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Record Store Day date set for 2011
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 14 January 2011
Organisers of Record Store Day, the global celebration of the independent record shop, have announced that this year’s big day will be 16 Apr.
Once again indie record shops around the world will be staging special events, while certain artists and labels will make special limited edition releases available via participating stores, all in a bid to encourage music fans to go check out their local indie music establishments. No details as yet regarding the events or special releases that will be coming our way here in the UK, but we’ll let you know as soon as we know.
Of course things are still very hard for the independent music retail sector, which has seen hundreds of stores close in the last ten years as record sales have declined, supermarkets have entered the more mainstream end of the market, and more and more consumers move online, where the big mail-order websites undercut the independent retailer on the high street by basing themselves in the Channel Islands and enjoy the subsequent VAT dodge.
Though there has been some good news. London-based Rough Trade Records recently announced its pre-Christmas sales were up 5% in December 2010 compared to 2009, and despite all that snow that other retail organisation have been blaming for sale slumps. And the people of Oxford are getting a new indie store courtesy of independent retailer Rapture, who have announced plans to expand into the city with their third shop.