music

Record Store Day, Part 1, Is Now Spinning

The annual love-on-your-local-music-shop event is happening on two different days this spring and summer. First up? The June 12 happening.

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What to Know

  • Record Store Day 2021 will roll out on both June 12 and July 17
  • The event puts a spotlight on those local shops that sell albums, offer live shows, and give music fans discoveries aplenty
  • A number of exclusive releases will be available via independent record stores on June 12 and July 17; several SoCal stores are participating

The specific song that is totally, definitely, and un-quibble-ably the theme to your life, now and always, no matter what happens?

You may have first heard it on the radio in your parents' station wagon, when you were only just realizing there was such an object called "a radio."

A friend might have introduced it to you, on a school trip, via a pair of puffy headphones.

Or you might have just found it, by chance, in the vinyl-laden, CD-strong, poster-covered aisles of your local record store.

Even if that's not exactly where you connected with your personal, super-relevant Life Theme, you've probably found other fantastic, stick-in-your-brain ballads among a store's stacks of 45s, cassette tapes, and singles.

For record stores, as Record Store Day shows us each year, have a way of putting people in the happy path of audible art that will matter to them, forever.

The sound-strong celebration has formerly happened over a single day in past years, but 2021 will see something a bit different: A bunch of RSD drops will happen over two days.

And the needle is dropping in the first one: Saturday, June 12 is the day to stop by your local mom-and-pop to purchase a special album. (July 17 is day #2, do note.)

"The spread of titles over two dates in two months allows some flexibility for the struggling vinyl pressing plants and distribution companies as well as provide stores time to prepare budgets and place the orders that safely get music into the hands of customers on a larger than normal release day," shared the Record Store Day organizers.

Some of the artists on the first drop include Prince, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Haim featuring Taylor Swift. There's a lengthy list that shows all of the albums and artists, but take a look at the date to see if the record will be released on June 12 or July 17.

Record Store Day will turn 15 in 2022, meaning thousands of fans have called upon thousands of stores for thousands of spotlight releases, special deals, and the one-of-a-kind vibe found in such a shop.

"This is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store — the staff, the customers, and the artists — to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities," says the organizers.

The stores on board around Southern California? Canterbury Records in Pasadena, Cosmic Vinyl on Sunset Boulevard, and the recently reopened Amoeba Music, which can now be found on Vine.

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