We only had one person over the weekend who expressed unhappiness at how we ran Record Store Day, but not for the reason you might expect. An email was received on Saturday from someone who sent his girlfriend over on what he described as "an onerous journey from Wakefield" to purchase a coloured vinyl Shonen Knife album. The problem was that she came to us on Good Friday, the day before Record Store Day. He admitted that he had no issue with how we politely explained to her that she couldn't buy the album, but told us that nobody cares about rules and we should have sold her the album and that it would not have mattered. He then concluded by saying that although he thinks we are a great shop with good prices, he will never come to us again. I politely emailed him back explaining why we have to abide by those rules, but he was not for turning!
As for those rules, we take them very seriously at Crash. Several weeks in advance we let people know in the shop, on our website and via social media that if they wanted any of the special releases or limited editions, they needed a fully functioning alarm clock. I even warned friends on my personal Facebook page that there was absolutely no point asking me for any favours as the rules for Record Store Day apply to everyone.
On the day itself, the first arrivals turned up just after midnight. By 5am there were probably about 40 people braving the frosty weather so that they could get their hands on the stock they wanted. When I arrived at about 7:15am the queue stretched all the way down the road. And just to show that my Facebook post had worked, there was a very close friend of over 35 years halfway down the queue hoping to get hold of a 7" picture disc of David Bowie's "Rock n Roll Suicide" (which he did!)
At 8 o'clock we did what we have done in previous years and gave the first 60 people in the queue the opportunity to reserve a first choice from the RSD list. We find that this ensures a more even spread of the most limited releases among the early risers. It also helps to identify fans of a particular artist and gives them a greater chance of getting the one thing they want more than anything else. This meant that if you were in the queue at 6am and wanted a Paul Weller single you probably got one.
Once inside the shop the first 60 customers got their reserve item and were then allowed to purchase more releases from the list. Everyone behind them in the queue then asked for what they wanted when they got to the counter. A few of the releases like the Ghostbusters glow in the dark 10" went very quickly. But because we ordered as much stock as we could, and due to the fact there were so many different titles on the list, we found that lots of people got most of what they wanted right throughout the day.
Since then of course we have had the annual backlash about people profiting from their Record Store Day purchases. I always try and avoid looking at eBay, but it's difficult to be unaware of what is going on. We hate to see people being ripped off, but unfortunately it is very difficult to prevent it from happening. It's incredibly unfair that someone can pay us £9.99 (out of which we make a profit of about £2.50) and then sell that single to someone for £80. I would love to find a way of stopping it as it goes against everything I believe in. Perhaps we should have a loyalty card scheme? If for example you made 6 purchases at different months throughout the year in the shop, you would then be entitled to go in a priority queue, or maybe invited to a special pre-sale day? The Record Store Day queue every year is made up of regular customers, occasional visitors to the shop and people we have never seen before. Perhaps it is time to look at rewarding our regular customers rather than having them stand in line with everyone else?
Of course, the ironic thing every year is that we quite often get hold of re-stocks on many of the Record Store Day releases that have been the subject of frenzied activity on eBay over the weekend. Many of the best sellers like Sex Pistols, Paramore and even One Direction have been coming back into stock. Someone told me that people were paying £80-£120 for Adam & The Ants "Dirk Wears White Sox" on white vinyl LP on Sunday. This has come back into stock this morning (Thursday 24th April) so there is absolutely no need to pay over the odds when you can pay over the counter at Crash. If people would only resist the urge to buy Record Store Days release on eBay it would stop the touts in their tracks.
We had a brilliant Record Store Day this year as did hundreds of cutomers who we served throughout the day. Some were disappointed to have missed out on certain releases, but I think they all realised that we were as fair as we could possibly be to everyone on the day. We look forward to seeing you all in April 2015.
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