Record Store Day is this weekend, and Nebraska’s locally-owned shops are gearing up for one of their biggest days of the year.
Record Store Day started in 2008, after a group of independent record store owners and employees got together as a means of celebrating and spreading the word that record stores still exist. At that point, vinyl sales were at an all-time low.
Since then, vinyl sales have risen and are now estimated to make up 8% of music sales, second only to streaming, which makes up a whopping 84% of music sales, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
MarQ Manner, the manager at Homer’s Music in Omaha, said record store day has widened its customer appeal since 2008.
“When Record Store Day first started, I feel like it was geared more towards, you know, people that were considered the traditional record store, people of that era,” Manner said. “But now it’s so many young people are into physical media again, and there’s so much happening musically in youth culture…it’s given it a whole other life”
Manner said that Record Store Day came at a good time.
“Record Store Day kind of saved a lot of, you know, record stores. I mean, there’s just no way around it,” Manner said. “But you know now things are good, but we do count on that as part of our yearly business, and we do need for it to be successful.”
The boost in sales is especially valuable to newer record stores.
“The month leading up to Record Store Day, we get just pretty much inundated with either requests or inquiries as to what we’re getting,” said Lane Schlueter, an employee at Lincoln’s First Day Vinyl.
She said she has seen more and more people who are not collectors of vinyl records show up for Record Store Day.
“Part of the reason that is, is that bigger artists, like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Gracie Abrams, that kind of crew of people has started to do Record Store Day releases,” Schlueter said. “So they’re normal fans that wouldn’t as much be into vinyl will come because they know it’s an exclusive title, and they know it’s something they can only get from an independent record store on the day.”
Manner said he expects to see people start lining up at 2 p.m. Friday afternoon, while Schlueter said First Day Vinyl is receiving calls and questions about camping out overnight.
“It’s a celebration of a hobby that we all love, and it’s a time that you get to show affection for your favorite independent stores,” Schlueter said. “It’s tough economically this year, but, you know, we’re all supporting each other. We’re all here for the same reason. Yeah, it’s just very meaningful to see that many people show up for us.”