What is Record Store Day?

The original idea for Record Store Day was conceived by Chris Brown, and was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally.

This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Franscisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.

Record Store Day is currently managed by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Scott Register, and Carrie Colliton. Folks wanting to contact Record Store Day are encouraged to email us at information@recordstoreday.com

NOTE:
A Record Store Day participating store is defined as a physical retailer whose product line consists of at least 50% music retail, whose company is not publicly traded and whose ownership is at least 70% located in the state of operation. (In other words, we’re dealing with real, live, physical, indie record stores—not online retailers or corporate behemoths).

Record Store Day [2010] is April 17 and Coachella decided to join the party and have a big three day festival on our special day! (Ok, that’s just a coincidence, but any excuse for a party, right?) Record Store Day will be at Coachella—as the official retailer—which means those of you who are going to the party in the desert can still pick up all the cool Record Store Day exclusive releases, as well as the latest and greatest from all those gracing the stage(s). And as an added treat, the Record Store Day tent will give you an opportunity to get up close and personal with artists stopping by the tent for signings.

Here’s just a preliminary look at who will be there:
FRIDAY: Ting Tings, The Airborne Toxic Event, NASA, Noah and the Whale, White Lies, Los Campesinos, Silversun Pickups, Dear and the Headlights, Junior Boys, Aggrolites, Franz Ferdinand, Steve Aoki, Cage the Elephant
SATURDAY: Atmosphere, Booker T, Bob Mould, James Morrison, Amanda Palmer, Glasvegas, Blitzen Trapper, Zizek Club, Ida Maria, The Clipse, Electric Touch
SUNDAY: The Knux, Late of the Pier, The Kills, Peter Bjorn & John, The Mexican Inst. Of Sound, K’Naan, Friendly Fires, The Gaslight Anthem, No Age, Fucked Up
**we’re still adding to the list, and details, times, etc. can be had on site at the Record Store Day tent at Coachella.

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