Record Store Day 2020 postponed amidst coronavirus pandemic
The event celebrating vinyl culture has been rescheduled to 20 June 2020
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Record Store Day 2020, the worldwide annual event dedicated to celebrating the vinyl culture, has been postponed to 20 June 2020. Usually pulling together more than 200 independent record shops nationwide, the event includes special vinyl releases exclusive to Record Store Day, along with artist performances and events.
COVID-19 is, naturally, the culprit for moving the event back from 18 April. We’ve already seen a number of events cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic, most notably SXSW, Superbooth – even Apple has closed all stores outside China. Bristol-based independent record store, Idle Hands, expressed concern for other record stores over COVID-19.
Record Store Day’s official statement describes how “[RSD] is a worldwide event involving thousands of people and small businesses—In our discussions over the last few weeks, as information came and changed daily, and then hourly, we’ve taken all of them into consideration as we go over various options: Stay the course. Move the date. Change the structure of the event. No one knows what things will look like in any given place in the next five weeks, and decisions for that time period need to be made now, using current facts”
The statement continues “there is no perfect solution. There is no easy answer. We’ve decided that the best of all possible moves is to change the date of Record Store Day this year to Saturday, June 20”.
We think this gives stores around the world the best chance to have a profitable, successful Record Store Day, while taking into consideration the recommendations of doctors, scientists, the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, and the need to be good citizens of both local and worldwide communities.
We’re working with all of our partners and our stores to make this change as smooth as possible for everyone who participates in Record Store Day: customers, record stores, artists, labels and more. Record Store Day is everywhere and we want to hold our party when everyone can gather around safely to celebrate life, art, music and the culture of the indie record store.
(And hey! Anything with the April 18, 2020 on it just became that much more special!)
Find out more at recordstoreday.co.uk
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