Eighth-annual music collector’s holiday is back with plenty of wax tracks

By Sam Schaust/Murphy News Service

Business was hopping at The Electric Fetus in Minneapolis Saturday for Record Store Day 2015. Murphy News Service photos by Sam Schaust.

International celebrations such as Record Store Day have continuously energized the vinyl culture year afteryear.

Annually held on the third Saturday of April, musicians of all genres and locales pull together a cumulative effort to incite support for independent shops and labels. The event typically hosts live performances and rare, one-time-only releases that are coveted by hardcore fans.

Certain items are regionally limited, but a full list of 2015’s offerings are listed on their website.

This year, today, marks the eighth official Record Store Day. Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana fame resides as the official ambassador of the music collector’s holiday.

“I believe that the power of the record store to inspire is still alive and well, and that their importance to our next generation of musicians is crucial,” Grohl said in his acceptance letter. “Take an afternoon (and some hard earned lawn mowing money) and please support them.”

In 2014, Nielsen Soundscan reported a 52 percent increase in vinyl sales from the year before, which comprised over 6 percent of total album sales in the United States.

This isn’t exclusively a domestic occurrence either. As for Britain, BBC reported an 18-year milestone being reached in 2014 with the country’s vinyl album sales passing the 1 million mark, growing from a £3 million a year business to £20 million.

As for local stores such as the Electric Fetus: “we’ve seen about 30 percent growth each year on average for the last six years,” Robert Fuchs, manager of the Minneapolis-based record store, said. “Part of this can be correlated to the younger audience transitioning to analog, although it’s a much different experience for millennials. Many of them haven’t wired speakers to a receiver, or know the difference between a tonearm and a cartridge.”

Jack White’s Lazaretto was the top-selling record last year, according to another Nielsen SoundScan report, with over 75,700 copies shipped as of November 2, 2014.

The Arctic Monkey’s AM (40,600 copies), The Black Keys’ Turn Blue (28,300 copies), Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die (27,200 copies) and Beck’s Morning Phase (25,200 copies) rounded out the top five.

With regular growing interest and the aid of celebrations such as Record Store Day, vinyl sales show few if any signs of an immediate downturn. With millennials merging with the core, baby boomer and Generation X buyers, the vinyl record business looks to have a healthy future ahead of itself.

Reporter Sam Schaust is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.