Record Store Day 2023: Exclusive LPs, Long Queues, and Rising Prices

• Maartje Geels

  editor online

“At 5 a.m. there were already people in front of the store, while we open at 9 a.m.,” says Jorn van der Linde of the Concerto record store. in Amsterdam. “In the afternoon there were queues of at least 200 meters in front of the door.”

Those lines were not there today for a major artist, but for Record Store Day. On that day, numerous exclusive long-playing records will be released worldwide sold: from a record with unique recordings by Taylor Swift to a compilation album of K3 hits.

It was the busiest day of the year for Van der Linde. His shop in the center of the capital had a full-time job managing the flow of visitors. “I hear from colleagues that it was very busy everywhere in the country,” says Van der Linde. Because of the enthusiasm, his store had a maximum of one copy per person. “You want to prevent the stock from running out immediately.”

Around some releases There was already a hype beforehand: that’s how the American magazine Variety called Taylor Swifts The Long Pond Studio Sessions the most wanted album of Record Store Day 2023. The album sold 115,000 copies worldwide: an exclusive number, compared to Swift’s usual sales numbers.

Maaike Schneiders (29) from The Hague was already at the door of the Paagman bookstore at 07:30 to get a copy. “I thought strategically and deliberately went to a bookstore that also sells records.” At the big record stores in The Hague, she feared, she would fish behind the net for Swift.

“You can see from the people which records they come for. You feel a kind of competition in the queue.” Schneiders was lucky: “I had Taylor Swift’s second to last from that store.” Her backup plan was Doe Maar: especially for Record Store Day, the famous Nederpop group released the double EP The Lime Tapes out.

One of Schneiders’ fellow enthusiasts got up early for nothing: she came for a special live album by the English band The 1975 and was unable to get it. “Only a hundred of these were available in the Netherlands today,” responds Van der Linde of Concerto.

He has seen an increased interest in vinyl in recent years. “Since corona we see more and more young people in the store.” For example, teenagers flock to artists such as Harry Styles and Yungblud. But there is also a lot of interest in records among people in their twenties.

“Ten, twenty years ago, the vinyl buyer mainly bought music from the ‘dinosaurs’,” continues Van der Linde, referring to U2 and The Rolling Stones, for example. “Now all genres of music are bought on vinyl. We also sell artists who are in the Ziggo Dome on record.” Not that the young generation only comes for new artists, emphasizes the Concerto boss: ABBA, for example, is also popular.

On Record Store Day, retailers try to attract extra (young) customers to their stores with so-called instores: small, free performances by artists. Many stores today also gave away a single by the Dutch singer-songwriter Froukje with a purchase.

Recent figures from industry association NVPI confirm the picture that Van der Linde paints. Turnover of vinyl rose last year by 30 percent to an amount of 37 million euros. “It’s a trend that we’ve been seeing for years,” spokesperson Eva de Vroome responds. According to Vroome, turnover has increased because records have become more expensive, but also because more have been sold.

Van der Linde, who does the shopping for Concerto, also sees that records have become considerably more expensive. “I’ve been thinking for a few years that the limit has been reached, that 30 euros is about the maximum a record is worth. But the new Taylor Swift, for example, costs almost 60 euros. I personally think that’s a lot of money.” Van der Linde estimates that the price increase in the past four years has been about 25 percent.

This is partly due to rising costs on the part of the producers: raw material, transport and storage costs have increased. This is passed on to the buyer. But according to Van der Linde, record companies are also responding to the increased demand by simply asking more for the work.

Schneiders looks back on a successful day, she got her first choice. And the unfortunate fans? They can seek refuge on sites such as Ebay and Marktplaats, where the first copies of Swift’s album are already being offered, although many fans will probably have to save a little more for that.