Record Store Day A Big Hit

The annual Record Store Day was held last Saturday and, as always, it was a big hit, setting a 12 year sales high.

Indie record stores recorded 532,000 album sales for the day, which represented more than 21% of all physical sales and almost 12% of overall sales.

It was an almost 50% increase from the week before, and many record stores reported that this one day was equivalent to 2 weeks of normal sales. Many stores even said that it was their best sales day ever.

Half of the vinyl chart slots for the week were occupied by records released specifically for the event, such as The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan in the #2 spot, and Bob Dylan's The Basement Tapes at #6.

That said, the best selling release wasn't a vinyl record at all. It was Metalllica's cassette-only release No Life Till Leather, which sold 3,000 units.

While the heyday of the record store probably won't ever return, there is still some enthusiasm for physical formats and the stores that sell them. If only every day could be like Record Store Day, the music business would be in a much better place.

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Spotify Streams Soar After The Grammys

It used to be that an appearance on the Grammy's was a sure way to sell big loads of vinyl or CDs the following week. That's no longer the case, since large amounts of streams have taken the place of sales. Spotify provided some early numbers for those who appeared on the show on Sunday night.

• Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" up 205% (estimated at over 300,000 streams)
• Chicago's "Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is" up 150%
• Metallica's "One" up more than 125%
• Beyonce's "Drunk Love" up 52%

But in many cases, an artist's entire catalog actually got a boost from the Grammy exposure.

• Paul McCartney's catalog up 126%
• Kendrick Lamar catalog up 100%
• Macklemore & Ryan Lewis up 65%
• Taylor Swift catalog up 65%
• Lorde's up 46%

But perhaps the biggest winner of the evening is one of our greatest musical icons. Stevie Wonder's "Another Star" was up a whopping 635% as of Tuesday.

I'd say these numbers prove that streaming is here to stay (like we needed any proof already).

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