Record Store Day

On April 19 independent record stores across the USA are marking Record Store Day. The purpose is to highlight and celebrate the role independent record stores play in promoting and providing an outlet for the music that your supermarket, chain store or Warehouse doesn't stock. These stores are under threat world wide. In Auckland probably more record stores have closed in the last ten years than remain open. The result isn't just a decline in convenience. When small and specialist record stores disappear there is an impact on the kind of music that can be made, distributed and purchased. Chain stores just don't stock music from outside of the mainstream, their focus is on the dollar. While the people who run really good independent stores definitely want to make a buck they are also music fans and that makes all the difference. One of the greatest record shops I've ever known was Crawlspace Records on K Road in Auckland.

Download the Counting The Beat - Record Store Day Podcast