Record Store Day May Have Peaked

Since 2008, Record Store Day every April has been a huge hit. In fact, many in the music industry feel that it's been a big reason for vinyl's resurgence, calling attention to a side of the business that had been essential dead and buried and has now returned to a level of surprising growth. Even though the latest Record Store Day a couple of weeks ago was proclaimed the biggest ever, there's evidence that we might've seen its peak.

One of the best things about RSD was that the small Mom & Pop record store was celebrated, but this time many of these stores refused to join in the festivities because they now feel it's been totally co-opted by the major labels.

The reason is that in order for a store to officially participate in the event, they are forced to purchase a slew of "official" new vinyl releases, which they're not able to return if unsold. This has imparted an undue financial burden upon already cash-strapped stores which many are now unwilling to take.

While many vinyl fans do look for new or re-released titles, most record stores make their living on used or early edition releases, and find that new vinyl just doesn't sell in the quantities that the labels require them to take for the event (the big indies are complicit here too).

Small indie labels and artists are also upset too, in that the major labels tie up all the vinyl pressing plants for months prior to RSD, so they're not able to have new vinyl ready for the event.

So like with so many other movements that start off with the best intentions, Record Store Day has been co-opted by big business, and as a result will soon cease to be the event that it once was. Let's hope that the indie record stores find other ways to maintain their visibility so they can still stay in business.

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Prince Passes, Record Store Day and Songtradr CEO Paul Wiltshire On My Inner Circle Podcast

As those of you who are songwriters or copyright holders know, you make money when people use your songs, especially on television, films or commercials. It's not easy to get placement though, but it's getting easier thanks to Songtradr, a marketplace that matches songs and cues to people and brands who are looking for them.

Paul Wiltshire's the founder and CEO of Songtradr and he's my guest on this week's podcast. Prior to coming up with the idea, Paul was an award-winning songwriter and producer in Australia, and he's also had some big successes in the US with the likes of the Backstreet Boys, so he knows what it's like to be on the creative end of things.

In the intro I'll take a look at a part of Prince's legacy that not many see, his business acumen that changed the music industry in many ways. I'll also give you a report on the backlash by record retailers at what was once their biggest day of the year - Record Store Day.

Remember that you can find the podcast at BobbyOInnerCircle.com, either on iTunes, Stitcher and now on Mixcloud and Google Play

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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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Just Who Is Buying Vinyl Anyway?

Vinyl record sales are up 38% this year with projected total sales of over 8 million units, up over 200% since 2008. But just who's buying these records anyway? MusicWatch did a survey and this is what they found.

• 56% of all vinyl purchases are made by men

• Surprisingly enough, just under half of vinyl buyers are under 25 year old, with 13 to 17 year olds making up 21% of buyers and 18 to 25 making up 26%.

• The 26 to 35 age group makes up 25% of buyers

• 36 to 50 represent 14% of buyers

• Even more surprising is that baby boomers don't buy as much vinyl as previously thought, coming in at only 13%.

So how did the vinyl resurgence start? Most media watchers trace it back to Record Store Day in 2008, which has gone on to becoming a major retail event in not only the US, but Europe, Canada and Mexico as well. Many labels and indie acts prepared special releases for this day, which helped launch the event.

Another factor is that with vinyl being more in demand, record labels are releasing more vinyl as well, which helps prime the pump for more sales. Most labels now are confident that they can sell at least a small number of units (anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000) to justify the expense.

That said, vinyl still is only a blip on bottom line of the industry, although that blip is growing a little every year. As of December 7th, vinyl accounted for only 3.4% of US album sales and 6% of physical album sales.

Record Store Day Another Big Hit

Record Store Day 2014 was again a raging success as sales at independent record stores represented 19.4% of the US music sales volume last week, which many say is the highest share since Soundscan began tracking such things in 1991. Many record stores proclaimed it their best day ever, with some stores actually having a line of several hundred waiting to get into the store!

As a result of RSD, vinyl sales were up a whopping 57% as its resurgence continues, with over 329,000 sales for the week. So what titles were hot? Here's how Billboard ranks sales for the week:

Vinyl Albums
1. Childish Gambino, "Because the Internet" (Glassnote)
2. The Afghan Whigs, "Do To the Beast" (Sub Pop)
3. Notorious B.I.G., "Life After Death" (Bad Boy/Rhino)
4. Bruce Springsteen, "American Beauty" (EP) (Columbia)
5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Live At Monterey" (Experience
Hendrix/Legacy)
6. Grateful Dead, "Hampton Coliseum: Friday May 4, 1979" (Grateful
Dead/Rhino)
7. Tame Impala, "Live Versions" (Modular/Interscope/IGA)
8. Joy Division, "An Ideal For Living" (EP) (Warner UK/Rhino)
9. The Flaming Lips, "7 Skies H3" (Lovely Sorts Of Death/Warner Bros.)
10. The Ramones, "Meltdown With the Ramones EP" (Sire/Rhino)

Vinyl Singles

1. Nirvana, "Pennyroyal Tea" (Sub Pop/Geffen/Interscope)
2. Devo/The Flaming Lips, "Gates of Steel" (Live) (Warner Bros./Rhino)
3. The Cure/Dinosaur Jr., "Just Like Heaven" (Fiction/Elektra/Rhino)
4. David Bowie, "1984" (Parlophone/Rhino)
5. Love/Rush, "7 and 7 Is" (Elektra/Rhino)
6. Frank Zappa, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" (Zappa/UMe)
7. Poison Idea/Pantera, "The Badge" (East West/Rhino)
8. Paramore, "Ain't It Fun" (Fueled By Ramen/RRP)
9. Fleetwood Mac, "Dragonfly" (Reprise/Warner Bros./Rhino)
10. Garbage With Brody Dalle, "Girls Talk" (Stun Volume)

Record Store Day continues to be a yearly hit, and vinyl sales continue to surge, now at 3.2% of all music sales. The indie brick and mortar record stores should be all cheering loudly, and rightfully so.

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Don't Forget To Celebrate Record Store Day!

 Today is the fifth annual Record Store Day when music lover everywhere head for their local record store to buy some vinyl and help surport a dwindling, but absolutely necessary part of the industry.

A number of artists are celebrating the day by releasing special vinyl records, including Katy Perry (with 12" pink vinyl), David Bowie (with a picture disc of "Starman"), Arcade Fire, Flaming Lips, Paul McCartney, and even some never before heard songs by James Brown.

Most record stores are small independent "mom and pop" stores these days and they really do need our help to survive. Head out to a store today. Look through the albums and CDs, and maybe even buy something.

Support your local record store. You'll be glad you did.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Music Sales Are Up, But Is It Due To The Beatles?

It seems that music sales in the U.S. are up 1.6 percent in 2011, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That doesn't seem like much, but there are some interesting facets to that number.

• Digital album sales were up 16.8 percent and single track purchases by 9.6 percent over last year.

• Catalog album sales are up 5.4 percent in 2011, which believe it or not is mainly attributed to the availability of  The Beatles’ albums on iTunes for the first time. 

• Vinyl sales were up by 37 percent in the beginning of 2011 over the same period last year. 

• Album sales at independent record stores increased by 39 percent the week of Record Store Day (April 16) from the prior week – an increase of 180,000 units – and 12.7 percent compared to 2010.

• In a bit of a surprise, rock has returned as the most popular genre of music, with 32 percent album share, while pop music represents 40 percent of all current digital tracks sold.

• Ninety-three of the 100 best selling vinyl albums in 2011 fall within the Rock or Alternative genres.

So it looks like music has made a bit of a comeback this year so far. Let's see it the good news continues.
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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for daily discussion of music, recording, and production tips and tricks.