MUSIC lovers flocked to Worcester independent music shop Rise on Saturday to show their support for Record Store Day 2013.

The event is a celebration of the nation’s independently owned record stores, with plenty to offer the discerning music fan.

Record Store Day started in 2007 when more than 700 independent stores in the USA came together to celebrate.

The UK followed suit and 2013 is the sixth celebration of the country’s independent sector.

Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and artists make special appearances.

At the CrownGate shop, music fans enjoyed live sets by Portia Reed, Goodnight Lamplight, Rich Clarke, Wes Dance, East Of The Sun and The Misers, while browsing among rare offerings.

Manager Kevin Rant – whose first record was Ain’t Complaining by Status Quo – said that record shops still had an important part to play in the era of free downloads and Amazon. He said: “We offer a genuine service and we have regular customers, people who are prepared to pay a little more to buy their music here rather than over the internet.”

“We can get to know our customers, talk to them and make recommendations about records they might like.”

Among those playing in the shop that afternoon was Russ Marshall, aged 26, of Worcester, who performs as Goodnight Lamplight. His first record

– in reality a cassette tape – was Regulate by Warren G.
To him the shop is important as a stockist of vinyl records. He said: “A lot of people are coming back to vinyl. all my music is on tape and vinyl and I don’t even have a CD player.
“I would like the cost of vinyl to come down enough that I can release some of my music on it.”