Record Store Day releases statement clarifying Vinyl Tuesday

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Tuesday is not the new Record Store Day.

Last week the American Association of Independent Music announced that the folks behind Record Store Day were launching a new initiative called Vinyl Tuesday, a weekly celebration of vinyl releases based around special editions, catalogue reissues and pretty much everything else that Record Store Day has become famous for.

With releases stocked every Tuesday at independent retailers, the temptation to proclaim that Record Store Day would now happen weekly rather than yearly has moved organisers to clarify the event, releasing a statement stating definitely that “Record Store Day is not “about to go weekly”.”

Rather, Vinyl Tuesday is an attempt to reclaim Tuesdays as a global release date for physical music in response to the industry’s recent decision to set a global street date for Friday, due to come into effect on July 10.

The statement continues: “Vinyl Tuesday is a way for us to encourage artists, labels, distributors and managers to continue to release physical music on Tuesdays when they can. This allows physical retailers to have something fresh to sell and to talk about during the week, and lets those releases not just get lost on the increasingly crowded Friday/weekend.”

They also say that Record Store Day-style exclusives will not be planned every week, although some will be available throughout the year, but rather hope that Vinyl Tuesday will encourage labels to release vinyl editions on Tuesdays, even if the CD or download versions have already hit the shelves. Record Store Day will remain an annual event, taking place on the third Saturday of April.

You can read RSD’s statement in full below:

Despite what you may have read on blog and website posts with inaccurate headlines, Record Store Day is not “about to go weekly”. Record Store Day, the third Saturday in April, is and will remain a special celebration of the independent record store, with limited edition, exclusive releases on vinyl, CD and other formats as one part of that party. Record Store Day, the organization of volunteers who work year-round to spread the word about indie record stores, will continue to do just that, and one way is with what we’re calling Vinyl Tuesday. (Yes, we gave it a name because a name and logo go a long way towards getting things publicized in this world we live in).



Recently, a group of people, mostly outside the US, decided that physical music releases would start coming on Fridays, globally. (For the record, a global streetdate makes sense, but for a lot of valid reasons, which were outlined to this group, many retailers and others affected by this think Friday is the wrong day.) Vinyl Tuesday is a way for us to encourage artists, labels, distributors and managers to continue to release physical music on Tuesdays when they can. This allows physical retailers to have something fresh to sell and to talk about during the week, and lets those releases not just get lost on the increasingly crowded Friday/weekend.



To clarify: we are not planning on having limited edition exclusives created every Tuesday. We are working to have titles continue to be released on Tuesday when they can be. (Lots of those titles are already scheduled to come out, now they’ll just come on a Tuesday.) One Vinyl Tuesday may see a reissue that was already in the works being given a Tuesday streetdate. An album whose CD component has already come out might see its vinyl coming on a Vinyl Tuesday. There will be some indie exclusive titles, of course, because those already exist throughout the year, but a lot of Vinyl Tuesday releases will be given a Tuesday street date at all retailers who sell physical media. Every Vinyl Tuesday will be different, will be made up of different kinds of physical releases. What they’ll have in common is the day of the week.



It’s really a pretty simple thing, and it’s definitely not a weekly Record Store Day. But it is in line with what we do all year long already, which is to promote and support indie record stores.

[via Exclaim!]