"What is this, the book store on Christmas?" wonders one puzzled gentleman, waiting in line at Southeast Michigan's Dearborn Music. It's early Saturday morning on Record Store Day 2012, where the cash-out queue is stretching all the way past vinyl, pop/rock, and into the used indie/punk section. This explosion of energized music fans—forty-something nerds, tiny hipster girls, their bowling shirt boyfriends, and the stray music editor, all with extra large coffees in hand—isn't the average crowd for Dearborn Music, one of the last great music shops in the area. Then again, there's not much average about Record Store Day.
Learn more about Record Store Day by exploring our exclusive RSD2012 Ology.
Since 2008, music fans and vinyl aficionados across the globe have dragged themselves out of bed on a usually cold and/or blustery day in late April to celebrate, support, and dump half their paychecks at local independent record stores. In the age of internet downloads and big box retailers, these brick and mortar outlets have struggled to stay afloat, tied at the waist to the quickly sinking music industry whose titles still populate their shelves.
The idea behind Record Store Day is simple but brilliantly effective—bands and artists agree to release exclusive (and, by extension, super rare and valuable) titles to independently owned music retailers. Avid collectors (and a few eBay sellers, no doubt) swoop through and spend boatloads of money. Everyone goes home happy. Well, almost everyone.
"Turnout's been excellent and it keeps getting bigger and bigger every year," says Dearborn Music manager Kevin Leannais, standing next to an almost empty display where thsoe highly-coveted Record Store Day releases used to reside. "This year we had over 100 people in line when we opened the doors this morning."
The biggest releases this year? The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends (a double-vinyl collection of songs pairing the Oklahoma acid-rockers with the likes of Ke$ha, Nick Cave, Erykah Badu and Coldplay's Chris Martin) and The White Stripes' 7" split single featuring rare songs "Hand Springs" and "Red Death At 6:14". (This author went home with copies of neither.) Everyone from Bruce Springsteen and Iggy Pop to Lana Del Rey and Late Night's Jimmy Fallon had an exclusive title out this Record Store Day, and most Dearborn Music customers I spoke with left with stacks of vinyl singles, used CDs, t-shirts and various collectibles in tow.
"I think it's great that the bands are doing this for local stores," says Leannais. "It helps keep people aware... reminds people that hey, you need to go to an independent record store. And truthfully, we're the [only] ones that have the music anymore. Those big box stores, they don't have nothing. If you want Madonna, you can go there. But other than that, they don't have much at all."
Even after the initial rush died down, music fans of all ages and sorts continued to trickle in with money to spend and Starbucks/Panera to-go cups at their lips. For them, indie record stores like Dearborn Music aren't just a place to grab a new CD—it's a chance to interact with like-minded enthusiasts, chat with the staff, thumb through the vinyl bins, and nod along with whatever's playing on the stereo system overhead. If you can equate downloading music with grabbing a cheeseburger at a McDonald's drive-thru, then visiting a record store is like sitting down in a five-star restaurant. The selection, the experience, the knowledge that the dude running your debit card is just as happy to be there as you... it simply doesn't happen anywhere else.
Each customer left Dearborn Music this morning with a coupon for 20% off all used CDs, vinyl and DVDs starting Monday. Something tells me I'll be seeing more than a couple of these faces next week—rummaging through the used rock CDs and arguing about The Clash or Miles Davis. Frankly, I can't think of a better place to unwind after a day's work. Tramps like us, baby.
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Follow Brett Warner on Twitter: @Erasurehead
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