| It is Record Store Day and it is gorgeous out - so you know where to go | |
Searchlight Profile: Taz Records
Head down to Taz today and pick up a copy of the Fuzz record, BeWare! The Fuzz - see Quick Hit over on Herohill
Taz Records didn’t win, but I think they will survive: Searchlight: And The Winner Is… MEOW RECORDS!!!
Congrats to Meow Records.
Here’s an earlier post on what is happening at Taz Records today.
Events across Canada via Radio3
Although today may be the official end of Searchlight, The Best Record Store in Canada, the event that spurred the idea - Record Store Day - is happening in record shops around the world tomorrow! But what’s going on in Canada? Well, we e-mailed the 47 stores you nominated for the Searchlight contest and this is what they had to say:
Atomix Records in St. Catherines, ONT: 25% off with mention of Record Store Day or CBC Radio 3 DJ’s throughout the day.
Back Alley Records in Charlottetown, PEI: Used Vinyl: buy one (1) LP & Get another 1/2 off; New Vinyl: No Tax. Plus an all ages in-store @ 7pm featuring Ghost Bees, Fall Horsie and The Barnkats.Backstreet Records in Saint John, NB: Starting @ 2pm in store performances from: Penny Black, Adam Mowery, White Rabbit, and JOEL PLASKETT!!
Blackbyrd Myoozik in Edmonton, ALB: 10 % off new product, 20% off used - the customer need only mention Record Store Day to receive a discount. We will also be having donuts and coffee and hopefully surprise live local djs.
Criminal Record in Toronto, ONT: storewide sale, with savings from 10%-50% off .
Grooves Records in London, ONT: Sale on everything in the store, trivia contest with lots of prizes & giveaways, and an in-store performance by a “Secret Band”
Listen Records in Edmonton, ALB: 20% off everything in the store, 2 for 1 used CDs as well as exclusive record store day singles available.
Meow Records in Prince George, BC: we’re having live bands play in the store all day, 10am til 7pm. We’re giving record shaped cookies out (i know i know, cookies are already shaped liked records). we’re having lots of sales. we’re giving away door prizes, including the first vinyl release on meow records - corey wintemute’s song “oh jughead (now you gots a tummy ache)” on blue vinyl.
Music Trader in Winnipeg, MAN: live in-store performance by john k. samson of the Weakerthans; contests to win buck 65 and wilco tickets; point of purchase rock trivia to win discounts/deals; special giveaways and an hourly raffle to win cds and gift certificates; a big f**king cake; insane karaoke hosted by bob sommers!
Phonopolis in Montreal, QUE: In stores from 3-5:30 by the Born Ruffians, the Luyas (Jessie from Miracle Fortress) and Adam & the Amythests (Adam from Miracle Fortress)
Red Cat Records in Vancouver, BC: Will be offering sale prices & free prizes with purchases. Also check out the new 7″ releases from R.E.M., Death Cab For Cutie, Vampire Weekend, The Teenagers, The Breeders and more that have be released in conjunction with this new holiday designed to celebrate your local indie retailer! We will also be hosting some special in-store acoustic performances by The Great Outdoors 1:00 PM The Awkward Stage 2: 00 PM Young and Sexy 3:00 PM Swank 4:00 PM
Sloth Records in Calgary, ALB: All clothing 15% off, huge used LP clearance, most titles at 75% off
Slinky Music in Toronto, ONT: 10% off all music and apparel on record store day and have local dj’s playing from 3 pm on.
Taz Records in Halifax, NS: No tax on records, and in-store performances by: Save September, Rumoured to be Alive, Laura Merrimen, Tanya Davis, and Old Man Luedecke.
Zulu Records in Vancouver, BC: 20% off sale, door prizes and give-aways (eg.concert tickets, CDs…!)
Mark a new holiday on your calendar: Saturday, April 19, is Record Store Day.
“If secretaries can have their own day, why can’t record stores?” asks Kris Burwash, owner of Listen Records on 124th Street in Edmonton.
Good question.
Canadian Press: Record Store Day gives music stores a new reason to celebrate:
Independent record stores across Canada are gearing up to celebrate the first Record Store Day on Saturday, with dozens of in-house performances and a national contest to find the best indie music vendor in Canada.
Record Store Day is the brainchild of a collective of media store owners in the U.S. that wanted to draw attention to the plight of independent record stores hit by a drop in CD sales and an industry supposedly wrecked by the Internet.
CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence, who hosts a popular podcast devoted to independent Canadian music, came up with the idea for a concurrent contest in this country – Searchlight.
“I wanted to celebrate the entrepreneurs and these small businesses, the moms and the pops, that against all odds are surviving. Some are hanging on by a thread, and some are thriving,” he says.
NYT: Record Stores Fight to Be Long-Playing:
“Record stores as we know them are dying,” said Josh Madell of Other Music. “On the other hand, there is still a space in the culture for what a record store does, being a hub of the music community and a place to find out about new music.”
Some retailers are hoping that the effort is not too late. Jammyland and the Downtown Music Gallery, two East Village institutions — Jammyland, on Third Street, specializes in rare reggae, and Downtown, on the Bowery, in avant-garde jazz and new music — are facing untenable rent increases and are looking for new homes.
Jammyland is “the model of what a great record store can be,” said Vivien Goldman, the author of “The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Album of the Century” and other books. “D.J.’s congregate there from all over and exchange ideas. It’s a crucible of music knowledge.”
For a local music shopper with a memory of even just a few years, the East Village and the Lower East Side are quickly becoming a record-store graveyard. Across from Jammyland is the former home of Dance Tracks, a premier dance and electronic outlet, which closed late last year, as did Finyl Vinyl, on Sixth Street. Stooz on Seventh Street, Sonic Groove on Avenue B, Accidental on Avenue A, Wowsville on Second Avenue and Bate, an essential Latin store on Delancey Street — all gone, to say nothing of stores in other neighborhoods, like Midnight Records in Chelsea and NYCD on the Upper West Side.
“Rent is up, and sales are down,” Malcolm Allen of Jammyland said as he sold a few Jamaican-made 45s to a customer last weekend. “Not a good combination.”
The above via Daily Swarm
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