gearing up for Record Store Day, April 17th, 2010....

It's time to get to work on 2010's Record Store Day, please contact me, Eric, at your earliest convenience, we have plenty of time to produce some really unique items, for give away and for sale.

Every label/distributor of every size is encouraged to produce two – tiers of items for this year’s event, value-add/bag-stuffers and for sale items.

Of course, budgetary considerations in mind, every label should do whatever they can afford.

This is a very unique opportunity to put your art and message directly in the hands of the most active music consumers.

When budgeting for RSD2010, please consider that we have well over eight hundred participating stores in the US. We’re suggesting a minimum of 10,000 units produced to be fully effective, but even that number will only provide a minimal amount of coverage. This is the opportunity to put your music in the ears of customers that matter the most. Our customers prefer the option of physical media, choosing to support the music specialty retailers that make up RSD2010.

We consider the first person standing in line as important as the last person of the day and we hope that you understand the importance of delighting every single one.

As usual, RSD2010 HQ will help you with allocations and production decisions.

The sky’s the limit for participation, talk to your distributors about group projects and please reach out at your convenience.

To build upon the success of previous years, we’re asking for your help in identifying and producing the special give-away items that wowed the crowds in years prior. We already know you’re working on the coolest items to produce for sale.

Let’s stretch our imaginations, we still want the plethora of CD and vinyl samplers, t-shirts, lithographs and posters, 3-D glasses and premiere videos, scratch-off promotional items, turntable mats, buttons and customized “green” bags.

Where else can we go, and who’s going to step up?

some examples from the first Record Store Day, April 18th, 2009

below are some some examples of the many limited edition LP's used as value added opportunities for RSD 2009:

this is Sony's LP give-away sampler, complete with MP3 downloads. Sweet!

Universal's LP give-away sampler was a crowd favorite, mixing catalog and current artists

Light in the Attic's LP Sampler was a real treat, featuring a 'zine highlighting their love for Record Stores, a catalog, a CD sampler and a bonus seven inch!

Follows, some of the many give-away samplers from our label partners:

Some labels and distributors have shied away from CD samplers in the recent years. This has proven disastrous for music retail specialists. Please remember, not every customer is interested in trolling the internet for mysterious tracks, streaming nonsense and downloading viruses.

A nice CD sampler, hand-delivered by their friend at the record store can be listened to in the car on the way home, and the customer can choose which digital file format to ingest when they get to their computer. We want our customers to hear new music, don't you?

Please consider showcasing your new music for the customers most likely to purhcase your artists in the future.

some examples of the many limited edition seven inch singles released for the big day

Think about the plethora of items available for sale on this special day, RSD2009 featured over a hundred unique items for purchase. Not every customer is going to be able to get everything they desire.

Like Free Comic Book Day, which RSD is based on, every customer gets a goodie bag filled with stories. Some of these cliffhangers & origin stories, help draw customers back to the comic shops week in and week out. Imagine this concept in a record store...it's the same thing.

labels biggest and smallest can take advantage of this incredible opportunity

From limited edition twelve inch singles, to full length buzz building RSD branded CD's, this is the time to quit worrying if iTunes is going to list your project on page one and invest in a real, physical piece. Besides, what do you show your mother at the end of the day? What do you hang on your wall?

Wendy & Lisa, on their own as artists, provided RSD with 1,500 promotional copies of their new CD, featuring exclusive artwork from comics legend, Jaime Hernandez, including the RSD logo.

Imagine the possibilities, RED distribution did, printing tens of thousands of this special Decibel magazine, featuring a sample CD. The immense quantity produced and delivered insured that every RSD fan was educated and entertained.

Our friends at EMM celebrated the big day with two unique, collectible and frankly -- "AWESOME" give-aways. On the left, a very special and over-sized Beatles lithograph, on thick, thicker than thick cardboard stock and on the right, the Beastie Boys own Mike D designed a commemorative vinyl slip-mat, a collectible prize that still spins clockwise on my own turntable.

production timeline

February 1: Details are provided on all Record Store Day added value products.
A recommend minimum run of 10,000 for each added value item (ie, CD samplers, posters, lithos, t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, DVD samplers, 7”
singles, 12” vinyl, CD singles, 3-D glasses, green/recyclable bags, calendars,
etc.) is what we are asking. NOTE: All Record Store Day added value items
must include the Record Store Day logo on them. The various authorized Record
Store Day logos can be attained from the www.recordstoreday.com site under
the “press” link. Eric Levin will coordinate the added value items, with help from
Carrie and me. Eric can be reached at eric@recordstoreday.com.

February 1: Provide details on all Record Store Day commercial products.
Production runs are up to each label/studio based on projected demand. NOTE:
There are currently approximately 350 stores “officially” signed up for Record
Store Day but like last year, we estimate an additional 500 stores will participate on their own in the USA. Distribution of your Record Store Day commercial products are meant to be just for the stores who are celebrating. Record Store Day How you wish to distribute these pieces to the stores is up to you but we recommend the following approach: distribute directly to the stores, and utilize junketboy, AEC, and the EDGE.

March 8: Artwork of all Record Store Day added value items, and any on-line
web and email banners for these projects, must be received by Carrie Colliton
via email. Carrie’s email address is carrie@recordstoreday.com.

March 8: Artwork for all Record Store Day commercial products, and any on-line
web and email banners for these products must be received by Carrie.

March 19: All Record Store Day added value items must be received at the Junketboy warehouse for packing and shipping out to the participating stores.

NOTE: This is extremely important as we learned last year that all materials must be managed in a way that they come to the store in one box so that the label, studios, and gaming companies who participated were assured that their
materials were properly used. All materials should be mailed attention Liz
Reeves, c/o Coalition of Independent Music Stores, 3738 4th Terrace North,
Birmingham, AL 35222. (phone # 205-595-1932 x202).

March 19: (or just as soon as possible!):Provide up-to-date list of artists that will be making appearances on Record Store Day. NOTE: Like we did last year with Wilco, and with Metallica the year before, we need to land the big banner artist (ex, Tom Waits!) to launch Record Store Day 2009 as soon as possible to start the world-wide Record Store Day media machine so please help us to get this lined-up as soon as possible!

some examples from the first Record Store Day, April 19th, 2008

in-store display of value - add items

Merge produced a priceless collectible seven inch for bag-stuffing, featuring Destroyer & Wye Oak (not pictured), these included a digital download coupon for their label sampler, while Brushfire produced a full length vinyl sampler with download opportunity.

Merge's Destroyer & Wye Oak 7"

Matador gave us CD Samplers (its a really really good sampler!) and some very beautiful Foil Cat Power Posters.

Our distribution partners made it very easy for the labels to participate; CD samplers were sent by the truckloads from Fontana, RED & Redeye, Sony-BMG and UMG produced full length vinyl packages for giveaway. The Sony-BMG piece was a special prize, featuring heartfelt editorial and pictures of different indie record stores over the years.

UMG's "Choice Cuts" sampler

Sony-BMG's LP sampler

WEA produced, in addition to their amazing for sale items show below, a DVD sampler featuring many developing and catalog artists.
Individual labels, like Vice Records, Nonesuch and Sub Pop, either repurposed their spring samplers, some printing new runs with the RSD logos, some just over-running their SXSW samplers.

This unique opportunity exists to reach a very active and important customer, ours. The sky’s the limit for the type of items we can message with, as proved last year. We received magnets, buttons, stickers, postcards, download cards, 3-D glasses (for special RSD video premieres by Bjork and MGMT), comic books and magazines.

Paste Magazine gave away back issues with a special new cover printed calling out a major subscription discount for RSD customers.

Our giveaway bags were overflowing (many provided by WEA—pictured below) , but still, towards the end of the day, many customers left empty handed. Please consider the last customer through the door as important and special as the first customer and consider producing enough items to turn everybody on.

some examples of exclusive Record Store Day, 2008 for sale items:

Like Free Comic Book Day, which our event sprang from, the idea is to give the first taste away for free, but the surprise from last year's RSD was the for sale items. We had customers lined up for these special limited editions.

To commemorate the exciting day, Atlantic Records & Fueled by Ramen released seven inches by Death Cab For Cutie, Jason Mraz & Panic At The Disco, while Warner Brothers & Nonesuch released seven inches by REM, Black Keys & Built To Spill.

The Beggar's Group released a Stephen Malkmus ten inch, that earned raves from Pitchfork, driving tons of traffic to indie-retail on that particular day. In addition, they released The Breeders, Vampire Weekend, The Teenagers, an Arthur Russell covers album, and a sweet Matador turntable mat, all of which were for sale.

Each of these items were unique, special and limited, The Breeder's " We’re Gonna Rise" 7" was limited to 1,000 copies and contained a non-LP B-side, Four Songs By Arthur Russell was also limited to 1,000 copies, as was the Vampire Weekend "A-Punk" 7". The Teenagers "Love No" was a three 7" bundle in red, white and blue, for the same price as a regular 7", a great launch for this debut band.

Matador also produced a commemorative 20 oz. white felt turntable slipmat, I'm sporting one on my 'table right now.