Last weekend's Record Store Day event was more than a little out of the ordinary, to say the least. But really what isn't these days? Now the sales figures from the event are in, and as could be expected, they are a mixed bag.
On the plus side, sales at independent record stores in the U.S. on August 29 nearly tripled those of the previous Saturday, making for a 185 percent increase, Rolling Stone reports.
But now for the bad — when compared to Record Store Day on April 13, 2019, sales were down roughly 50 percent. Yes, 50 percent. And while these numbers are culled only from U.S. data, they are likely to be pretty reflective of what happened here in Canada last weekend.
Several reasons for this pretty significant RSD dropoff come to mind, however. For one, this year's Record Store Day is being separated into three different "RSD Drops," meaning last weekend's event is only the first of three. So already doing a direct comparison to 2019 without keeping that in mind is a little unfair.
Secondly, that whole "stay at home because it's a pandemic" thing no doubt had a major impact, with many more cautious record collectors deciding to skip out the possibility of lines or busy storefronts. Plus, there weren't really any band in-stores this year to draw in extra bodies.
All that being said, Rolling Stone does point out that Record Store Day has been facing declining sales numbers over the years. According to the publication, each RSD has experienced progressively worse sales ever since 2016. But the year-to-year decline has only been about 19 percent — not 50 percent.
The next two RSD Drops will be held on September 26 and October 24. So there's still plenty of more opportunity for stores to get a boost from the annual event. To see, what RSD releases are still coming up in 2020, head here.
On the plus side, sales at independent record stores in the U.S. on August 29 nearly tripled those of the previous Saturday, making for a 185 percent increase, Rolling Stone reports.
But now for the bad — when compared to Record Store Day on April 13, 2019, sales were down roughly 50 percent. Yes, 50 percent. And while these numbers are culled only from U.S. data, they are likely to be pretty reflective of what happened here in Canada last weekend.
Several reasons for this pretty significant RSD dropoff come to mind, however. For one, this year's Record Store Day is being separated into three different "RSD Drops," meaning last weekend's event is only the first of three. So already doing a direct comparison to 2019 without keeping that in mind is a little unfair.
Secondly, that whole "stay at home because it's a pandemic" thing no doubt had a major impact, with many more cautious record collectors deciding to skip out the possibility of lines or busy storefronts. Plus, there weren't really any band in-stores this year to draw in extra bodies.
All that being said, Rolling Stone does point out that Record Store Day has been facing declining sales numbers over the years. According to the publication, each RSD has experienced progressively worse sales ever since 2016. But the year-to-year decline has only been about 19 percent — not 50 percent.
The next two RSD Drops will be held on September 26 and October 24. So there's still plenty of more opportunity for stores to get a boost from the annual event. To see, what RSD releases are still coming up in 2020, head here.
