Record Store Day 2021 moves from traditional slot to take place on June 12: Record Store Day has announced that the 2021 edition of the event will take place on Saturday June 12. The annual event traditionally takes place on the third Saturday in April. After Record Store Day’s final drop of 2020 gave the vinyl market a welcome boost, organiser Megan Page appealed to record companies to line up a special selection for next year’s event. The third and final vinyl drop of 2020 for Record Store Day took place on October 24. Artists who supported the latest edition of RSD with exclusive new product included Alice Cooper, Daft Punk, Lewis Capaldi, Sports Team, Calexico and Neneh Cherry. According to Official Charts Company data, there were 124,636 vinyl album sales for the chart week (44) during which Record Store Day drop three took place. As well as registering a 41.2% week-on-week increase, vinyl album sales were up 27.4% year-on-year.
London, UK | Eel Pie Records celebrates inclusion on high-profile record store list: Eel Pie Records is being celebrated as one of the best record shops in the UK, being featured in a prominent list of nationwide shops. Starting during lockdown, #TimsTwitterListeningParty appeared weekly on Twitter thanks to The Charlatans front-man Tim Burgess, as a way to get people listening to discussing music during lockdown. Based in Church Street, Twickenham, the store is steeped in history, taking its name from the iconic Eel Pie Island, and is now just one of less than 200 record stores being highlighted by the ‘Tim’s Twitter Listening Party’ project. Burgess has been a vocal supporter of independent music stores throughout the pandemic and has continued his support by publishing the list of record stores, with Eel Pie Records co-manager Kevin Jones delighted that the store was one of those being celebrated just three years after it first opened.
Las Vegas, NV | Demand for vinyl record sales climb during pandemic: One aspect of the retail world seeing a rebound during the pandemic is vinyl record sales. Customers are flocking to independent records stores hoping to add new music to their collection. Record store owner Paul Epstein says that music is comforting making it a favorite pastime for many who are stuck at home. “During the pandemic,” he said, “it seems like people really took a lot of comfort from this cheap, easy to get thing that brings a warm feeling that lasts.” One aspect of the retail world seeing a rebound during the pandemic are Vinyl record sales. Customers are still flocking to independent records stores hoping to add new music to their collection. U.S. vinyl sales just had their best week in 2020. According to Nielsen Music/MRC Data’s, vinyl album sales increased more than 55% in the week ending Nov. 19.
Rochester, NY | Record Archive stands up, because ‘That’s What Friends Are For.’ Optimism has been in short supply throughout 2020. And clarity is virtually nonexistent. The Supreme Court has declared that New York state’s attempt to force churches and synagogues to adhere to coronavirus pandemic guidelines is a violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom. But after a tough day at work, if all you want is to sit down in front of a beer and listen to a blues band, your favorite bar is finding it tough to survive under those same COVID-19 guidelines. Judgments are being made. And unlike religion, entertainment is a freedom not covered by the First Amendment in these pandemic days. So operating a family restaurant or an independent bookstore or any small business in the midst of the pandemic has evolved into a test of will and wily thinking. “We are keeping our heads down and working away,” says Alayna Alderman, co-owner of Record Archive. But for Alderman, the survival of her business is not only about getting lucky, but making her own luck. She’s launching a campaign this week that she’s calling “That’s What Friends Are For.” Helping to get the word out, and “spread the love,” as she says, among the small businesses that give the city character.
Nirvana (the 60s one) to have new vinyl box set released: All five Nirvana albums and previously unreleased Secrets feature in deluxe box set Songlife for February. UK psychedelic band Nirvana are to have their six albums included in a new box set for the first time. Songlife, a a six LP vinyl deluxe box set will be released through Madfish Music on February 26. Songlife will feature all five of the band’s pioneering studio albums – The Story Of Simon Simopath, All Of Us, Dedicated To Markos III aka Black Flower, Local Anaesthetic and Songs Of Love And Praise, alongside the never before released 1972 album Secrets. Secrets was only recently unearthed in its entirety, its origins began as a musical score that Nirvana had planned on bringing to London’s Theatres and stages in the early Seventies. Nirvana were essentially the duo of Irish guitarist and vocalist Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Greek composer and keyboard player Alex Spyropoulos – who formed the band following a chance meeting in London during the summer of 1966.
Loverboy celebrates 40th anniversary of self-titled debut album with red-vinyl LP reissue: 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Loverboy’s self-titled debut album, and in celebration of the milestone, the Canadian rockers have just reissued the record as a limited-edition LP pressed on red vinyl. The Loverboy album peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200 and featured the top-40 hit “Turn Me Loose,” as well as the slightly less-successful single “The Kid Is Hot Tonite.” The album has gone on to sell more than two million copies in the the U.S. The reissue features an updated version of the album’s original cover art, which was inspired by the band’s song “Little Girl” and featured a self-portrait Polaroid of contemporary Canadian artist Barbara Astman depicting herself as a tough young woman smoking a cigarette and clad in black. The cover featured the lyrics to “Little Girl” typed across it, and in the new version the type has been embossed. Reflecting on the making of the album, frontman Mike Reno says, “Boy did we get lucky in late 1979 to work with the best in the business, [producer] Bruce Fairbairn and [engineer] Bob Rock…oh and don’t forget [assistant engineer] Mike Fraser. This record still sounds great.”
