DALLAS — When's the last time you've listened to a vinyl record?
If you're in a certain age bracket, that answer may be never, given the age of instant digital streaming we live in now. But for a large subsection of particularly passionate music fans, vinyl is the premiere music-listening experience. Some would argue it's the best way to listen to an album, akin to seeing a classic film projected in 35mm in a dark theater -- the idea of experiencing a piece of art in its ideal form.
One annual event to promote the collecting and listening of vinyl records is Record Store Day. Since 2007, the event has been held across the country and around the world as a way of supporting local record stores. As they say, it's "to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1,400 independently-owned record stores in the U.S. and thousands of similar stores internationally."
As part of this event, Dallas had four of its own independent record stores partake in the event this year -- Spinster Records, Good Records, Josey Records & Music and The Spin Coffee & Vinyl. There were also various other record stores participating across the metroplex in cities like Fort Worth, Denton, Carrollton and Arlington.
But this isn't just an event organized in name only. Record labels, both big and small, release specially-made vinyl records released in limited amounts on the day every year, with both new and old music for sale alike.
Record Store Day
These releases aren't just from some indie bands your friends from college were telling you about. The big release many had their eyes on this year was from arguably the biggest name in music today -- Taylor Swift. For this year's event, her label, Republic Records, released "folklore: the long pond studio sessions," which features a recording of Swift and her various collaborators playing the album in studio together, something they were unable to do when the album was originally produced during the pandemic.
Stores tend to have their own rules about the way the event is run. For example, Spinster only allowed 10 people at a time and allowing them to buy as many titles as they want, but only one copy of each. They also had a raffle for Swift's vinyl release and had other special discounts for the event.
