Chuck Berry once said independently owned record stores keep the power of music alive. Tom Waits described record store owners as the ears of their town. Joan Jett proclaimed that indie record stores are the backbone of recorded music culture and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips expressed that record stores are one of the few places where your heroes can surround you.
Village Green, named after The Kink's album "Village Green Preservation Society," is the preservation society of Muncie and like most preservation establishments, the shop gets little back from the society its preserving. The Fall, Fela Kuti and PJ Harvey albums line the shelves of Village Green Records. Community art, show fliers and newspaper clippings adorn the walls of the local record shop.
The store houses a modest collection of more than 2,200 items. With a rock band, 75 people packed like sardines could squeeze into the small store. If the spray painted walls of Village Green Records could talk, they would say something about the community that has been built from the ground up during its six years of its existence.
National Record Store Day was started three years ago to celebrate the culture, importance and music of independently owned record stores. Record stores are nearing extinction in the United States.
Just 700 independently owned record stores remain across the nation adding charm, uniqueness and sense of community to their hometowns. Muncie's own Village Green Records, owned by Travis Harvey, is one of the 21 record stores in Indiana listed on the official National Record Store Day Web site.
"The Village Green offers something that is a service because we will connect with a customer that comes in. I think vinyl is an important part of keeping music intimate, substantial and soulful," said Harvey. "The popularity of vinyl is a reaction to how music has become so much of a commodity. [Vinyl] is more arresting, you find yourself listening to it, you've committed to listening to it as opposed to simply downloading a tone of music."
Record Store Day is a celebration of music culture. Record stores remain a haven for the tangible music form. The record store is a place to marvel at original album artwork, the gloss of a new vinyl freshly pulled out of its sleeve, and the sounds of the underground. In an era of digital downloads, corporate monopolies and worldwide marketing schemes, record stores serve as one of the few places where big business isn't a big deal.
While big music corporations like Virgin Megastores generate $280 million dollars annually, the 700 record shops across the U.S. each share a common spirit of community and productivity instead of focusing on profits. Most record shops are barely subsisting on sales and usually survive through the passion, drive and soul of the record store owner.
"I wouldn't run a record store hoping to inject soul in the community if I thought it didn't need more soul," said Harvey. "I've tried to use Village Green Records as a means of bridging the gap of a fashionable listener and someone that takes music to the heart. I like to claim that the one type of music I do carry is music that has soul and all that music I carry, I believe has soul. Soul can be found in punk, folk, electronic and funk-soul music."
25 bands will perform at Village Green Records between April 16 and April 17. The event will provide the Muncie community with an opportunity to be exposed to a collection of arts with many diverse styles ranging from folk to hip-hop. The bands consist of Harvey's favorites from the area, as well as touring bands from the Midwest to Canada. Harvey refers to the Record Store event as a birthday party for the shop. The all-ages event is free to the Muncie community. Incorporated in the record store day events will be a bake sale with all donations going to the bands. In addition, 10 percent off most merchandise in the store and exclusive releases will occur.
National Record Store Day will provide the Muncie community with an opportunity to be exposed to a collection of arts with many diverse styles and bands from across the country. The line-up includes The Bonesetters, Holy Ghost Canyon, Metavari, Joel Levi, Valleys and The Seedy Seeds.
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