Record Store Day 2014: Exclusives List Released

The 2014 Record Store Day (RSD) exclusives list is now available. There are 608 records that will only be available on this year’s Record Store Day, which will take place on April 19.

See the entire list here.

Record Store Day is a celebration of independent vinyl record stores across the world. It was founded in 2007 by a group of independent record store owners looking for a way to highlight a retail business that shrank massively over the last three decades.

The retailers' special day featured only 10 exclusive titles in its inaugural Record Store Day in 2008, but exclusive titles have become the most popular part of RSD since then. The limited-run, limited-availability titles are particularly popular with vinyl collectors, not just regular vinyl consumers.

On last year’s Record Store Day, Scottish experimental electronic musicians Boards of Canada launched their wildly popular viral marketing campaign for their album Tomorrow’s Harvest by hiding an exclusive vinyl record in a record shop named Other Music in New York City. The record was sold on eBay for $5,700.

Record Store Day 2013 generated more than $3 million in sales, according to Kim Bayley, Director General of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). According to Officialcharts.com, vinyl record sales comprise just under 1 percent of all music sales in the U.K., which is 10 times more than they did in 2007, which, coincidentally, was the year that Record Store Day began.

Vinyl records have made a resurgence as a popular medium for records. Digital sales and streaming are still the music business’ favored formats, but vinyl sales were at a 10-year high in 2013. More than half a million newly released vinyl records were sold in 2013, helped by major albums by Daft Punk, David Bowie and the Arctic Monkeys. Music journalists point to Record Store Day as a significant boost to record sales.

Advocates of vinyl say it offers intangible value in a very tangible form. Search for participating RSD record stores here. Public Enemy's Chuck D is this year's RSD Ambassador.

Exclusives this year include a reissue of the Muppet Movie Soundtrack, a rare live recording of a 1977 Devo concert in Kansas City, and new releases by pop acts like Bastille and One Direction.