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Zane Lowe on the BBC, Ibiza Rocks and the UK festival scene

ANALYSIS

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The numbers behind a compilation albums market which is returning to health

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20.04.12 £5.15

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FEATURE

We take an in-depth look at the resurgent vinyl music sector

BIGGEST EVER RECORD STORE DAY GROWS BEYOND ‘WHITE INDIE KIDS’ • POP WELCOME NEXT YEAR

A new Day dawns

RETAIL n BY TOM PAKINKIS

I t was built on a foundation of what might loosely be called ‘indie’ music. But this weekend’s Record Store Day will be bigger and more diverse than ever before – with organisers now calling for pop acts to get involved in 2013.

Eastern promise: A familiar Record Store Day scene as hopeful punters stream through the doors at Rough Trade East

The celebration of UK music retail will kick off on Saturday morning (April 21) with more than 430 exclusive releases at stores’ disposal – an increase of over 40% on the number available in 2011. They will include EPs, albums and special releases born out of a wide range of genres, with a noteworthy increase in the presence of classical and dance.

As a direct result, over 230 outlets will be taking part, a marked rise on last year, when 180 stores were involved.

“We’ve definitely seen the addition of ‘genre stores,” Entertainment Retailers Association director general Kim Bayley told Music Week. “There are around 10 specialist classical stores participating who haven’t done so before.”

UK Record Store Day coordinator and Rough Trade East manager Spencer Hickman said: “It’s great when you see a classical record coming out. There’s more dance than there ever has been this year as well. That’s how

Record Store Day should be; it shouldn’t be dominated by white indie kids.” Although,

this is the last year Hickman will be involved in Record Store Day on this side of the Pond (see Englishman In New York, below), he’s looking forward to the UK event diversifying further in 2013.

“I’d like to see more pop involved,” he said. “I know a lot of people would think of it as odd hearing that coming from

ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK RSD UK FOUNDER HICKMAN HEADS TO US

ROUGH TRADE EAST manager Spencer Hickman will make Record Store Day 2012 his last in the UK as he prepares to run the indie retailer’s newest shop in New York.

“We’re looking for a manager to replace me at Rough Trade East. I guess I’m going to be called head of American retail operations,” Hickman told Music Week.

While finer details of how the new store will be run are still under wraps, Hickman said, “I’ll probably be moving over in July because we’ve got so much back end work to do. We’ve almost got to create a new admin system because, obviously, in the US prices are different, the tax structure is different and distributors are different so there’s a huge amount of work to be done.”

As far as involvement in Record Store Day in the US is concerned, Hickman said “It’s weird. Over here I’m the Record Store Day man but there I’ll just be a retailer. Carrie [Colliton] and Michael [Kurtz] have pretty much got it down. I don’t see why they would need me.”

Rough Trade, but there are lots of music stores that are the only place you can buy new records in small towns.

“If someone like One Direction put out a picture disc for the day, those stores would be mobbed. We wouldn’t stock it but other shops would cry out for it.

“For me, if Record Store Day’s going to grow, it needs to keep building its presence outside of indie bands.”

There’s also increased involvement from artists this year, following a launch event spearheaded by a performance from John Lydon’s PiL in March.

Bayley said: “Obviously in previous years we’ve had artists support us with quotes, performances on the day or doing in-store signings, but this year we’re seeing even more of that and artists wanting to get involved early. There are big names that will be serving behind counters or doing sets in-store.

“It builds on the fact that this is one big festival made up of hundreds of individual events nationwide. It’s actually about creating a vibe around the artist and around the different activities in the stores.”

Hickman urged artists to provide a physical presence where they could on Record Store Day 2012: “In the past, we’ve had bands come in even though they’re not involved directly. I’d say to artists: ‘Get down to your local store. See how crazy it is and how many people are excited by it.’ This is a party, not just a day to sell things.”