Record Store Day Alert!

Many Independently owned music retail stores from around the world are now preparing to officially celebrate ‘Record Store Day', scheduled to take place on Saturday April 18th.

The idea behind this is that all of these stores will simultaneously link and effectively act as one with the purpose of celebrating the culture of Independent Record Stores, the informed dialogue that they have with music fans and unique place they occupy on a national scale and within local communities.

Over 50 independent record shops across the UK will participate in Record Store Day and special events are currently being planned for those participating. These include RPM Music in Newcastle upon Tyne, Resident and Rounder in Brighton, Pure Groove and Rough Trade in London, Piccadilly Records in Manchester and Avalanche in Glasgow.

The day will feature free in-store performances by live acts and DJ’s, signing sessions, free label samplers, goodie bags promoting new formats, releases and exciting information on music, as well as some very collectible Record Store Day exclusive vinyl and CD releases. Many of the singles will be limited to less than 500 copies and only available on the day from 10am onwards.

High profile Independent labels such as Domino, Matador and Thrill Jockey are also confirmed to participate in the action.

Now, here is for the super exciting part: These stores will be selling exclusive collectable CD, cassettes and vinyl from the 18th, including an exclusive Tom Waits live 7” single, a Rough Trade cassette only compilation and a Domino Records vinyl only compilation entitled Blood on the Tracks. This will feature exclusive tracks from Franz Ferdinand, The Kills and Max Tundra.

For a comprehensive list of the participating stores and labels, exclusive releases and special events in your area visit the Record Store Day website.

There is a list of releases exclusive to the UK and Ireland at Rough Trade's website.

Put this one in your diary, as there has arguably never been a better time to celebrate the culture, ethos and history of your local Independent Record store!