Vinyl record lovers, on your mark, get set, shop.
More than 300 new music releases go on sale Saturday, most of them debuting – or exclusively available at – independent record stores, as part of Record Store Day 2022.
Artists with scheduled releases include Nicki Minaj, Foo Fighters, Mariah Carey, the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift, who is serving as Global Record Store Day Ambassador. Many of the limited edition releases are albums or singles never available before on vinyl, while others are being released on colored vinyl.
For instance, a 50th anniversary release of “More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)” from the Stones comes on two glow-in-the-dark vinyl LPs. Among the 25 tracks are 1963 debut single “Come On,” and a cover of Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” plus rarities previously unavailable on vinyl in the U.S.
And Minaj’s “Beam Me Up Scotty,” a 2021 reissue of her 2009 mixtape, is on psychedelic fuchsia vinyl.
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Swift has an exclusive 7-inch single of “The Lakes,” a bonus from her album “Folklore.” On the flip side: “The Lakes (original version),” an orchestral take on the song not previously available on vinyl.
And her song “The Man” appears on “Portraits of Her,” a charitable compilation album made with shoemaker Vans to benefit We Are Moving the Needle, a nonprofit group supporting women in the recording industry. Other female artists contributing include Banks, Julia Michaels, and Asiahn.
This marks the 15th anniversary of Record Store Day – the first one was held April 19, 2008 – conceived as a way to celebrate independently owned record stores and the vinyl LP format. Typically, the event is held on the third Saturday in April, often with artist appearances at some of the 1,400 independent record stores in the U.S.
The last two years, there’s been no official celebrations because of the coronavirus lockdown and varying local and state restrictions on shopping. Instead, the occasion was marked with a series of Record Store Day-affiliated “drops” of new releases.
“We didn’t want to call it Record Store Day, because we didn’t want to confuse anybody that to make them think we’re encouraging people to go gather and drink beer and watch a band because we weren’t,” Record Store Day co-founder Carrie Colliton told USA TODAY.
This year, retailers, record labels and vinyl manufacturers are facing supply chain issues, including availability of vinyl pellets, paper and even manpower to press and produce records, she says. So June 18 has been designated as a release date for records expected to miss the April 23 event.
“Let’s face it, there may be some that can’t even make June and then we’ll look to figure out when those can come out,” Colliton said.
Digital and streaming music revenues dominate the recorded music market, which grew 23% to $15 billion in 2021, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. But sales of vinyl records rose 61% to $1 billion, hitting that mark for the first time since 1986. It was also the first year since 1996 when sales of both vinyl and compact discs increased. CD sales grew 21% to $584 million, the first year-over-year increase in CD revenues since 2004, RIAA says.
“People really love vinyl now,” Colliton said. “And everybody wants to sell vinyl now.”
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► Foo Fighters, “Making A Fire (Mark Ronson Re-Version)/Chasing Birds (Preservation Hall Jazz Band Re-Version)”: A 7-inch disc with new versions of these “Medicine at Midnight” tracks.
A post shared by MariahCareyCollection (@mariahcareycollections)
► Mariah Carey, “#1’s”: A 1998 collection of her first 13 chart-toppers.
►You can pick up some vinyl for the kids, too: “Peppa’s Adventures: The Album” features Peppa Pig, the star of the popular animated British TV series.
►The Jackson 5, “ABC”: The quintet’s second studio album is available for the first time on 180-gram blue vinyl.
A post shared by Kirk Hammett (@kirkhammett)
► Kirk Hammett, “Portals”: The Metallica guitarist’s first solo album is among several Record Store Day releases out on CD as well as vinyl.
‘Mats fans! Our special Record Store Day 2022 offering is coming April 23rd to an indie record store near you…
UNSUITABLE FOR AIRPLAY: THE LOST KFAI CONCERT, a 2-LP, 140g vinyl set will feature some of the earliest soundboard recordings of #TheReplacements captured by… pic.twitter.com/CLcmunxbnp
►The Replacements, “Unsuitable for Airplay: The Lost KFAI Concert (Live)”: One of the earliest soundboard recordings of the alternative rock band.
For the complete list of Record Store Day releases go to recordstoreday.com.
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.
