The organizers of Record Store Day today announced the postponement of the 2020 installment for the second time, pushing the event first scheduled for April 18 and then delayed until June 30 to three separate “drops” in August, September and October.
The event first was postponed in mid-March as the full extent of the coroanvirus outbreak in the U.S. began to be realized. Now, as parts of the country slowly begin to reopen, organizers have decided that June 30 is too soon for major in-store events that can draw hundreds of shoppers at a time.
Yet instead of opting for an online-only experience, “RSD is now scheduled to be celebrated with special, properly distanced release dates on Saturdays in August, September and October.”
They write on the RSD website:
“Record Store Day will look very different this year, but supporting indie record stores may be more important than ever. We don’t know what sort of rules will be in place, or what sort of gatherings people will be in the mood for this year, so we’re focusing on the music and getting the really great titles on the RSD Official List this year into the stores and into your hands, in the most financially and socially responsible way.”
The titles on the official Record Store Day 2020 list that was published March 5 — including releases from The Cure, New Order, The The, Tones on Tail, The Replacements and more (see links below) — still will be released this year, but across three separate “drops,” on Aug. 29, Sept. 26 and Oct. 24.
On June 1, event organizers will release a new list that reveals which releases will be in participating independent record stores on which of those dates.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Pretenders’ ‘Live! At the Paradise Theater’ promo live LP to get Record Store Day release
- The Replacements’ ‘Complete Inconcerated Live’ gets 3LP Record Store Day release
- Tones on Tail’s album ‘Pop’ to be reissued on vinyl for first time on Record Store Day
- Wire to release ‘10:20’ — album of outtakes from 2010 and 2020 — on Record Store Day
- Galaxie 500’s ‘Copenhagen’ live album to receive 2LP vinyl reissue for Record Store Day
- New Order to release ‘The John Peel Session 1982’ EP on vinyl for Record Store Day
- The Cure to release ‘Seventeen Seconds,’ ‘Bloodflowers’ picture discs on Record Store Day
- The The to release new single ‘I WANT 2 B U’ for Record Store Day — listen to preview
Record Store Day is a joke anyway. It was wonderful the first few years, but the speculator swine came in and ruined it. If you give a proper toss about record shops, you’re not there like some people go to church only at Christmas and Easter. You’re not just there Black Friday and Record Store Day. You’re there EVERY BLOODY WEEKEND!
And God almighty, I wish I was instead of hunkered down here. Hope we get this virus sorted.
Agreed. RSD has lost any relevance it once had. Record stores need help year round, and the labels now ripoff stores with their no return policies.
There is another aspect to all of this is that if vinyl is supposed to be such a superior physical format, why does it need gimmicks like RSD issues on colored swirlled picture discs to promote it?
No idea, Nortley. Not sure why anyone over forty even buys vinyl releases unless it’s for nostalgia/aesthetics. I remember how fragile they were as a kid. Black disc in a cardboard sleeve read by a needle when played. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Yeah. I get the nostalgia and certainly the aesthetic appeal of vinyl — the bigger cover and artwork and all — but the CD is more durable and gives you better sound and longer more assured access that streaming.
But hey, we live in a world where hipsters call the shots even though they, allegedly, have no concerns for affirmation from their peers.
Plus, any who is willing to plot down 30 bucks for a new vinyl release rather than 10 or 12 for a new CD release isn’t exactly living on the hipster lower rungs of the economic ladder.
Blessing in disguise, I suppose. They’re all ditching CDs so I can replace stuff I had to hock to cover the utilities during the polar vortex in Chicago for pennies on the dollar. Previously they were in the triple digits. Nice having the Trojan boxed sets again and imports are reasonable for the first time ever!