Record Store Day: A Brief Financial History

Record Store Day: Tables are turning.

Five years ago, things weren’t looking so good for vinyl records. Annual sales of LPs in the U.S. had dipped below 1 million for the first time in a decade, and record giant Tower had just gone out of business. Independent stores were likely next.

Michael Kurtz, a longtime music producer and technician, was sitting around with a bunch of record store owners trying to brainstorm ideas to reverse that trend when Chris Brown of Bull Moose Music suggested dedic...