Record Store Day 2020 postponed again and set to take place on three seperate dates: This is the second time the event has been postponed. Record Store Day 2020 has been postponed yet again, and will no longer be held on one day but on three separate dates as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Instead, the titles on the RSD 2020 official list will be available from independent record shops on August 29, September 26 or October 24. A new version of The List with assigned release dates will be launched on June 1 and updates will be found on recordstoreday.co.uk and the organisation’s social media accounts. This year’s annual event – due to be held on Saturday, April 18 and initially postponed to June 20 – was set to see hundreds of vinyl and cassette releases sold exclusively through independent record shops for one day only. In a statement, RSD said: “Record Store Day organizers have looked at numerous possible dates and various ways to re-work an event that takes place at thousands of record stores around the world, taking into consideration the varying circumstances and situations they and their customers might find themselves in at any point this year.”
Seattle, WA | Seattle’s Bop Street Records, once named one of the 5 best record stores in America, to close at the end of June: No one knows what the landscape for music lovers will look like in the post-COVID-19 era, but one longtime Seattle landmark is definitely going away. Bop Street Records, shuttered since the governor’s March 23 stay-at-home order, will close its doors permanently at the end of June. Bop Street has been a fixture on the Seattle music scene since 1979, and in 2011 was picked by The Wall Street Journal as one of the five best record stores in America. “I don’t want to say I’m being driven out of business,” said Dave Voorhees, who will continue to sell records from his home after his store closes. “But my lease expires at the end of June and because of the coronavirus, we decided to not extend the lease.” Voorhees, 70, had planned to retire in five years. He considers himself lucky that the pandemic hit just in time for him to change his mind. Much of his revenue comes from out-of-state and foreign buyers who depend on airline travel, which has dried up. “The timing was totally fortuitous,” he said.
Jersey City, NJ | No thumbing through LPs, but Iris Records keeps music — and more — coming during pandemic: Records stores have always played a huge role in a music scene’s ecosystem, and that hasn’t changed during the pandemic. While no one may be flipping through LPs or rummaging CD bins at the moment, Jersey City’s Iris Records and owner Stephen Gritzan have found new ways to serve the community. “Everybody’s in the same boat to some degree, but I’m lucky in that my business is not a restaurant and my inventory isn’t going to spoil and we don’t have a hundred employees to worry about,” Gritzan noted. “And we do sell online and by mail order, so some records are still going out the door. But what I’ve been focusing on is the Iris Records email, which we used to do once a month but I’ve been doing it every week during the pandemic. And, yes, there’s music stuff in it, but I’ve also been sending out a lot of contact information and emotional support, hotline numbers, and just trying to keep in touch.” …“Yes, it’s music, but it’s also about community,” Gritzan said.
Northridge, CA | Keeping culture alive: Amoeba Music announces closure, new location opening in the fall: Records, posters and memorabilia decorating the walls from floor to ceiling — just one of the many characteristics music enthusiasts enjoyed when they walked into Amoeba Music in Hollywood. Located on Sunset Boulevard, Amoeba Music is considered the go-to record store in Los Angeles, with an array of records, CDs, DVDs, films, books and more, this music store has a little bit of everything. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Amoeba announced on Monday they will no longer reopen their current location this year and will focus on opening their new location at 6200 Hollywood Blvd., just a few blocks away from the original building. “We have to move in the fall and there are timelines and tasks involved in making that happen. That was set into motion long before COVID-19,” Amoeba said in a statement. “If we don’t focus on getting the new store ready for the fall opening, the hard reality is we may never open again anywhere.”
Florence, AL | Musician will cut a 45 single just for you: A Shoals musician found a unique way to bring music to the public by recording a song with a message to the individual purchasing a unique, one-of-a-kind record. Eric Gebhardt, known in local music circles as Redmouth, has partnered with Leesta Vall Sound Recordings to record a song that will be pressed as a 45 rpm vinyl single. “I’m out of work,” Gebhardt said from his home, where he’s been self-isolated since around the middle of March. “I’m a musician and a bartender and have absolutely no jobs.” When the offer became available, Gebhardt said it gave him something to work on since the album project he and his band were working on had to be postponed due to the pandemic. He and his band are familiar with the two tunes he selected for the project. According to a news release from the Brooklyn-based niche studio: “This project is a response to the devastating effect Covid-19 has had on the sustainability of independent artists worldwide.” The news release explained the “Shut-In Sessions” is a new and relevant project developed on the heels of the pandemic.
Queen top UK chart for best selling vinyl artist of 2019: No stranger to vinyl sales in the past, 2019 sees Queen top the list of best selling artists on vinyl for the year 2019. Helped by 2018’s Queen-based movie Bohemian Rhapsody featuring Raimi Malek as the band’s titular frontman, Freddie Mercury, sales for Queen’s back-catalogue skyrocketed in 2019. According to the UK’s British Phonographic Industry Queen sold over 75,000 vinyl records in 2019, beating the likes of fellow legendary Brits, The Beatles, David Bowie and Pink Floyd to the top spot. Billie Eilish was the only new artist to enter the list at a respectable 7th place, thanks to the huge success of her debut LP When We all Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go. The record has been adopted by many vinyl fans old and new, with what seems to be, in many cases, the younger generation getting more into vinyl and vinyl parents feeding off their kids music tastes by adopting the new music and enjoying records together. Ahhh, how sweet. …With vinyl sales growing every year since 2008, when the figures for 2020 are eventually compiled next year, it’s likely to be a different story.
