Music spreads like an airborne disease at the stroke of a screen, the flick of a finger. Finding it for free is even easier, with the guilty participants spanning all ages and occupations. It raises the question of why people even purchase music anymore.
Yet nearly eight million records were sold last year, marking almost a 50 percent increase from its previous year in one sales period, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Record Store Day and record stores are really for people who like that physical aspect,” Rand Foster, the owner of Fingerprints Music, said. “They like to have tangible things, like to have a collection.”
The East Village record store on Fourth St. is preparing for Sunday’s crowd and the chaos that awaits Record Store Day, an international day to celebrate the culture of independent record stores.
“It kind of feels like we’re the convenience store and the hurricane is coming,” Foster said. “We try to get people in as fast as we can, as many as we can; there’s usually not a lot we don’t have,” Foster said.
The line is usually 400 people deep and wraps around the store for over a block, Foster said. Historically, this is their biggest day, with increases of seven to eight times in sales volume.
“It’s basically the week before Christmas all going on in one day,” Foster said.
With the surging demand for limited releases like Brand New’s “Deja Entendu,” which will feature a 2XLP pressed on 180 gram black vinyl, Foster said that Fingerprints ordered big, and is hoping for a good turnout.
“[Brand New’s] record hasn’t been available for ten years and people are freaking out,” Foster said. “The demand is huge and the availability is very small. Stores ordered hundreds [of records] and got ten.”
With sales going strong from their opening at 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., Fingerprints plans to adorn itself with a rich supply of the 500 new releases this year. The idea is that the records will come out sell out on that same day.
Some of the excitement that drives Record Store Day releases is the “gotta have it” feeling from people who want to get their hands on some of those exclusive tracks.
“It gets everyone excited about different titles that people have been looking forward to for a while,” Quincy King, an employee at Fingerprints said. “There’s certain jazz reissues that I’m excited about and old school hip-hop such as Wu-Tang Clan.”
A personal record collection is also an embodiment of who a person is sentimentally, according to Foster. There’s also an audiophile side of playing vinyl, for people who believe that records simply sound better.
“Last year, I probably dropped $300 bucks on vinyl,” Steve Pettit, avid record collector from Los Angeles, said as he flipped through discs.
While some releases are strictly exclusive to Record store day, others can be found online and some have been available on shelves.
“It’s a combination of stuff that’s never been released, never been released physically and stuff that’s been released physically but hasn’t been available for years,” Foster said.
The three categories of releases simmer down to Record Store day exclusive releases, which will not be available in any other format other than on and at Record Store day.
The second include limited run/regional focus releases, which are also available exclusively on Record Store day, but in far smaller quantities – less than 1,000 in some cases.
Then there’s first releases, which can be found at participating stores on and at Record store day and will be widely distributed to other retailers generally four to six weeks in the future.
Fingerprints is still confirming bands to perform, but in the past they’ve had one every year. The list includes Foo Fighters, Brett Dennen, Best Coast, Jimmy Eat World and Weezer.
“We want to give people an experience,” Foster said. “It’s an opportunity to show people how cool things can be in a record store so they come back the rest of the year.”