Photo by Karsten Winegeart via Unsplash

Record Store Day organizers announce the date(s) for this year’s crate-digging holiday.

To cut back on lines and crowds amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it appears Record Store Day is taking a cue from last year’s multi-day approach.

According to a press release, this year’s festivities will be divvied up into two separate “drops.” The first will arrive on June 12th with a second being held on July 17th. “We’ve spent the last few months watching the news, listening to health officials, talking with record stores, labels, and RSD organizers the world over, and because we still don’t have a magic 8-ball to tell us what things are going to look like in a few months, we’ve decided the smartest thing to do is bring back the concept of RSD Drops for 2021,” the event’s organizers wrote.

Typically held in spring, last year’s Record Store Day was first delayed until the summer, then rescheduled for the last Saturdays of August, September, and October, respectively, while November’s Black Friday edition went off without a hitch. The event has proved to be a boon for vinyl sales in years past. And with wax firmly outpacing CDs for the physical sales crown, this year’s events will likely be the final death blow. Per the RIAA’s year-end report, EP and LP sales rose another 23.6% in 2020, bringing in roughly $620 million, compared to the $483 million in CD sales (down more than 33% from the year prior.)

This year’s RSD exclusives have yet to be announced. But they can’t be too far off now. Stay tuned for updates in the weeks and months ahead.