Celia Cruz’s lasting presence will be felt over the summer…
Record Store Day 2021 is planning two-day “drops” on June 12 and July 17 of exclusive titles, including music by the late Cuban singer.
Craft Recordings has announced 12 exclusive vinyl releases for RSD, including a 40th-anniversary reissue of Celia Cruz and Willie Colón’s Celia Y Willie.
RSD typically occurs on a Saturday in the spring at various independent record stores, drawing customers with the promise of unique and limited-edition albums released exclusively to indie stores for the holiday.
But the festivities can’t quite bounce back to the way things were with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With small businesses slowly opening back up, the RSD website has created an organized list of 450 titles — 50 more than usual — for music lovers to use as a shopping guide at select indie music retailers. Stores will allow for in-store shopping with either normal/reduced foot traffic or by appointment, curbside pickup, local delivery and/or online shopping depending on the location, which can be checked here.
RSD’s first releases include Lady Gaga‘s Chromatica on exclusive yellow vinyl; Amy Winehouse‘s Remixes as its own LP collection for the first time; Prince‘s The Truth as a first-time LP release and first-time independent release on purple vinyl; Tom Petty‘s Angel Dream reimagined on LP for the 25th anniversary of the She’s The One soundtrack; and Ariana Grande‘s k bye for now (swt live) on double-CD and as a triple-LP. This marks the first time the live-album component of Grande’s 2019 Sweetener Tour is being released in physical form after the pop star released the LP digitally on December 23, 2019.
Spreading RSD over two days in two different months in
the summer gives vinyl pressing plants and distribution companies ample time to produce the titles and provides indie stores more flexibility to prepare budgets and place orders so customers can shop for the records they’re looking for on both days as opposed to one massive release day.
RSD organizers were forced to postpone its 2020 edition due to COVID. Last year’s three-part drop (staged on August 29, September 26 and October 24) helped generate 1.95 million in CD and vinyl album sales at indie stores in the U.S. — with 1.41 million of that in vinyl album sales, according to MRC Data.