Thursday, April 15, 2010

Get Up! Stand Up! For Records!

Saturday, April 17th is International Record Store Day!

“ So…” I hear you iTunes/Amazon mp3 purchasing kiddies saying. So, if it wasn’t for record stores you wouldn’t be able to interact, in a physical way, with the music you are purchasing before you buy it.

“So…” I hear you purchasers of nonphysical formats saying. So…although the music may still be there (albeit in an inferior quality), you are missing out on physically interacting with other people who dig the same types of music that you do and you miss out on the packaging of the music. And although you may think that packaging isn’t important, tell that to the Who, the Rolling Stones, to Radiohead, to Wilco, and all the other bands that spend time to add meaning and value to the music through the physical release of music. Tell that to the people who are trying to build physical communities of music fans buy running indy record stores. Trust me, running a small record store isn’t about making money—it’s about music.

Maybe it’s time for us, as fans of music, to also focus on the music and the musicians who care about putting out interesting content.

So if you don't know where a local record store is located, go to the Record Store Day web site and look for one. Buy some vinyl...it does the heart good!