Record Store Day hailed a success as indie takings rocket

Source: MW

Monday April 26, 2010

By Ben Cardew

 

Entertainment Retailers Association director general Kim Bayley has called on record labels to support independent music stores with exclusive releases throughout the year, after the success of Record Store Day 2010.

 

The third Record Store Day took place around the world on April 17, with more than 150 stores in the UK taking part.

 

High-profile exclusive releases from acts including Blur, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles led to an 800-strong queue outside London’s Rough Trade East before the store opened, while physical singles sales through the indie sector were up 450% week-on-week and 96% on last year’s RSD week. Physical album sales though indie stores were up 9% week-on-week and up 11% on last year’s RSD week.

 

Rough Trade East store manager Spencer Hickman, who co-ordinates Record Store Day in the UK, says these figures may actually understate the surge at the tills, with sales at his store up 633% week-on-week. And this was by no means limited to London: the Drift Record Shop in Totnes, Devon, reported sales up 300% on the average Saturday, while Avalanche in Glasgow said it had its second-highest takings in its 13-year history.

 

“RSD has grown so much over three short years,” says Hickman. “It could end up being one of the biggest music celebration days on the calendar. It is about engaging the customers and getting them back in the whole year round.”

 

This ripple effect will be key for Record Store Day in the future. Hickman says some punters from last year’s RSD have now become regular customers at Rough Trade East, while Bayley says she would like to see the achievements of RSD replicated throughout the year.

 

“As ERA we would like to see something more than one day of the year,” she explains. “There is a great enthusiasm for collectible vinyl, for example. There is the potential for labels to do this for more than one day a year. We are thinking about how we can get people coming back to these stores on other days.”

 

 

Hickman says he will also start talking to labels about offering exclusive releases all year round when he gets back from holiday. However, the question remains as to who would manage these releases: Hickman oversees RSD on a voluntary, unpaid basis, while the Coalition of UK Indie Stores – a group of 25 leading independent record store across the UK which has previously shared exclusives – has been less active of late.

 

“A lot of people don’t live near [The Coalition] stores,” Bayley adds. “The plan is to introduce what The Coalition does across more stores.” Bayley explains ERA could lead this initiative – but only if indie stores want them to.

 

Despite the undoubted success of Record Store Day there was grumbling from consumers about some of the exclusive releases ending up on eBay: the limited Blur seven-inch Fool’s Day (pictured) is currently available on the site for up to £250, despite being made available as a free download from the band’s website blur.co.uk.

 

Hickman says customers re-selling releases is very difficult to control. However, organisers have acted against stores who put stock directly on eBay, with three UK stores now banned from future Record Store Days for “diverting stock from regular sale”.

 

“The whole point of Record Store Day is to highlight the close relationship between indies and music fans. Any stores which abuse that relationship have no place in Record Store Day,” Hickman says.

 

Attention now turns to next year, with possible plans including sponsorship for the UK event; introducing ways to reward shops’ regular customers and a website where customers can swap RSD releases in a bid to beat eBay.

This is probably why Ash's single 'Mind Control' has gone top 40 this week.

This is probably why Ash's single 'Mind Control' has gone top 40 this week.

 

I don't think it made a difference to be honest. Record Store Day was 10 days ago and the Ash single wasn't released to celebrate the day. Besides, it's bound to be very frontloaded and it's low top 40 on the first set of midweeks so it's highly unlikely it will hold on until the end of the week.

I don't think it made a difference to be honest. Record Store Day was 10 days ago and the Ash single wasn't released to celebrate the day. Besides, it's bound to be very frontloaded and it's low top 40 on the first set of midweeks so it's highly unlikely it will hold on until the end of the week.

 

I think it made all the difference tbh.

 

Dare To Dream made #87 on the week of Record Store Day - the previous 12 (?) singles all missed top 100. And it probably got almost all of its sales on Saturday.

 

People go to a record store and see Ash are back and then find out about the 1 every 2 week single campaign - meaning many more people are aware of it now, hence how Mind Control has made the top 40.

 

It will fall though, I agree. Will probably end up around where DTD ended up, low top 90. Might be a bit higher.

The Ash 7" singles are a bloody rip-off! £5/£5.50 each in HMV though they seem to have stopped stocking them recently. Hardly surprising as no-one was stupid enough to pay those overinflated prices and there were dozens of copies left each time....

They're re-releasing the first 13 (I think?) on CD in a few weeks anyway? Record Store Day was a nice idea but in practive a joke. I went to Sister Ray in Soho, London on the day, and by the time I was in the shop (and I was only halfway through the queue) anything anyone really wanted (Blur, Pet Shop Boys, Beatles) had gone. I ended up with a She & Him single that wasn't even in the cloth bag it was supposed to be.

The Ash CD was released last week!

Is the Ash song really top 40? I've bought them all and it's the worst one yet! :lol: