Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together fans, artists, and thousands of independent record stores around the world.

[3][4] Record Store Day was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Brian Poehner and Don Van Cleave, and is now celebrated at stores around the world, with hundreds of recording and other artists participating in the day by making special appearances, performances, meet and greets with their fans, the holding of fundraisers for community non-profits, and the issuing of special vinyl and CD releases along with other promotional offerings to mark the occasion.

[10] Major labels have been accused of hijacking the event, and the policy of shops being obliged to buy on a no-return basis has been criticised, along with many of the limited releases being re-sold online within hours at inflated prices.

[11][12] Some shops during the COVID-19 pandemic pushed for a reformat of the event, even suggesting that the initiative risked damaging their businesses due to supply chain issues.

The second annual Record Store Day was celebrated on Saturday, April 18, 2009, with about 85 special releases and about 500 artist appearances, including those by Slayer[citation needed], Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Iron & Wine, The Stooges, MC5, Wilco, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, The Eagles of Death Metal.

[citation needed] Wilco made a surprise appearance on Record Store Day @ the Disc Exchange in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Anything Anything with Rich Russo released a vinyl album of local bands performing on his radio show and organized a bus tour visiting New York and New Jersey record stores.

Several artists made in-store appearances to mark the event: The Smashing Pumpkins promoted their new album with a Record Store Day concert at Amoeba in Hollywood, CA.

Other artists to announce special appearances included Frank Black, Exene Cervenka, Angie Stone, Jason Derulo, Alice in Chains, Mastodon, Josh Ritter, HIM, Slash, Sick Puppies, Care Bears on Fire, and Emmylou Harris.

Artists who made in-store appearances included Beastie Boys, the Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, My Chemical Romance, Wiz Khalifa, Todd Rundgren, Anvil, Del McCoury and the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Regina Spektor, Jack White and Jerry Lee Lewis, the dBs, The Raveonettes, TV on the Radio, Frightened Rabbit, Deftones, Chuck D, the Beach Boys' Al Jardine, Lonely Island, and Josh Groban.

According to Billboard magazine, the 182,000 bump in unit sales in the week that Record Store Day was held was directly attributed to the success of the event itself.

[85] The CBC Radio show Day 6 hosted a panel discussing techniques and successes in tracking down obscure vinyl recordings.

The ambassador for this year was Chuck D. Exclusive releases in the UK included Little Richard and Coldplay, and in the US, Chvrches, Soundgarden, Joan Jett, The Yardbirds, Tears for Fears, Death Grips, Cage the Elephant, and Dream Theater.

Exclusive releases in the UK included Neal Hefti and Phil Collins; and in the US, Echosmith, The White Stripes, Twenty One Pilots, The Bee Gees, Foo Fighters, Crooks On Tape, Self, Buzzcocks, Taylor Swift and In This Moment.

Exclusive releases included albums by David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Madonna, Gerard Way, Patti Smith, Deftones, Frank Zappa, and the Doors.

The police investigation team took extensive photographs of his estate the day he died, including the stack of CDs purchased at Electric Fetus.

In a rare occurrence, the special releases in the United States included a classical title: a 1967 recording of Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No.

The BBC released two full-cast television soundtracks of the Doctor Who serials The Tomb of the Cybermen and City of Death with newly commissioned gatefold artwork.

[100] Special releases included the first reissue of Gorillaz' fourth album The Fall for the first time since 2011 on translucent forest green vinyl; a picture disc of Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack; KT Tunstall's Extra Wax; a picture disc of songs from films by Peter Gabriel; "Chasing You", the first single from J. J. Cale's posthumous album Stay Around; Live!

Record Store Day 2019 exclusives included reissues of Death Grips’ Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix); Robyn's Body Talk; Aretha Franklin's The Atlantic Singles 1967; and other titles.

[104] On April 29, it was announced that Record Store Day would be postponed again, and spread across three dates called RSD Drops: August 29, September 26, and October 24.

[107] Record Store Day announced Taylor Swift as its first-ever global ambassador, for its 15th anniversary celebrations, and took place on April 23, 2022.

[108] An RSD Drops date also took place on June 18, 2022, to release items that were either delayed in production or could not be made in time for Record Store Day in April.

It featured Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires as ambassadors[110] and included the exclusive release of Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions by Taylor Swift in vinyl format.