Ottawa's Vertigo Records Speaks Out After Being Dropped from Record Store Day

Published Mar 15, 2016

Thanks to its many exclusive releases , there's no denying that Record Store Day is a major coup for casual music fans. That said, the day is not without its controversy. From pressing plant backlogs to arguably gimmicky releases, the day has had its many critics. Now, the owner of Ottawa's Vertigo Records has joined the chorus of those speaking out against the day.Speaking with the Ottawa Citizen , Vertigo owner Darin Tomlin alleges that he was ousted from the promotion after he decided to lighten his Record Store Day order this year.Last month, Tomlin made a post on Facebook explaining that he was planning to order Record Store Day releases by request, rather than buy a bunch of records up front and likely be stuck with a glut of stuff that wouldn't sell.Tomlin added that he wanted to keep things smaller this year. "We weren't going to do what we normally do, which is a sale, treats, a draw, and bands play and stuff like that," he told the Citizen. "We weren't going to make a big deal out of it."Because of this, Tomlin explains that Vertigo was removed from the official Record Store Day list of retailers. He says he found out when a label wouldn't sell him a Record Store Day release."We actually got an email from one of the major labels saying, 'You're not listed on the official members list on the site anymore, so we can't solicit you these titles,'" Tomlin said. "And that's pretty much how I found out."He added that he finds it frustrating to be blacklisted from a shopping list simply because he spoke out about the promotion. "I don't really care about the promotion through Record Store Day," he said. "What I care about is not having the product available to me because I'm not part of this little clique."Whereas, I'm still an independent store — that seems to be the only criteria in order to sell this material — I guess because I badmouthed them, or said something negative about Record Store Day, then all of a sudden, I'm just not a part of it anymore."Tomlin's response to the situation? He now plans to hold a big record sale on April 9 — one week before Record Store Day. "I think we're going to call it the First Annual Bollocks to Record Store Day Sale," he said.