Record Store Day 2015 returns on April 18

Following on from our previous feature on the vinyl resurgence, we couldn’t let April pass us by without taking a look at the annual Record Store Day (or for you social media types, #RSD15). As it marks its ninth year, the annual celebration, which takes place on Saturday April 18, has a strong presence in Bristol.

But the love for this event appears to be waning a little, as we discovered while we were researching our last piece on the vinyl resurgence. Wanted Records’ John Stapleton said: “RSD is pretty irrelevant to us – we stopped being part of it a couple of years ago and so many of the releases seem to be bought just to be resold on eBay immediately after, that it’s taken a lot of the fun out of it. Every day is Record Store Day for us!”

Rise manager Lawrence Montgomery added: “Record store day is a great way to celebrate every year, but I think of it more as a cherry on top.  All our customers know we are a 365 day a year record shop.” 

Bristol label Howling Owl has joined forces with Sonic Cathedral to question the nature of the increasingly popular celebration that is Record Store Day. In a bold statement released online, they said: “Record Store Day is a beautiful concept, but even the most fanciful of flowers will fry when in the sun for too long…it’s time to withdraw from the harvest,” as they revealed they would be releasing 365 records at a rate of one a day for 365 days. 

Howling Owl’s Adrian Dutt also works at Rise record shop and has released some brilliant (technically unofficial) RSD releases in the past, featuring artists such as Oliver Wilde (another colleague at Rise). He said: “The vibe has always been the same on the day, and in the lead up. People, including all of us at the shop, get excited by it.”

This year, Howling Owl is taking part in an official RSD compilation but that’s where their official involvement in the event ends. Adrian said they were rejected by the RSD organisers in the past as they were only pressing 100 copies. He said: “As a tiny label, our budget is non-existent, we pay for the next release, using the previous releases funds. We were slightly disheartened, but carried on all the same. We were lucky enough to have the link with Rise, and they took a risk and added it to the stock.”

Tiffany Daniels, editor of Bristol music zine Drunken Werewolf and Bristol24/7 contributor, also highlights this problem. She said: “I have some problems with it – mainly that, by design, it’s more supportive of the retail industry than the music industry. Unfortunately, I think the way it’s implemented by RSD means it’s sometimes detrimental to independent and unsigned music professionals specifically.”

Asked about what the future holds for RSD, Adrian added: “I really don’t know, it seems like all the indie labels, and even shops, are starting to get disillusioned with it.” (Read our full interview with Adrian here).

That said, we know that for a lot of people Record Store Day is one of the highlights of the year, mainly due to the events put on and indeed limited edition releases from high profile bands, so here are some RSD15 release highlights for you. Enjoy the day (there’s live music on in both Rise and Head), and support your local record store/record label/music venue/band/busker/music mag throughout the year, yeah?!

Read more about the vinyl resurgence in Bristol.