Poor show recordstoreday.co.uk and some unscrupulous Independent Record Stores
Only one RSD this year and that was on 23rd April.
Previously there have been two or sometimes three drops spread over three days.
But this year there is only one official RSD.
One!!
So why are some Independent Record Stores making the fans queue again?
For the simple reason that around a third of RSD official releases were not available on the official RSD 2022 date of April 23rd.
Surely the logical and fair thing to have done is to take customer orders for the one's that were put back?
Yes, I know that you cannot pre-order any Record Store Day releases and they are on a first come first served basis.
Reason being that unscrupulous people would pre-order and sell at vastly inflated prices on eBay.
But the release date of these ones being put back should NOT be levelled at the Independent Record Stores customers?
After all, some queued from the day before to be told "not available".
I was told that one person queued up to purchase only two records, both of which were postponed.
How is that fair for him to have to queue again on 16th June.
My local record store even advertised some of the delayed releases as being available on 23rd April when they weren't.
Reason being that they wouldn't have been enough time to update the multiple release date changes.
Not enough time? There was a good months prior notice had they downloaded the Official Record Store Day releases pdf from the Official RSD UK website!!!
And the total number of changes which required an ammendment? 81, yes 81.
Funny thing is I was told by a sales assistant at my local record store that there were 700 releases for RSD 2022 that they had to go through and change.
Ummmm? No mate, 81. And there was a list you could have worked from, had you downloaded it!.
Especially as the reason they were put back was due to manufacturing issues.
There have been manufacturing issues since the start of covid-19.
Or perhaps the organisers of RSD UK should have postponed the ONE RSD date until the 16th June when all of the records would have been available?
Now, lack of communication between RSD UK organisers and the 260 or so Independent Record Stores across the UK that participate in RSD could be a reasonable assumption of the fiasco.
But hang on. Surely if you only have 260 stores to notify of changes that should not have taken long to do?
Or should it have been up to Independent Record Stores to contact RSD Organisers for what to do before the big day arrives?
Who is to blame for Independent Record Stores running their own second, and unofficial, RSD on 16th June?
Both the Organisers and Independent Record Stores are to blame. Organisers for not having the foresight to understand the arguments and disagreements this would cause between Record Store staff and their customers?
The organisers should have TOLD the record store Managers what to do. Or did they not have a plan in place to help rectify what has now been turned into a "you can't purchase this until 16th June and you have to re-queue on that date if you want any chance of getting it".
All of RSD 2022 releases were due on 23rd April, so regardless of whether they were in store to purchase on the day, they should have been available on a first come first served basis for customers to pay for on the day and collect once they come in stock.
Comparison.
With all everyday vinyl releases, including Limited Edition and Special Edition releases, you are allowed to pre-order and collect them on the day of release.
If that day of release is put back the customer has paid for it and therefore still entitled to it.
Same argument goes for RSD releases that people queued up for on what should have been their day of release.
I haven't named my Local Independent Record Store, but I think they are playing the game the way they choose.
They even had someone sitting with a laptop so that he could inform customeers who couldn't find the one or two releases they so desperately wanted because it may have been an two disc edition as opposed to the original one disc that the release date had been put back.
Now, customers are let in in queue order a few at a time and the store manager lets them know how they have laid out the RSD releases around the store.
Surely, at this stage customers should have been told that any releases they had queued for could be paid for there and then? After all, some of them still showed as available that day on the store website.
The other thing that this record store had on their website under every RSD 2022 release?
"This is an exclusive release for Record Store Day 2022. Available from Saturday 23rd April over the counter, with online sales beginning at 8:00pm on Friday 29th April. Available from Saturday 23rd is surely holding the store liable to accept payment for that item on that day?
You cannot make it up as you go along. Sort it before it happens. It happens once a year.







