Nobody thought to ask me to get involved in Record Store Day today, so I would have entered into proceedings as a pedestrian. However, from what I saw on Twitter, Record Store Day basically amounted to a lot of queueing. I wasn't in town anyway, I was in the studio on not entirely unrelated business; recording Covermount.
I have mixed feelings about the concept of Record Store Day, leaving aside the fact that it isn't called Record Shop Day. Do all the people who were queueing for hours to buy special edition vinyl records do this every week? There are obviously serious music lovers who frequent independent record shops, but there was a lot of bandwagon jumping today. According to Twitter, a certain section of society, (let's call them 'cunts') already had their Record Store Day special editions for sale on eBay. This isn't in the spirit of the occasion at all, and ebay should be putting restrictions in place so that this can't happen again.
BBC6Music, (who incidentally still haven't been in touch) were asking people about their favourite record shops. The Guardian did a similar feature in the week. A lot of the shops were long gone, such as Nottingham's very own Selectadisc. While I approve of Record Store Day, I can't help thinking that we shouldn't really need it. If everybody who calls themselves a music lover visited an independent record shop next Saturday, and every Saturday, then we will still have record shops. Even if everyone spent just a fiver on something, it would help. Too many people shop for convenience these days, because it is cheaper and all under one roof. How long before we're having to hold special days for the fruit shop or the butcher?
Once again, I had no involvement in this day of celebration. I'm known for my love of, and championing of, independent retailers over corporate chains, I'm known for buying vinyl, and I'm known for being a music lover and flag waver for up and coming musicians. With credentials like that, you would imagine that I might be invited to talk to a radio show, or be interviewed in a newspaper, or even make some sort of appearance in a record shop as a radio broadcaster. But alas no, once again I was ignored. Twitter was once again full of people getting all masturbatory about the fact that they had purchased a 7" single for the first time in their lives.
My feelings haven't really changed, Record Store Day is a noble enough day that was started with the best intentions, but those good intentions need to be put to good use for the other fifty one weeks of the year. People bitching about how the record shops are closing down need to ask themselves how often they bought music.
I forgot to mention this earlier in the week, but while I'm complaining about being ignored by the media, I should also point out that Mark Del, the presenter of Nusic, name-checked me in the latest podcast. Have a listen to it here. It is nice to get these flashes of recognition. Who knows, maybe the axis will turn completely and Leftlion will interview me for a feature about my work, and Dean Jackson will invite me to talk to him on BBC Radio Nottingham. Perhaps I'll not hold my breath.
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