Surprise: Record Store Day Releases Being Resold at Inflated Prices
Every spring, people run out and buy the special limited-edition Record Store Day releases. And a week later, these same releases end up behing resold online for prices far beyond their original MSRPs.
From The Music.com.au:
The buzz surrounding Record Store Day in 2013 was the biggest and most exciting in its short history – a great thing for record stores and a lot of fun for music fans across the globe.
What’s not so fun is when you miss out on the record you had hopes of snagging on the third Saturday of April as demand completely outweighs the supply of many of these limited edition releases. But, as if that isn’t hard enough to swallow, seeing those records online in the hours and days that follow for exorbitant prices just hurts,
For example:
The cheapest you can purchase At The Drive-In’s Relationship Of Command on eBay is currently just shy of $75 (before postage). You’re looking at a minimum of $60 on Discogs as well.
Sellers of the red and white Record Store Day release of The White Stripes’ Elephant areseeking around the same price on the auction site and not much less on Discogs.
I went to 3 different stores to get the few releases I was looking for, just to avoid this problem.
Capitalism thrives again. For the "record", I open and have played all that I bought….
I bought the muti coloured White Stripes album.
It IS NOT for sale. Its been opened, played, and loved.
I love record store day and every single piece of vinyl that I buy, gets played and enjoyed … ALOT… This year I was dismayed to have a couple of very rude record store day opportunists … They were pushy and rude and damn near completely tainted the day. The day recovered once we got home and go the turn table spinning, but it really bugs me how record store day is starting to attract those trying to make a buck… PLEASE go home and leave it to those of use who love the music.
This seems to be the nature of collectibles, doesn't it?
Sadly, I feel in the years to come, RSD will fall victim to more and more of this sort of practice. Scalpers get the good tickets. Now they also get the good records on RSD and immediately mark them up.
I snagged three albums on RSD this year. The Biffy Clyro 45, the Zombie 10 inch and the Deftones 12 inch. I feel lucky to have gotten them the day of, and not on the aftermarket.
Last year, I had to pay a premium to get the two Mastodon RSD 45s I wanted, because they were all bought up by re-sellers and posted on the interweb before I could find them at a record store.
I recognize that these RSD releases are all limited pressings. I just wish these albums weren't all readily available online immediately after RSD.
I'd feel better knowing that I missed out on a RSD release because EVERY copy went to genuine fans, and not to some goof looking to make a few quick bucks online.