Russ Martens, who has operated the St. Charles-based Hoarders Trading Post record shop the past five years, may be biased about the benefits of vinyl albums, but he’s not alone, as crowds on Record Store Day on Saturday show.
This year’s Record Store Day included new vinyl releases from Taylor Swift, Pearl Jam and many more artists, drawing fans to Aurora area stores, as well as shops across the nation.
“Anybody that’s been in here knows we’re a 90% to 95% pre-owned shop with a lot of premium, collectible titles. But new vinyl sales have exploded,” Martens said. “In this day of digital, portable music – vinyl just sounds better. People can figure it out themselves. It brings a smile to my face every time someone listens to a record compared to an old digital format or CD. If you’ve got the right needle on the turntable and decent equipment it’ll sound night and day better.”
First conceived in 2007 and celebrated a year later on April 19, 2008, Record Store Day recognizes more than 1,400 independent record shops around the country as well as thousands throughout the world with limited-edition vinyl releases that can’t be found anywhere else.
This year’s list included about 350 releases, one of the largest ever, but more newsworthy this year is the push in sales record stores are receiving from major artists like Taylor Swift and Pearl Jam, with new releases scheduled the day before Record Store Day as well as the day itself.
“I was watching the Grammys this year when Taylor Swift announced she was releasing her new album (‘The Tortured Poets Department’) on April 19,” said Aurora resident Steve Warrenfeltz, 72, who owns the record shop Kiss the Sky in Batavia. “There were some mixed reviews about the self-promoting but I was like – hot dog, God bless you – it’ll drive people to the record stores.
“Taylor Swift has really jumped into this thing in a big way,” Warrenfeltz added. “Last year, she had her own limited release for Record Store Day, and two years ago, she was the Record Store Day ambassador. She’s known around the industry as being really savvy and a smart business person and I agree with all of that. I applaud her, quite frankly.”
Pearl Jam released its latest album, “Dark Matter,” in a special vinyl format on Record Store Day, as well as a regular release the day before.
Michael Kurtz, 66, of Bozeman, Montana, who founded Record Store Day, explained that releases are coordinated through his team of about 12 people as well as record store owners.
“We actually had like 500 potential releases and we had to pare that down so that the stores wouldn’t be inundated,” he said before Record Store Day. “This year there has definitely been a push from major artists. Pearl Jam has taken things to a level where, even with their mass ‘Dark Matter’ release on April 19, there are going to be different colors of vinyl depending on where in the country you live.”
Last month, the Recording Industry Association of America reported people bought 43 million vinyl records last year, six million more than the number of CDs sold in 2023, marking the second time since 1987 that’s happened and “reflecting the steady, 17-year-running growth of vinyl sales.”
Kurtz noted the cost of a vinyl album these days averages about $25 per disc, a price point that might seem to inhibit younger collectors from getting in the game.
“It’s true that in the ’70s you could buy a record for under $5 but that was the equivalent of streaming – everybody who wanted music bought it on vinyl with millions of units shipped,” he said. “These records were mass-produced and didn’t have the quality you have now. Today, these albums are seen as complete works of art. It’s the vision of the artist both sonically and graphically and that’s not cheap to make. You’re printing 5,000 units in a country of 330 million people. It’s art, not a commercial thing.”
Record collectors arrived bright and early Saturday at Kiss the Sky in Batavia, where Warrenfeltz again held a lottery to determine when people could get into the store.
April Zamirowski of Montgomery drew the top number and said this was her first time coming to Record Store Day “because my husband wanted some records.”
“I was number one in the lottery and my husband was 159, so he asked if I’d go,” April said. “I’ve got a list here. I think it has 11 things on it. I don’t shop for records myself, so I’m going to be a hot mess in there.”
Patrick Berger of North Aurora was fifth in the lottery and said he has come to every Record Store Day event since 2008.
“I’m looking for about 12 to 15 titles this year,” he said. “I think it’s good these artists hold back and support record shops. It’s good to see we have ambassadors doing this.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
