CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS: WEEK ENDING 4/20/23 + RSD '23 WRAP UP

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Howdy Everyone,
 
I have to say how overjoyed I was this week with all of the phone calls and wrap-ups from our stores with the details of how RSD 2023 went. There were some amazing, best-day-ever stories, and when you are talking about best-day-ever in 40- 50 year histories… that is really something!

I want to say thanks again to everyone that was a part of making last weekend a success.
 
I have done a mighty round-up of what the CIMS stores had to report so please find that below as well as the charts.
 
Thanks,
Andrea

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic

Waterloo - Austin, TX

Greetings fellow vinyl nerds!
Wow, RSD ‘23 was another one for the record books! Yesterday Waterloo Records experienced our busiest day in the 41-year history of our store.  The combination of vinyl nerds, both old and new, plus hundreds of Swifties made for a day like no other. Sales were up 25% over the 2 combined RSD ‘22 drops, though I must admit, that without ‘you know who’ we would have only been up ~ 3%.
 
Our first guy in line arrived Friday evening about 7:45pm, before our 1hr early RSD prep closing at 8pm. Twelve hours later Saturday morning at our 8am opening time, we had 540 very eager folks in line, or nearly double our store’s fire Marshall capacity. It was 10:45am before we got everyone in line inside the store, which totaled 729 music lovers. They were followed by a very steady stream of customers throughout the entire day and evening.
 
We featured multiple ticket ETW drawings for 
upcoming Austin concerts, and had FREE Beatles Revolver slip mats for high dollar RSD purchases. With the breadth and depth of this year’s titles, it proved easy to make high dollar RSD purchases. That said, we unfortunately still had 29 titles, or nearly 10%, with no sales yesterday. On the other hand, we sold out of 109 titles, or ~36%, so perhaps we were a little too cautious after the less robust early sales on Black Friday ‘22. However, we had a 101% ROI yesterday, with ~33% of our original buy-in left to sell.
 
But I’ve saved this story for last. Against the wishes of most of my talented staff, I chose to bring in 1,000 copies of former RSD ambassador Taylor Swift’s live folklore 2LP set. Her Swifties, both young and old, came out in force, and went home to listen, (though some maybe not?) to the 748 copies purchased! So thanks Taylor, first for all your music, and for nurturing your fans to love and support the music makers that enrich their lives.
 
Big thanks go out to everyone again that made this day happen: RSD ambassador power couple, Native Texan Amanda Shires & Mr. Shires :), the contributing artists, managers, & labels, the distributors, one-stops, sponsors, 1400 indie record stores, Carrie, Andrea, Michael, and Eric. Most of all, big thanks go out to the very dedicated and talented crew here at the best damn record store on the planet, Waterloo Records, serving the best music lovers on the planet, in-store and online.
 
John T Kunz

Looney Tunes - West Babylon, NY

The line at 8am! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bxG7i7NeZKY
 
Wow….what can I say….
 
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS FOR MAKING THIS PAST RECORD STORE DAY THE BUSIEST DAY IN OUR 52 YEAR HISTORY!!
 
Please read that last sentence again…. We just had the busiest single day since my father Karl Sr. opened our doors in 1971. 
 
We are so very grateful to you all. Where do I start?
 
We jump started the weekend off with a fantastic SOLD OUT instore concert by Waterparks and ended the weekend with an amazing performance by Ryan Cassata. Thank you to the bands and labels for playing our store and really putting on two fantastic concerts.
 
Record Store Day on Saturday was incredible. The line started forming at 8pm the night before! By the time I arrived at the store at 7am we had over 500+ people on line! It just seemed to go on for ever! It went down our building around the entire parking lot down the street all the way to Montauk highway and then made a left toward the front of Pet Co! We have never seen a line so long for anything ever. Usually we can get everyone in by about 10am. But this year we opened the doors at 8am and the line continued outside until about noon!! The check out lines were all around the store and almost back out the door!! We had our usual free bagels and coffee. We cant believe we ran out so soon. 
 
Even though it was really INSANE at times in the store. EVERYONE was just in just such a good mood ALL DAY LONG! It really was just so much fun talking to everyone about music all day long. So many old and new friends shared their stores about their love of music and our store. 
 
We ordered more product then we ever had in our lives for this event and it helped! We stocked 289 releases. Some titles we only got a fraction of what we ordered and they went fast. We still have stock on about 90 releases. 
 
TAYLOR SWIFT….wow….we ordered 300 copies and we thought that was A LOT! We ran out by 1:30pm wow!!! AMAZING. We wish we ordered more…but its just hard to tell. 
 
There were 18 release we ordered more then 100 of that we SOLD OUT before the end of the day……just insane we can’t believe it. 
 
We released another beer this year with our friends at 27a Brewery and it was delicious and a lot of fun to do. Jamie designed the artwork this year! 8 concert ticket giveaways all day long from our friends at The Paramount in Huntington and Club Loaded Presents. Thank you guys for the giveaways. 
A VERY VERY BIG thank you to my staff that worked their butts off. 
 
AND MOST OF ALL thank you to our customers and community for supporting our little record store. We love you guys….
 
Until next time.
 
Karl and Jamie Groeger 
Owners of Looney Tunes Record Store 

Music Millennium - Portland, OR

Hello All -
I arrived at 5:25am to a line that was already over 100. Our first person showed up at 10am on Friday. A regular for Record Store Day he had just 3 titles on his list. The Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia and Elton John. He did have his van and was able to get a few hours sleeptime in the evening. There was a drizzle of rain all night but by our 8am opening time, it had stopped and the weather for Saturday was the  best we have had this spring. I handed out the Dogfish posters to first 75 and followed up with giving muffins out to all that were there along with a free coffee station by the entry way. I then gave away our store artist Haley Cassatt’s created poster.At 7pm we had reinforcements and we gave away 300 gift bags with various fun things, each having a pair of socks compliment to Sock It Too Me, vinyl, CDs and other  that we were able to get from the labels (thankyou all!). Everyone in line were so appreciative. After a few more sweeps in line to give away bags and posters, wehad at least 350 people in line by opening time. 
We have everyone come winding through the store single file, with an opportunity to walk by each RSD release. Many end up grabbing 
more than what they had on their list as they slowly walk through the store and we find a space for them to get rung up at one of five cash 
registers in operation. Hat’s off to Todd Johnson from the Orchard for helping us get the gift bags out to all in line as well as being a 
cash register traffic monitor, giving me the sign when a register became open to send more people over to get checked out.
 
We had a kid called the Traveling Typist out in front of the store all day. He would type free poems on an old typewriter as well as have 
another typewriter available for others to type on. Fascinating to the younger generation for sure, who were all more in the post-type-
writer era. He collected a good amount of tips in his empty typewriter case.
This became the biggest business day in the history of Music Millennium. Taylor Swift was a game changer this year and many of those 
fans wanted an item or two more including the 1975, which was very underproduced, Maya Hawk (we should have ordered more!) and
various other titles. We ordered 300 Taylor, received 300 Taylor and sold out of Taylor by 1pm, 5 hours into the day. The phone rang
all afternoon asking if we had more. This release and the quantity made is an example of making a cool RSD piece for an artist that has
a strong fan base. Not just a variant of a previous title but material the fan base has not able to get before. Taylor is the biggest artist on the
planet right now but there are other artists that could crush with a cool unreleased piece of music. This year’s list of releases may have been 
the strongest ever though and other than a few items like John Lennon, Steve Austin, 1975 cassette, Porcupine Tree, Broken Social Scene
and a few others, we were able to get most of the titles we ordered. We sold out of a great deal of titles by the end of the day but customers
were able to shop a great selection of titles all day….and we made many people happy.

Homer’s - Omaha, NE

Record setting day at Homers

biggest day in history, up 20% over 2019 and 2018
biggest line in history, over 3 blocks long, 
last in line entered store in 2pm hour
RSD represented 57% of total store sales
sell-through was an astonishing 75% by Sunday night,
which probably indicates we under-ordered
sales activity on 239 titles
best sellers include-
T Swift, Larry Lovestein, Pearl jam, Tori Amos,
Black Keys, Billy Joel, Elton John, J Isbell,
Cure, Van Halen, Stevie Nicks, Grateful Dead,
 
Pixies, Dolly Parton, Eric Carr, Poe, 
no sales activity on 64 titles
used sales were up almost 50% with big spikes
in used vinyl and used tape
Our 250 Taylor Swift lasted til 7pm Saturday
as usual we offered coffee, donuts and breakfast
burritos and custom tees and bags for purchases
over $150

Mike Fratt 

Record Archive - Rochester, NY

Welcome to another glorious RSD Wrap Up from Record Archive!!!
Biggest crowd awaiting our door opening at 9 am. First arrived at 1 am. What was supposed to be 80% chance of rain, but ended up only being gray skies and 60s! Woot! Line went down the sidewalk, around the building. Managed to get everyone safely in with over 500+ people in the store. Once in, we started the entry into the RSD shopping area in our Backroom Lounge. In previous years, we have moved the crowds through by noon. This year- it was 3 pm before everyone had their chance to shop the RSD crates!
It is no surprise that Ms. Taylor Swift was the MAIN driver for robust sales! I was happy to report that we didn’t run out until 2 pm, so all our hardcore fans got most of their needs met. Thank you to all those who made this possible. We could not have asked for a better artist right now!
 
Customers were greeted with free coffee & donuts at 7:30 am. Then while waiting in the store they were given custom made RSD, RA & Our fabulous Ambassador cookies!
Many cool prizes were given away via our Spin-the-Prize-Wheel manned by my daughter Eliza! Beatles slip mats & tees; RA swag were well received.
Steve fired up the grill at noon and proceeded to give away 500 local Zweigle Hot dogs! Can you say White Hot? 
Top local DJ Dino Kay was here promoting all the happenings!
 
Live music kicked off at noon by my business partner Dick Storms with his ‘Stormy Valle’ blues band, followed by Hey Mabel at 2 pm and final act Brian Lindsay Band took the stage at 4. Of course, Dogfish Head (and many other beers) were poured. We also featured 2 samplings from local crafters Naked Dove and 42 North.
We were thrilled to be chosen a Marshalls Headphones Ambassador this year- featuring and promoting Marshall  ( yes the Amp company) consumer goods.
 
Dogfish Head Brewing  graciously gave us a Turntable to giveaway- which we were so busy, we are keeping the promotion going for a bit longer.
We featured our annual RSD RA Exclusive T-shirt as well- and sales were crazy!
 
Even with 4 checkouts, lines were long all day!  $1 Records, Buy 1 get 1 FREE on all Used DVDS, and Mystery Bags of CDS, DVDs, Toys, & LPS were grabbed by all!
My crew did our best to keep it all moving- this was truly the largest crowd in history.
 
Now onto the details:
Overall store sales were up 45% over 2022!
Biggest Single Selling Day in Record Archive HISTORY! ( Remember we started in 1975- so many of you reading this,  were not around yet!)
 
Best sellers included:
Taylor Swift
Pearl Jam
Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires
Billy Joel
Rolling Stones
Grateful Dead
Jerry Garcia
Tori Amos
Jazz Dispensary
Things I wish I had more of: Wish I could swap Peppa for Bluey! LOL Of course TS, 1975, Pearl Jam CDS, and always Grateful Dead.
As I look at our inventory, I am thrilled to say we had an 85 % sell through!!
 
I am grateful to EVERY ONE Who made this day possible!! Especially my family & my staff- who do this every day and support me in every way.
With love,
Alayna 

The Long Ear - Coeur d’Alene, ID

Our in-line customers were about twice the normal total I'm sure do to the Swifties which we sold out in about the 1st 1/2 hour. 
Overall sales were up 36.7 %
Vinyl up 33%
CD's up 10%
customer count up 25%
Plus profit up 88%  (love it)
Record setting day for our store. Glad to have only one RSD this year, keeps it more special. Lots of happy customers & much better fill than in years gone by.
It just keeps getting better & better!
Terry & Deon 

Electric Fetus - Minneapolis, MN

Record Store Day 2023 was the biggest day in Electric Fetus history—going back 55 years! 
 
The weather didn’t really cooperate—several people spent the night through below-freezing temps and strong winds, and we only got up to 37 degrees on RSD—nasty.  Even so, when I got to the store around 7:30 there were well over 150 people in line.  Line person #1 arrived before noon on Friday.
 
At 8am we started handing out numbers (store opened at 9) and we got to 350—more than double the “usual” amount.  We ran out of numbers at 1,000, which we hit by mid-afternoon, so after that we just had a separate line for RSD titles.
 
We set up three main draws for early birds in different locations:  RSD titles that were only accessible from the behind the store in our garage, the hoard of primo Used records on our new arrivals wall, and two endcaps of signed records in the department.  And when we opened at 9am the store started hopping for nine straight hours until we closed at 6pm.
 
Prior to this year our biggest day ever was RSD 2018, when RSD coincided with the second anniversary of Prince’s death and the Celebration at Paisley Park.  RSD 2023 beat RSD 2018 by “only” 6%, but 2018 was buoyed by non-music items from our Gifts department due to the visiting Prince tourists.  Looking at just our Music department RSD 2023 crushed 2018 by 27%--unbelievable! 
 
For the first three hours we were selling more than 100 Taylor Swift records PER HOUR.  We started with 425 copies and sold out around 3pm.  We could have easily sold another 100-150 on Saturday.  Greg Norton from Hϋsker Dϋ signed records at the store in the morning, which drove their Tonite Longhorn LP to #2 for our RSD titles, and Dave Pirner from Soul Asylum’s DJ set in the afternoon drove their MTV Unplugged to #4.  And local favorites The Cactus Blossoms were #5—we are lucky to have some great Minneapolis artists on this year’s RSD list!
 
No live bands at the store this year!  We went with DJ sets from local musicians and celebs, and I think it was great.  The bands were often too loud and dissuaded customers from shopping the sections near the PA—I think we might go the mostly-DJ route next year too.  
 
Our two signed records endcaps were also huge performers for us—for non-RSD titles eleven of our top 20 were signed records from:

  • Tennis 

  • Unknown Mortal Orchestra 

  • Everything But the Girl 

  • Margo Price 

  • Aoife O’Donovan 

  • Snarky Puppy 

  • Low Cut Connie 

  • Foals 

  • Poliça 

  • Fruit Bats 

  • Dawes 

 
Thanks to all labels who help us get signed records—they are bringing people through our door every day, and especially RSD!
 
Sell-through by EOD Sunday for RSD titles was 81%--too high!  Even taking out Taylor sell-through was 76%--Swifties drove more foot-traffic that I expected!
 
I was surprised by how many titles completely sold out—if only had I known…   …and on a related note—it’s great that two of the three one-stops sent remaining inventory emails this morning, so I have some of these sellouts coming back in.  
 
 
And we would have sold a ton more of these if they weren’t allocated:

  • The 1975 vinyl and cassette (our orders were cut by 90%--customers almost got violent over these—there was some jostling and I had to use my “Dad voice”)

  • Larry Lovestein 

  • Wilco 

  • Orville Peck 

  • Duran Duran 

  • Joan Jett 

  • Macho Man 

 
Here are the titles that didn’t perform close to expectations:

  • Paul McCartney 

  • Blur 

  • The Doors 3” records 

 
Thanks for your support to make RSD 2023 our biggest day ever!
 
Jim Novak 

Streetlight Records - San Jose/ Santa Cruz, CA

We are so pleased to announce that it was another record-breaking (pun intended) RSD for Streetlight! Our San Jose store had the best ever sales day in its history and was up over 17% from last year, the previous #1. First day sell-through for San Jose was 87%, indicating we could have ordered more on some key titles, but we’ll take it! Our Santa Cruz location also saw a great bump in sales this year, up over 12% from last year. First day sell-through for Santa Cruz was 59%, with stellar sales the following two days, as well. Below are Top 20 sales for RSD titles for each store.
A huge thanks goes out to the organizers of RSD, with special recognition to Carrie, Andrea, Michael and Eric! Big buckets of thanks to all the labels, distros, artists and management. And a heartfelt THANK YOU to the incredible staff at both Streetlight locations and our amazing customers!
 
Paige Brodsky
Store Manager, San Jose 

Twist and Shout - Denver, CO

Pat Brown walks the line -> https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrVpWIvrYou/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Em Beihold video -> https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrXPVCkRBde/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Twist & Shout’s RSD 2023 Recap

Spring weather in Colorado is a fickle thing – 80 degrees one day and snow the next is not at all unheard of. So when after a very pleasant early week the predictions for RSD turned toward snow, we braced for the worst. Turned out to not be too bad – but then I didn’t have to sleep outside in it! Regardless, our customers showed up hardcore, with a regular customer arriving first in line about 4:30 PM Friday (he wanted the lone Lennon box set we received – and got it), followed not too long out by a group of four women there for the T. Swift release. There were about a dozen people there when I checked back in the blowing snow at 10:30 PM and when I got to work around 6AM – snow still falling from the night before – the line was halfway around the building, about 150 people deep, all bundled for the weather. And after we opened at 8AM they kept on coming for the remainder of the day – it didn’t let up until we closed after I split, twelve hours after arriving, in what turned out to be our best Record Store Day in the history of the store.

The big sales story of the day was obviously Taylor Swift. We played a little conservative with our numbers – though we doubled the initial order in the weeks leading up to RSD and thought we’d be able to sell our remaining copies in the weeks to come. Turned out we probably could’ve had three times as many as we did and still sold out on Saturday – every copy was gone just over two hours after we opened the doors. We had sold out of five titles 15 minutes after the doors opened, about a third of the titles we’d brought in by 11AM, and nearly half by 3PM. Top sellers outside of T. Swift were Grateful Dead, Beach House, Pearl Jam, Jerry Garcia, Jason Isbell/Amanda Shires, Medeski Martin & Wood, Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones, Black Keys, Miles Davis, Dolly Parton, and the Nuggets box set – most of which were also completely sold out by midday. And though we sold at least some of almost everything, a handful of titles didn’t move as we’d hoped – we ordered decent numbers on Blitz Vega, Jerry Harrison, Hawkwind, the Miles Davis tribute band M.E.B., and Rich Kids, but their fans seem to have stayed away in droves.

This year we had a pair of special guests who helped sales for us as well. Debora Iyall, lead singer of Romeo Void, happened to be in town so she stopped by the store to say hello, meet a few fans, and sign all our copies of Live From The Mabuhay Gardens: November 14,1980(both the RSD LPs and the CDs that had come out the day before), while up-and-comer Em Beihold, whose debut vinyl EP Egg In The Backseat came out on RSD, dropped by to make a quick video for her fans about the record being out, which in turn boosted people looking for it from us both in store and online once we put
them up for sale there. But if there’s one overarching story to this year’s RSD, it’s that we sold through more, and more quickly, than any year in memory – and we sold at least some copies of nearly everything; even most of the “stiffs” above moved a couple copies.

Ultimately, it was our best single-day RSD event ever, up about 5 ¼% from the previous high-water mark in 2019, and second only to the combined totals of last year’s RSD and June Drops date. The weekend overall was also our best-ever, beating 2019’s weekend by 5 2/3%.

If I had one complaint – hard to do in our best-ever year, but here it is anyway – it would be the level of allocations. This year we were allocated on more titles and more deeply than any year in memory. It definitely hurt us on a few – the two Sparks titles, Wilco, and (no joke) Macho Man Randy Savage (0 copies!) come to mind – and overall we ran out of stuff. Obviously there’s an upside to a great sell-through percentage, but when a third of our RSD stock is gone only three hours in, I just wonder what we would’ve been able to do had we not been allocated on things (and if we’d quadrupled instead of doubling our T. Swift order)! It would be interesting just for our edification to know the reasoning behind these – were more stores participating so the allocations had to be spread over a larger group; were smaller titles pushed aside at pressing plants to ensure that everyone got the Swift they needed; or were other factors at play? I don’t know what it would change, but I’m curious how things came down regardless.

Lastly special thanks need to be given to my incredible staff – everyone worked extra hard in the weeks leading up to RSD, as well as the day itself, and it went off without a hitch. Thanks also to AEG for bringing bagels to the hungry crowd, Blue Pan Pizza and Santiago’s and Greg & Terry Burns for feeding our hungry crew, and to former Twister Frankie Brack for his fantastic Colfax poster art! And another nod goes to Debora Iyall and Em Beihold for taking the time to come down to the store (and to their people for making it happen)! And one more – thanks also to our industry partners at the one-stops for getting us all our product in a timely fashion and in good condition!

Patrick Brown 

Cactus - Houston, TX
 
Hello,

Here's our wrap-up for RSD 2023 which was tremendous fun.

We decided to continue our tickets for line reservations which began with the first drop of 2020.  Customers have grown accustomed to this method and it keeps anxiety to a minimum as record fans have a sense of when to arrive, what their place in line will be and tempered expectations for opportunities to purchase coveted items.  Safety is a concern and our system doesn't allow for camping overnight. We distributed 500 tickets to customers and began serving up the RSD goodness at 10am.  We escorted vinyl fans to the RSD product table in 25 person segments which kept the store accessible to customers and new visitors who simply wanted to shop or just visit a store on our unofficial holiday.  We heard nothing but positive feedback regarding our system and were delighted to have a customer tell us that it is as efficient as the drive through at Chick Fil A.  We felt that, with the diminished health concerns, that we would see many people who had not participated in RSD in a few years and that proved true.  In an effort to create a great experience for our reconnected RSDers and all of the Taylor Swift fans, many who had not been to our store, we decided that it was best not to present in-store events and avoid overcrowding.  Once again, we saw strong afternoon traffic and sales that almost equal the morning hours as customers who visited other stores searched for items that they missed.
 
Taylor Swift was our most newsworthy RSD release again this year. We felt good about our order of 400 units, but quickly realized that it was not nearly sufficient.  We sold out around 4pm, but could have sold  that many more before close.  It was amazing to see hundreds of passionate music fans visit our store for the first time and I expect that many are already making plans to visit our store again.  
 
Our sponsors, Katz Coffee served our Black Vinyl Blend to the early birds who waited in line.  Our partner, The Saint Arnold Brewery provided delicious beverages to shoppers including their new music-themed Banger IPA.  Refreshing Topo Chico was available throughout the entire day.  We were able to offer great prizes including turntables, gift packages from Warner Records, and many, many concert tickets from Live Nation, House of Blues and 713 Music Hall including coveted tickets to Beck, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna and more.  Fans were especially excited to enter to win passes to a screening of Hi Fidelity with John Cusack.  We greatly value the support of these brands and their appreciation of RSD.
 
As a special gift to our customers on RSD, we created a high quality art print which features a record store themed drawing commissioned from our dear, departed friend, Gerard Baldwin.  Gerard was an artist at Jay Ward Studios and the director of Hannah Barbera during the studio's prime where he created The Flintstones, Captain Crunch and The Smurfs.  The image is also featured on this year's commemorative RSD shirt, is visible on our socials and will soon be available for sale on our site.  Fans were delighted to receive this unique piece which is framed with ease and we're certain that it will find a spot on their wall.
  
Some important details:
- RSD 2023 set a record of our highest volume day ever which is remarkable.  When compared with the combined sales from the RSD Drops of 2022, sales are flat. That is not remarkable.  It was somewhat disappointing considering the expected impact of this year's Taylor Swift sales. This is the second year with minimal or no growth and it would appear that the event has reached a plateau of sales at our store. This sales trend is out of step with our steady growth that we continue to see.
- We experienced severe allocations on many RSD products, more so than last year which was impactful.   We saw a greater percentage of sellouts than last year, including many more before noon and we often felt that we were unable to meet the demand for music lovers in Houston.  As Houston's flagship RSD store, we are stocking these titles for RSD followers throughout Houston and not just our customers.  We feel that the numbers produced on these products need to continue to increase to meet market demand which continues to surge dramatically as well as the added participating stores.
- Our overall sell through for the weekend was 80% of the stock that we purchased with the entirety of the remainder being underperforming titles.
 
RSD 2023 at our store was truly a celebration of record store culture and a wonderful time was had by all. 
We look forward to RSD2024,  Best only, Q 

The Record Exchange - Boise, ID

Wow.
 
We knew what to expect (Swifties), but we also did not know what to expect. Downtown Boise these days resembles one large construction site, and just in time for Record Store Day, both of the blocks adjacent to our corner lot were closed to vehicle traffic. We are literally surrounded by construction, and all of the street parking around the store, all of the convenient ways to reach us, are gone for the time being. Also, the forecast called for mid-30s overnight and a high of 58 during the day, a bit chillier than Boise is used to for RSD.
 
Thankfully, gratefully, our people still made it here. And by the time we were done with the line around 10:30am, exactly 433 customers had entered the store. And they just kept coming in. A typical RSD for us has started with a line of 200-250 that we get through by 9 or 9:30, followed by a bit of lull, then a steady afternoon. This year, the traffic just never stopped, and we ended the day up 52% over 2022, beating last year’s RSD total sales by 1pm and setting a new all-time store sales record in the process.
 
First in line got to the store at 9:15pm Friday – another new store record. And for the first time, we had legit tents set up outside the store. Several of these customers, of course, were here for Taylor Swift (which sold out before 2pm), but that wasn’t the only story of the day. The thirst and excitement for this year’s exclusives was evident, not only in the discussions we had with customers throughout the day but with our 87% sell-through rate, and the 170 sellouts by Monday morning (thanks in part to robust online sales Sunday). New vinyl overall accounted for 82% of our overall sales on Saturday. Wow again.
 
We started the weekend on Thursday with an in-store performance by Boise hardcore legends State of Confusion, who reunited for a weekend of shows and the reissue of their second and most well-known album. We also kicked off a few four-day sales running through Sunday, including 20%-25% off new turntables, 50% off new and used video and 20%-50% off select lifestyle items. We sold a ton of turntables, including some to young customers getting their first table. Saturday night, we held our first offsite RSD event, an after party at Spacebar Arcade (a downtown arcade bar) featuring five vinyl DJs, including three of our staffers.
 
Taylor aside, the fast-movers and hot titles included The 1975, Larry Lovestein, Stevie Nicks, Beach House, Pearl Jam, Miles Davis, The Cure, Grateful Dead, Sonnyjim, U2, Van Halen, Wilco and The Black Keys.
 
Allocations we really felt were The 1975, Sonnyjim, Wilco, The Black Keys, Bluey, the Donnas, Duran Duran, Orville Peck and the heinously under-pressed Macho Man Randy Savage.
 
Thank you to everyone involved in assembling one of the best RSD lists yet and to all of our reps and partners for a huge show of support leading up to our biggest event of the year.


Catherine Merrick, Glenn Newkirk, Chad Dryden and Erica Sparlin Dryden
Co-owners
The Record Exchange
owners@therecordexchange.com

Easy Street - Seattle, WA

Surprise! Taylor not #1. 
75lbs of bacon, 500 cups of coffee. Big ups to our longtime coffee partner Caffe Vita. We also had local legends Rainier Beer (“so good they named a mountain after it”) buying beers and throwing swag. 
 
Legendary photog Charles Peterson debuted his latest public showing in and around the shop and cafe. Iconic photos up close and personal …and for sale. Charles was on hand to say a few words about the exhibition. He’s a man of mystery and storied legend so was very cool to see him having a great time and mixing it up. 
 
This was officially our busiest day EVER ! Sunday went well too. No hiccups with online orders either, thank u Jon Berger and Chris at TRAK….and of course our staff picking, packing, and taking calls. We did 12% above our 2019 RSD, which had been our previous best. 
 
Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam made an appearance the day before and gave a look thru and unboxing of their RSD piece “Give Way”. Indie record store fan favorite and PJHQ Ten Club GM Tim Bierman got on the mic and thanked all for coming out and gave inside details about the release. 
 
We’ve had a spring Patio Sale going on out front with 10,000 used records & 7”ers, 5 for $10. We replenished for RSD and had fresh meat for the cratediggers. 
 
Can we talk The Rockfords? Many of u outside of the PNW might not know much about this one…and I wouldn’t blame u. This was a record that slipped out 20 years ago, a bit of a local supergroup. One and done record. It was a side project that Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) did after Mad Season and between his PJ releases “Yield” and “Binaural”. Local indie/riot/songstress Carrie Akre (Hammerbox/Goodness) joined up along w working musicians and Mike’s childhood friends/Shadow bandmates (pre-Pearl Jam) the Friel Brothers and Danny Newcomb. They had a local hit “Silver Lining” that was played on local rock stations throughout 2000-01. All members were busy with other projects so there was never a tour, only a couple shows…and never released on vinyl. 4 bonus tracks were added from a long lost EP. 
 
Gordon at Real Gone does such a great job with his pressings and packaging, another beautiful piece. Gordon used to run Collectors Choice. Much respect to him and Erik Freeman at AEC for believing in this piece and walking it up the RSD ladder.   
 
The Rockfords were scheduled to perform at 7pm. Not only did we have 400 ppl in line at 7am, but by 5pm…we had another 400 in line for The Rockfords. We closed up at midnight. Thanks everyone for all that u do. No duds. No scrubs. 
 
Instores from the previous week(s) helped get the word out too; Syml, Sandrider, Dave Hause, Waterparks, and Boygenius listening party. 
 
Staff killed it, Adam personally received every piece. Kevin had a beautiful Mudhoney window on display and a Metallica billboard up. Maria did a great job w our socials. Andy and the vinyl crew had killer rarities on display and got us lined up for the flow. Nate, Sophia had us ready to go. Mary kept us all in order. Café and bar was full throttle! See below. Staff was stellar! 
https://www.facebook.com/EasyStreetRecords/
https://www.instagram.com/easystreetrecords/

Park Ave - Orlando, FL

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/722030196157339
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parkavecds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParkAveCDs
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@parkavecds
 
MARKETING:
pacd newsletter/guide: https://conta.cc/40y6EQl
charitable contributions: Second Harvest Food Bank of CFL & FL Access Network
attached: screenshots & photos of event — bit.ly/RSD2023Photos
 
OVERALL SALES:
- RSD 2023: up 70% over RSD 2022
- RSD 2023: sell through: 72%
- Sunday: up 175% over 2022
- RSD Weekend Overall: up 104% over 2022
 
THUMBS UP & THUMBS DOWN: 
up: Our crew! Considering this was our biggest day in the history of the store, we couldn’t have asked more of them.
up: The RSD crew of Carrie, Michael, Andrea and Eric for the coordination and execution.
up: Our customers/supporters and the many brand new patrons of the shop.
down: The list prices continue to go up while the margin goes down.
 
titles we wish we had more of:  Macho Man Randy Savage, The 1975, Sonnyjim & Purist, Orville Peck, The Midnight, Art Blakey, The Black Keys, Duran Duran, Garbage, Joan Jett, Laufey, Stevie Nicks, Porcupine Tree, Violent Femmes
 
titles we thought would have done better:  Peppa Pig, Kittie, Sunn O))) & Boris, Galt MacDermot, Björk, Blur, David Byrne, Captain Beefheart, Jerry Garcia
 
Hello friends!
 
Hope everyone had a great weekend  :)
 
It seems that each Record Store Day only gets bigger and bigger, with more new faces and first-time vinyl buyers coming out in droves year after year. This RSD was no exception, and RSD 2023 proved to be an overwhelming success! Of course we anticipated big crowds with releases from Taylor Swift, The 1975, Pearl Jam, Beach House, Mac Miller, etc, but nothing could have prepared us for the amount of people that turned out this weekend.
 
The typical RSD Saturday keeps pretty busy with long lines until about 3-5pm, but this year we had a long line wrapping around the building until past 7pm. Just like with recent years, we utilized the same raffle/appointment system for early access reserved shopping times from 8am-1pm and then we opened to the general public from 1pm-11pm for walk-ups. Our customer base still prefers the reservation system where they shop via our PACDs RSD Menu, as it keeps wait times down. This year we increased the amount of reservations per time slot as we knew the overall demand was going to be higher. In the end we filled every reservation slot for a total of 600 people from 8am-1pm. Once everything got rolling, the reservations were working well for us, but at some point we really started to get busy and the line outside started to wrap around our plaza. When 1pm hit we had several hundred people waiting in line that continued around the plaza and into a local school parking lot — easily the longest line we’ve ever had in the history of PACDs. 
 
Meanwhile outside, from 8am to 2pm, we had some local businesses/vendors (Foundation Presents & Kick Bright Buttons & Vintage), food/coffee stands (Cholo Dogs & Totally Coffee) and voter registration (People Power For Florida) that setup in our parking lot. We also had our friends at Enemy Ink setup outside as well doing some live screen-printing for this year’s RSD 2023 t-shirt. This year’s limited RSD t-shirt, print and tote bag sales all raised money for the Florida Access Network, our local state organization that works to build pathways for abortion access by advocating for reproductive justice, funding abortion care, and providing logistical support. Thanks to everyone’s support we were able to raise $2,670 for FL Access Network! On top of that we held our annual food drive for our local food bank Second Harvest of CFL, with over 922+ lbs of food donated by the end of the day — significantly more donations than last year’s food drive. We also had a surprise visit from our local State Representative Anna Eskamani, who gifted the shop a commemorative plaque in tribute to Record Store Day and to all the independent record stores in our community. Such an awesome moment!
 
As always with the RSD exclusive release, there were several surprises as far as which titles sold out early and which titles were hardly touched  — all of which have been included in our wrap-up below. Taylor Swift, Larry Lovestein, Pearl Jam, Beach House, Maya Hawke, Bluey, Stevie Nicks, Wilco, The 1975, Grateful Dead and dodie were the some of the hottest titles of the day. Also, huge thank you to Carrie Colliton (RSD) and Dan Cohen (Nonesuch) for helping coordinate a last minute LP-venue-signing with Wilco for their RSD Exclusive 'Crosseyed Strangers: An Alternate Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ LP. It was already such a cool piece but that extra touch really got the fans excited for RSD and even surprised a few in the process.
 
Overall it was such an exhilarating (also exhausting) and unforgettable day! Thankfully we all got some rest before Sunday when we began selling RSD 2023 titles via our web-store for in-store pickup and mail orders. Just as with in-store sales, we saw a huge increase in online sales compared to last year, with sales overall for this RSD weekend besting our previous record by 104%. This was the easily the most financially successful RSD event + weekend we’ve had in all 16 years of participating. All that being said, we’re already looking for new ways we can improve the overall experience for our valued customers, neighbors and staff. 
 
As with every RSD, we can’t thank you all enough for everything you do for us and for all of indie retail! Special shoutout to Eric at AEC for treating the staff to some of our favorite local donuts — it kept everyone fueled up and smiling throughout the weekend! We’re already looking forward to the next event and we hope to see you at Music Biz, Summer Camp or in the bins soon :)
 
Thanks!
Josiah, Sandy & the entire PACDs crew

CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS: WEEK ENDING 4/6/23

in

Hi Everyone,
 
Here are the charts for the week.

Andrea 

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic

Cybotron
"Clear"
(Fantasy)
 

Russell Cothran - ThinkIndie Sales & Marketing
This week’s pick comes after a conversation on what came first… Chicago House or Detroit Techno? Growing up in Detroit, it was all about Juan Atkins, Derrick May, & Kevin Saunderson, sometimes known as The Belleville Three. So, going down the house/techno rabbit hole, I chose the 12” that started it all for me… Cybrotron’s “Clear.”  To this day, any time I spin this, people will get out of their seats & move!

CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS: WEEK ENDING 4/28/22

in

Happy Cinco de Mayo Everyone,
 
Next week marks the return of Music Biz in Nashville. We will have great attendance this year from our stores and Michael, Carrie, Luann and I will also be there as well to represent our three coalitions and Record Store Day. I am looking forward to finally seeing many of you in person for the first time in what feels like way too long!
 
Also, I want to congratulate three of our CIMS stores for being nominated this year for the Bizzy AwardsFrontline Innovator Award — For a retail store that showed exceptional inventiveness and ingenuity in their practices during the past year in their interactions with consumers.
 

  • Darkside Records (Poughkeepsie, NY)

  • Music Millennium (Portland, OR)

  • The Record Exchange (Boise, ID)

 
Congratulations to you all and best of luck.
 
See you next week in Nashville- be sure to say hi!
 
Here are the charts,
Andrea 

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic

CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS: WEEK ENDING 4/21/22 + RSD APRIL 2022

in

Hi Everyone,

Congrats to all on the success of Record Store Day! There were tons of great releases this year but also, it felt good to be able to return to the celebration of indie record stores that is the heart of Record Store Day. I have compiled many of our CIMS recaps below so lots of great stuff to read.

In other exciting news, I am thrilled to be working on one of my other favorite indie retail events… Record Store Day Summer Camp! The only conference especially for indie retail will be returning in person to our home away from home, New Orleans, LA in August. I am attaching a link to a survey that you may have also seen elsewhere, but if you are a store, a label, a distributor that is interested in being a part of this event, please take a few moments to fill out this super quick survey: http://bit.ly/RSDSUMMERCAMP2022

Okay now here is some happy RSD recap reading from our stores and of course the charts.

Andrea

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic

Music Millennium - Portland, OR

Hello Everyone -
Record Store Day 2022 was the 2nd best day in the history of Music Millennium. The 2nd best Record Store Day we ever had too.
When I arrived at 5:30 there were about 8-0 people in line. The first two arrived at 10am Friday morning. They both met in line during
RSD about 5 or 6 years back. One is more of a hippie and the other one more towards goth. They hit it off and make plans every year to
wait in line together…..the power of music. By the time we opened up at 8am, there were more than 250 music fans in line. The weather
was cool at about 50 degrees but clear of the rain we saw most of the week and the day warmed up to the mid 60’s.
We made 200 gift bags and handed then out in line before we opened. We also gave the first 300 a special Music Millennium poster that our
store artist Hayley Cassatt designed….it was a big hit as we had promoted it all week on social media. The Dogfish Brewing posters were well
received also. We gave away granola bars and coffee starting at 6:30 and let a few of those in line use our restrooms.
Hayley also painted this design on our front window with more detailed information.

With COVID at a low in the past 2 years, it felt more like a pre-COVID RSD. We let regulate the customers into the store a bit more than
we did pre-COVID, just to give it bit more space. Titles flew out the door and in the first two hours we did about 35 % of our day. Most asked
about title all week was from RSD Ambassador Taylor Swift. We received so many inquiries that we decided to message out that we would
have have an “Enter To Win” to get a chance to buy the single and get a Taylor Swift Ambassador button and the runner ups would each receive
a button while they last. They had all day to enter. We had somewhere between 150 and 200 entires. I can tell you that some of these fans had
never been to our store before. This morning I had a call from Hawaii looking for the single. I pretty much assured him that all the stores in
the country were out.

Our lines in the store started winding down 3 1/2 hours into the day but by that time, over 400 people had came into the store to shop. By noon
we were able to open the store to regular shopping. The afternoon and evening saw solid RSD shopping but it also saw many people just come in
to support us, buying non-RSD vinyl, CDs, DVDs snd lifestyle items. For those in the industry that may not know it, new CD sales are growing.
Younger people (15 to 25) are buying CDs. Some vinyl customers that have been hooked with physical goods are going with 2 formats due to the
supply chain issues, not wanting to wait for the vinyl to show up on the shelves again.And used CD sales are up due to the amount of new titles that
have been taken out of the catalog over the years. This would be a great time for labels to reconsider looking at their catalog titles that are out of print
or just available for MOD and reintroducing them into their catalog.
Our business was about 15% higher than RSD 2019, pre-COVID. We did not do any special events this year like we have all years pre-COVID.
Had all RSD titles made it for the 4/23 date instead of getting bumped to the 6/18 date, it would have been a record day. The titles that sold through
were a larger percentage than in previous years. Most were due to allocation but some, I did not order enough. Sell through rate was very good.

There were a number of tiles that did not perform as well as we would have thought like Blur, the two Bowie titles, Allman Brothers, Santana, Gojira
and Elton John but I think we will see some of those sell down this upcoming week.

Thanks to all of you that helped contribute to making this RSD a grand success. And to all of you that provided some fun items to put in our RSD
bags….big thanks. And to Michael, Carrie, Eric and Andrea, thanks to all four of you for your efforts throughout the year to make this day happen.
We know there is a lot of work to make this day possible and we really appreciate it. Love those Dark Horse RSD shirts!

Looney Tunes - West Babylon, NY

Good Morning,

WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!

Record Store Day was another tremendous success this year! We could not be happier.

We finished the day with one of the top 3 days in our 51 year history! WOW!

We started the day at 8am to about 4000+ people in line and the line did not stop for hours. We had our first customer line up at 7:30pm Friday night….What was the #1 record he wanted you ask?…The Wallows..Which we had 40 of and sold out right away.
We went down the line and gave out free bagels and coffee to everyone on line. We love our customers! It was so nice to see so many familiar faces.

Once the doors opened at 8am, it was crazy! People had their lists and were ready to shop! Some of the best sellers included…

Childish Gambino
Rex Orange County
The Wallows
The Doors
Joan Jett
The Cure
Bill Evans
Alice In Chains

Everyone was in great spirits though out the day!

This year we had our own beer made just for the occasion. With our friends at 27A Brewery, we made a Looney Tunes Lager! All the profits from the beer sales went to our favorite charity, Long Island Cares. Long Island Cares is an amazing organization that helps feed those in need on Long Island and was started by the great Harry Chapin. We are happy to announce we raised $428.

At 3pm, we had Larry Jaffe the author of RECORD STORE DAY the book do a cool Q & A and sign some autographs! We are happy to announce that we sold 70 books this weekend! Thank you Larry for coming by!

We also did some great sales on CDs and Turntables. Both did amazingly well. Remember guys CD SALES ARE UP ALSO!!!

For the Taylor Swift release we decided to give out drawing tickets. Every single person that wanted the Taylor release got a free ticket. There was not cost to enter. We collected names all day and then on Sunday drew winners. These people then came back Sunday to purchase the Taylor release. EVERYONE was really excited about how we chose to do this. It went super smooth, and it helped us draw in some fans that had never been to our store before!

We could not have had such an amazing day without some help. So here are our acceptance speech thank yous!!

Thank you to Andrea, Carrie, Michael and Eric for all your hard work on RSD. It's really amazing how much effort you put in on our behalf, and we could not be more grateful. Thank you to all the labels and distributors for putting out some great releases and helping us with our orders. Thanks to 27A for putting out a killer RSD beer for us! Thank you to Ken Glaser and Rob Jara for helping us with the largest single order in our history and making sure we received our product timely and in perfect shape! You guys rock! Alliance truly is a wonderful partner to all indie record stores.

And a very special thank you to our entire staff. Jamie and I can not thank you enough!! We love you guys.

OK WHOS READY FOR JUNE 18!!!!

We are very blessed!!
Karl Groeger
President

Record Archive - Rochester, NY

RSD APRIL 23 PART 1

Greetings! Our first person in line arrived at midnight! He was patiently waiting for Allman Bros & Grateful Dead! We handed out numbers at 8:30am and by the time the store opened at 9 am there were 200+ shoppers!

We marked the 15th anniversary of RSD with free cookies (see pics) & coffee for the morning gatherers-- then free hots at noon! Zweigles of course (staying local) perfectly grilled by The man, the myth, Dick Storms the Record Man!I

Live music by Thurlow and John Payton Project kept the party going right up until our closing time of 7 pm. The best DJ in the land Dino Kay from Fickle 93.3 kept the crowd informed of all the happenings. Our popular “ prize wheel’ always had a line for a free spin to win a Dogfish Head poster, or Taylor Swift pin!
Patrons, ate & drink their way through the bins of used $1 records and the bounty of limited RSD titles.
Best sellers included:
Childish Gambino
Taylor Swift
Cure
Offspring
Joni Mitchell
Replacements
Future
U2
Allman Brothers
Voivod
Lumineers

We were pleasantly surprised with a 13% increase over the first RSD last year on June 12, 2021.

“So nice so nice let’s do it twice” is our motto for June 18th. Mark your calendars as Record Archive will once again throw another incredible RSD Celebration!

Many thanks to everyone once again who made this possible!
From the artists themselves who see the value of the independent record store, to the brain trust of RSD (Carrie, Michael, Eric & Andrea) to our marvelous musicians, remarkable staff, and especially our loyal patrons--- thank you, thank you thank you!
Cheers~
Alayna

Park Ave CDs - Orlando, FL

Wrap-Up: Record Store Day 2022 @Park Ave CDs

event: Record Store Day 2022 @Park Ave CDs
dates: Saturday, April 23rd 2022
location: Park Ave CDs, 2916 Corrine Dr, Orlando, Fl, 32803
sales reporting: MRC
event marketing: social media, pacd newsletter, local media, app

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/451117846501765
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parkavecds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParkAveCDs
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@parkavecds

MARKETING:
pacd newsletter/guide: https://conta.cc/3vGqtaV
charitable contributions: Second Harvest Food Bank of CFL & One Heart For Women & Children
attached: screenshots, video, photos of event — Facebook Photo Album
🎥 TAYLOR SWIFT LOTTERY - Highlight Reel
🎥 RSD 2022 Highlight Reel

OVERALL SALES:
- RSD 2022: up 12% over 2021 Drops
- Sell through: 70%
- Sunday: up 15% over 2021 Drops

THUMBS UP & THUMBS DOWN:
up: Our crew! Especially considering this was the first proper RSD event most of our newer staff had experienced/worked.
up: The RSD crew of Carrie, Michael, Andrea and Eric for the coordination and execution.
up: Our customers and supporters.
up: Our Taylor Swift Lottery was a blast, went smoothly, and no one cried (sad tears)!
down: The list prices continue to go up while the margin goes down.

titles we wish we had more of: Bell Bit Devoe, Charles Mingus, Cold War Kids, Glass Animals, Joss Stone, Kittie, Muffs, Opeth, Rick Astley, Taylor Swift

titles we thought would have done better: Alice in Chains, Allman Bros, Czarface, Dillinger Escape Plan, Donna Summer, Elton John, Erasure, Everlast, Rockabye Marvin Gaye, Sepultura, Weyes Blood

SUMMARY:

Hello friends!

Hope everyone had a fun and eventful RSD weekend!

PACDs is happy to announce that RSD 2022 was a success! Like most, this was our first attempt at pulling off all the bells and whistles of RSDs past. Not since COVID have we brought in vendors, food trucks, charities, etc. and we couldn’t wait to bring back some of those outdoor festivities that make the day that much more exciting and memorable.

Overall Saturday was BUSY from 8am-11pm. Just like with the RSD Drops we utilized the same raffle/appointment system for early access time slots from 8am-1pm and then we opened to the general public from 1pm-11pm. Our customer base prefers the reservation system as do we. Customers simply brought their PACDs’ RSD 2022 Menu filled out and then we check them in while the staff grabs everything on their list. This system continues to work well for us, but we did experience a slight delay when we had quite a few longer lists in the early morning hours. When 1pm hit we had a pretty good amount of walk-up shoppers lined up and ready to get in. The line thankfully never grew too long and that kept everyone’s wait times down.

With our RSD 2022 shopping time slot reservations being completely booked from 8am-1pm, we had about over 370+ people that showed up with their menus in hand, and then at 1pm we began taking walk-up RSD shoppers. We were really happy with the turnout and only had a few no-shows throughout the day. Leading up to RSD we made sure to communicate to our customer base that a good number of titles had been bumped to the RSD June Drop date or TBA. This helped us effectively remove anyone from the reserved shopping times that might have only wanted one of the June titles.

During the early part of the day, 8am-2pm, we had some local businesses/vendors (WPRK, Foundation Presents, Orlando Girl’s Rock Camp, Kick Bright Buttons & Vintage) and food/coffee stands (Cholo Dogs & Totally Coffee) that setup in our parking lot. We were also excited to invite back our friends at Enemy Ink to do some live screen-printed shirts and posters! On top of all of that we held our annual food drive for our local food bank Second Harvest of CFL.

At 5pm we began checking in folks for our free-to-enter Taylor Swift Lottery that was scheduled for a 6pm start time. We ended up having to push things back due to the overwhelming number of Swifities that showed up! By the time we started the line extended all the way to the other end of our plaza, with about 200-250 fans eagerly waiting for their chance to win. We also had local charity One Heart For Women & Children on site accepting used clothing, belts, shoes and other donations. As the Swift fans waited in line we handed out some free Taylor Swift stickers and let them know we would have to shift our plan from inside to outside for the drawings. It ended up working out really well and all the fans were patient throughout the entire process. As we selected our winners, we witnessed a range of emotions and reactions from the fans — with many screaming, jumping, crying or all of the above! The winners from each separate drawing had the chance to purchase either the Taylor Swift ’the lakes’ 7” or the ‘Portraits Of Her’ compilation. After we selected winners for both sets of drawings we let everyone know we’d now move to giving away the Taylor Swift RSD Badges/Buttons. During this whole process we took a few opportunities to converse with the crowd and also educate them on RSD, Taylor Swift’s relationship with indie record stores and why we celebrate this special day!

As always, there were several surprises as far as which titles sold out early and which titles were hardly touched — all of which have been included in our wrap-up below. Childish Gambino, Wallows, Foo Fighters, Rex Orange County, Mariah Carey, Sara Bareilles, and Red Hot Chili Peppers were the some of the hottest titles of the day.

Overall it was a fun day for everyone involved and we were so excited to celebrate a proper “Record Store Day” this year! The one thing I’m sure we were all nervous about was how the Taylor Swift lottery might go, but we were more than happy with how the event went. Also, sales overall for this RSD weekend bested our previous record set in 2019! This was the most financially successful RSD event we’ve had in all 15 years, and the vibe and spirit of this event was on par with the best of them. The following morning we kept the ball rolling with our online sales starting at 8am.

As always, thank you so much for everything you’ve done to help us and all the indie stores this year! We look forward to the RSD June Drop and we hope to see you all soon at Summer Camp!

Thanks!
- Josiah, Sandy & the entire PACDs crew

Easy Street - Seattle, WA

I still get a little nervous pulling up to the store. When u have $100k+ investment going into these, u tend to second guess yourself. It’s the ultimate music gamble and your throwing everything u got at it. I didn’t expect to be at the store til 1 am the night before. I forgot what a full RSD looked like. Needed double the space. No shipping issues, whew. Other than Taylor, we felt pretty good about our fill and even the allocations. We usually have 3 registers going at the front counter, but we couldn’t get the third one to fire up. Slowed us up a bit, but we made up for it by giving items away in line and getting on the mic talking up titles. Also, our cocktail bar and café helped picked up some of the slack.

With this being our first RSD in 2+ years without a mask mandate, it removed some of the safety concerns and protocol we’ve been adhering to. A lil more stress free! Our best RSD was back in 2019, we were 25% down from that, but that was also a very NW driven RSD. This was our best one since then however.

Twist & Shout - Denver, CO

Twist & Shout’s RSD 2022 Recap & Top Sellers
I’ve been here for every single Record Store Day (with only one actually landing on my actual birthday – until 2024, probably), but this was my first as the store’s owner and it was a great one – good, enthusiastic crowd, the weather was agreeable (if a bit windy and not exactly warm), and despite all the chaos that goes into making RSD happen, we got at least a little of everything we requested. Things went as smoothly as we could have hoped – helps that I have a very practiced crew to make it all work, and all thanks are due to them for making it run the way it did! Also, some special thanks need to be given to AEG for bringing bagels to the hungry crowd, Thump Coffee and Blue Pan Pizza for caffeinating and feeding our hungry crew, and to former Twister Frankie Brack for his fantastic psychedelic poster art!

We had our first fans in line here before opening on Friday – a couple of friends who drove down from Laramie Wyoming to make sure they would get their T. Swift singles! – and by the time we closed Friday it was eight people. But by 6 in the morning when I got here, the line was well over a hundred and was halfway around the building, which felt like a normal Record Store Day to me. Swift and Black Pumas were among the first titles to go, but as of today we’re sold out of almost exactly half the titles we brought in. Top sellers were: Foo Fighters, Childish Gambino, Grateful Dead, The Cure, and a tie for 5th between Joni Mitchell and Stevie Nicks. Many of our jazz releases sold out completely on Saturday – both Bill Evans releases, Art Pepper, Mingus – all were gone by midday, which alongside all the high profile rock/pop, hip-hop, and other releases just speaks to the diversity of the folks who will show up for RSD if interesting titles are there.

We had a very strong day, coming in at about 81% of the high-water mark that was 2019’s single-day total (or 72% of 2021’s combined total; and we beat all three 2020 RSD Drops dates combined) – but we still have the June RSD Drops date yet to come and I fully expect to beat both 2019 and 2021’s totals when that date is added in, especially given the number of folks who asked for June titles this past Saturday.

Going forward, it would be great to return to a one-day spring event and a Black Friday event – too many different events dilutes the message of Record Store Day and is confusing for customers (as evidenced by the folks standing in line for June titles, even ones that had been announced as June titles from the get-go), and titles that get delayed could easily be rolled over either to Black Friday or simply to RSD Essentials Friday releases. I love RSD and understand the need for maximizing its potential, but as an event, it’s best to keep it as direct and simple as possible. Use the branding for other purposes, definitely, but I still think one in April and one in November is the best system we’ve hit on – no need to fix what ain’t broken.

-Patrick Brown

Record Exchange - Boise, ID

How nice it was to have a party again – and set a couple of records in the process.

First in line for the first April Record Store Day at The Record Exchange in three years was 11:44pm Friday. The customer went to the Soft Kill show next door at Neurolux, then walked about 100 feet to our entrance and unfolded a canvas chair in the chilly night air (Boise dipped into the 30s overnight). The same customer set our previous record of 2am on Black Friday 2021. He was one of 200+ customers who filtered through the store by 9am on RSD Saturday, helping us on the way to a new one-day sales record, eclipsing the previous record we set on RSD 2019 by 10%. New vinyl accounted for a whopping 83% of our overall sales on Saturday (compared to 74% in 2019).

The Swifties were among those who showed up in full force on Saturday to enter our drawing to win a chance to purchase the coveted Taylor Swift exclusive. We messaged the drawing – in-store only on RSD, free to enter, one entry per customer – about a week before Record Store Day and only had two vocal complaints on socials. The fans we interacted with on Saturday were friendly and understanding, and it appears that most of our winners were true fans and not flippers. All of which was a relief.

Overall, the vibe was fun and festive, a return to the RSD energy that filled the store in the Before Times. A big part of this was the live music. We hosted two in-stores – a Thursday RSD weekend kickoff with a Boise band (Distant Family) celebrating a vinyl release, and an intimate Sunday after-hours performance by Curtis Stigers, whose new album “This Life” was released earlier this year during the winter Covid surge. We packed the store with 200 masked Stigers fans, all of whom purchased the album to receive a wristband to the show. Out on the sidewalk Saturday, we put up our canopy tent and welcomed back Boise musicians to entertain customers throughout the sunny, 60-degree day. Radio Boise, a nonprofit community FM station, had a table outside as part of its spring fund drive. Our local craft beer partner Woodland Empire Ale Craft once again offered $1 off pints with RSD receipt.

Taylor aside, there was a lot of excitement for both familiar RSD faces (the Cure, the Doors, the Stones, Grateful Dead, Alice in Chains, etc.) and new ones (Childish Gambino, Rex Orange County, Wallows). We noticed a lot more younger fans this year and it was nice to see so many releases geared toward their tastes. Sell-through was 65%, with 125 sellouts among the 266 titles we had in stock at the start of the day.

Allocations we really felt were Glass Animals (we got 2), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bell Biv Devoe, Kittie, The Damned, Opeth, Charles Mingus, Bill Evans, Wipers, Rick Astley and the Lumineers. The only big swing and miss on our end was under-ordering the Ramones box set.

Below you will find our Top 50 exclusive sellers and some photos from the day. Thank you to all of our reps, partners, CIMS staff and RSD crew for getting behind Record Store Day’s big return and providing months of support leading up to our stores’ key annual event. We’re already looking forward to June.

Thank you,
Chad Dryden
Co-owner / Marketing Director

Cactus Music - Houston, TX

Hello all,

Here's our wrap-up for RSD 2022 which we consider a great success for many reasons. Most noteworthy is that, with this year's RSD we feel that we have taken a great step in restoring our RSD celebration to a pre-pandemic level. We genuinely hope that other shops experienced the same.

We decided to continue our tickets for line reservations which began with the first drop of 2020. Customers have grown accustomed to this method and it keeps anxiety to a minimum as record fans have a sense of when to arrive, what their place in line will be and tempered expectations for opportunities to purchase coveted items. Safety is a concern and our system doesn't allow for camping overnight. We opened at our usual time which is 10am and had an enthusiastic crowd of 500 or so lined up and escorted to the RSD product table in 25 person segments. Many enjoyed the Black Vinyl Blend coffee provided by our sponsor, Katz Coffee. We feel that it is important to keep our store shoppable for the many customers and new visitors who want to have an experience on RSD. Our orderly and manageable line in the store lets us create the best possible experience and to set the hook for new visitors. Once again, we saw strong afternoon traffic and sales that almost equal the morning hours as customers who visited other stores searched for items that they missed.

With the metrics for Covid 19 plummeting to unprecedented levels in our county, we were able to host our first in-store performance in over two years. Strolling Bones recording artist, Tody Castillo, performed a full set with his band to the delight of our customers. With his two previous self-released titles, Tody is one of our best selling local / regional artists ever and his superb new album, Old Rodriguez is on track to continue that trend. With 120 ish in attendance, it felt like old times.

Our raffle for the Taylor Swift 7"s raised $2750 for The Way Home Adoption which serves children in Houston who are aging out of the foster system. They are an amazing charity that helps children 11-17 with what could be their last chance to find a family and it is a cause that is close to our hearts. We picked names live at 8pm and the winners were positively over-the-moon about their prize. Presenting an opportunity for Swifties to do a good deed was effective in helping to diffuse the panic/anxiety bomb that had been ticking for weeks and we all relieved and pleased at how it turned out.

Some important details:
- Sales were up 2% from 2019 and it was our highest volume day ever. It is important to note that, while this is a remarkable benchmark, it is not in line with our steady growth that we are currently seeing.
- We experienced painful and severe allocations on many RSD products. With an unprecedented number of sellouts, including many before noon, we were unable to meet the demand for music lovers in Houston. As Houston's flagship RSD store, we are stocking these titles for RSD followers throughout Houston and not just our customers. We only order what we think we can sell at our store during RSD. We feel that the numbers produced on these products need to increase to meet market demand which has surged dramatically in the last three years.
- Our overall sell through for the weekend was 70% of the pieces that we purchased.

Thanks to everyone who helped us schedule in-stores, provided us with marketing funds, giveaways, enter-to-win prizes and other cool stuff. Your support is and was greatly appreciated. We look forward to another RSD in June.

Best only, Q

Streetlight Records - San Jose and Santa Cruz, CA

Greetings, Everyone--

We’re finally coming up for air after one heck of a great RSD! Both Streetlight locations had great sales and lots of happy customers, including some ecstatic Swifties. We had a lot of positive feedback from the customers and staff alike. The energy in the stores was electric and this one goes down in the books as a big win!

Our San Jose store had its best day ever in Streetlight’s 45-year history, up more than 10% over RSD 2019, which was the previous record holder. San Jose’s first day sell-through on the exclusives was 82%. We kept our appointment system in place from the Covid years, at the request of the customers. Over 200 confirmed appointments this year, with a very low no-show rate, plus about 60 more waiting in line for the completion of the appointments. We did a drawing for the opportunity to purchase the Taylor Swift 7”, which ended up working out well.

Our Santa Cruz location also had a stellar sales day. We went back to the old overnight line-up system and the dedicated Swifties were out in numbers! First day sell-through on exclusives was 60%.

Many, many thanks to all our partners for making this happen. A lot of people all over the country worked hard to make this happen and your efforts really paid off!

--Paige

The Long Ear - Coeur d'Alene, ID

Here's our recap against RSD #1 2021

Total Sales +49%
Vinyl +50&
CD sales +42%
Plus profit +29%
Customers +43%
Sell through (titles only, not pieces) 61%
Slow sellers:
Coolio
Alice Cooper
Golden Smog
Handsome Boy Modeling
Lil' Wayne
Rolling Stones-Hot Rocks#2

Top Sellers
Taylor Swift
Alice In Chains
Wallows
Childish Gambino
Offspring
Mariah Carey
Willie Nelson
Kirk Hammet
Foo Fighters
Lou Reed
Pixies
Rex Orange County
Cranberries
Joni Mitchell
Devo
Replacements
Stevie Nicks
Kacey Musgraves
Voivod
Everlast
Art Pepper

Thanks for your continuing efforts for our success,
Terry

Waterloo Records - Austin, TX

Greetings!

Record Store Day 2022 at Waterloo Records was great! We had ~200 folks
lined up around the block for our 3hr early opening at 7am. Then by
8am when we were able to get everyone inside the store, our first
hour's total was 305 music lovers, with yet another 100 folks inside
by 9am! The first 2 guys in line showed up at 12;30am and 1:30am. The
skies were clear and the weather was moderate, with just a touch of
humidity.

The first 50 shoppers got free Waterloo drawstring backpacks, while
the first 8 folks topping a $200 purchase, scored 1 of our 8 RSD22
cloth bags. All of the other RSD swag + free Rambler sparkling waters
were available as folks exited the store, with the exception of the
Taylor Swift buttons, which myself and 2 others here selectively
handed one out to obvious 'Swiftys'. On the subject of Taylor, we held
a free raffle entry from 7am-7pm to win the opportunity to purchase
the ambassador's Lakes 7'. Nearly 700 folks entered the TS drawing,
and the winners were all ecstatic.

Our RSD sales this year were 2.5% higher than our pre-Covid 2019 RSD
sales, which made it the 2nd best sales volume day of our store's 40
yr history! RSD 2018 still holds the #1 slot, but there were ~200 more
titles that year, and when we add in the expected sales from the
upcoming June 18th drop, we expect 2022 to take the top sales volume
event Hrown.

On Sunday we listed most remaining titles for purchase online through
our Broadtime website,and made 60+ RSD sales to our customers far and
wide.

Big thanks go out to everyone again that made this day happen: the
artists, managers, labels, distributors, one-stops, sponsors, 1400
indie record stores, Carrie, Andrea, Michael, Eric and of
course the very talented crew here at Waterloo Records!

Plan 9 - Richmond, VA

Wow, it really felt like we'd gone back in time a little for this RSD. The vibe was more like years past- early arrivers, long line, really good vibe, plus the addition of some enthusiastic first timers!

Gave away a pile of concert tickets to many of those in line thanks to our local venues. With a few exceptions, we felt pretty good about our fill. Sell through about 70% as of Monday.

And finally, it was our best single RSD $ ever!

Top sellers include Grateful Dead, Childish Gambino, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, Replacements, Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift.
Thanks to all the movers and shakers who made this possible!!

Jim

Electric Fetus - Minneapolis, MN

Electric Fetus April RSD Recap

RSD 2022 was the third biggest day ever for our music department! Our biggest was RSD 2018 when there were multiple Prince titles/events that made the store insanely busy.
Something new we offered for this year’s RSD were over 600 signed records from: (Huge credit to JIm Novak for this idea and planning it)

  • Animal Collective

  • Atmosphere

  • Bonobo

  • Cactus Blossoms

  • Hippo Campus

  • Hurray for the Riff Raff

  • Charlie Parr

  • Royal Blood

  • Dave Mason

  • Snail Mail

  • Soul Asylum

  • Spoon

  • Adia Victoria

  • The Wombats

  • Hatchie - Giving the World Away packaged with an autographed poster

  • Sting - The Bridge packaged with an autographed Las Vegas postcard

I cannot overstate how hugely successful this was—500 signed records sold in two days--AMAZING!
For this one we organized this more similar to pre-COVID RSD:

  • Food truck in front of the store for the lunch hours

  • DJs and bands from 10:30-5

  • Goodie bags to first customers in line

  • “Special” used records in the used/collectables sections

We did have a separate line for RSD titles in the back of the store, and kept all RSD in our garage to help with traffic flow—I think it helped a bunch and we’ll probably keep RSD separate going forward.
#1 in the RSD line arrived around 2pm on Friday, and we had some pretty gnarly weather overnight—thunderstorms and high winds—yuck. When I got to the store a little after 7am we had two lines—roughly 100 in the RSD line around the back of the store and almost that many in front to get a crack at the aforementioned signed records and special used ones. By 4:00pm we handed out 750 numbers for people in line for the RSD titles in our garage. Customers could ring out at a till we set up in the garage or continue through the back door to enter the main store and ring out there.
We got the word out on our social media earlier in the week that the Taylor Swift 7” single would not be for sale on Saturday. Instead, anyone who wanted to buy one could enter a drawing in person at the store and we would draw names on Monday. Winners could then buy one copy.
Overall fill on our RSD orders was right around 90%--pretty normal. Everything arrived on time with only a few damages—pleased with logistics this time around.
Sell-through was also pretty in-line with historical at around 75%.
Huge thank you to AMPED who made enough Childish Gambino to cover demand for this title. We are noticing younger and younger customers joining the RSD fray. Lots of “kids” buying Childish and Wallows, then grumbling that we were out of Rex OC, Glass Animals and Future. Even with the grumbling I love to see new people coming to the store! Please keep offering up titles for younger customers—it’s not all old white dudes anymore—really!
Wish we ordered more:

  • Cranberries

  • Alice in Chains

  • Joni Mitchell

  • Wallows

  • Future

Really wish we weren’t cut on: (these sold out in less than an hour)

  • Art Pepper

  • Blue Velvet

  • Glass Animals

  • Kittie

  • Rex Orange County

Really didn’t need all we ordered/got on:

  • The Doors

  • Kirk Hammett

  • Echo & the Bunnymen

It’ll be really interesting to see how June does for us—we are definitely excited for Prince!
Please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for helping support our biggest day of the year (and third biggest EVER)!

Aaron Meyering

Homers - Omaha, NE

Homers RSD 2022 recap

Our 2nd best day ever. 2nd to RSD 2019
weekend was just slightly down from RSD 2019 weekend
It took almost 3 hours to get everyone into the store
yet all customers were pleasant and patient

Our biggest and earliest line ever. We served donuts, coffee and breakfast burritos
to those waiting in line. We created a line just for Taylor Swift
and we think we accomplished getting those pieces into the hands of
fans and not flippers.

Sell-through was very high compared to the last couple years. About 65% on
Saturday and 75% as off Tuesday a.m.. Sold amazing numbers on
Childish and Wallows. Jazz and hip hop continue to out-perform. Some heritage
artists that always have a piece each year should consider taking a break
to re-ignite demand

Placed substantial reorders with One Stops on Monday

-Mike Fratt/Homers

CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS: WEEK ENDING 4/7/22

in

Hi everyone,

This week I wanted to call out a very special upcoming event for one of our stores, Indy CD and Vinyl, located in Indianapolis Indiana. Not only will they be celebrating 15 years of Record Store Day next weekend, Indy CD and Vinyl will also be hitting an important anniversary of their own, their 20thanniversary!

This week I am turning over the chart message to co-owner Andy Skinner to talk about what they have planned and a special request:

Hello everyone! Well, holy crap, Indy CD & Vinyl is turning 20 years old this year! At Summer Camp 2023 you can legally buy the shop a beer, right?

For our 20th Anniversary, Indy CD & Vinyl has spent this Spring pushing a big marketing campaign to spread the news, with iconic new logos and promoting a day-after-RSD outdoor festival complete with live music, beer garden, food hall, vendors, the whole nine to thank our local community for the two decades of support. One of the ways we have begun to celebrate is by posting to our social media accounts short videos of musicians and bands giving us quick video shout-outs for the occasion!

We would love it if you could also help us commemorate the achievement of twenty years in physical retail in Indianapolis by sending us some Cameo-style videos we can put on our social media of you congratulating us on 20 years in business. Stores: feel free to send us a store-to-store shout-out! Labels: if you have artists you think would be interested and/or have high-priority releases, please reach out and ask them to give us a shout! If you are looking for examples, check out our @indycdandvinyl Instagram page, we've run videos of Nada Surf, A Place To Bury Strangers, Quicksand, and more. The staff at the shop thanks you in advance for the help! See you at Summer Camp!

All best,
Andy Skinner (he/him)

Co-Owner
Indy CD & Vinyl: Central Indiana's Largest Independent Record Store
806 Broad Ripple Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46220 (317) 259-1012
web: indycdandvinyl.com | discogs | ebay
Winner of "Best Record Store" in Indianapolis Star's Best Things Poll,
NUVO's Best Of Indy Reader's Poll, and CityVoter's A-List Poll!
Celebrating 20 years in Indianapolis during 2022!


Congrats to Annie and Andy and the Indy CD and Vinyl team on 20 years of indie retail!


Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic

CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS: WEEK ENDING 4/29/21

in

Hi Everyone,

I hope this chart finds you well. Speaking of, this week I wanted to call attention to an upcoming Music Biz event- “Mind Your Health”. This event will be a panel and keynote discussion about our industry’s approach to mental health and wellness. I think it is safe to say that this past year has been mentally and emotionally challenging for us all, so I want to commend Music Biz for putting together this event and calling attention to this ever-important topic.

I am also delighted to say that we will have some CIMS representation for this event, as our very own Paige Brodsky of Streetlight Records will be one of the contributing panelists. Paige, thank you for being a part of this discussion. It is definitely a conversation that we need to continue to have. I am including the details below, so I hope some of you can be a part of this event.

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Take care of yourselves out there,
Andrea

Here are the charts.

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic




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CIMS WEEKLY CHARTS: WEEK ENDING 4/1/21

in

Hey everyone,

Here are the charts for the week.

Andrea

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic

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Clark Playground In A Lake (Deutsche Gramaphone) Nick Campbell - ThinkIndie Warehouse Manager I’ve been waiting quite a while for this album to drop, and it has not disappointed. The aesthetic of the album definitely leans more heavily towards clas…

Clark
Playground In A Lake
(Deutsche Gramaphone)

Nick Campbell - ThinkIndie Warehouse Manager
I’ve been waiting quite a while for this album to drop, and it has not disappointed. The aesthetic of the album definitely leans more heavily towards classical than electronic, but it’s very much in line with both Clark’s early albums in the latter genre and leads naturally from his last few albums of film and television score work. The initial singles “Small” and “Lambent Rag” flit between the darker, melancholic tones and playful experimentation that I love about Clark and other artists working similar territory, so I’m very happy with how this album’s turned out.

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CIMS WEEKLY CHART: WEEK ENDING 4/23/20

in

Hi Everyone,
 
Last week marked the loss of Prince Rodgers Nelson: the man, the myth, the legend, and let’s certainly not forget, the symbol. It was also the release of Around the World in a Day. His impact and influence on music are immeasurable. Personally, he is one of the first musicians I remember listening to their albums, and really having that album experience.
 
I should have probably touched on this last week, however- this is the chart for the week ending 4/24, so I felt this was a better fit. Prince’s Around the World in a Day would make its debut to the world on 4/22/85, and if this were 1985, I am sure it would be sitting right at the top of our charts.
 
He was one of my mom’s favorite artists, and we had a thing…anytime a new Prince record was released, we always went on street date to buy it. That was immediately followed by a trip for some ice cream or a milkshake. Then, we listened. My mom would drive us around and we would listen to the entire album front to back before we went home… and if it was really good, we would go for another spin. It was our ritual, and probably my absolute favorite memory of my mother. Still to this day, if I really want to take in an album, I want to drive around and listen to it first.
 
When I heard Around the World in a Day, I went crazy for it. I had never heard anything like it. Prince had created his own Magical Mystery Tour and I was obsessed. In fact, I listened to it so much, my mom eventually had to return to go buy her own copy because I wouldn’t give it up.
 
Here is the funny thing; I was WAY too young to be listening to Prince! I am still not sure what my mother was thinking giving that record to a first-grader. I guess we will just have to blame the 80’s for that. But this week, I am thankful to Prince for the music he shared with the world. I am also eternally grateful to my mother for always encouraging me to discover and challenge myself with music, and of course for corrupting that young mind with the sounds of Prince!
 
Here are the charts,
Andrea


Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
cimsmusic.com
#cimsmusic

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Prince Around the World in a Day (Paisley Park/Warner Bros.)  Andrea Paschal - CIMS/ThinkIndie Executive Director Obviously. 

Prince
Around the World in a Day
(Paisley Park/Warner Bros.)
 

Andrea Paschal - CIMS/ThinkIndie Executive Director
Obviously. 

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