San Antonians hoping to add some new life to their record collection have an excuse coming up on April 12, Record Store Day. There are 11 participating stores in the San Antonio area, including popular spots like Southtown Vinyl and Hogwild Records.

Record Store Day is both a decentralized event and an organization managed by the Department of Record Stores in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS) and the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS). It helps record stores around the world promote their businesses in coordination, offering special releases, performances, parties, and more.

The most unifying aspect of Record Store Day is the official special releases list, which acts as a merchandise guide for both sellers and customers. During Record Store Day, these releases can only be purchased in stores; online sales start the next day, April 13.

Artists on the 2025 list include acts as diverse as David Bowie, Bun B, Charli XCX, Cypress Hill, Gorillaz, Vince Guaraldi, Brittany Howard, Thelonious Monk, Sunn O))), and many, many more.

The participating San Antonio-area stores are as follows:

• Music Connection, San Antonio
• Janie's Record Shop, San Antonio
• Pink Zeppelin Books & Records, San Antonio
• Needle Noise, San Antonio
• Crazy Rhythms Records, San Antonio
• Del Bravo Record Shop, San Antonio
• CD Sam, San Antonio
• Southtown Vinyl, San Antonio
• Batcave Vinyl, San Antonio
• Hogwild Records, San Antonio
• Yard Sale Records, New Braunfels

Although they may have slightly different plans for Record Store Day, all of the above stores have taken a pledge to "act in the spirit of Record Store Day, and sell the commercial Record Store Day releases to their physical customers, on Record Store Day; not to gouge them, or hold product back to sell them online."

San Antonians might be used to this kind of fanfare at live music venues, bars, and arts centers, but in this case record stores are celebrating their specific culture of curation and discovery.

Perhaps counterintuitively, record stores are thriving during the age of digital streaming. No algorithm can replace human taste, nor the expertise of record store staff who spend most of their waking hours in their local music scenes. (It's also worth noting that media stories and data analyses about this growth all seem to point back to Record Store Day.)

More than any of these other institutions, record stores can get personal, catering to each visitor's individual taste while simultaneously bringing music lovers together. They can also take risks in building their selection — especially with used merch —that may be prohibitive to other venues trying to fill seats or sell drinks. According to Record Store Day's website, 60 percent or more of its official release list have come from independent labels and distributors in recent years.