RECORD STORE DAY NOTE TO STORES 2-2-24 (THE PLEDGE/PROMO TOOL KIT)
IN THIS EMAIL:
RSD 2024 LOGO AND GRAPHICS
BLEACHERS LISTENING PARTIES Deadline February 12
BLACK CROWES LISTENING PARTIES Deadline February 12
BIZZY AWARDS Deadline MONDAY
ADA PRODUCT PRESENTATION Deadline February 7
THE RECORD STORE TOPSELLERS CHART
THE PLEDGE RSD 2024 Deadline February 9
RSD 2024 PROMO TOOL KIT RSD 2024 Deadline March 2
RECORD STORE DAY 2024 LOGO AND GRAPHICS
We've announced the date of Record Store Day and it will be April 20, 2024!!!! Please feel free to use the social media graphics for your own social media purposes! Please do NOT print them out and do not use them for anything other than social media. You can find them here.
The official logo for Record Store Day can be found HERE. These logos are for PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY and can be used for social media but anything that is printed out (signage, flyers, advertising, t-shirts, etc.) must be approved in advance. Do that by emailing carrie@recordstoreday.com. These logos CAN NOT be used for commercial items or purposes.
BLEACHERS LISTENING PARTIES
The new BLEACHERS album is coming March 8 and we're working with the label on BLEACHERS LISTENING PARTIES which will be held the Saturday before, on March 2. Full details will be sent to those who sign up.
Because there are tools being made for these events, there is a cap on the number of storefronts that can participate, and if we hit the cap we'll turn off the sign-up, but we'll include as many stores as possible! You'll want to sign up pretty quickly for this, and you'll definitely need to sign up by FEBRUARY 12. It's VERY likely we will hit the cap before the 12th, so if you're interested sign up soon!
Some things to know:
*The parties will take place on Saturday March 2.
*These parties will be announced on a specific date and time. If you sign up, you're agreeing to not announce before then.
*If you have more than one store participating, you must sign up for each store individually.
SIGN UP HERE: bit.ly/BLEACHERSPARTIES
BLACK CROWES LISTENING PARTIES
The new BLACK CROWES album is coming March 15 and we're working with the label on BLACK CROWES LISTENING PARTIES which will be held the afternoon and evening before, starting at 4 PM. Full details will be sent to those who sign up.
Because there are tools being made for these events, there is a cap on the number of storefronts that can participate, and if we hit the cap we'll turn off the sign-up, but we'll include as many stores as possible! You'll want to sign up pretty quickly for this, and you'll definitely need to sign up by FEBRUARY 12. It's VERY likely we will hit the cap before the 12th, so if you're interested sign up soon!
Some things to know:
*The parties will take place on Thursday, March 14.
*These parties will be announced on a specific date and time. If you sign up, you're agreeing to not announce before then.
*If you have more than one store participating, you must sign up for each store individually.
SIGN UP HERE:bit.ly/BLACKCROWESLISTENINGPARTY
BIZZY AWARDS AT MUSIC BIZ DEADLINE MONDAY!
The largest music business gathering is Music Biz, which is happening this May in Nashville. A few years ago they revamped their Awards program to reflect the idea that people and organizations should be awarded for their actions, specifically those actions that benefit their colleagues, company or customers directly. THE BIZZY AWARDS are crowd-sourced as far as nominations go, and the nominations are open right now. The FRONTLINE INNOVATOR award is SPECIFICALLY for indie record stores, and we highly encourage you to take a look and make some nominations -- for your favorite record store, even if that one's your own!
https://musicbiz.org/bizzy-awards-nominations/
ADA PRODUCT PRESENTATION SIGN UP NOW Deadline 2/7
In our efforts to get stores early information about the releases that will be coming out and into your stores in the next few months. The next one is scheduled for next week and you can sign up for it here:
ADA PRODUCT PRESENTATION: Thursday, February 8 4 PM EST
https://bit.ly/ADAPRODUCTPRESENTATIONS
THE RECORD STORE TOPSELLERS CHART!
We've officially, publicly announced the charts that live on the website and we encourage you to both sign up for your sales to be part of them, and also to share the charts themselves. (If you have questions about charts and Luminate and such, we will probably be discussing that to some extent on the RSD Zoom Calls mentioned above, and invite you to join us.
We've begun creating a ranked chart of the topselling new releases at independent record stores across the country. (By new releases we mean new product as opposed to used. Anything you get from a distributor or wholesaler, be it catalog restock or actual brand new releases.) This chart will be publicly stored on the recordstoreday.com site, and we'll be making sure that everyone at the labels and distribution see it. Our goal is to have it truly reflect what you are selling in your stores: stores of all sizes, all specialties, stores who sell any format, stores who use a variety of Point-of-Sale and inventory systems.
To that end, we invite you to be part of the group of stores whose sales are counted in the chart ranking. THERE IS NO COST TO YOU! We are working with John Weston at Street Pulse to collect the sales, and they will be aggregated, counted and published as a RANKED sales chart every week. You can see the first few HERE. There are several ways to painlessly send up your sales every week now, and we're working on making even more point-of-sale systems painless too.
What you sell matters: to you, to labels large and small, to the artists and to the "industry" as a whole. We can talk about why and how on the zoom calls we mention below, which we'll be setting up for January. Be part of our new chart by entering your information here and someone will get back to you quickly! bit.ly/INDIESTOREREPORTING
THE PLEDGE OPEN TO SIGN UNTIL FRIDAY FEBRUARY 9
TL:DR You must have signed the Pledge to order RSD titles. Instructions for doing that, a timeline for doing that, and a way to check to see if you've already done that is below.
NOTE: Even if you've already signed the Pledge, we recommend looking it over and refreshing your memory and your staff's. Review The Pledge HERE
In the past we have had complaints from stores and customers about stores who do not treat the release or the customers with respect—who gouge the customers, break street date or hold back product to sell online. In the world of social media, this has a very good chance of injuring the reputation of both Record Store Day and record stores as a whole, so we implemented THE PLEDGE, and the elements of it apply to Black Friday as well. This Pledge has a list of simple things we ask stores to agree to do or not do, and stores must sign it in order to be on the list we provide distributors and one-stops as APPROVED TO ORDER RSD PRODUCT. No store who is not on this list, even if they are on the recordstoreday.com website, will have their orders processed.
IF YOU SIGNED THE PLEDGE ALREADY, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SIGN IT AGAIN. TO SEE IF YOUR STORE IS PLEDGE-SIGNED, LOOK IT UP ON RECORDSTOREDAY.COM DO YOU SEE A "P" NEXT TO YOUR NAME IN THE RESULTS LIST? CLICK ON YOUR STORE. IS THERE A PLEDGE-SIGNED BADGE THERE? YOU ARE GOOD TO GO.
If not, and you wish to sign the pledge, instructions are below. If you don't see your store listing at all, contact information@recordstoreday.com
THE DEADLINE FOR DOING SO IS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 9 AT 10 PM THERE IS NO EXTENSION OF THIS DEADLINE.
Instructions for doing that are HERE:
TO SIGN THE PLEDGE YOU NEED TO LOG IN TO YOUR STORE’S ACCOUNT ON WWW.RECORDSTOREDAY.COM The login button is in the top right of the site, and your store’s login is the email address you used to register with RSD, and the password is whatever you set it up to be. If you can’t recall your password you can use Password Recovery during the login process. When you log in, you should see something like the image below.
PLEDGE BUTTON EXAMPLE WHEN LOGGED IN WITH PROPER EMAIL ADDRESS:
Because we have to provide a final list of stores to the distributors and one-stops before their solicitation and allocation processes begin, we do have a hard and fast deadline for signing The Pledge. THAT DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 9. IF YOUR PLEDGE HAS NOT BEEN SIGNED BY THAT DATE YOU WILL NOT BE ON THE LIST OF APPROVED STORES GIVEN TO DISTRIBUTORS. There will be another opportunity to sign the Pledge before RSD BLACK FRIDAY 2024.
RSD 2024 PROMOTIONAL TOOL KIT Deadline MARCH 2
TLDR: You don't have to bring in the Promo Kit (RSD Party In A Box) but if you want to, it is now open to purchase.
Every year we work with labels/artists/distributors to create a variety of tools and pieces for stores to use as a sort of party favor during Record Store Day, we like to think of it as a Party In A Box. This is where the banner, Dogfish annual posters, and other tools/giveaways come from. We are increasingly involved in creating tools especially for this day as well, not just with advising our label and distribution partners, and again this year the majority of the tools in the kit were not created by labels/distribution, they were created by us.
THIS PROMOTIONAL TOOL KIT IS IN NO WAY REQUIRED OF YOUR STORE. The money we get from our sponsors every year goes toward running the site, our PR efforts, and everything else it takes to organize, maintain, grow and market Record Store Day and our mission to drive traffic to and awareness of your stores. When it comes to the promotional tools, we do ask that any store that wants to receive them pay $153 PER LOCATION to help cover all the costs of creation and shipping of the tools themselves, then organizing, packing, and shipping the kits back out.
Let’s proactively address some of those questions you’re gonna have:
THIS WILL ARRIVE ABOUT A WEEK BEFORE RSD, APRIL 20.
WE CAN’T TELL YOU WHAT IS GOING TO BE IN THE KIT because we don’t know it all. We’re still working to find out what everything will be, how many we’ll have and all the other details. When we know everything, we’ll contact those stores who have opted in and tell them, before things ship. We’ll also get you artwork where we can, to help you promote these pieces to your customers. We do know there will be a limited amount of tote bags, and Dogfish Head's annual posters, both of which are very popular every year.
NO, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS TO BE A RECORD STORE DAY STORE This is an extra, additional thing and you don’t have to sign up. You can still be listed on the site as a participating store, and the events and updates you put on the site will show up just like everyone else’s.
THIS IS NOT THE SAME THING AS THE PLEDGE That’s totally separate, and it’s addressed separately in emails from Record Store Day. You DO have to have signed the Pledge in order for us to process your order for these tools. If we get your order for the Promotional Tool Kit and you haven't signed the Pledge it won't be processed.
Again: THERE IS NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THIS IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN RECORD STORE DAY. This only applies if you want to receive these promotional tools. If you do want to receive these tools, read below:
NEW:
We've gone green and the signup is an online form. We are also taking all payments via credit card, see below for information on how to sign up and pay.
DEADLINE: MARCH 2
IMPORTANT:
REMEMBER TO COMPLETE BOTH ASPECTS OF ORDERING!
*We need to match your payment up with your information form. If you do Step 1 (paying) but not Step 2 (information form) WE WILL NOT PROCESS YOUR PAYMENT NOR FILL YOUR ORDER.
We will be unable to remind you to take Step 2, we just won't process the order. Please make sure to do both steps!
STEP 1: PAY FOR YOUR PROMO TOOL KITS. You have to have an order number when you're filling out the information form, so you need to pay first. PAY FOR YOUR PROMO KITS HERE
STEP 2: FILL OUT AND SUBMIT THE INFORMATION FORM. You will need your order number to complete the form. FILL OUT AND SUBMIT YOUR FORM HERE
NOTE: If you have more than one storefront, you can sign up for more than one kit at a time, but they will all be sent to one address. If you want things sent to separate store addresses, you'll need to sign up for each store individually.
NOTE: You can only order as many kits as you have listings on the site. If you have one store listed on the site, you can order one kit, etc. etc.
IMPORTANT:
REMEMBER TO COMPLETE BOTH ASPECTS OF ORDERING!
*We need to match your payment up with your information form. If you do Step 1 (paying) but not Step 2 (information form) WE WILL NOT PROCESS YOUR PAYMENT NOR FILL YOUR ORDER.
We will be unable to remind you to take Step 2, we just won't process the order. Please make sure to do both steps!
DEADLINE: MARCH 2
THIS PART WE’RE SERIOUS ABOUT: Please do not copy, forward or otherwise share the information contained in this email with anyone outside its intended recipients. This information is provided to help you keep up with promotions, products and internal workings of Record Store Day. If you no longer wish to receive this email or be part of Record Store Day, please let us know.