By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Taylor Swift, or at least her recording “folklore: the long pond studio sessions,” is in the house at Finders Records. The vinyl edition of Swift’s recording is the star attraction of 2023 Record Store Day.
On Monday, the shop had a few dozen of the two-record set ready to put out. The shop’s owner and founder Greg Halamay said 150 more were on the way.
Record Store Day is this Saturday, April 22. Shoppers will be able to find most of the 300 or so special releases at the shop in downtown Bowling Green.
In the back room at Finders there’s also Ringo Starr’s “Stop and Smell the Roses, the 50th anniversary edition of Elton John’s “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player,’” Billy Joel’s “Live at The Great American Music Hall – 1975,” and even the second volume of TV show themes.
Finders has participated in Record Store Day since the first one in 2008. It was established the year before.
Last year, though, the poster at Finders had a mention of “The Last Waltz,” a veiled reference to what Halamay had shared with a few others – he planned to sell the shop and retire. “That’s just proved to be an overwhelming task” while still running the store.
This year can be thought of as “The Last Waltz, Volume 2,” which would make a great Record Store Day product.
[RELATED: The music’s over for Greg Halamay as he seeks new owners for iconic downtown BG shop Finders Records]
“Record Store Day is basically the celebration of the survival of the independent music stores all across the country,” Halamay said.
Back 16 years ago, the large chain record stores, which had been the bane of independent shops, had themselves been knocked off by big box stores. Downloading was just emerging in its early pirate form.
“Record Store Day was created a group of people who took time to associate themselves with the major independent record distributors all across the county ,” Halamay said. “We wanted to create a special day for record retailers.”
The number of independent stores had dwindled. “Of course, we were one of those stores that survived through the years,” Halamay said of Finders, which has been a mainstay in downtown Bowling Green for 52 years. More independent stores have opened. Some are just hobby shops open on weekends, many focus on used records.
After the pandemic, Halamay said, the day is also a way to recognize all local shop owners. “It’s transcended just record stores. It’s embraced all the other independent entrepreneurs and businesses within our communities, and how important they are. The pandemic has brought so much clarity and awareness of… how important it is to patronize and support your local business. If you don’t support them, they won’t be there. Record Store Day created a unique mindset across the country.”
The day also coincided with a resurgence in sales of vinyl records. Now they outpace CDs as the best-selling physical music medium. Halamay said on any given day, vinyl records represent 75-80 percent of the store’s sales.
Back in 2008, he recalled, he and other shop owners weren’t at all sure what to expect. They were surprised at its success. Now it is by far the biggest sales day of the year. Five times, he said, more than any day at the height of the Christmas season.
That comes at a price.
The first year, he recalls there were between 50 and 100 special issues. That ballooned to about 500.
This year the board that oversees Record Store Day cut back to something over 300. “Financially it has become such burden to participate in full swing,” he said. “You are kind of expected to have everything. So many record stores don’t have the financial capabilities to pay for all this product.”
Halamay stocks most of the special issues, but still passes on some that he doesn’t think there’s local demand for. “Vinyl is sold to us the retailers on a one-way basis,” he explained. “So, whatever I buy, it belongs to me whereas CDs I have a return allowance.”
These are all special issues or reissues. They have added tracks, special liner notes, eye-popping cover art, and higher quality and decorative vinyl. In a time of downloading and streaming, they are tributes to music as a physical, and collectable, medium.
The Taylor Swift session is a version of the album “folklore,” which won Album of the Year, released during the pandemic. At the time the participants couldn’t be in the studio at the same time.
Once restrictions were eased Swift got together with Aaron Dessner (The National), Jack Antonoff (Bleachers) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) for a live recording and a Disney+ documentary.
The popularity of these issues has grown such that Finders has instituted certain controls.
Customers are limited to one copy of one product per purchaser. Halamay said that that may ease up later in the day, but the staff will stop people from purchasing more than a few copies. That’s necessary to prevent scalpers, who buy up the limited-edition product and then sell it at inflated prices online.
The number of customers in the store will also be limited to 10-15 at a time. “We like to monitor how many we let in for the convenience and ease of shopping ,” Halamay said. “If I let 100 people in it’s too crowded. We cater to those people who get up early in the morning and stand in line.”
“I think we’re at a point where Record Store Day is a very special day to the real fanatic collector.”
These are sometimes people who will buy two copies – one to listen to, one that’s kept unopened on a shelf.
Halamay said he also wants to have copies of in demand issues for those who cannot make it in on Saturday but will stop by the next week.
Looking ahead, Halamay said he has “quite a list of people I have to meet with” about the sale of the business.
He expects that at some point in he’ll cut the number of hours the shop is open “so I can concentrate on selling the business. … I’m so heavily involved in the operation that I’ll have to take some intentional downtime to sell the business.”
