CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS + RSD DROP #1
Hi Everyone,
As you all know, we celebrated the first of two Record Store Day drops this past weekend. I always enjoy reading the recaps of how our stores celebrate and their accounts of the weekend, so today I thought I would compile some of those for you here. Of course, as always, charts below.
Enjoy!
Andrea
Karl Groeger-Looney Tunes (West Babylon, NY)
Has everyone had a chance to catch their breath? We finally have! What an amazing 2 weeks.
Lets jump right into it………
1) Did you know its Looney Tunes 50th Anniversary this year!!! We hope to host a major celebration this summer/fall. Call us to discuss how you can be a part of it. THINK BIG!!
2) We are back to doing instore performances and autograph signings. We had our first 2021 event last Friday with 300ent artist….WATERPARKS! What an incredible event. I can not thank Ryan MacTaggart and the 300ent family enough for such a fantastic event. With the help of Ryan we did a few things with the band….first we did an incredible online campaign to sell their indie exclusive LP which lead to sales of 300 lps. Then we hosted the band for a live performance and autograph signing. Which drew over 750 fans that lead to sales of 750 CDS!!!! WE HAVE SOLD OVER 1000 UNITS OF THIS RELEASE!! Did you hear that?….. One little old record store just sold 1000 units of something. WOW! Call me to discuss how we can rock your bands with our instore performances and autograph signings! We have a full PA and we can even record your event!
3) RECORD STORE DAY JUNE DROPS #1…
We arrived at the store at 7am to see almost 500 people online. WOW it may have been the largest line for a RSD we have seen. If you know our store….The line went all the way down our building, around our parking lot, and down to Pet Co on montauk highway! WOW. The first fan lined up at 11:30pm Friday night. We started the day as we do with all RSD days…FREE Breakfast for all! Our sales were fantastic. We did 65% of the total of all 3 RSD drops from last year. With most years we usually get allocated on about 20% of the titles. This year we got allocated on about 75% of the titles. That was a real bummer and hurt sales. Example we ordered 70 grateful dead box sets and only got 17. With a list price of $140 thats about $7500 we lost. And the list goes on. We could have sold another 100 Lady Gaga easy! We wish we had more of a LOT of the titles. Forcing us to only purchase titles from the onestops raised our prices to the consumers also, so that is a concern. BUT the flip side of that is all the one stops (Alliance, All Media Supply and Ingram) did a FANTASTIC job shipping the product on time and in perfect shape. We really have to thank the team over at Alliance Entertainment. Ken Glaser, Rob and Wes always go above and beyond to help is with everything. Over all it was a FANTASTIC DAY! Traffic was strong the entire day. Special thank you to Andrea Pascal, Carrie Colliton, Eric Levin and Michael Kurtz for their incredible job with RSD this year. We could not do it without them. And thank you to all the labels that worked with us on co-op RSD programs. It really helped us get your titles noticed and sold through. Is it JULY YET?
Top 10 Best Sellers for RSD
1) Lady Gaga - allocated and sold out
2) Tom Petty - allocated and sold out
3) Price - allocated and sold out
4) Rage Against the Machine - sold out
5) Elton John
6) Doors - sold out
7) Thrice
8) Steely Dan - both titles sold out
9) 21 Pilots
10) Iggy Pop
Paul Epstein- Twist and Shout (Denver, CO)
Record Store Day - June 12, 2021 at Twist and Shout!
I’m still confused about how to bench this day. If I compare it to 2020, we did about the same amount as all three drops put together. If I compare it to 2019, 2018 or 2017 we did significantly less than any of those (our three biggest days in store history). However, and this is the way I’m leaning, if I compare it to half of any of those years, then this will be the start of our best two-day run in store history. Any way you cut it, it was a wonderful, heartening day for customers and staff. We opened at 8 AM to about 200 people and it was both a rush and a gut-check to have over 100 people all walk into the store at once. Quickly, things turned happy, and people started buying with abandon. The crowds lasted throughout the day, and the vibes remained sweet and strong. With Bob Weir playing 4 Colorado shows at the same time, there was a strong Dead undercurrent and the Olympia Theatre box set flew off the shelves in minutes. So many strong titles-Prince, Biggie, Petty, Flaming Lips, Ariana Grande-it was a good drop and people were so ready to experience this great ritual again. I’m grateful for so many things this year. We made it through the pandemic nightmare with no employees getting sick, we have rebuilt the business to be even stronger than it was when we were forced to close, we have created a meaningful pre-order and online sales pattern and most importantly, much of the fun has come back to the community. People are happy again, and the store hums with that familiar buzz that comes only from standing shoulder to shoulder with other like-minded record nuts. Thanks to all our partners in the larger music biz - the folks at RSD, and most of all the community for sticking with us for these last 331/3 years. Did I mention that RSD was our 331/3 anniversary? Beat that!
Terry Currier- Music Millennium (Portland, OR)
Hello All-
RSD Drop #1 was a grand success yesterday. We opened at 8am to a crowd of about 250 and had a crowd of 100 at 6am when I arrived. We did a hybrid
of pre-COVID Era procedures along with COVID era procedures. We eliminated doing time slots and just regulated people into the store to create social
distancing.We had a local dairy, Alpenrose, give out complimentary chocolate milk along with giving away 50 certificates from Oatley for an oat milk drink
at a local coffee shop called Kopi. We gave out gift bags to the first 100 people, Dogfish RSD posters to the first 50, as well as a copy of the RSD poster that
our store artist Hayley Cassatt had made to the first 300. Our first 2 customers showed up before 4pm on Friday. These two are regularly the first in line and
look forward to seeing each other and hanging out with each other overnight. Though it is raining today and it rained on Friday, the weather was perfect for
RSD and waiting in line.
The store was closed to regular shopping till after Noon, when the line for RSD finally dissipated. We then went back to regular shopping and increased our
store limit from 15 people to 20. Till then, there was usually 30 to 40 people in the store, walking the rows and seeing all the RSD titles displayed before they
ended up at a cash register to check out.
At 2pm we had a signing with Portugal. The Man around their Friday street release “The Oregon City Sessions” . All 6 members of the band attended and we
did the signing in front of the store. We gave everyone that came a free 4 ounce serving of Staccato Gelato gelato, of a special flavor created by the band with
the gelato store……fresh strawberries from Oregon City, coconut, hint of mint and rosewater. It was a hit with the customers, the band and our staff. And the
band was really stoked with the store being named “10 Greatest Record Stores In America” by Spin yesterday as the photo they used was our marquee that had
the Portugal. The Man signing info on it.
The titles for RSD Drop#1 were strong and many sold out, some quite early, mostly due to allocations. I wanted that 1 Richard Hell we got out of 11 ordered
but it went to a worthy customer that had wanted since midnight.And yes, there were titles I had wished I ordered more of ,like the 2 Steely Dan titles. It was a
great mix of customers because of the diversity in the the title mix. Thanks to all the labels that came through with some really great titles. Our customers and
us can’t thank you enough. And thanks for making this all happen in a time of upheaval during the COVID era. And to those who came through with great swag
like record bags, t-shirts and other find items, thanks very much. Our day was about 60% of what our RSD day was in 2019, pre-covid. Our staff was prepared
and did a great job setting up and helping customers and getting people though the cash registers in quick fashion. And our customers were so thankful for all
the treasures they were able to secure in the store. Nothing like see and hearing a customer’s glee when he picked the last Styx album up off the rack in late afternoon.
Now to the top sellers for the day:
Full length vinyl:
1- Prince - Truth 44
2- Lady Gaga - Chromatica 40 (sold out)
3- Rage Against The Machine - Battle Of Mexico City 40
4-Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Angel Dream 40
5- Elton John - Regimental Sgt. Zippo 27 (allocated, sold out)
6- Thelonious Monk - Palo Alto: The Custodian’s Version 25 (sold out)
7- Ariana Grande - K Bye For Now 25 (sold out)
8- Haim - Gasoline 25 (sold out)
9- Grateful Dead - Olympia Theatre, Paris 25 allocated, sold out)
10 - Joni Mitchell - Joni Mitchell Archive 23
11 - Freddie Gibbs - Piñata: 1984 Version 23 (allocated, sold out)
12 - Kela Kuti - Open & Close 20 (sold out)
13 - Ella Fitzgerald - Original Grooves 20 (sold out)
14 - Sublime - Sublime Meets Scientist 19
15 - Steely Dan - Two Against Nature 19 (allocated, sold out)
16 - Soul Slabs Vol. 3 18
17 - Al Green - Give Me More Love 18
18 - Wipers - Youth Of America 18
19 - Echo & The Bunnymen - Live In Liverpool 18
20 - Doors - Morrison Hotel Sessions 18
21 - Sword - Age Of Winters 18 (sold out)
22 - Tune-Yards - Whokill 17
23 - Steely Day - Everything Must Go 17 (allocated, sold out)
24 - Mudhoney / Meatpuppets - Warning/One Of These Days 16
25 - Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin Companion
Singles (3”, 7”, 12” and EPs)
1- Czarface - Meddle With Metal 10 (sold out)
2 - Twenty One Pilots - Location Sessions 9
3 - Jim Croce - Don’t Mess Around With Jim 9
4 - AC/DC - Through The Mists Of Time 9
5 - Supergrass - Going Out 9 (sold out)
6 - Motorhead - St Valentines Day Massacre 9
7 - Band Camino - 4 Songs By Your Buds 7
8 - Nubya Garcia - Source / Our Dance 5
9 - Joe Strummer - Junco Partner 5
10 - Super Furry Animals - Ice Hockey Hair 5
Turntables
Beatles - 8 (sold out, 8 piece limit)
Thanks again for all the support. Looking forward to RSD Drop #2
Best regards,
Terry
Justin Johnson- Darkside Records (Poughkeepsie, NY)
I never doubted that this was going to be a great RSD Drop, but I also wouldn't have predicted this outcome. Saturday was actually a year to the day since we re-opened our doors to the public since the pandemic began and while we didn't roll out all of our usual RSD fanfare, the results of the day still prove that the day really is about the music, the artists and the stores being celebrated and discovered by our communities.
We have a fairly regular crew who tend to make up the beginning of the line each year. They're people who have met in line for years now, and continue to meet each week on our Monday night #UsedTues live video on Facebook. To step back for a second, it's pretty humbling to think that the only reason most of the people know each other, keep in touch and have become real friends, is because of our store and all the amazing effort you labels, distributors, reps, admins and everyone else put into making these days happen. They probably have never considered who you are or what you do, and maybe the same from you to them, but just know that from behind your spreadsheets and emails you're actually bringing real humans together and giving them even some small joy. That's pretty awesome of you. Store that away somewhere for when you may need it next.
Our first person in line was 3:57pm on Friday, a new best time for us! He's was one of our regulars who drove down from Albany (hour and a half away) and camped out overnight. By the time I left the store around 10:30 Friday night, the line had already swelled to 15 dedicated souls. When I arrived back at the store around 8am, the line was wrapped around all sides of the building and wrapped back around towards the beginning of the line. RSD ouroboros. From the time we opened our doors at 9am to the last person who was waiting in the initial line outside, we had reached almost 2pm.
One of the most noticeable parts of the day was just how many new faces we saw. Of course so many of our regulars came out too, but if I had to guess, I'd say 50% of the people in line were new to us. We've always done RSD menu style, with the releases tucked away with us and everyone comes up to the counter to place their "order". I've never had to tell as many people that's how it works as I did this year, and they all seemed delighted that it was so organized and smooth. We had more inventory than ever and so many people who came later were delighted that their must have release was still there waiting for them. If you're curious, you can check out our Menu here.
The flow of people in and out stayed steady all day long and it felt like the usual lulls in the afternoon were less noticeable. There were always 10-20 people milling about, digging through the bins and bringing their stacks up to the register.
We always like to raise some money for a local cause each RSD, and this time around we chose the Dutchess County SPCA. Dontations for free ice cream from our friends at Ben & Jerry's of Albany + raffle tickets for the Warner Records prize pack we received to give away garnered $600 the puppies and kittens! We also partnered with our favorite local coffee shop The Poughkeepsie Grind to to keep everyone caffeinated.
The earliest titles with the highest demand included Ariana Grande, Haim/Taylor Swift, Linkin Park, Lady Gaga, Shrek Score, Alkaline Trio, Warren Zevon, and The Wipers. There were many other titles that we had lower quantities on that also sold out quickly.
A few titles we were surprised to see slow movement on, such as The Cure pic disc, The Who, Rolling Stones 10", Iggy Pop, and Elton John, among a few others. I can say with confidence though, that despite having brought in more stock than ever before and having a slightly lower initial sell through rate than I am used to, I feel a great amount of confidence with our stock of remaining exclusives to keep performing in our bins.
The demand for vinyl as we all know has exploded as people found a new hobby during their time in isolation. It's evident not only on these big days, but on the days of the week that now look like what weekend days used to be. And the weekend days? It's all hands on deck since we've reopened and Sundays have tended to be our second busiest day of the week. We're here for it and ready to keep pushing on. The challenges we all face with just getting product aren't going away anytime soon, so we're buying most major catalog and some new releases with an eye on the end of the year and beyond. I know that new releases are sexy, but catalog vinyl is the tortoise in this race that's going to keep us moving towards the finish line. Thank you all for the bigger runs on RSD titles this year, and let's keep pushing them up because we're ready to keep going bigger and making more happy customers. Bring on July 17th!
Many thanks to all the labels, distributors and reps who worked to give us great product to produce these awesome results. These days aren't possible with all of your efforts and we're truly thankful for all of you. If you have any more specific questions, please feel to reach out directly.
Jim Bland- Plan 9 (Richmond, VA)
Plan 9 RSD 1st Drop 2021
After things opened up, we bailed on the lottery early on, let folks know they could line up when/as they wished.
Had about 75 in line at 8:30. Limited 20 in store at a time to shop RSD titles only. The flow went very well, customers
appreciative of the way we handled things,and were totally cooperative as usual. Late-comers kept falling in line but we were able
to open the store to full-on shopping by noon. Busy all day.
Surprised by some titles that didn't sell thru (or we over ordered)- Conor,Devo, Jeezy, Wipers.
Under ordered Adriana Grande, Lady Ga Ga, lost many potential sales on G Dead, Police, Prince, Linkin Park, and more.
As we all have been grumbling, in most cases the quantities available have long lost any real correlation to demand.
Overall sell-thru was an unprecedented 85%- so we should've ordered more?!
Sales were 67% 2020's total, 78% of 2019.
Mike Fratt- Homers (Omaha, NE)
Homers RSD 2021 Drops #1
We had the usual crowd with most arriving in the 8am hour
Weekend was very strong and Drops #1 was about 61% of
combined total for all 3 Drops in 2020. Day was bigger than any of 2020 Drops days
Heavy allocations probably carved off two to five thousand
in business for Sat/Sun. A title should not be allowed in RSD
if pressing is under 1500, if not 2500.
Sell-through sits at 60% right now.
over ordered, Stillwater, Neon Christ, Gruntruck, IDKHTFM
Flaming Lips, Devo, Cure(fans are tired of pic discs)
under allocated (we ordered more but got less)-
all hip hop titles, linkin park, police, g dead,
lady gaga, haim,
under ordered
ariana grande, prince, dirty heads, jim croce
Matt Vaughan- Easy Street ( Seattle, WA)
SEE: EASY STREET VIDEO WRAP UP HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrHpILgPwgM
We finished up the chunk of our year-long remodel the night before RSD. It was great to finally clean the shop up and see what we accomplished. For many of our customers they hadn’t been in since pre-Covid, so I think they were pleased to see we made some improvements. We are now 2 levels vinyl. We have a full selection of rock tees, an Easy Street merch area, and a hi-fi wall of turntables. We painted floor to ceiling, inside and out. We fixed our windows near ceiling so they can open, better airflow, tore down some walls to expose the brick and mortar. CDs are more presentable…we even added 2 bins last month. Huh, wha?
…..and oh yeah, we opened our cocktail vinyl bar in the vinyl mezzanine. This might be what we are most excited about. It was a tricky and painstaking process….having a bar with booze in a retail environment, where kids are running around, but we must’ve paid off the right person. Health dept and liquor board signed off on us just days before RSD. Kinda blew folks minds to be able to have a Bloody Mary (“Proud Mary”) while shopping for records. Blew mine.
We are still at Phase 3 here in Seattle. That is scheduled to be lifted on June 30. We removed all plexi from our counters the night before RSD.
As for RSD sales, we did about ½ of what we would normally do pre-Covid, but it’s better than the ¼ we were doing last year’s RSD’s.
We had some serious stock and shipping issues. It finally happened to us. About 60 of our WEA/Universal titles were lost. Tom Petty, Black Sabbath, Doors….we never got any of those, nor will we. We did get a shipment in around noon. It had about half of the rest. Made for a stressful 24 hours for sure, but thankfully Erik Freeman at AEC was following up and getting us updates. It was a challenge. Had it not been a Covid year, I’m not sure our customers would’ve bought our excuses. For those with high anxiety, we directed them to a handful of local stores. Thankfully, we are the first ones open, so it did give the night owls the opportunity to hustle to another store in time.
Titles like Replacements, Donny Hathaway, Stillwater, Police, Monk…we had only got a fraction of what was initially confirmed, so numbers here definitely less than expected.
Thankfully, we got our Gruntruck, 100 are still out on a truck somewhere. We hosted a signing with the band. For many here, Gruntruck wasn’t on your radar, but to Seattle fans, this one meant a lot to us. As the acclaimed author Charles Cross said on the hype sticker “this is the band Seattle wouldn’t let you have” or as legendary producer Jack Endino said, “Gruntruck Push should’ve been 10x platinum”. If anyone that likes that late 80’s/early 90’s Seattle sound (u know what I’m talkin bout), this might’ve been the purest example of it, although heavier than most. They are legends here in Seattle, especially West Seattle. I wrote an article about the band leading up to the release. If you are at all curious about the early inception of Easy Street and all that, it’s in there too, coincides.https://www.revolutioncomeandgone.com
Looking forward to July 17 ! We’ll also be celebrating our 33 1/3 Anniversary at some point this year.
7”
1 MUDHONEY / MEAT 40
2 HAIM 30
3 WICKED AS IT SEEMS ( RICHARDS,KEITH) 10
4 RUBY SESSIONS (RSD) GUN CLUB 10
5 SAINT OF LOST CAUSES EARLE,STEVE 5
LP
1 PUSH GRUNTRUCK 175
2 TRUTH PRINCE 50
3 BATTLE OF MEXICO RAGE AGAINST TH 45
4 LIVE AT KILMAINHAM FONTAINES D.C. 40
5 HERE COMES THAT WEIR LANEGAN,MARK 40
6 PEARL JOPLIN,JANIS 20
7 YOUTH OF AMERICA WIPERS 20
8 OPEN & CLOSE KUTI,FELA 20
9 LIVE VOL. 2: ATLANTA POLICE 20
10 METEORA LINKIN PARK 20
11 FIRE (40TH ANNIVERSA U2 15
12 BEAUTY PROCESS - TRI L7 15
13 FUNKY KINGSTON TOOTS & MAYTALS 15
14 LIVE AT MASSEY HALL TEARS FOR FEARS 15
15 REGIMENTAL SGT. ZIPP JOHN,ELTON 15
16 OLYMPIA THEATRE, PARIS GRATEFUL DEAD 15
17 SOFT BULLETIN COMPAN FLAMING LIPS 15
18 JUNCO PARTNER (ACOUS STRUMMER,JOE 12
19 DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME RAMONE,JOEY 12
20 ST VALENTINES DAY MOTORHEAD 12
21 MOTHER MARY / UFO 12
22 K BYE FOR NOW GRANDE,ARIANA 12
23 AT KNEBWORTH 19 PLANT,ROBERT 12
24 PLEASURE'S ALL YOURS REPLACEMENTS 12
25 TWO AGAINST NATURE STEELY DAN 12
26 ACID INCENSE AND BAL JEFFERSON AIRPL 10
27 SOUL SLABS VOL. 3 10
28 PINATA: 1984 VERSION GIBBS,FREDDIE & 10
29 GOONIES (SCORE) / O. GRUSIN,DAVE 10
30 FOOL (ANDREW WEATHER WARPAINT 10
31 CHEREE SUICIDE 10
32 HYPERSPACE (2020) BECK 10
33 STILLWATER DEMOS STILLWATER 10
34 SUBLIME MEETS SCIENT SUBLIME 10
35 EVERYTHING MUST GO STEELY DAN 10
36 HAVING A PARTY: SUN HAVING A PARTY: 10
37 NO GODS NO MASTERS GARBAGE 8
38 LOVE & POISON LONDON SUEDE 8
39 FACE DANCES WHO 8
40 WHO KILL TUNE-YARDS 8
Chad Dryden- The Record Exchange (Boise, ID)
Hello all,
The first 2021 RSD Drops release date at The Record Exchange was a smashing success.
By 11am, three hours after we opened, we had already eclipsed our average gross sales for the three 2020 Drops. We ended the day with an 82% increase over the average 2020 gross and at 61% of our total gross for the three 2020 events.
We opted once again to organize limited-capacity shopping blocks for the morning, which ran 8-10am. Customers were required to enter a lotto before the event to determine their time slot, and we had 220 people sign up, shattering our previous high of 160. Masks were required all day, as we had promoted the time blocks with the requirement in place and did not want to abruptly change that, even though we would have otherwise lifted the requirement prior to Saturday. On Sunday, we shifted our policy to no masks for vaccinated customers and masks recommended for non-vaccinated customers.
Following the time blocks, we settled into a steady day of business that peaked mid-afternoon and progressed from point A to point B without a lull in traffic. The energy in the store was great, and most customers left satisfied with what they were able to purchase. Allocations, of course, did result in some disappointment, and several titles, most notably Linkin Park, The Police, Alkaline Trio, Beck, Warren Zevon and Pepper, disappeared immediately. Our sell-through rate for the day was 63%.
Other early sellouts, strong sellers and surprises: Tom Petty, Rage Against the Machine, Haim, Prince, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Twenty One Pilots, Elton John, Grateful Dead, Steely Dan, Tears for Fears, The Sword, The Cure, Janis Joplin, Toots and the Maytals, Sublime, Dirty Heads, Al Green, The Notorious B.I.G., Czarface/MF Doom, Joey Ramone, Kenny Dorham and Oneohtrix Point Never (all titles).
Surprisingly slow sellers: The Flaming Lips, Freddie Gibbs/Madlib, Shrek, The Goonies, Kenny Loggins, Def Leppard, Electric Wizard, The Hu, Opeth, Stillwater, Conor Oberst and Chief Keef.
Alayna Alderman- Record Archive (Rochester, NY)
Greetings! Busy Busy Busy! The day started with 200+ in line before we opened the doors at 9 a.m. Per usual we offered free coffee and donuts to all our loyal RSD Customers! We also held raffles while folks were waiting and gave away a new Record Archive out door chair!
We handed out numbers until 12 noon time slot. (150 people shopped in 10 minute blocks, 15 people at a time) this set up keeps everyone happy, smooth, stress free and so damn organized that many got everything on their lists! Having a 13,000 sq foot store affords us the luxury of keeping the RSD product In the Backroom Lounge therefore allowing patrons to buy everything else in the store simultaneously!
We opted for no food trucks or live music for the first Drop.
We will be featuring only 1 band after 3 pm on the second drop with a food truck around lunchtime.
The Bar was open the whole time and we were happy to release our collaboration with local Heroes Brewing for a tasty pina colada sour!
A portion of the proceeds went to a local ‘school of rock ‘called Camp ROC Star!
Our Spin the Wheel was super popular once again! Who doesn’t love free stuff!
Best sellers:
Lady Gaga
Rage Against the Machine
Linkin Park
Ariana Grande
Steely Dan (two against)
Tom Petty
Elton John
Steely Dan (everything)
Prince
Notorious B.I.G.
Things we wish we had more of: Grateful Dead, Jazz Dispensary
Linkin Park, Ariana Grande & DAMN Shrek soundtrack!!
Things we have plenty of and are surprised…
Tom Petty, Prince, Dirty Heads, Flaming Lips, & Rolling Stones.
Overall very pleased with the day- we are almost 70% of the total of 2020 3 drops so I think we are off to a great start!!
As always we are forever grateful to all who made this event possible. I am so proud of my crew as it functioned as a well oiled machine and a crazy fun party at the same time!
Cheers,
Xo
Alayna
Looking forward to July!
