Record shops around the UK came together over the weekend to celebrate music culture, with six stores in Sheffield taking part.
The first official event took place on 19 April 2008 in the US, and is now celebrated globally every year.
Stores celebrate the event by selling exclusive vinyl releases, and hosting performances by various artists.
Waxhead Records in Sheffield City Centre hosted their first event for record store day (RSD) this year.
The store welcomed 400 to 500 customers who enjoyed a live DJ event, alongside refreshments.
Jack, an employee from the store, spoke about the importance of the event: “It is the only time where independent record stores get the opportunity to congregate together and it is a really good way to support your local independent record retailers.
“Sheffield is a very musical city and has fewer chain stores, bringing a new community together.”
The most popular record that the shop sold was Ethel Cain’s Inbred record, an exclusive release for RSD. The store had four copies available, and sold them all within five minutes of opening.
Exclusive RSD records are ordered from ten different distributors around the UK and take around four to five months to process. Each store is allocated a certain amount of records dependant on how long they have been trading.
Bear Tree Records, a store in Sheffield City Centre, was open from 8am on RSD. They allowed people to queue outside of the store to buy exclusive records.
Callum Hopkins, a customer, was queuing outside of the store from 3am, and this is his 15th time attending.
He said: “Music is everything to me. In day to day life, music is involved, whether that is at work, downtime or commuting to and from. To say music is less than everything is a lie.”
Spinning Discs, a record store in Meersbrook, Sheffield also celebrated this year. Alongside RSD records, they hosted a live performance from local band Pale Blue Eyes.
Charlie Lucas, an employee, said: “The event was important to us as we were able to celebrate our local band.
“We only have a few record shops in the city, as it is quite a niche thing. Being able to conduct this event and remind everyone we are still going is important.”
Both stores recognised that people are starting to consume more physical media in this day and age, as opposed to digital platforms such as Spotify.
Jack said: “It has undergone a total U-turn because streaming platforms are not paying their artists very much. So, in the last few years there has been a resurgence in people buying more physical media formats.”
