Today is National Record Store Day, celebrated by independent record stores and the folks who still enjoy going into a store and flipping through bins looking for something new to spin.
The number of people streaming albums goes up each year as album sales and payments to artists continues to decline. However, whenever somebody physically buys an album today, almost half of them are on vinyl.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 43.6 million EPs and LPs were sold in the U.S. last year. That’s a far cry from 2006, when vinyl sales were at their lowest at barely half a million.
Most record stores don’t just keep vinyl on the shelves. Records are just one of the physical formats making a big comeback in recent years. Many modern releases are also coming out on cassette and compact disc, and slapping down 10 or 20 bucks for an album that you can physically hold in your hands is a pleasure that younger generations continue to discover.
We have lots of spots to pick up an LP or three here in the Morongo Basin.
White Label Vinyl is opening up on National Record Store Day at 10:00 a.m. They will be carrying some Record Store Day exclusives which you can only get in brick-and-mortar stores. Miss these and you’ll have to slum it on eBay and Discogs to score them later.
They will also have live DJ’s, pies from “I Fall to Pizzas,” a Collage Club hosted by Hi Desert Times Magazines, and Skull Record Club will be holding a listening party for the early 2000’s classic “Fever To Tell” by the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. That starts at 1:30 p.m. and is free and open to everybody.
If you can’t make it to Twentynine Palms but still feel like adding something new to your shelves on Record Store Day, The HooDoo in Yucca Valley can hook you up with something new to spin.
There are many other small shops all around Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, and Morongo Valley that carry both new and used records. Skip the big box stores and shop local for your next vinyl fix.
