Record Store Day an April holiday for music lovers

People celebrate everything from Passover to 4/20 in April, but for music fans, April 16… People celebrate everything from Passover to 4/20 in April, but for music fans, April 16 particularly resonates with meaning..

The third Saturday in April is known to followers as Record Store Day, created in 2007 to “celebrate the art of music” with special events that connect artists and fans through independent record stores. The Alliance for Independent Media Stores, the Coalition of Independent Music Stores and Music Monitor Network created and organize the event.

In practice, it’s like an auditory Christmas, bringing out everything from barbecues to special vinyl releases and reminding us — the music fans — of the special place the “local places” hold in our hearts.

With the rise of the Internet and the ascension of illegal mediums, such as torrents, and even legal mediums like iTunes, many record stores saw the writing on the wall and closed in the wake of this shift in the industry. Stores simply couldn’t compete with the ease of the Internet. (“Give me convenience or give me death,” as the Dead Kennedys would say).

Even my hometown’s mainstay — a local chain known as the Gallery of Sound —  closed down its local branch after my senior year in high school, as part of the trend that affected even bigger players like the Tower Records and Virgin Megastore chains.

Sure, there’s always some stuff at places like Walmart in addition to what can be bought on the Internet — it’s not as though you can’t buy music. But how does a digital album compare to that first real CD we all had? You remember the CD.

It’s with that general idea in mind that this event got started in 2007, bringing in heavy names like Vampire Weekend, Death Cab For Cutie and R.E.M. to create special, limited-edition releases for the more than 300 record stores participating. Artists sympathetic to independent music like Billy Bragg did live appearances at record stores to promote the event.

By the next year, the event was recognized by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and grew to thousands of shops across the United States and the rest of the world.

This year was no less spectacular. Ozzy Osbourne served as ambassador for the event — taking over from last year’s ambassador, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age fame — and numerous special releases came down the pipeline.

All different musicians got something out there. The Rolling Stones released a 7-inch single of “Brown Sugar.” Gorillaz released the physical version of their album The Fall. Even the Beastie Boys released a remix of “Make Some Noise” to benefit Japan Relief Fund.

If you want to pick up most of these releases though, you’d better start searching eBay or preparing that special “Animaniacs” picture disk for trade, because quantities are limited.  Part of what makes a record store great is the rarity of what you find there.

Despite Record Store Day’s creation stemming from the collapsing nature of the music industry, since its inception there has been movment toward a healthy future.

Since the event began, record sales have soared, with places like Best Buy and Urban Outfitters offering various amounts of vinyl equipment to the burgeoning music enthusiast. Plus, it’s not just the Beatles and Pink Floyd that sell. An array of releases that include big albums from Radiohead and Neutral Milk Hotel are increasingly popular, signaling the viability of post-vinyl artists in the format.

Perhaps one of the best signs of how record stores can succeed in the modern age, however, comes from White Stripes frontman Jack White’s Third Man Records in Nashville.

By founding a combination studio/record store, the eccentric musician and music enthusiast has caused kids to line-up around the block for special releases and has introduced several innovative methods for distributing music — including a jukebox that plays through mechanical monkeys. (You read that right.)

White even received a Music City Ambassador Award from Nashville Mayor Karl Dean for his work within the music culture of Nashville, signaling the continued possibility of physical music in the 21st century.

Though so many music mediums are abstract, for at least one day a year, the grooves of a disk can become concrete in our hands. Though the reach of Record Store Day is limited and many of the exclusive releases are probably sold out at this point, thousands of others wait at places close by, like Wicked Discs on South Craig Street or the Exchange on Forbes Avenue. Go on, support the independent.