Royce Da 5’9″, Beastie Boys, Gorillaz Drop Record Store Day Collectibles

Vinyl sales were one of the music industry’s few bright spots in 2009, as overall sales increased by 50% to 1.9 million units of vinyl sold. The increased interest in wax in recent years has sparked such trends as Record Store Day.

Record Store Day began in 2007 after being conceived by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. The founders say they created the day “as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally.”

Artists ranging from the likes of Paul McCartney and Norah Jones to Doomtree’s P.O.S. and Webbie have become noted supporters.

“The opinion of those people working at record stores are so important to me as a customer,” added Paul Wall. “They’ll tell me what’s good and let me know the truth on what’s only hype. They’ll tell me, ‘When you buy this, listen to track [number] six’ and might even say, ‘There’s only two really good songs on there, the rest is just B.S.’ They know the history about the artists and music. When I buy music I want quality music. At the record store they can let me know what’s good, not just what the top seller is.”

This year, Hip Hop legends the Beastie Boys are releasing a limited run of 1,000 copies of their white label 12″, Super Surprise. And as the title suggests, they have given no indication of what’s actually included on the release.

Detroit mainstay, and Slaughterhouse member, Royce Da 5’9″ will release a double 12″ set of 2009’s Street Hop album, while Critical darlings, The Gorillaz, will release a 10″ vinyl version of  the track “White Flag” from their latest album, Plastic Beach.

Additional information on Record Store Day 2010, as well as notes on releases from Fela Kuti, Jimi Hendrix and many more can be found at the official Record Store Day Web site.