record store day
At the Music Biz 2025 conference in Atlanta, the “Let’s Get Physical” segment opened with a panel featuring Luminate’s director of partnerships, Chris Muratore, who shared the latest industry insights around the continued success of Record Store Day.
One of Muratore’s slides pointed out that in the last 10 years, there have only been a dozen weeks in which album sales reached the 1 million unit mark, and Record Store Day was responsible for five of those weeks, with most of the other million-selling weeks coming during the year-end holiday season.
Staying with the panel’s theme of updating the industry on “Indie Retail Sales Data,” Muratore explained how Luminate — which shares a parent company with Billboard, Penske Media — has evolved its approach since partnering with StreetPulse to gather data from independent record shops.
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Muratore — who was joined by Coalition of Independent Music Stores executive director Andrea Paschal and StreetPulse CEO John Weston on the panel — began with a brief history lesson, explaining how Luminate’s predecessor, SoundScan, first began tracking indie retail data back when physical music was the only game in town. At the time, around 300 independent stores reported sales. However, the weighting system used to extrapolate sales for the entire indie sector hadn’t been updated since it was first implemented in 1991.
When Luminate began its collaboration with StreetPulse in 2024, it was only after it had made the controversial decision to end weighting for indie stores at the end of 2023, resulting in widespread industry resistance.
By June 2024, Luminate struck a deal to collaborate with StreetPulse on collecting indie retail sales data and assembled a dedicated data team to develop a new, more flexible and efficient weighting model to replace the outdated system. As part of the partnership, Luminate initially gathered sales reports from 200 indie stores, with the number growing to around 250 stores by the end of 2024, according to Muratore.
For her part, Paschal acknowledged that Music Biz president Portia Sabin “was very involved in bringing us all together.”
Muratore noted that, through its partnership with StreetPulse, Luminate continues to expand its network of reporting stores, now surpassing 400 locations contributing sales data. “We think we have identified another 100-plus stores to bring on by the end of the year, so we will have over 500 stores reporting sales,” he said.
In order to get to 500 stores, Weston thanked labels and distributors for pointing out retailers that should be added. Then, speaking to store owners, he pointed out that one of the challenges is that every store owner runs their business “a little different.” “There is a reason you are called independent because you are all different,” he noted. “So if you are not reporting to us and want to, we need to know what kind of POS system you have.”
While Luminate may reach 500 reporting stores — roughly one-third of the estimated 1,500 independent U.S. shops selling new physical music — by year’s end, that one-third likely represents about two-thirds of total physical sales volume. Conversely, the remaining two-thirds of stores that aren’t yet reporting likely account for just one-third of the volume. “That’s because we know who the tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 stores are,” Muratore explained.
Also, as Luminate and StreetPulse add stores, the new weighting system is flexible enough to accommodate the new ones coming on without distorting the sales picture.
Using the new weighting system, Luminate apparently backfilled the weighted numbers back to the beginning of last year because Muratore reported that in 2024, while physical sales were 77.8 million, the largest segment was indie retail, which collectively sold 23 million album copies of vinyl and CDs, representing 36% of physical sales.
Breaking it down, Muratore noted that of the 44.4 million vinyl albums tracked by Luminate in 2024, independent retailers accounted for 17.3 million — roughly 36%. And indie retail continues to gain ground, particularly in vinyl sales: In just the first four months of 2025, indie stores were responsible for 5.7 million of the 13.1 million vinyl units sold, representing 44% of total sales, he said.
As for CD sales, last year indie stores collectively accounted for 5.4 million of total U.S. sales of 32.9 million CD copies, or 17% of CD sales. So far this year, indie stores account for 1.8 million units of the 8 million CD sales recorded so far — or 22% of CD sales.
Focusing on Record Store Day, Muratore emphasized the importance of recognizing who’s buying physical music today. Unlike the early days of the vinyl revival, he noted, it’s no longer just older people driving sales of physical music — and Record Store Day clearly reflects that shift.
Muratore reported that the top three Record Store Day 2025 titles were Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” single featuring Post Malone, which led with 59,000 copies sold; Malone’s Tribute to Nirvana with 12,000 copies; and Gracie Abrams’ Live From Radio City Music Hall, which moved 11,000 units.
Muratore further emphasized the shift toward a younger demographic in physical music buying, noting that a recent Luminate consumer survey found that 25% of vinyl purchasers are under the age of 25. He went on to urge labels and music distributors to make sure “they put the right product out for who the consumer is for physical,” adding that the younger physical music buyers wanted Swift and the Wicked soundtrack album.
“We have to pay attention to who is showing up in the stores because it has changed drastically,” Muratore said. “If there were more allocation, this could have been the biggest Record Store Day ever.”
Vinyl releases from Post Malone, Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams and more were among the top-sellers from Record Store Day (RSD) 2025 in the United States, according to Luminate.
The yearly independent record store celebration was held on April 12 this year and offered an array of unique and limited-edition albums and singles (mostly vinyl pressings) issued for RSD. More than 300 titles were released for RSD 2025 at independent record stores across the U.S.
Post Malone had both the top-selling RSD 2025 album and single. His Post Malone Tribute to Nirvana, pressed on yellow-colored vinyl, was the top-seller among albums. The album was recorded in 2020 during a livestream that raised funds for The World Health Organization in support of COVID-19 relief efforts. Joining Malone for the livestream were Travis Barker (drums), Nick Mack (guitar) and Brian Lee (bass). The RSD 2025 vinyl release is also a charitable affair, as, according to the RSD organization, 100% of net proceeds from the sale of the vinyl will be donated to MusiCares’ Addiction Recovery/Mental Health division.
Tribute to Nirvana also bows at No. 2 on the April 26-dated Top Album Sales chart, where half of the top 10 are RSD 2025 titles. (Bon Iver‘s new studio album SABLE, fABLE — not an RSD 2025 release — debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, scoring the artist his second leader.)
The Nos. 2-5 biggest selling RSD 2025-exclusive albums were: Gracie Abrams’ Live From Radio City Music Hall (double-vinyl set), Rage Against the Machine’s Live On Tour 1993 (double-vinyl set), Laufey’s A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl (double-vinyl set) and Charli xcx’s 2017 mixtape Number 1 Angel (on apple-colored vinyl).
Meanwhile, in terms of the top-selling RSD 2025 singles, Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight,” featuring Malone (on 7-inch vinyl) was the biggest seller. The Nos. 2-5 selling RSD 2025 singles were Charli xcx’s “Guess,” featuring Billie Eilish (on 7-inch vinyl); The Killers and Bruce Springsteen’s three-song “Encore at the Garden” (on 12-inch vinyl); The Cure’s “Alone” (Four Tet Remix) (on 12-inch vinyl) and Eddie Vedder’s “Save It for Later” / “Room at the Top” (on ocean floor-colored 12-inch vinyl).
Malone also served as the RSD 2025 Ambassador, and earlier said in a statement upon his selection: “What an honor, I can’t believe I was chosen to be Record Store Day’s Ambassador for 2025. Record Store Day is so important and I really hope to do my part to keep it alive.” Malone follows such recent RSD Ambassadors as Paramore (2024), Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires (2023), Swift (2022), Fred Armisen (2021), Brandi Carlile (2020) and Pearl Jam (2019).
Top-Selling Record Store Day 2024 Exclusive Albums at Independent Record Stores in the U.S.Rank, Artist, Title1. Post Malone, Post Malone Tribute to Nirvana (yellow-colored vinyl)2. Gracie Abrams, Live From Radio City Music Hall (double vinyl)3. Rage Against the Machine, Live On Tour 1993 (double vinyl)4. Laufey, A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl (double vinyl)5. Charli xcx, Number 1 Angel (apple-colored vinyl)6. Wallows, More (evergreen and white-colored vinyl)7. Talking Heads, Live On Tour (double vinyl)8. Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac (picture disc vinyl)9. Gorillaz, Demon Days Live From the Apollo Theater (red-colored double vinyl)10. The Doors, Strange Days 1967: A Work In Progress (translucent blue-colored vinyl)11. The Replacements, Tim (transparent purple-colored double vinyl)12. Grateful Dead, Beacon Theatre, New York, NY 6/14/76 (180-gram five vinyl set)13. The Cure, The Head On the Door (picture-disc vinyl)14. The Ramones, Loco Live (blue and red-colored double vinyl)15. Soundtrack, The Virgin Suicides (25th Anniversary Edition) (blue-colored vinyl)16. Queen, De Lane Lea Demos (vinyl)17. Wu-Tang and Mathematics, Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman: Wu-Tang, The Saga Continues Collection (180-gram double vinyl)18. The Rolling Stones, Out of Our Heads (U.S.) (180-gram clear-colored vinyl)19. Elton John, Live at the Rainbow Theatre With Ray Cooper (180-gram vinyl)20. David Bowie, Ready, Set, Go! (Live, Riverside Studios ’03) (180-gram double vinyl)21. Thin Lizzy, Jailbreak (Alternate Version) (vinyl)22. Judas Priest, Live in Atlanta ‘82 (red-colored double vinyl)23. Young Thug, Barter 6 (silver-colored double vinyl)24. Vince Guaraldi, Selections From ‘It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown’ (10-inch easter egg-shaped, colored vinyl)25. Beabadoobee, Live and Acoustic In London (red slushie-colored vinyl)Source: Luminate, for the week ending April 17, 2025
Top-Selling Record Store Day 2025 Exclusive Singles at Independent Record Stores in U.S.Rank, Artist, Title1. Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone, Fortnight (7-inch vinyl)2. Charli xcx featuring Billie Eilish, Guess (7-inch vinyl)3. The Killers & Bruce Springsteen, Encore at the Garden (Badlands / Dustland / Born to Run) (12-inch vinyl)4. The Cure, Alone (Four Tet Remix) (12-inch vinyl)5. Eddie Vedder, Save It for Later / Room at the Top (ocean floor-colored 12-inch vinyl)6. David Gilmour With Romany Gilmour, Between Two Points (Vita Brevis/Between Two Points [Live From the Royal Albert Hall] / Between Two Points [GENTRY Remix] / Between Two Points [GENTRY Remix Edit] / Between Two Points [Album Version]) (clear-colored 12-inch vinyl)7. Waxahatchee, Much Ado About Nothing / Mud / Next to Me (7-inch vinyl)8. Tom Waits, Get Behind the Mule (Spiritual) / Get Behind the Mule (7-inch vinyl)9. Geddy Lee, The Lost Demos (Gone / I Am… You Are) (12-inch vinyl)10. George Harrison, Be Here Now / Beck, Be Here Now (12-inch vinyl)Source: Luminate, for the week ending April 17, 2025
Record Store Day delivered another triumphant sales day to brick and mortar indie retailers with the hot sellers being Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams and Charli XCX titles, while the Oasis and Wicked releases were among the most in demand — if only more copies had been manufactured for the event.
While this year’s Record Store Day (RSD) represented the usual sales bonanzas for retailers, merchants in some of the stores visited by Billboard reporters said that even with one of the stronger release day schedules in recent years, it was difficult for them to top last year’s RSD, which at the time many retailers proclaimed as their best day ever.
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However, there were other mitigating factors beyond the strength of last year’s performance that were felt by stores. For instance, in the Northeast, RSD was a miserable, rain-drenched day, which put a damper on sales. But that’s not all. As Ilana Costa, who co-owns the 12-year old Vinyl Fantasy Records and Comic Books in Brooklyn with her husband Joe, puts it, “A mixture of the weather, the economy and the news about tariffs” impacted the sales at their store, which were down about one-third from the prior year. Moreover, she said the recent economic turmoil — a chaotic tariff strategy by the Trump administration and the stock and bond market meltdowns and upward swings — had been impacting the store’s performance in the weeks prior to RSD.
Vinyl Fantasy
Ed Christman
Likewise at Pancake Records in Astoria, Queens, co-owner AJ Pacheco said sales at the two-year-old store were down about eight percent from the prior RSD due to the economy, tariffs and the weather, though he thinks the early date for RSD was also a factor in the sales decline. RSD is typically held on the third Saturday of April, but this year it was on the second Saturday.
The weather in New York didn’t stop customers from standing in line at Rough Trade at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan or at Pancake Records. At the latter, about 100 customers were waiting in line when the store opened at 8 am on Saturday morning. In fact, the “line started forming last night, right about when I was closing [at about 9:30],” Pacheco reported on RSD to Retail Track. “I was worried about the customer [who lined up at 9:30] because he was young, it was pouring rain and our store is not in the center of the town,” he said. “But things worked out.”
In Manhattan, Rough Trade Records had a huge line of customers waiting to get into the store all day, which lasted until about 3 pm, after which the store let customers come in and browse as usual.
Amoeba Music in Los Angeles also had a long line waiting to get in the store when Retail Track visited at about 11:15, shortly after the store’s 11 am opening. In fact, customers began lining up two days before RSD, floor manager Rik Sanchez told Retail Track.
With that kind of anticipation, the store “did a little better than last year,” Sanchez reported, though he added that last year was also very strong. While sales were up, “it wasn’t substantially more than last year,” he elaborated.
Sanchez dismissed another factor — Coachella — that one might think would have a sales impact, at least at California stores. “No, it happens around this time every year,” Sanchez said. “[RSD] always lands on one of the Coachella or Stagecoach weekends. I remember thinking, many years ago when we first started this, ‘Oh man, Coachella is going to really have an impact on us,’ but it didn’t.”
Besides, he added, “we also get business from the people who are leaving Coachella, passing through here on Monday.”
Back in New York, Rough Trade reported that sales were up 30%, and that within that, RSD titles were up 20 percent over last year. But Rough Trade had the bonus of a newly-opened second store in the Rockefeller Center complex, this one in the below-ground retail center. That store, referred to as Rough Trade Below and measuring 8,000 square feet, tripled the company’s retail space in the complex as the Sixth Avenue store, now referred to as Rough Trade Above, has 4,000 square feet of space.
Rough Trade
Brenda Manzanedo
Rough Trade co-owner Stephen Godfroy reports that the company used the RSD titles to introduce customers to the new location, which only opened on April 8, four days before the event. Consequently, the line that stretched down the block was funneled to the downstairs store where all the RSD titles were stored.
A few years back, Swift helped change the dynamic of Record Store Day, which used to be dominated by releases of legacy titles in colored vinyl that appealed to older, mainly male, customers. When Swift was named Record Store Day Ambassador back in 2022 and released a 7-inch single of a Folklore bonus track, “The Lakes,” young fans flocked to stores. Once record labels saw that young fans would go, it led to a steady stream of RSD releases in subsequent years with titles from younger stars like Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Noah Kahan, and this year, Abrams, among others.
Nowadays, Record Store Day’s main traffic driver is young female music fans, RSD co-founder Michael Kurtz says. In fact, store merchants report that the long lines waiting for record stores to open on RSD are largely made up of younger consumers, with the older customers showing up around midday. Along that line, Rough Trade’s Godfroy says two young ladies displaced longtime Rough Trade customer George West, who is usually at the front of the queue, as first in line for RSD this year, getting there the day before.
Retail Track’s View From Eight Indie Record Stores
Shoppers line up outside Rough Trade Below in Rockefeller Center.
Brenda Manzanedo
Rough Trade: Ponchos, Pastries and The Hives in RegaliaMidtown Manhattan
People who lined up early waiting for the Rough Trade store to open received free food and drinks from the different vendors who operate in the Rockefeller Center complex, Godfroy reported. “We look after people as much as we can,” he added. Along those lines, “We gave out 2,000 ponchos to those waiting in line in the rain.”
Like other merchants, Godfroy told Retail Track that the demand for the Oasis boxset and the double LP Wicked: The Soundtrack on green/pink glitter vinyl “was ridiculous.” But like most stores, Rough Trade only got one copy of each, and he wishes more were produced. “While I realize scarcity is what drives people to the stores on RSD,” it’s not fair to the customers waiting in long lines for those titles produced in meager numbers, he added.
Similar to bestseller reports from other retailers, Godfroy said that the store’s bestselling titles were Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight,” followed by Charlie XCX’s two RSD titles — “Number 1 Angel” and “Guess” — and Gracie Abrams’ Live From Radio City Music Hall.
In addition to RSD titles and the new store, Rough Trade had another big traffic driver — iNDIEPLAZA — which each year sees the store host seven live bands playing throughout the day from noon until 9:30 p.m., headlined this year by the Hives. While he was waiting on final figures, Godfroy noted that he didn’t expect attendance to equal last year’s, when 89,000 people walked through the indie festival area, due to the rain. But he said each band drew healthy crowds during their performances, topped by The Hives, which he said drew a crowd of several thousand people.
As an added bonus for store customers, at one point earlier in the day, The Hives’ lead singer dressed up as a king in full regalia and walked around the new store signing things and in general “lording it up,” Godfroy said.
Amoeba Music: Smooth Sailing Amid ScarcityLos Angeles
Even Amoeba Music, one of the largest independent stores in the U.S., had to deal with the difficulty of obtaining the desired number of copies for the big in-demand RSD titles. Two of the titles everyone was asking for were the Wicked release and the Oasis box set, “but we only got one of those,” reported Amoeba Music’s Sanchez, regarding the British band. Another thing that doesn’t make for smooth sailing: “During the course of the week people called us all the time asking, ‘Are you going to have this [title]?’ Or ‘Are you going to have that [title]?’ It’s always the case, but we can never because we’re literally getting stuff right up until the night before.”
But other than that, Amoeba can handle whatever RSD throws its way because by now, the store staff isn’t surprised by what happens. “We’ve been doing this for so long, we have it literally dialed in; it’s like a science for us,” Sanchez told Retail Track, noting it’s generally the store’s biggest sales day of the year.
Of course, it wasn’t a science in the early days of RSD, Sanchez recalled. “When we first started this, we actually experienced … 300 people running in here, climbing all over each other, trying to get at the stuff,” he said. The staff realized they needed to handle the RSD rush a different way because that way was “freaking dangerous,” he said. “The way we do it now is smooth and it’s fair.”
So how does the store handle crowd control on RSD? “All the people that are lined up out there before we open get a menu,” Sanchez explained. “They check off what it is that they’d like to get; and then we literally, as they come in, fill their order right up in front of the floor. We just burn right through it.”
What’s more, a lot of preparation goes into prepare for RSD. “We start prepping in January for this,” Sanchez said. “We build up an inventory just for this day because, again, experience has shown us over the years that come Monday, after the weekend [RSD] binge we [would have nothing left]” to restock shelves with, because even the non-RSD titles fly off the shelves over the RSD weekend. Come Monday, if there are any RSD titles left, Amoeba Music will put them up for sale at its online store. “We wait for the weekend to be over,” Sanchez said. “The people who make the trip out get the first pick.”
For The Record: Pre-Noon Sellouts But Plenty of CoffeeGreenpoint, Brooklyn
The Brooklyn contingent of the Retail Track force first stopped by For The Record in North Greenpoint, which has been open for just shy of three and a half years. Owner Lucas Deysine said customers started lining up around 4:30 a.m. — the first person in line brought a beach chair, which he then left on the street outside the store — and the shop, which doubles as a coffee shop and cafe, first pre-opened at 8 am to allow customers to come in from the cold and rain and have some coffee and pastries while receiving a number corresponding with their spot in line.
For The Record then officially opened for RSD at 9 am, with an in-store DJ spinning while customers browsed the RSD stock in the order that they had lined up earlier — a process, Deysine said, which ran much smoother than last year. And it seems to have paid off for the shop. Deysine — who has a background in the hospitality industry but had never really set foot in a record store before opening For The Record — said the store outsold what it did last year before noon, with the hottest titles being Swift’s “Fortnight” and records from Charli XCX and Abrams. (While Retail Track was speaking to Deysine, he took a call from a customer looking for the double-LP Abrams live album, which the store had sold out of already.)
In addition to its coffee, records and used books and tapes, For The Record also holds events and early listening sessions at the store, as well as live vinyl auctions on the site Whatnot, which got its start in the trading cards business but has gotten more into vinyl record auctions of late. While there, Retail Track bought an RSD title, Sly & the Family Stone’s The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967, as well as a used copy of UTFO’s “Roxanne, Roxanne,” single.
Retail Track also walked past the not-yet-open Record Grouch — which, even though it was cited on the Record Store Day website as having signed the RSD Pledge, sported a sign in the window informing customers, “No Record Store Day, Just Music, 2pm.”
Captured Record Shop: No Oasis, No ProblemGreenpoint, Brooklyn
After that, Retail Track moved on to Captured Record Shop — the Greenpoint store that was called Captured Tracks until recently, changing its name after the owner got tired of being confused for the independent record label of the same name — and it was still buzzing at 1:30 p.m. The store opened at noon and had a big line well before 11:30 a.m., which remained out the door until around 1 p.m. as collectors came looking for Charli XCX, Taylor Swift and Oasis (though Captured, despite ordering five copies, didn’t stock the latter).
Store buyer Nyerah Thornton told Retail Track that last year’s line was longer, but that the store was selling more this year, with Wicked, Swift and Charli XCX having the hottest records and headlining a collection that was awash in great inventory. (Retail Track bought a live recording of The Meters from 1975). The first customer of the day zeroed in on the Grateful Dead box set, undeterred by its $120 sticker price.
Earwax: Jazz Gems and Hardcore CollectorsWilliamsburg, Brooklyn
By 2 p.m., Earwax in Williamsburg only had a small crate of RSD exclusives left given the rush that had occurred before Retail Track’s arrival. The store only got one copy of the Wicked soundtrack, but it was the first record to go, snapped up alongside the Oasis record by the first person in line outside the store, who had been there for a couple of hours before opening. Sales were slower and there were fewer customers this year than last, with store owner Fabio Roberti attributing much of that to the miserable weather — though the hardcore collectors, he noted, were largely undeterred.
Those RSD exclusives can be as expensive for stores as they are for fans, which is why the shop only had one or two copies of the most high-profile titles; though the shop’s staff was more excited about records by Pharaoh Sanders, Sun Ra and Charles Mingus anyway, wryly hoping that no one would buy those during the day so that they could buy them themselves later. Retail Track bought the RSD title from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Peel Sessions 1979-1983, at Earwax.
Pancake Records: Sweet Sales, No TearsAstoria, Queens
Pancake Records
Ed Christman
Pancake Records co-owner Tanya Gorbunoca said she was “surprised” that the Wicked album was such a hot title this year because multiple versions of that album from the musical film have been released in the last year. Meanwhile, Pacheco, Gorbunoca’s partner in the store, said that besides Abrams and Swift, the store also received plenty of requests for Rage Against The Machine‘s Live On Tour 1993 and Post Malone‘s Tribute To Nirvana cover album, most of which couldn’t be fulfilled. “We never get enough” of the sought-after titles, Pacheco said. That particularly is hurtful when dealing with the younger customers, especially the ones who “come up with their list and we have to say, ‘Sorry, we are all sold out,’ on those titles; and then they get sad.” On the other hand, he added that this year, at least “there were no tears.”
More importantly, there were enough RSD titles this year so that everyone could get something. In looking at inventory after the weekend, Pacheco reported, “We didn’t have a lot of RSD records left over, which is different than last year. That tells me we did a good job of owning the right thing, and that we got the right amount.”
Before moving on to the next store, Retail Track bought two vinyl albums: a used copy of the Vibrations‘ Shout! album and Betty Davis’ Crashin’ From Passion.
Black Star Vinyl: Coffee and CurtisBed-Stuy, Brooklyn
At Black Star Vinyl, Retail Track found a small store that served coffee, had novelty knickknacks, what appeared to be self-printed books of various titles and a decent selection of used records, but no RSD titles. Nevertheless, Retail Track scored two Curtis Mayfield vinyl albums there: Honestly and Back To The World.
Vinyl Fantasy Record and Comic Books: No Line, No ProblemBushwick, Brooklyn
Vinyl Fantasy
Ed Christman
At Vinyl Fantasy, which caters to customers who are fans of punk, metal, experimental drone, industrial and electronica, the best sellers were Kelela‘s In The Blue Light and Earth’s Hex. Costa said that due to how the store’s inventory is slanted to the above genres, it got practically all the copies of the RSD titles it requested. When Retail Track stopped by at the store at 11:15 am, there was only one other customer, and, when asked if there was a line when she opened, Costa said no. The only other customer besides Retail Track piped in that according to Google, the store wasn’t scheduled to open for almost another hour; while Costa said she opened early just to throw a curve ball at customers.
The next day, Costa later reported, “We had a ton of new people coming into the store, and there were a surprising amount of people asking for Taylor Swift and Charli XCX, but we usually don’t do a lot of pop [sales].” The customers were disappointed that the store didn’t have music from either artist, leading Retail Track to suggest that maybe Vinyl Fantasy could explore getting more pop titles for next year’s RSD. But Costa was unconvinced. “I don’t think so,” she responded. “That’s not our jam.”
This story was prepared by Retail Track, otherwise known as Ed Christman, who deputized other Billboard staffers to take on the mantle of Retail Track for Record Store Day: Joe Lynch, Kristin Robinson and Dan Rys.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
How was your Record Store Day? This year I spent about an hour and a half and $150 picking up some great vinyl at two stores in Berlin, where I live. (Shout-outs to Soultrade and Dussman.) Every year seems to bring more music fans into stores, along with more releases in more genres. I personally picked up reissues of the Passengers album and Emmylou Harris’ Spyboy, plus archival live releases from Ry Cooder and Talking Heads, and a split 7” single from Goat and Graveyard. While I was at Soultrade, I also found a used album I’ve wanted forever – a 1973 copy of This Is Amon Düül, which is hard to find and even harder to wrap your head around.
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That record was in great shape for 1973, but it needed to be cleaned — as do many old records. These days, some new ones do, too: A combination of falling quality control and a tendency to use paper sleeves means that many new records come with some grit in the grooves. So, in the Record Store Day spirit, I wanted to share some tips on the various ways to clean records and keep them free from dirt and scratches — and sounding great for as long as possible. There’s some science to this, but it’s pretty easy. You’ll need to buy accessories, and I’ve shared my favorites here, but like everything in audio, the equipment costs as much as you want it to. My advice, as always: Start with the basics and work your way up.
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The first thing any vinyl fan needs is an anti-static brush. It’s the easiest to use — you just hold it perpendicular to the record as it spins, and it lifts out dust and eliminates static electricity that causes snaps, crackles and pops. Serious vinyl nerds call this “dry cleaning.” As opposed to wet cleaning that eliminates serious dirt, this just targets basic dust. It couldn’t be easier, though. Just press down very gently as the record rotates, and you’re good. I have an Audio-Technica AT6011a Anti-Static Record Brush, which has served me well for years, but the Boundless Record Cleaner Brush is just as good. Both are about $15, and buying one of them, or something similar, is a no-brainer. There’s no way to get a bigger boost in quality for less money.
Audio-Technica AT6011a Anti-Static Record Brush
Boundless Audio Record Cleaner Brush
$14.95
$18.99
21% off
The other inexpensive way to improve sound quality is to make sure your turntable stylus is clean. This is also inexpensive, but it’s a bit trickier! The styli on good turntables are delicate and expensive, so you need to be careful. Start with the right tool for the job — a small carbon-fiber brush. Then follow the instructions carefully — brush very gently back to front, only when necessary. For about $14, the Boundless Stylus Cleaner Brush is solid. You can also buy a record brush and a stylus brush together — this $20 package from Fluance is great.
Boundless Audio Stylus Cleaner Brush
$13.95
$17.99
22% off
Fluance Vinyl Record & Stylus Cleaning Kit
The next thing you’ll want is plastic sleeves — “inners,” as collectors call them, because they protect vinyl in an album, as opposed to “outers” that protect the sleeve itself. These don’t need to be fancy — the only goal here is to avoid the paper sleeves that can cause minor scratches over time. It’s hard to go wrong here, but for years I used Collector Protector sleeves (50 for $24). Recently I switched to Big Fudge sleeves (50 for $25), which look a bit nicer, although I haven’t noticed any real difference. The kind of people who buy $200 records have a preference, but it probably just makes sense to buy whatever’s cheapest. Right now, that looks like Hudson sleeves (100 for $29) or the round-bottomed Invest in Vinyl sleeves (50 for $14). I haven’t tried either of them, but only the most serious collectors can tell the difference.
Collector Protector Sleeves for Vinyl Record Storage
Big Fudge 50x Premium Vinyl Record Inner Sleeves
Hudson Hi-Fi 3 Layers HDPE Anti-Static 100 Vinyl Record Inner Sleeves
50 LP Inner Sleeves Anti Static Round Bottom 33 RPM 12″ Vinyl Record Sleeves
If you have valuable records, you’ll also want outer sleeves. This doesn’t touch the vinyl itself — it just protects the album. In some cases, with valuable albums or gimmick covers, that’s great to have. In a decade and a half of seriously collecting vinyl, I haven’t noticed so much difference between different brands, but some are sturdier. Big Fudge is solid and reliably good (50 for $20) and Invest in Vinyl (100 for $23) is currently a better buy.
BIG FUDGE 50x Vinyl Record Sleeves 12″ LP
If you have a good system, you’ll want to get more serious about cleaning. That means “wet cleaning” records, which means buying some special supplies. Under no circumstances should you attempt to clean records with stuff you have lying around the house. It’s no fun and it can damage records. Vinyl is delicate, so it demands its own routine. To start, it’s easiest to buy a cleaning kit with a microfiber cloth, some specialized vinyl cleaner and perhaps a brush. Big Fudge sells a $23 Vinyl Record Cleaning Kit that comes with a stylus brush and a styling storage pouch. Boundless has a $60 package that has all of that, plus a record brush and a nicer case, and Amazon now offers it with a $5 coupon discount. Eveo has one for $20 that’s not so different. The real difference comes in what you do with them — and you should use only specialized cleaning fluid, distilled water and either special brushes or microfiber cloths.
Big Fudge Vinyl Record Cleaning Kit
Boundless Audio Vinyl Record Cleaning Kit
$59.95
$74.99
20% off
EVEO Vinyl Record Cleaning Kit
$19.97
$26.97
26% off
That will get you started. Remember, though, the idea isn’t to clean the surface of the vinyl — it’s to get the dirt out of the grooves. At some point, though, you might want a machine that will really get into the grooves. For between $50 and $100, you can get a spin-cleaner, a kind of hand-powered car wash for vinyl that rotates records against brushes and in and out of a bath of water and cleaning solution. One of the best is the $80 Spin-Clean Record Washer Kit. You fill a small tub with water and a cleaning solution, then turn the records against brushes, in and out of it — then dry them. This is easier than it sounds, and it’s far more effective than doing it by hand. The Spin-Clean Deluxe Kit, for $125, includes more fluid and drying cloths, although you can buy those separately, too. There are a bunch of machines built on this basic model: The $63 Big Fudge model gets positive reviews, and at $50 the Studebaker is the bargain of the bunch.
Spin-Clean Record Washer Kit
Big Fudge Vinyl Record Cleaner Kit
Studebaker Vinyl Record Cleaning System
If you are really, truly serious about great sound, you might also want to consider an ultrasonic record cleaning machine. Right now, the machine of choice is the German-made HumminGuru Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner, a fully automatic machine that attacks dirt with sound, then dries records after cleaning them. It’s $600 but, if you’re tempted, Amazon is now selling it with a coupon that’s good for $100 off. Think of all the money you’ll save.
Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner
Lest you think of Dave Stewart’s Record Store Day project, Dave Does Dylan, as opportunistic, the hirsute male half of Eurythmics is quick to put the record straight.
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“I had no idea when I started doing this that the (A Complete Unknown) movie was coming out and the whole outburst of stuff about Timothée Chalamet and about (Bob) Dylan,” Stewart tells Billboard via Zoom from his studio in Nashville. “These (recordings) have been around before that, and I have had some real interesting, amazing times with (Dylan), so this wasn’t a great stretch for me.”
Dave Does Dylan — out Saturday (April 12) in limited edition and slated for wider release during the summer — features 14 solo acoustic recordings of Dylan tracks such as “Simple Twist of Fate,” “Forever Young,” “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” “Visions of Johanna” and more. They’re songs Stewart recorded on his iPhone over time — during breaks in the studio, in his hotel rooms on tour or backstage at gigs. “Whenever I was waiting in-between something, I just started to put an iPhone on a little stick and sing a Bob Dylan song. I was just doing it for fun, and then I would put one up on Instagram every now and then and people would say, ‘Oh, we love this! Why don’t you make an album of this?’
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“I didn’t take any of it seriously. Then my management company said, ‘We’d love to put this out on vinyl on Record Store Day.’ I had 24 songs, so then it was, ‘OK, we have to cut it down to fit on an album unless it’s a double album,’ which we didn’t want to do. So we picked these (14), and I think you can hear that I have a deep connection to the songs and you can hear every word, even though we couldn’t really mix them because the guitar and the voice are going down the same mics.”
The set pays tribute to Dylan beyond the music, too. The cover is literally a tip of the cap, with Stewart striking a pose similar to Dylan’s on his 1969 album Nashville Skyline — hat and acoustic guitar included. The package also includes a photo of Stewart and Dylan together during the filming of the latter’s “Blood In My Eyes” video during 1993.
Dylan voiced his support of the project in a statement announcing the album: “Captain Dave is a dreamer and a fearless innovator, a visionary of high order, very delicately tractable on the surface but beneath that, he’s a slamming, thumping, battering ram, very mystical but rational and sensitive when it comes to the hot irons of art forms. An explosive musician, deft guitar player, innately recognizes the genius in other people and puts it into play without being manipulative. With him, there’s mercifully no reality to yesterday. He is incredibly gracious and soulful, can command the ship and steer the course, dragger, trawler or man of war, Captain Dave.”
Stewart’s connection to Dylan’s music is long, as well as deeply felt.
He came to it as a teenager in Sunderland, England, at a time when a broken leg sidelined him from his serious pursuit of soccer. His mother had left the family and his beloved older brother had gone to college. Salvation of sorts came from a package sent by a cousin who’d moved to Memphis; it included pairs of Levi corduroy jeans and a couple of blues albums that Stewart, laid up and “bored out of my mind,” began to play incessantly — followed by Dylan.
“I think it was (1964’s) Another Side of Bob Dylan or something around that,” Stewart recalls. “And it blew my mind. I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. And then I realized he obviously was influenced by the blues-type records I had. There’s certain moments in time when you know something happened to you, and that was one of them. I would smoke Thai sticks and lie on my back on the floor and put on Blonde On Blonde or something. All those songs were imprinted on my brain. The general public would probably think, like, ‘Dave Stewart, Eurythmics, singing Bob Dylan songs? Really?’ But when I was a kid, I was singing those songs in folk clubs. I knew them by heart, so on (Dave Does Dylan) I’m playing them like I was in a folk club again.”
Stewart connected with Dylan around 1985, when he was producing the self-titled debut album for former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey. “The phone rang and it was the receptionist in the studio, and she said, ‘Bob Dylan’s on the phone for Dave Stewart,’” he recalls. “I thought it was (Sharkey) just messing about, ’cause he knew I was a massive Bob Dylan fan. So I picked up the phone and went, ‘Feargal….’ And then (Dylan) started talking, and nobody could imitate that voice.”
Dylan proposed a meet-up and that evening he joined Stewart at nearby Thai restaurant for food and sake, then took him to a private Mexican club south of Los Angeles. “We sat there and we were talking in there for ages, and then Bob suggested, ‘Why don’t we make a (video) tomorrow?’” Stewart says with a laugh. “It was already, like, one in the morning, but I rang some people and pulled a thing together at a church right on Highland and we shot ‘Emotionally Yours.’ And then we did another one and we became friends.”
Stewart went on to film other videos for Dylan and also played on 1986’s Knocked Out Loaded. “We had jam sessions,” Stewart explains. “I have recordings of me and him around the kitchen table in my house in London, at one in the morning or something. To get to witness that happening, making up words on the spot and playing acoustic guitar and drinking tequila or whatever, those are experiences I’ll never forget — especially to have been a kid listening to (Dylan’s) record with a broken leg and my mom leaving home, there was a particularly sort of poignant feeling about it, and so I feel very privileged.
“I don’t know why or how it happened,” Stewart continues. “For some reason people find (Dylan) quite sort of reserved or whatever…but he wasn’t with me at all. At the time you think, ‘Oh, this is wild,’ but now, looking back as I’m older…you go, ‘God, yeah, I had that experience, and many other kinds of experiences with these incredible talents, and I’ll never forget them.’”
Stewart — who filmed an episode of Recorded Live at Analog that will premiere during July on PBS — says there’s a possibility of the other 10 Dylan songs he recorded turning into a second volume of Dave Sings Dylan, perhaps adding more to the pile. “It wasn’t very difficult to record, so, yeah, I may do that,” he says. “With an artist like Bob Dylan people say, ‘What’s your favorite song?’ and it’s impossible. I’ve got, like 99 favorite songs, so it wouldn’t be very hard to do more.”
As for A Complete Unknown, Stewart says that “Timothée Chalamet did a great performance along with the rest of the cast. For me, I felt that it only scratches the surface of Dylan as a songwriter — the spark that set the world on fire, and to this day, has not been equaled in his influence. Nothing since The Canterbury Tales has created such a paradigm shift in people’s idea of what songwriting can or could be.”
Record Store Day usually falls around the 20th of April each year, normally without fail. But in 2025, Easter takes over that weekend, leading organizers of RSD to move it up to Saturday the 12th, which is right around the corner. This year’s festivities are nonetheless highly anticipated, with more than 300 titles available for […]
French electronic duo Air are keeping the Moon Safari celebration going — and they’re doing it in style.
Following last year’s deluxe 25th anniversary reissue of their 1998 debut album Moon Safari, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel have announced an exclusive remix LP for Record Store Day titled Blue Moon Safari.
The release features new interpretations of the classic tracks by British producer Vegyn, known for his work with Frank Ocean, Travis Scott and James Blake. It marks the first time Air have officially released a full-length remix project of the album.
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Alongside Blue Moon Safari, fans will also be able to get their hands on a vinyl-only edition of Moon Safari: Live & Demos, a collection that promises rare and unreleased recordings from the duo’s original sessions and performances during the Moon Safari era.
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The new releases arrive amid a fresh wave of activity for the duo, who kicked off their anniversary run in 2023 with a handful of intimate live shows, performing Moon Safari in full for the first time. Now, Air are expanding their tour globally, with a newly announced run of international dates spanning South America, Europe, and the United States.
Among the stops are major festivals including Flow (Helsinki), La Prima Estate (Italy), and We Love Green (Paris), as well as prestigious venues such as the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, where the group will perform with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra on Sept. 21.
Originally released in 1998, Moon Safari was a landmark record in the downtempo and electronic space, praised for its lush textures, cinematic instrumentation and dreamy atmosphere. Featuring standout tracks like “All I Need,” “Kelly Watch the Stars,” and “Sexy Boy,” the album helped define the sound of French electronic music in the late ’90s and has influenced countless artists across genres.
The upcoming Blue Moon Safari remix LP and Live & Demos vinyl arrive April 11 via Parlophone / Warner Music France, with the remix set to be a Record Store Day exclusive on April 20. Pre-orders for both editions are now available.
Blue Moon Safari drops April 11 via Parlophone/Warner Music France and is available for pre-order now.
Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart is taking a look at one of music’s most iconic names for his latest record, Dave Does Dylan.
Arriving as part of the global Record Store Day celebrations on April 12, Stewart’s 14-song homage to Bob Dylan sees the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer performing live, one-take covers of Dylan’s catalog – armed only with guitar and vocals. Featuring cover artwork evocative of Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, the record largely features tributes to Dylan’s songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s, though latter-period tracks also make the cut.
In a statement, Stewart explained that he had been a fan of Dylan since childhood, going so far as to perform two Dylan covers as part of his earliest gigs as a teenager in the mid ‘60s.
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“I was insistent on getting into folk clubs, but I looked about 12 years old, so they kept me out for a while,” he recalled. “Then one chap, Mick Elliot, took pity and allowed me to play at The George & Dragon which became the center of the folk music scene in my hometown, Sunderland N.E. England, in the 1960’s. It was like stepping into a sacred room where visionaries and rebels converged — actually, it was simply a room upstairs in a pub full of older folk singers, beer, whisky and cigarette smoke everywhere. I was allowed to sing two songs, so I would play Bob Dylan songs from his albums that my brother had left behind when he went to college.
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“The audience was always a bit shocked that this kid, who looked so young, was singing these lyrics — especially in that kind of folk club,” Stewart continued. “It was mostly old folk music that was being played from the local area about the coal mines and about the shipyards, which I loved too…and Dylan would have loved also. I started to sing and play these Dylan songs anywhere I could; in other folk clubs, even on the street all over the north east of England. From then on, I got every Bob Dylan album — and still do to this day — on vinyl and in every possible variation.”
“Captain Dave is a dreamer and a fearless innovator, a visionary of high order, very delicately tractable on the surface but beneath that, he’s a slamming, thumping, battering ram, very mystical but rational and sensitive when it comes to the hot irons of art forms,” Dylan himself said in a statement.
“An explosive musician, deft guitar player, innately recognizes the genius in other people and puts it into play without being manipulative. With him, there’s mercifully no reality to yesterday. He is incredibly gracious and soulful, can command the ship and steer the course, dragger, trawler or man of war, Captain Dave.”
Ahead of the release of Dave Does Dylan, Stewart is also set to tape an episode of the Recorded Live at Analog series on March 22 at Analog inside Nashville’s Hutton Hotel. The appearance will see him performing tracks from his upcoming record with the addition of strings, pedal steel guitar, and keys. The episode will air on PBS on an as-yet-unspecified date in July, with tickets available for audience members to attend the taping.
“I’ve played on stage with Bob in London, L.A. and Tokyo, and I find conversations with him — whether on the phone or when we’re together — really relaxed and easy,” Stewart added. “As you can imagine, he is full of great observations and wisdom, all wrapped up in a poetic language.
“I’m so, so grateful for getting to know him personally and to now record this album of songs after years of singing them to friends and to myself. It’s been a long road and these lyrics and melodies have kept me company through the best and the worst of times. I hope my album can do the same for Dylan fans out there—who understand the mastery and the mystery Bob has bestowed on us, and still does to this day.”
Record Store Day on April 12 will feature more than 300 titles being released, including collectible music from Elton John, Post Malone, Prince, Gracie Abrams, Queen, Taylor Swift, John & Yoko, Charlie XCX, the Killers & Bruce Springsteen, and many more.
As usual, the vast majority of the releases are vinyl LPs, many with a color or picture-disc slant; and also as usual, most releases will be in limited supply.
This will mark the 18th year of RSD, launched back in 2008 after the idea emerged at a gathering of indie record store owners and label executives. Since then, the event has single-handedly revived vinyl into a viable music format that sells over $1 billion annually in the U.S. alone. What’s more, RSD has also evolved into an international event.
Each year, stores wait in anticipation to see which titles will emerge as must-haves on the big day — the kinds of drops that bring long lines of fans waiting outside participating stores. With a limited supply for most titles, it can mean fans shuffle from store-to-store seeking their sought-after title. But while searching for those titles, it can also mean finding an unexpected treasure.
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“The whole energy in a record store is just super inspiring,” 2025’s Record Store Day Ambassador Post Malone said in a statement provided by the RSD organization in announcing the event. “I feel at home. It’s really an unexplainable feeling to hit up a shop and dig through crates, just see what grabs your eye.”
Malone will issue his Post Malone Tribute to Nirvana, a 2020 livestream performance of Nirvana covers accompanied by blink-182’s Travis Barker on drums, guitarist Nick Mack and bassist Brian Lee. Moreover, 100% of net proceeds from the release will be donated to MusiCares’ Addiction Recovery/Mental Health division.
Malone will also be participating in another RSD release, which is also expected to be a hot item as its a collaboration with 2022’s Record Store Day Ambassador, who also happens to be the biggest music artist in the world, Taylor Swift. They will release their collaboration track “Fortnight,” on a double sided 7-inch vinyl single.
While RSD brings out plenty of long-time collectors, i.e. older demographics, it was Swift who helped spread the day’s popularity to younger fans in 2023 when she caused traffic jams at stores filled with fans seeking her special release of folklore, the long pond studio sessions — a double LP that year. Last year, keeping the young flowing to record stores included releases from Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter.
This year’s titles for younger music fans include: Gracie Abrams: Live from Radio City Music Hall; Beabadoobee’s Live and Acoustic in London; Megan Thee Stallion’s Traumazine on double black vinyl; and two releases from Charli XCX, the first a collaboration title, Guess featuring Billie Eilish, on 7-inch vinyl; and an edited version of prior release: Number 1 Angel, on apple-colored vinyl with a new RSD exclusive cover. That title’s tracks were previously part of a double-LP release Pop 2.
Moreover, RSD continues to diversify its genres offerings as rap and hip-hop fans will be able to seek titles from Cypress Hill, Anderson .Paak, Snoop Dog and a new release from the Wu-Tang Clan in a collaboration with Mathematics as they release Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman: Wu-Tang, The Saga Continues Collection on 180-gram LP vinyl. What’s more Wu-Tang Clan are expected to make an appearance at the RSD press event today.
Jazz releases include music from Pharaoh Sanders, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, and the Vince Guaraldi Trio; while Harry Potter fans will be treated to five different soundtrack albums from that movie series, all on double-LP, clear vinyl.
Finally, in a move to revive another marketing tool previously used to promote RSD, this year’s event will feature a “Record Store Day Song of the Year,” with the tag being applied to the double-a-sided 12-inch single of “Be Here Now,” done by the song’s author George Harrison on one side, with Beck’s cover tribute on the other side.
Other new RSD titles expected to be popular this year include a 12-inch EP collaboration between the Killers and Bruce Springsteen; a David Bowie live-stream from 2003 will now be available as a vinyl and CD release; and a 12-inch, 180-gram yellow vinyl release of John & Yoko with the Plastic Ono Band of their live 1972 One-To-One concert.
Some of the biggest streaming services in music are banding together to fight against a major piece of Canadian arts legislation – in court and in the court of public opinion.
Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others are taking action against the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s 2024 decision that major foreign-owned streamers with Canadian revenues over $25 million will have to pay 5% of those revenues into Canadian content funds – what the streamers have termed a “Streaming Tax.”
Those funds will go towards established organizations like the non-profits FACTOR Canada and Musicaction, which financially support thousands of musicians and music companies across the country, and which have seen their own resources dramatically drop due to reduced contributions from private broadcasters. It will also go to funds supporting radio and local news.
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The CRTC decision was one of the biggest Canadian music stories of last year, and legal challenges from those services, as well as the Motion Picture Association – Canada (which includes Netflix, Disney, Prime Video and the major U.S. producers and distributors of movies and TV), have pushed it into 2025. The courts have paused the payments until the appeal is heard by the Federal Court of Appeal in June of this year.
That pause has already put at least one fund under immediate duress. The Indigenous Music Office had been directed by the CRTC to launch an Indigenous Music Fund with resources from the streamers’ base contributions, but the delay impedes the IMO’s ability to start the new fund.
The conflict over the regulation is turning into a major struggle, one that illustrates the massive changes and challenges that Canadian music is facing in an increasingly digital landscape. It’s a modern wrinkle to a debate that has spanned decades in Canadian music and media.
“At the base of it, the streamers are questioning the validity of CanCon policies,” says Leela Gilday, musician and board chair of the Indigenous Music Office.
The battle isn’t only happening in court, but in online petitions, political speeches and in Instagram posts from one of Canada’s most successful musicians.
“The Canadian government’s new music streaming tax is going to cost you more to listen to the music you love,” says Bryan Adams in a video shared on Instagram.
The “Summer of ‘69” singer, also a noted critic of Canadian Content regulations, has joined a lobby group called DIMA (the Digital Media Association) in publicly arguing against the regulation. DIMA, which represents Amazon, Apple, Spotify and YouTube, launched a campaign last fall titled “Scrap the Streaming Tax.” The campaign warns consumers that the mandated payments “could lead to higher prices for Canadians and fewer content choices” as a result of increased subscription fees.
But many within the industry have welcomed the regulation, including the membership at CIMA, the Canadian Independent Music Association.
“The question for tech companies who are making money in Canada is: is it appropriate for them to contribute to the Canadian music ecosystem?” asks Andrew Cash, president of CIMA.
Head here for much more on this story.
—Rosie Long Decter
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Canadian Music Industry Leaders Lay Out the Issues That Will Define 2025
As the music industry ramps up in the post-holiday break, the agenda is being set. A number of issues have revealed themselves as the big conversations of 2025: AI, arts funding, government policies amidst uncertainty in Ottawa, support of independent promoters and venues, mental health, the divestment of DEI budgets, and many more.
Billboard Canada gathered 10 music industry authorities from music grant FACTOR, the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), Music Publishers Canada and many more to talk about the biggest challenges and opportunities facing Canadian music this year.
Here are just a few highlights:
“For the Canadian-owned sector, the ability to compete in a functioning market is paramount,” says Andrew Cash, president and CEO of CIMA. “However, market concentration among the large foreign-owned multi-nationals labels and tech platforms is now at over-reach. That is why CIMA lodged an official complaint with Canada’s competition bureau after TikTok walked away from its negotiations with Merlin. And it is why independent trade associations in Europe and Australia are raising serious concerns after Universal’s recent purchase of Downtown Music.”
“One of the biggest challenges facing the industry this year will be the divestment of DEI budgets, which have been a big part of the reason we have seen such great diverse talent enter the industry over the last five years,” says Keziah Myers, executive director of ADVANCE – Canada’s Black Music Business Collective. “Managing the shift away from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and reminding the industry that Equity-focused processes should be where their efforts are will be a challenge.”
“The fundamental principles of copyright continue to be challenged by artificial intelligence and the platforms that exploit it,” says Jennifer Brown, CEO of SOCAN. “Canadian music creators stand to lose more than 20% of their annual revenue to generative AI platforms by 2028 if safeguards aren’t put in place to protect their copyrights.”
Read the whole roundtable conversation here.
—Kerry Doole and Richard Trapunski
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Big Wreck Named Record Store Day Canada Ambassadors for 2025
Big Wreck have been named 2025 Record Store Day Canada ambassadors. The Canadian rock band will also be releasing their 2012 album Albatross on vinyl for the first time in deluxe 2xLP limited-edition featuring live and unreleased music as a Record Store Day exclusive. The album was certified Gold and was their biggest hit since In Loving Memory Of… in 1997 and its big shiny rock radio staple “That Song.” The title track of Albatross has also gone Platinum.
“It’s a great honour for Big Wreck to be Record Store Day Ambassadors,” says Big Wreck leader Ian Thornley. “We grew up going to record stores and building our vinyl collections and it means a lot to us to continue the tradition. It’s especially exciting to be putting Albatross out into the world for the first time on vinyl. That record holds a special place.”
Big Wreck succeeds another popular Canadian rock band of the era, The Tragically Hip, who were last year’s ambassadors. This week, Post Malone was named 2025 Record Store Day Ambassador for the U.S.
Head here for a list of participating Record Store Day Canada stores.
—Richard Trapunski
Last Week: A Closer Look at Canada’s Export Power