Record Store Day 2014 is go!

Record Store Day 2014 is set to take place on Easter Saturday (April 19) in the UK and Ireland.

Record Store Day, the now annual celebration of independent record shops, will take place on Saturday, April 19 this year.

Like previous year’s events, there will be a number of specially commissioned, limited edition releases which will only available in your local record shops on Record Store Day. There will also be a number of high-profile in store appearances from some of the biggest names in music on Record Store Day, too. Details of both will be made available nearer to the time.

This year, the organisers of Record Store Day UK have partnered with radio station XFM and will host two simultaneous launch events - one in London, and one in Manchester - on Thursday, March 20.

“We’re really excited about our partnership with XFM for both of this year’s launch events,” says Record Store Day UK co-ordinator Spencer Hickman. “We wanted to figure out a way to get all the shops that take part involved in the launch and having the event broadcast on XFM gives every store the opportunity to tune in live and participate. XFM understand Record Store Day and have been avid supporters of independent record shops, and we’re so pleased to have them involved.”

“As long time enthusiasts and supporters of Record Store Day we are honoured to have XFM be in partnership with this vital and ever-growing initiative,” adds Mike Walsh, Deputy Programme Director and Head of Music at XFM. “Everyone at XFM has always been huge fans of vinyl shopping and recognises the importance of celebrating the invaluable service that independent record retailers offer to both fan and artists.”

Vinyl Revival

Record Store Day 2013 was one of the key drivers behind last year’s vinyl albums resurgence, which saw the legacy format reach a 15 year high of nearly 800,000 units. The month of April accounted for nearly 13% of all of last year’s vinyl album sales last year.

“2013 was the best year for vinyl sales in over a decade and we feel Record Store Day will continue to fuel this growth, as more people discover and rediscover this timeless format,” adds Hickman.

You can see The Official Top 10 Biggest Selling Vinyl LPs Of 2013, here.