Once again, April is upon us. Spring is rolling toward us full throttle, birds are back in the trees, the grass is looking a bit greener, and for music junkies, Record Store Day is right around the corner. On this day, we celebrate the joys of the independent record store with a host of exclusive releases, in-store performances, and a variety of other activities all centered on your local record retailers. For the last few years, Record Store Day has brought excitement to my usually dreary winter months. As I scan the Record Store Day release list for the first time I can feel the anticipation growing. Typically the list is littered with all kinds of new, reissued, unique and certainly rare recordings available only at your local independent record store. This year, the list is even provided in checklist form in case you need to collect them all. Once I finish reading through the list my feelings are conflicted. I have a strong love/hate relationship with this holiday that seems to get stronger with each passing year. I love it for everything it could be and hate it for everything it encourages and enables in certain people. How could something conceived with the best intentions, something designed to be a positive for all parties involved, have evolved into such a complicated, often frustrating venture?

For those of us who count ourselves among the music obsessed, Record Store Day is a can’t miss holiday that ranks up there with Christmas, Easter and the other greats. At Mr. Suit Records, in Lancaster, PA, owner Mike Madrigale also equates Record Store Day to Christmas. On the fateful day in April, Mr. Suit sees steady business from open to close, akin to a busy day during the holiday shopping season. The planning at Madrigale’s store starts about six weeks to a month before the big day with the ordering process. Stores are provided with Record Store Day sale lists from labels and distributors and given an order deadline. The store compiles their order and sends it in nearly a month before Record Store Day. In the weeks that follow, more releases are added to the list, sometimes making the ordering process a bit confusing and scattered as additional small orders are tacked onto the original. Finally, the big day arrives and only then do the stores and customers find out how much of the order actually reached the store.

At Iko’s Music Trade in York, PA, this process is one of several reasons owner Paul Hamilton has steered clear of Record Store Day, “I signed up for this under protest,” he said. Over the years, Record Store Day hasn’t generated much interest at Iko’s, but this year Hamilton, motivated by his longtime sales rep, and encouraged by a release list loaded with items his customers would be interested in, decided to participate. “What I’m seeing on this list are things that I’ll have access to four or five weeks before everybody else does. The Pearl Jam vinyl, the Eric Clapton Unplugged, those things are going to be available in May, but I’ll get to have them on Record Store Day. If I don’t get them I don’t care because I’ll be able to get them in May. It also means that they won’t be going for outrageous money on eBay in April, except for the very stupid and that’s their own fault,” Hamilton said.

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