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Record Store Day deemed a success
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 25 April 2013
Hey, Record Store Day 2013 was a success. Though if you were one of the people who looked at the queues outside some of the most popular shops, thought ‘bollocks to that’ and went home, you might already have guessed it was.
In total, eight of the top ten best selling vinyl albums last week were Record Store Day exclusives, while the average customer spent £45, according to new stats released by the Official Charts Company and the Record Store Day UK team. This year the number of exclusive releases put out specifically for the day grew to 500, which seems a bit out of control, but if people are buying them, what are you gonna do?
Record Store Day UK Coordinator Spencer Hickman told CMU: “Indie record shops pulled out all the stops once again to make Record Store Day UK a huge success. They proved yet again indie stores are more than just shops – at their best they are a focus for the passion, the excitement, the stubborn belief in the power of great music which is the hallmark of the true music fan”.
Paul Quirk, chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, added: “Record Store Day reached a new level this year. What is clear is that it is the stores that have done the most in terms of organising gigs and special events which have seen the highest sales. Being a music fan is about more than just shopping, and those stores which recognise that are the ones which will prosper. I am continually amazed by the effort record store owners and their staff put into this event”.
Of course, some of the people in those queues are only there because they know if they can get in early and scoop up the rarest of the exclusive records, then they can sell them at a profit on eBay. However, claims Quirk, instances of this happening are down on previous years. “There is a lot of revulsion among music fans when people try to cash in on Record Store Day,” he said. “But the stores have made strenuous efforts to restrict this trade and our researches suggest less than 2% of product ended up on eBay this year – which means that 98% did not”.
While 2% of 500 releases still seems like quite a lot, but Quirk reckons reselling is now on a downward trend, saying: “I am confident we can continue to reduce the impact of this problem”.
