Seventeen years on, Record Store Day, which celebrates locally owned record stores across the country with a smorgasbord of special vinyl releases, reissues and other exclusive goodies only available in person at select stores, continues to deliver the goods.
The arrival of rare or never before released always creates an extra amount of buzz at Gary Scheuenstuhl’s Mill Valley Music shop, the longtime go-to hub for vinyl music lovers throughout Mill Valley and beyond, and he rode the pandemic-fueled wave over the past few years of new fans discovering music, ready to dig into their music collections and, most importantly, ready to buy some records and expand on those collections.
Record Store has been one of the great drivers of that expansion in recent years. Initially a grassroots campaign launched in 2007 to support independent record stores facing extinction in an increasingly digital-driven streaming music business, RSD is now a series of events that have played a huge role in the seeming neverending uptick of vinyl record sales growth.
“We work year-round to shine a light on the independent businesses in your local community that sell you records and other things that make you happy, make you smile, make you sing, bring you comfort, bring people together,” RSD officials say on their website.
As an exciting additional RSD-related treat, the Pacific Sun recently sat down with Scheuenstuhl for a fantastic Q&A, including this gem: “I get to listen to music every day. Being around it will always be a large part of my life. Music is forever.”
You can view the list of the all of the 2024 RSD Drops for April here.
MORE INFO ON MILL VALLEY MUSIC.