In today’s digital society, music is mostly bought online and instantly downloaded, ready to be listened to immediately. Despite this exploding trend, there’s another form of music that’s still alive and growing.
On April 21, local Gainesville record stores Hear Again Music and Movies!, Wayward Council and toneVendor will participate in the fifth annual Record Store Day, a celebration of independent music retailers across the nation.
On Record Store Day, about 700 record stores nationwide and hundreds of other retailers and music supporters across the world will come together for the celebration of music and vinyl, said Brittany Brave, a college marketing representative for Sony Music Entertainment in Gainesville.
“This day gives huge support to developing artists, music labels and the fans,” Brave said. “Record stores and independent retailers are hubs for music, so it’s important to celebrate what they do in the community.”
This year, Sony will release 25 limited-edition records, like the 25th anniversary edition of Paul Simon’s album “Graceland,” which will only be released for Record Store Day, Brave said.
“By releasing exclusive records — that’s the label’s way of supporting small indie stores,” Brave said.
Andrew Schaer, the owner of Hear Again Music and Movies!, said he ordered everything he could from the list of Record Store Day limited-edition releases after having an extremely successful Record Store Day in 2011.
“Last year we got bombarded, so this year I figured I’d double the inventory and go all out,” Schaer said. “Everyone is just really looking forward to it. The people come out and are in really great spirits, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Record Store Day also helps to boost business, Schaer said. Distributors and artists put out exclusive, special albums, and there may be only a couple hundred or 1,000 of a particular record.
They’re extremely limited, and people want those titles.
Schaer said record sales were up 25 percent in the past year, and it’s the only tangible, real-life medium that’s been increasing while CD sales have decreased, showing that vinyl is by no means a dying trend.
There’s a huge audience of people tired of listening to MP3s, Schaer said. They’ve replaced their CD collection with hard drives, and now the music is so compressed that when they hear something in its purest form, it’s an eye-opening experience.
Jack Case, a volunteer at Wayward Council, said he likes vinyl because it forces the listener to enjoy the entire record, so the album can breathe.
“I can appreciate it as a whole piece of music, unlike MP3s, which has just created singles and has spurred making playlists of hit songs,” Case said.
In the punk community, Case said, vinyl has never left.
Most new music and do-it-yourself musicians use the record format, so Record Store Day is great for raising awareness that vinyl isn’t a novelty or dying format. It’s a fun, good-sounding medium that’s still around, he said.
The other appeal is that vinyl tends to hold more value, said Brian Liska, another volunteer at Wayward Council. People throw CDs around in their cars, but they can’t throw a record into the player — they have to be very delicate, carefully lifting the lever and making sure that the needle doesn’t scratch.
“Record Store Day is going to be an all-day party and hangout session,” Liska said. “We’re going to bring out our top-sellers and have a concert with Scum of the Earth and Ironing and just have fun.”
The hopes for Record Store Day are to increase sales, bring in more people for events and promote Wayward Council as a place to hang out as well as a community space, Liska said.
“The main thing we want to let people know [is] that there’s still music out there that holds tradition to the older roots,” Liska said. “It’s not going away anytime soon.”
