I subscribe to Bob Lefsetz’s email mostly for the shits and giggles I get reading his constant critique and blasting of the current state of the music industry, at times he can be very insightful with his observations, but in one of last week’s emails he wrote:

“As for Record Store Day…How laughable is that.  If you’re salivating over this, you’re living in 1990, and hoping we go back to 1970. Record stores are dead. As dead as your Apple II. Some will survive, as dealers in antiquities and tchotchkes, but essentially everyone will buy online.”

And although he may be half-right, I don’t particularly agree with calling the effort laughable. This is going to be Record Store Day’s third year and many labels are creating special rare releases for various genres on 7″, 12″s and CD’s for the thousand plus independent retailers involved globally, not to mention the hundreds of artists performing and having ‘in-stores’ to support the cause.

Like many, the record store meant a lot to me when I was growing up, especially the independents, eclectically curated by it’s staff with what they were listening to, the indie record store staff were always extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the music they listened to and the artists who created it. Record stores and those who frequented them are part of a subculture like no other, the experience at the stores is almost as important as the music, I remember being the curious kid always checking the various NYC (and outer borough) record shops always searching to find music new and old, digging through the bins, finding both popular and obscure bands’ albums, singles, b-sides, live recordings and DJ mixtapes. I’d study the different albums’ artwork and visuals, listening intently to the depth of their sound on vinyl, loving the crackle coming from the speaker when the needle hit the record. I remember visiting stores like Other Music, Record Runner, Downtown Music Gallery, Jammyland, Dance Tracks and Finyl Vinyl to name a few, listening and finding out about different genres of music or going to Bate Music on Fridays to get the next Tuesday new releases before most. Sadly, many of these spots are no longer, but these indelible experiences that they provided me will have me out to support the movement on April 18th.

To end this off, I also want to applaud Bob Lefsetz for later posting a response to his email by Record Store Day’s co-founder Michael Kurtz, a part of which read:

“…We aren’t claiming that we are the saviors of the music biz, but we are doing a great job with what we do. And, just as importantly, we are having fun. Remember what that was like? If we could get a hundred other music biz people to take this approach, instead of hyping Irving Azoff’s latest Wall Street-like-move, or Wal-mart, or Apple, or Google China, or whatever the latest nonsense of the week is, we’d all be in a lot better shape. Now is the time to get behind the artists. They are the stars. They are the creators. Find the ones that suit your taste and do all that you can do to make them shine. If you can’t do this then my suggestion is to please do us all a favor and be quiet for awhile. There’s too much noise and negativity already. It’s time to be appreciative about music and the very special people who make it, as well as the fans that love it. That is what record stores do and what Record Store Day is about.”

Well said…

For more info about Record Store Day in your area go to http://www.recordstoreday.com