Record Store Day began as a beautiful idea, an event designed to seduce a very specific population into doing something it already wanted to do: buy records in locally owned record shops. The enticements were real, but also a little bit self-aware—a handful of special releases by indie bands and indie labels, local in-store performances, meet-and-greets, and loads of freebie giveaways. As important as the commerce was, the key ingredient was the shared space of the record store, which was suddenly threatened by technology and circumstance. Record Store Day (which this year falls on Saturday, April 18) was a reminder to people who cared that if they actually cared, they’d better start caring for real.
And people did. When it began in 2008, the event was limited to the 40 or so stores that were part of CIMS (the Coalition of Independent Music Stores—there are 50 now, along with 25 that are part of AIMS, the Alliance of Independent Media Stores). It was more along the lines of a house or tailgate party than a festival of any kind…