Kansas City record stores across the metro were alive with the sound of music on April 18 in honor of National Record Store Day.
The tradition started in 2008 and is held every third Saturday of April to celebrate independent stores and the unique medium of physical media.
“It means a lot to us as a smaller store. We’ve done more in our sales today than we probably would in a month,” said Brian Hurtgen, the owner of BlacKCat Vinyl.
BlacKCat Vinyl started as a pop-up shop in 2021 and moved into a permanent location two years ago.
The store will be moving back into a pop-up location, but Hurtgen hopes to move into another permanent one by the fall.
“We had more people last year because we had more titles that people wanted,” Celia Alvon said, an employee of Josey Records for nearly two years. “I think there’s simply not as many people. Finances is a big part of it.”
With the cost of groceries and fuel prices increasing, the crowds may have been influenced by not being able to afford the nonessential product.
Regardless, record stores still provided many free opportunities along with exclusive deals. Josey Records had three local musicians play a set.
“It’s cool to see how many people are into it. You think it’s more of a niche thing, and it seems to be more popular than you would guess,” said Phillip Gohn, an employee of Josey Records for six months.
Record Store Day has served as a revival for the media, with the pandemic seeing increasing sales by 29% in 2020.
“Analog is so important because of its quality of sound. It really captures the warmth of other recordings. You can hear the musicality, the integrity of the artist,” Alvon said. “Music is its own language. It transcends any kind of language barrier.”
Controversies with A.I. Music and low pay for artists by streaming platforms like Spotify has caused many to look for alternatives to listen to their favorite musicians.
“You hear Spotify doing nefarious, weird billionaire stuff that people don’t want to get behind. On top of that, a lot of streamers don’t pay their artists well. If something were to happen, just stop the service, then what do you have? Where’s all your favorite music?” Hurtgen said. Participation in Record Store Day has helped local businesses and artists to have an opportunity to celebrate both vinyl and music.
“It drives people into an indie record store in a way that supports indie versus big boxes,” said Judy Mills, owner of Mills Record Company. “Kansas City really does like to support local.”
