National Record Store day is Saturday, and all the local music and record stores are gearing up for their customers.
In 2007, National Record Store Day became a way for independent record store owners and employees to celebrate and spread the unique and diverse musical culture their stores offer.
Each year, Record Store Day marks the release of vinyl albums and special downloads valuable to serious music collectors.
This year, the holiday will expand to include international releases in Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom and others. However, the stores do not control what records get released in which countries.
This year, special releases from artists like Slipknot, Green Day, Skrillex and more are being released this week to stores across the nation who made purchases.
Some records will only be available during and after National Record Store Day, including four albums from Aerosmith and one by Johnny Cash.
Warner Bros Records will also release an album by The Flaming Lips called “Gates of Steel.” Warner Bros Records is also an official sponsor of Record Store Day.
“We receive some special releases that come out exclusively on National Record Store Day,” said Tim Peyton, Terrapin Station employee. “It’s a big-time event and one of our busiest days of the year.”
Though the record store has placed orders for some of the exclusive items being released, such as Johnny Cash’s new album, it won’t know exactly what is for sale until the items are delivered.
Since most items released on record store day are exclusive, only about 1,000 copies of each item will be released.
“The organization of the event just keeps getting better and better each year,” Peyton said. “It helps stores gain more and more recognition, which is great because there aren’t many record stores left.”
Later Saturday night, around 6:30, Terrapin Station will host live music from five bands, all from the Murray or Paducah, Ky., area and have played in the store before.
“Since there are extremely limited releases of most Record Store Day releases, I gotta pick them up before anyone else does,” said Matthew Rowan, junior from Palma, Ky. “And at night they have live music; it’s seriously the coolest thing to do in this town.”
The bands expected to play Saturday night are local bands; “The Barbariettes” as well as “The Savage Radley.”
From Paducah, the “Hi-Fi Ninja” and “Teenage Rehab” will perform. And from Metropolis, Ill., “Leonard the Band” will play.
“I’m most excited for the records,” said Matthew Duke, from Kevil, Ky. “They always have a great selection every year, and I always end up wanting more than what I can actually buy.”
Duke said Record Store Day is different because it is the one day of the year where record labels put out special records that you can’t get any time of the year in limited quantities.
Another local music store, Sunset Boulevard Music, has also placed orders for exclusive releases and plans to play music all day throughout the store.
The store will also be selling some old records that it has never opened in honor of Record Store Day.
There is also a website, recordstoreday.com, that allows people to view all the titles to be released on Record Store Day and help them find local record stores that are participating in the event.
Record Store Day sales tend to focus on music enthusiasts who collect vinyl because the majority of the special releases will be on 12 and 7-inch vinyls.
Record stores also tend to markdown a lot of their prices on records they already have, so customers can get a good deal on a record they may have seen before from last year but were unable to afford.
Story by Brandon Cash, Staff writer