Record Store Day Releases Hit eBay Early

Record Store Day is on Saturday, April 16. This is a day when record stores and music artists come together to celebrate music and the continued existence of albums that you can hold in your hand, in the digital age.

For a more official description:

This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.

The spirit of the day, however, seems to be being undermined by those looking to cash in on the releases prior to the event. Items are turning up all over eBay before Record Store Day even gets here.

Here’s the entire list of Record Store Day releases.

The people behind Record Store Day have responded to the situation on Facebook:

Record Store DayThanks to everyone who has pointed out ebay auctions to us. We really DO understand and share your frustration over how much this sucks. And we do take action where we can, especially if we find a store doing it: Time Traveler was doing it, we forced a take-down, and are putting them on public notice. 21 hours ago · 252 likes · 83 comments

One fan commented, “To do this prior to release day belittles the whole ethic…”

Another said, “People should just boycott them and not buy them on eBay. That’s just wrong of them. That just ruins the fun of Record store day. I say ban them for life!”

@recordstoreday
Record Store Day@BrianHastie Record Store Day is a celebration of the STORES. 2 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Also happening this weekend is Coachella, which is sure to draw interest from a lot of the same people who are interested in Record Store Day. The event is being streamed live on YouTube starting today.

There are 4 Comments. Add Yours.

Dekkerboy
April 16, 2011 at 4:50 pm

I think a LOT of the blame lies with the record companies themselves. I’ve been collecting early Reggae vinyl for YEARS before Universal took over Trojan, and was eagerly waiting for the shop to open early this morning. After queueing for 1.5 hours, I was told that the shop hadn’t even been allocated the record in question.
Then I see them on ebay.
Makes me spit feathers, as Universal/Trojan in particular have REALLY p*ssed-off a lot of their most loyal customers.
I’ll take my D.Ms and stomp off elsewhere… see if I can get said item as a bootleg…
Well done Universal/Trojan, you’ve blown it.
Brian
April 18, 2011 at 5:38 am

To the guy below. Not ALL stores can get ALL releases. That the way RSD works. It does suck when these loser flippers plop everything on ebay just to make a little extra money. I had “comic book guys” (simpsons character) lined up in front and behind me and they were talking about what they were buying to sell. I called them on it but I got all that I wanted so I was happy with that. Certain items are selling for $50, $100, you names it. Give it a few weeks and they will fall to retail except for the super limited things.
- Brian
  April 18, 2011 at 5:39 am
  
  lol, I meant to the guy above in my initial comment.
Mike C
May 7, 2011 at 12:46 pm

There also is a store in Eastpointe Michigan that reportedly let a local DJ who sells records at record shows go through the Record Store Day selections before the store even opened to buy what he wanted. I just hate these people that want to cash in. I got the Mastodon LP on RSD, Deftones and Glassjaw after on EBay (at around cost) but I’m at a store in Royal Oak and there are just people buying everything. You know that isn’t for them (most of them anyway). There was a guy that got there early that tried to buy every single White Stripes 7″. He was 2nd in line. The store refused and almost kicked him out. I want those 7″ to play and to keep.