Record Store Day Promises Changes for 2017
As the popularity of vinyl continues to surge, so does the attention given to Record Store Day and its always sizeable release list. Unfortunately for the organization behind the event, the attention isn’t always positive, as wax collectors often get up in arms about what they see as useless reissues; annoyingly coloured/shaped vinyl; opportunistic releases; and high prices that don’t always seem justified. Then you have the supposed clogging up of the few vinyl factories out there.
Well, it appears that Record Store Day has been listening to consumer concerns, because it plans on adjusting its business strategy for their 2017 event – at least that’s what Riffyou.com has been told by an anonymous source with inside knowledge of RSD’s future plans.
“RSD will be telling all labels and artists to abandon this whole coloured vinyl concept – its been beaten into the ground,” explained the source. “The thinking is, if you can’t create something that isn’t cool enough for a person to buy on traditional black vinyl, then we don’t want our partner stores to stock it. We are done with the vinyl-vanity craze – we want to get back to focusing on the quality of the music.”
When asked if this perspective also means less shaped vinyl, the source added: “Well, yeah. That stuff is way too pretentious. Did you see that Father John Misty heart-shaped vinyl that came out last year? Personally, I found that embarrassing. Thankfully, my fellow RSD team members are beginning to feel the same way.”
Record Store Day will also work closer with labels, bands and retailers when it comes to making the pricing of RSD vinyl more reasonable and less – in some instances – opportunistic.
“Whoever said it was acceptable for a two-song 7″ to go for $15 in a store should’ve been canned ages ago,” asserted the source. “Kids download songs for what, a buck or so a piece? How can we expect the younger generation to get into vinyl if we price these smaller releases so egregiously? Yeah, there is manufacturing costs, shipping costs and retail markups involved with vinyl and RSD, but surely we can do better. Don’t even get me started on the $30+ four-song 10″ vinyl or the $45 full-length LP. That’s insane. Fortunately, I think these prices will dip significantly in 2017.”
Our source anticipates that these new, incoming parameters won’t deter Record Store Day participants, largely because the event is encouraging more product diversity.
“It’s time that we fully take advantage of those getting into cassettes again,” offered the source. “Sure, the sound quality isn’t the best, but people don’t seem to care. They want music on the formats they grew up with and it’s our responsibility to help them with that. And you may snicker when I say this, but eight tracks are coming back next. Labels and bands are already figuring out how to get this format back in the mix.”
As for the other aspects that bother consumers about RSD – long lineups, eBay vultures and limited title selection at certain stores – our source is encouraging patience. These are all on the RSD agenda and will also soon get rectified.
“Few people are scummier than those who solely buy RSD titles with the intent of selling them for a stupidly high price on eBay,” angerly stated our source. “But what can we do? Trace their IP addresses? Flag their eBay accounts? Chop off their fingers? I don’t know. We need to do more research and figure how to stop these jerks from hijacking RSD from true music fans.”
He concluded: “As for title selection and long lineups, those are on our improvements agenda too – but those are tougher problems to solve and probably won’t be fixed for a few more years. It takes a while to sift through all complaints and try to appease everyone.”
Unfortunately, we shouldn’t hold our breath about these changes happening. After all, this is totally an April Fools’ Day article!
Record Store Day 2016 is on Saturday, April 16.
Thanks for reading!
-Adam Grant
