On Saturday, Manchester’s bustling Northern Quarter is set to be busier than usual as music lovers flock to the city’s ‘vinyl valley’ in search of exclusive releases and limited editions as part of Record Store Day 2023.
Taking place on Saturday, April 22, Piccadilly Records are expecting to see shoppers queue as early as Friday to get their hands on never-before-released vinyl, while Vinyl Revival have even produced their own record for the event.
Now in its 16th year, the idea was conceived in 2007 before holding the first Record Store Day in April 2008, with over 260 independent record shops all across the UK set to unite to celebrate the humble music medium.
READ MORE: Seven best record shops in Manchester city centre for stocking up on vinyl
An exciting day for hobbyists and collectors, special vinyl releases are made exclusively for the day and many shops are set to host artist performances and events to mark the occasion.
Speaking to those working in record shops in Manchester, there’s a buzz about the yearly event. Richard Farnell, of Vinyl Exchange on Oldham Street, takes part annually and says it’s their ‘busiest day of the year’.
The 53-year-old, from Sale, said: “We get as many titles as we can but you can’t guarantee you get everything you ask for. You may ask for 50 of something and only get 20 so it’s a little bit of a lottery but we always take part and it’s always a success and very busy.
“People start queuing the night before and sleep out. You used to see it when people camped out to buy gig tickets but that’s all online now. It shines a light on independent record stores and it’s a great thing for the shops.
“It would be easy to be cynical about major labels cashing in on it but at the end of the day it’s our busiest day of the year and is obviously needed.”
Expected to be the most sought after records for Record Store Day 2023 include releases from Taylor Swift and Manchester’s homegrown The 1975. Almost every record store we spoke to agreed that these big-hitters were going to be the ones shoppers would be scrambling to get their hands on.
Richard added: “We’ve got crates and crates ready to put out. We try to get hold of the bigger releases each year, which are the ones that everyone wants. My guess this year is that it’ll be Taylor Swift and The 1975 that will be the two biggest sellers for us. We’ve got both available in quite large numbers so it’s going to be really good.”
The 1975 are set to release a Live with the Philharmonic Orchestra LP, as well as CD and vinyl. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift fans will be desperate to track down a copy of the exclusive two-disc LP of Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions. Folklore was recorded during the pandemic, and so Swift and co were unable to play the album together, until they were able to record this release in September 2020.
Over at Piccadilly Records, 42-year-old record selector Pasta Paul described the event as ‘Christmas Day for record shops’, agreeing that out of the 300 titles they’re getting in, ‘everyone is after Taylor Swift’.
He added: “Record Store Day has been going for such a long time now and we’ve been taking part since the start and it’s always an amazing vibe on the day with people queuing up around the block.
“We open at 8am and we’ve got DJs on the day from midday until 6pm. The queue usually starts on Friday morning and they’ll stay all day and night, so I hope it doesn't rain.
“When it first started it was definitely a reaction to the fact no-one was buying records, but in a way it’s done its job. People are buying records and they’re outselling CDs for the first time in over 30 years.
“We’ve seen six year olds buying picture discs to hang on their walls, with people in their 80s also enjoying the medium and without Record Store Day it would have taken a lot longer to get to this point. It’s an opportunity for people to release special versions of records and it’s just a fun thing to do. Shops of course make money from it, but that’s not what it’s all about.”
Hilton Street’s Vinyl Revival run their own record label, with owner Colin White excited to have an official Record Store Day release which is extremely limited to just 500 copies.
They got in touch with members of former Manchester punk band The Hoax, of which The Smiths’ Mike Joyce was a member, to put together the compilation of their first three EPs, all of which were recorded at Rochdale’s Cargo studios. All of the royalties from the record - pressed on red vinyl - are set to be donated to charity.
Colin, 55, from Chadderton, reiterated grumbles about big corporate labels cashing in on the event, but is still passionate about the event.
He said: “We’ve been doing Record Store Day for 15 years and while it’s still a good day, it’s slowed off a bit over the last few years, so it needs reworking in a way now that the major labels have got on it.
“The number of releases has always been overwhelming and this year there are only around 400. I've cut back dramatically this year. Inormally have five or six boxes and this year I've got two and a half.
“I don’t think they listen to the independent shops enough and a lot of releases are rehashes of what’s already been before.
“It’s always a good day, though. You always get new customers in and you always have people with a smile on their face.Ten years ago we’d never have stocked pop like Lana Del Ray or Taylor Swift, but we’re expecting to have a lot of people in to buy that and The 1975, so that’s always nice.”
Clampdown Records, just off Piccadilly, on Paton Street, have decided against partaking in Record Store Day this year after weighing up the benefits. Owner Neil Clarke said he didn’t want to be ‘too cynical’ about the event, because it’s still a very positive thing - but a number of factors has lead to his decision not to participate, from costs, quality and the aforementioned larger labels.
The 51-year-old, who lives in Bury, said: “I started taking part in Record Store Day years ago, but you have to be a paid up member of the Entertainment Retailers Association just to be on the Record Store Day site and it was going up by about £50 every year to be part of it.
“My other beef about it was a drop off in the quality of it and there seems to be a real lack of imagination about it. Some of it is alright but there’s about three titles I considered interesting. They’ve mostly taken the live recordings of the deluxe CDs and pressed them onto vinyl.
“The major corporations like Warner Brothers, Sony and Universal Music Group have all jumped on it too. Then there’s the Record Store Day ‘flippers’ you see once a year who sell them on online.”
Neil added that the price of stock is also expensive to buy in, with independent stores not making a great deal of profit on the sales.
He said: “People are feeling the squeeze, are we going to have 1000 people queuing outside the shops? Maybe not. HMV have muscled in on it with National Album Day, then there’s Black Friday - there’s four or five events a year to compete with.
“It’s a good boost for the shops for the day, and in places like Bury and Leigh where there’s only one or two indie record shops it’s really good. But the shops open seven days a week. It’s not just one day, we’re open all year.”
At the top of Afflecks Palace is Vinyl Resting Place, where 37-year-old owner Alistair Hall has also decided not to take part in the event, but hopes shoppers will still climb the stairs to the third floor to visit as part of their vinyl-purchasing pilgrimages in the city centre over the weekend.
The collector, from Bolton, said: “It’s usually a really good day. I don't officially partake in the event because you have to pay and there’s a big outlay for not a great deal of return, and with Vinyl Exchange and Piccadilly Records on my doorstep, they’ve got it all boxed up really.
“When I opened here nine years ago, I didn’t want to be in competition with the other retailers, but just to add to the experience and I think we do that.
“Generally there are more people in town who will make a real day of shopping records. I’m likely to have a multibuy deal on the day as we mostly sell second hand. We’ll be cranking up the music a little louder than usual so I think it will be a really fun day.”
Heading out to snap up those exclusive Record Store Day releases? Well, we've put together a guide to this year's event and the Manchester record shops taking part. You find out about the timings, releases and events here.
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