Saturday, April 23, is the annual Record Store Day, where hard-core vinyl aficionados and music fans who just want something different to listen to will converge around the world on their local independent record stores to flip through albums or CDs, listen to music (many stores have live performances) and discuss — though mostly disagree — about different merits of albums and if Taylor Swift is worthy as the first Global Record Store Day Ambassador (Psst: She is and is dropping an as-yet-unannounced title for the event.)
The music lovers’ celebration was founded in 2007 by a group of independent record store owners and employees who wanted to share their enthusiasm and celebrate the unique record store community. (And though some may cringe, the book and movie “High Fidelity,” do a great job of illustrating it.)
The first official day was April 19, 2008, and it has continued since then around that date in April, though during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 the dates altered a bit.
Something established as a tradition early on was the Record Store Day Official Release List, put together mostly by organizers and includes special vinyl and CD releases, as well as promotional products, made especially for the day.
The 2022 list has 344 choices. They run the gamut from punk to pop, but for this, the focus is on music that puts you in a good mood.
According to a study shared by Harvard Business Review, data gathered by London Business School’s Alex Edmans and two coauthors showed that the average positivity of songs “that people in 40 nations listened to on Spotify” correlated to how well that country’s stock market did over the same time. “They wanted to see if there was a correlation between mood, as reflected by the music played, and financial returns. There was. The conclusion: When people listen to happy songs, the market outperforms.”