Artists Support Record Store Day

Saturday, April 19 has been declared Record Store Day in the USA and big name artists are getting behind the campaign.

Paul McCartney said in a statement, "There's nothing as glamorous to me as a record store. When I recently played Amoeba in LA, I realised what fantastic memories such a collection of music brings back when you see it all in one place. This is why I'm more than happy to support Record Store Day and I hope that these kinds of stores will be there for us all for many years to come. Cheers!" The day is a promotional drive by Independent retailers to rekindle the thrill of scouting through music releases.

"I was introduced to lots of great music through my local record store. It was a place where people knew music and they knew me, and could make great suggestions and discoveries. Whether it is in the physical world or on-line, the value of a great and knowledgeable record store has not gone away," said Peter Gabriel. Singer/Songwriter was a little bit more poetic with his quote. "Dusty violin maker shop small corner record store water holes for dreamers don't stop breathe more," he said.

Blur's Damon Albarn says his local store is like a library. "My local independent record shop (Honest Jons) is a library, where you can go to listen to music, learn about it, exchange ideas about it and be inspired by it. I think independent record shops will outlive the music industry as we know it because long term their value to people is far greater, because even in our era of file-sharing and blogs, you cant replace the actual look on someone's face when they are playing something they really rate and think you should listen to it too. It's special," he said in his statement.

As a prelude to Record Store Day, an introductory party will be held at Waterloo Records at SxSW in Austin on March 15.

by Paul Cashmere - February 6 2008