Indie Retail Celebrates Record Store Day 2015: Highest Share of Physical Album Sales – Ever – at Indie Stores; Indie Retail Share of Overall Album Sales Highest Since 2003; White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan is Biggest RSD Release
Record Store Day, which celebrated music and small independent record stores last Saturday (April 18th), now has even more to celebrate: its sales represent the highest independent share of overall album sales since 2003 and the highest share of physical album sales ever. According to Nielsen Music, sales at independent retail stores made up 11.9% of the total industry sales for the week, an increase of 4% over the same week last year; and 21.5% of total physical album sales, an increase of over 10% over the same week last year. For the independent stores that reported sales to Nielsen both this year and last year, album sales increased 3% and single sales increased 23%.
The growth in the indie retail sector has been fueled by a resurgence in vinyl album sales, which have grown 260% since 2009. In 2014, vinyl album sales reached 9.2 million, up from 6.1 million in 2013. In the first quarter of this year, vinyl album sales were 53% higher than Q1 2014, driven by a 66% increase in catalog album sales (albums that have been released for at least 18 months) during the same period.
According to Nielsen’s Music 360 2014 study, vinyl buyers are concentrated in the 18-24 year old age group and the 45-54 age group, and growth in the format is being fueled by rock, which accounted for 70% of last week’s vinyl album sales and 70% of vinyl album sales year to date.
Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 as a way to celebrate the unique culture surrounding independently owned record stores. The buzz about Record Store Day – and the sought-after limited edition records released for the event – often create lines around the block, and certainly drive an increase in sales. Sales at independent record stores this week (all formats) increased more than 46% over last week. The biggest Record Store Day-related release was The White Stripes / Get Behind Me Satan.
Billboard Top Album Vinyl Chart – Week Ending 4/19/15
1. Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell
2. The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan*
3. Run The Jewels Run The Jewels
4. Dance Gavin Dance Instant Gratification
5. Miles Davis Kind Of Blue
6. Bob Dylan The Basement Tapes*
7. Halestorm Into The Wild Life
8. Father John Misty I Love You Honeybear*
9. Replacements Alex Chilton*
10. Built To Spill Untethered Moon*
*Record Store Day release
[Thank you to Alex Teitz for passing this important information along!]* * * * *
Jack White’s North Dakota Acoustic Gig to Stream on Tidal
Jack White will wrap up his five-state acoustic tour Sunday night with a performance at Fargo, North Dakota’s Fargo Theatre, and the Lazaretto rocker revealed that the concert will stream live via Tidal. White was among the marquee artists to sign a declaration supporting Jay Z’s high-quality audio streaming site. Additionally, Tidal subscribers in North Dakota were automatically entered into a contest to win tickets to the Fargo Theatre gig.
Following the North Dakota performance and live stream – scheduled for 8:30 p.m. local time – White’s Fargo gig will remain an on-demand feature on Tidal; after aligning with the streaming service, many artists promised to contribute exclusive content to Jay Z’s artist-friendly Tidal. White has been at the frontlines in terms of supporting the service, even making phone calls to his Tidal-using fans to thank them for their patronage.
White’s five-state acoustic tour, with tickets only $3 apiece, previously visited four other states that singer had never performed in as a solo artist or as a member of the White Stripes, the Dead Weather and the Raconteurs. Those stops include Anchorage, Alaska; Boise, Idaho; Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Rapid City, South Dakota. As the Rapid City Journal points out, all five cities were part of the White Stripes’ 2007 fall tour, but those concerts were canceled after Meg White suffered from acute anxiety. Eight years later, White made amends to fans in those cities with these unique, intimate solo acoustic gigs.
According to Fargo’s Inforum, although White didn’t confirm the Fargo Theatre show until Sunday morning, fans in the North Dakota city hedged Saturday that the rocker would next visit their town, only they didn’t know which venue. Roughly 150 fans guessed White would perform at the Fargo Civic Center – the site of the nixed White Stripes show in 2007 – and set up shop there. Nearly 650 fans correctly predicted White would instead perform at the Fargo Theatre and lined up for hours outside that venue. At stake: One of 800 wristbands allowing entrance into the show.
White opened up his acoustic trek with a performance at Anchorage’s Wendy Williamson Auditorium, where he and his small backing band treated the crowd to a 13-song set that alternated between White’s solo work (“Love Interruption,” “Just One Drink”) and White Stripes favorites (“We’re Going to Be Friends,” “The Same Boy You’ve Always Known”). The concert wrapped up with a sing-along of the folk classic “Goodnight, Irene.”
Rolling Stone | By Daniel Kreps
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/jack-whites-north-dakota-acoustic-gig-stream-tidal-180200972-rolling-stone.html
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Help Local Denver Artist and Singer Chad Martin
Chad, a long time and well known tattoo artist in the Denver, Colorado area, needs our help. Chad was given short notice to vacate the shop he had for the past 10 years this past December 2014. He had put well over $60,000 into the remodeling and upgrading this shop and was a good tenant. He made it his mission to locate and lease another place and remodel it, get permits, and all necessary inspections for himself and the employees that were relying on him. He was in the final steps to opening his shop to find out that it could not be zoned for the area as a tattoo shop and the last $7000 that he had to his name was depleted. He was not able to provide a place for the employees to work in nor for himself. Now he is left with nothing and only a guest spot at another studio. He has no money to keep himself afloat and definitely nothing to open another shop. The landlord of the new place he remodeled for the shop neglected to inform him that it could not be zoned for his shop. Chad has fought many obstacles in his lifetime, one being cancer. He has helped a great number of people unselfishly over the years and now I have started this fund raising campaign to help him get back on his feet and secure his dream. Can you help? Even a dollar will help greatly. If you cannot financially help, can you please pass this along? Chad with Sinfultration is a very talented artist and to lose this great talent because of a few irresponsible people and unfortunate circumstances would be a terrible loss for the community.
http://gogetfunding.com/project/help-chad-get-his-shop-up-and-going
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Go Fund Me Set Up for Ward Harston’s Medical Recovery
Our wonderful friend, Ward Harston, has been fighting for his life, due to a car accident on March 18th, 2015. He is a genius musician and plays over 30 instruments. Ward even shared his musical passion with my son who currently plays saxonphone all over the world and also teaches.
Ward is on a ventilator and mostly paralyzed. There has been small improvements over the last couple of weeks, but he will be unable to work and pay his bills for a very long time. When he gets stronger, he will be going to a rehab facility to fight his hardest life’s battle. Ward has always given to the community and children through his music. Whatever we can pay forward to him would be a blessing and so gratefully appreciated. Thank you so much for including him in your prayers, also.
Jan Meyer report, 04/28/15: I went to see Ward today, and I have a very positive report. He is totally off the ventilator and breathing completely on his own. Today, I saw him move his hands and wrists for the first time. Ward’s strength is driven by the love and support of his friends and family. Thank you all for your generosity and prayers for his recovery. He feels all your love.
[There apparently was no insurance to help Mr. Harston so please donate whatever you can. Just remember if 100 people pitch in $10 each, that’s another $1,000 to help Mr. Harston out. Right now there is $4,730 reached toward a goal of $10,000.]