD fetishes, you can still get them at the JRM in Chicago.

 

LouieB