Boston, MA | The Record Store Day 2026 Most Wanted: Record Store Day (RSD) has always been a vinyl lover’s holiday, but 2026 is shaping up to feel more like a full-on rock pilgrimage. Set for April 18, Record Store Day 2026 continues its tradition of celebrating independent record shops with exclusive, limited-edition releases you can only get by showing up and digging through the bins. And if you’re a classic rock fan? This year is stacked.
Durham, NC | Bull City Records to close after 20 years in business: Last Sunday afternoon, Chaz Martenstein shared a big announcement on the Bull City Records Instagram account. “Friends! It is with a full, steady heart that I am announcing the retirement of Bull City Records,” the post began. After earning the love and trust of the local music community over the past 20 years, the appreciation and support started pouring in instantly. “Thank you so much for all the years of wonderful music and just being a wonderful person,” one commenter posted. …Since opening, Martenstein has watched the decline of CD sales and the resurgence of vinyl sales, witnessed the growth of music streaming, and survived both a recession and a lockdown. He says after all that, the time to wrap things up is now, on his own terms.
Derry, IE | MacD on Music: Still The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. …Record Store Day (this year happening on April 18th) is one of the biggest days for any independent record shop, and here in Derry, Cool Discs is the only place to get all those exclusive releases. Owner Lee Mason says: “As many customers of Derry’s finest record shop already know, every single week Cool Discs always have a selection of new, exclusive, limited vinyl releases and most of the time when they’re gone they’re gone.” “Record Store Day is on another level—it’s like all weeks rolled into one day! Cool Discs was one of first record shops in Ireland to be invited to take part in RSD way back in 2008, and we’ve watched it go from strength to strength, to the point when it’s now the shop’s busiest day of the year.”
Philadelphia, PA | Check out decades of great music on Record Store Day: WXPN host Mike Vasilikos thinks back on endless hours spent hanging out in the record store shops on Long Island. As a teen growing up in the 1990s, Vasilikos would frequent a handful of mom & pop stores as well as the giants like Tower Records to discover new music or maybe something vintage. Before streaming services, CDs, cassette tapes and vinyl were the gateway to music bliss. “Nineties kids actually hung out with their friends in places that weren’t the internet,” said Vasilikos, who hosts WXPN’s midday shows from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 88.5 FM. “We would go to record stores. I grew up on Long Island and Tower Record was where I bought most of my albums. The footprint of the store was huge. It was the place you would go to discover music, buy music and also get your concert tickets there. I just remember being there a lot.”
Dhaka, BD | For the record: Finding sanity in Vinyl Madness. Hidden away on Dhanmondi Road 6 is a space that offers a journey into the past. Not in form, but in sound. This harmonic hideaway is called Vinyl Madness. Run by Saadi Manzoorul Huq, this store serves as a meaningful deviation from the frantic, digital world of instant streaming—a respite that feels like a breath of fresh air. A banker by day and a connoisseur of the finer arts by night, Saadi has turned the first floor of his 1950s family home—now a modern apartment building—into a haven for music and for the audiophiles of the city. The space houses a plethora of genres, all waiting to be experienced through arguably the most nuanced and purest medium: a series of record players and a vast collection of vinyl, ranging from the American heavy metal of Metallica to Ravi Shankar’s Indian classical music.
New York, NY | Rockefeller Center And Space Club Present: Tiny Indie, Record Store Day For The Next Generation. TiNY iNDIE will offer fun for all ages including tie-dyeing merchandise and creating your own DIY vinyl records. Tickets to TiNY iNDIE are $20, and include access for one child and up to 2 adults. …Following TiNY iNDIE, will be iNDIEPLAZA, Rough Trade and Rockefeller Center’s fifth annual independent music festival, featuring a curated lineup of artists, merchandise, arts & crafts, food and beverage, and more. This year’s iNDIEPLAZA will be headlined by Brooklyn disco/funk group Say She She and will be preceded by a special DJ set from one of dance music’s most respected DJs, Avalon Emerson. iNDIEPLAZA will take place at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on Saturday, April 18 from 12:00 PM to 9:00PM and is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to register for the festival.
Fresno, CA | Trash n’ Privilege Record Store Day: …The ferocious California punk rock band, Trash n’ Privilege is here to shake the foundations of the music scene. Their caffeine laced, high-octane energy is raw and unapologetic. Formed on the hot, smoggy streets of Fresno, California, Trash n’ Privilege was born out of a shared frustration with the status quo. The band members, Steve Shepard, Shawn Beaty, Gary Douglas and Jim Chaffin came together with a common goal—unleash rage. Drawing inspiration from punk legends like The Bad Brains, Ramones, and Quicksand, Trash n’ Privilege channels their influences into a sound that is both timeless and relevant.
Mumbai, IN | The Revolver Club launches ‘The Lyric Endorsement’ campaign to celebrate vinyl culture: The Revolver Club, in collaboration with VIRTUE India, has unveiled ‘The Lyric Endorsement’—a new campaign that reimagines iconic song lyrics as advertisements for vinyl, reinforcing its cultural relevance in the streaming era. Built on a simple yet powerful insight, the campaign highlights how song lyrics across decades and genres have consistently referred to music as a “record,” despite the evolution of formats from vinyl to cassettes, CDs, and digital streaming. By tapping into this enduring linguistic pattern, the campaign positions vinyl as the original and most authentic medium of music consumption. The initiative transforms well-known lyrics into a series of posters, each paired with the line: “Music is vinyl. We have it on record.”
Manchester, NH | ‘Bedside Beats’: Program brings music to patients at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. A new program at Portsmouth Regional Hospital brings music to patients’ bedside. “Bedside Beats” launched last month. Volunteers play music to help brighten patients’ spirits. The volunteers come with a cart that has a record player and various vinyl records. The director of volunteers, Amy Lester, said it is already helping patients. “It has been such a hit, either unconscious or not conscious, you know, they say that the hearing is the last to go. And, you know, for our volunteers, that’s important to know that you’re not just sitting by somebody’s side, but talk to them and communicate with them, play music from our bedside beats cart,” Lester said.
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