Kevin Buckle: Taylor on Taylor – the tale of a new single release
Record Store Day fever started in earnest this week with the announcement that there would be a Taylor Swift single released exclusively on the day.
Unfortunately nobody told her UK distributor Universal Music or indeed the Record Store Day UK organisers so the first they knew of it was when the news appeared on social media in the evening.
Consequently there was a mountain of emails sent by UK shops the next morning asking what was happening and rather strangely we are all still waiting for any information beyond what was given in the initial announcement.
We do know it is a seven-inch single with collectable artwork and will be on Cry My Eyes violet glitter vinyl. Side one is Elizabeth Taylor, the second song on Taylor’s latest album The Life Of A Showgirl and side two is Elizabeth Taylor (So Glamorous Cabaret Version).
What shops and fans alike would like to know is how limited the single is going to be and we can only hope that given the huge demand there is bound to be that a sensible number are pressed so everybody has a chance to buy a copy on the day.
At Avalanche we really don’t see large numbers of people queueing in the early hours of the morning as a badge of honour and normally tell people that so long as they turn up as we open they should get what they want.
That has certainly been true with the Taylor Swift Record Store Day releases in previous years and I would hope that would continue to be the case.
Shops are allowed to open from eight in the morning but up until last year we only opened an hour early at nine. However, last year we were asked so often if we would open at eight that we said we would and that will be the case again this year.
There is, of course, an inherent flaw in Record Store Day releases and that is that the vast majority of people buying them do so not to support shops, which is meant to be the point, but to support the artists they like and customers will revert to their normal behaviour of buying directly from the artist’s website once the big day is over.
Most of the time the best versions of an album will only be available directly from the artist, so you can’t blame fans for wanting to buy signed copies or releases that have some other extra features. But from a high street shop’s viewpoint they have substantial rent and rates, not to mention wages to pay, so need support all year round and not just on Record Store Day.
There has been no better example recently than the new Harry Styles album. When I looked at the sales figures and in particular the vinyl, by far the best selling version of the Harry Styles album on vinyl was only available from his website, with shop vinyl sales trailing far behind.
At Avalanche we are very lucky to have strong sales all year but for the many shops that rely on Record Store Day for a welcome boost it should be remembered that they also need support all through the year.