Record Store Day tomorrow

recordstoreday2009Tomorrow is the second Record Store Day. It is, essentially, (at least according to the web site) a “celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally. This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music.”

What that really means is that it’s a way to get people to go, “Oh, there are still independently owned and operated stores other than Best Buy where I can buy music other than what’s played on the local top 40 station? Huh. I’ll be damned.” There are scads of exclusive releases that will come out on Record Store Day. Some are b-side exclusives, some are represses, some are live – really, while cool and all, it’s not like any label or artist is bringing their “A” game and putting out a new album that day.

It’s a lot like Free Comic Book Day, except there’s less free shit. There’s some free shit, but the focus isn’t on the free stuff. The idea is to get people into stores for the exclusives, and they’ll hopefully drop more cash on regular stock. I ended up buying something like $80 worth of tunes last year, and this year looks to be no different. Most participating stores have sales and live music and cool stuff like that, so check the website to see who’s participating near you.

the Supersuckers – “Rock-n-Roll Records (Ain’t Selling This Year)” (from Live at the Magic Bag)