T-R PHOTO BY NICK BAUR — Music fanatics formed quite the line outside the Wax Xtatic Record Audio Stereo Shop at 18 W. Main St. in Marshalltown early on Saturday morning as they resolutely waited for the store’s opening for National Record Store Day 2023.

The line to Wax Xtatic Record Audio Stereo Shop in Marshalltown stretched down the block early on Saturday morning as music junkies from across Iowa descended on the local hotspot to grab old and new favorites in honor of National Record Store Day.

First held in 2008, Record Store Day is an annual event that celebrates the culture of independent record stores around the world and takes place on the third Saturday in April each year.

The day began as a way to support and promote the unique role that independent record stores play in their local communities and to encourage people to discover and appreciate music in physical formats.

Wax Xtatic Owner John Blabaum was concise and upbeat on Saturday morning describing the surge of patrons to their store.

“Crazy nuts,” Blabaum said. “Our biggest line of people so far. I know somebody was waiting out here at 2:00 this morning.”

Blabaum reported that the initial line outside of Wax Xtatic was nearly double that of last year, drawing over 200 people to the area waiting outside for the store’s early opening in the less-than-stellar spring Iowa weather.

The main attraction this year for eager record seekers was Taylor Swift’s “The Long Pond Studio Sessions,” a limited edition vinyl record only available on Record Store Day.

Recorded live during the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown, the album features an alternate recording of Swift’s album “Folklore,” which won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2020.

“We had 48 copies, and they were gone in the first phase,” Blabaum said. “God bless her with that stuff, whether you like her or not, she’s been a great driver for records. I mean, she gets it.”

Yet, while many were on hand Saturday to land a copy of Swift’s latest exclusive release, others picked through the hundreds of other offerings available at Wax Xtatic, and as Blabaum said, the store has been one of many riding the resurging wave of vinyl.

“I don’t want to say it’s a niche thing (because) it’s a community in a way, but I think over time, people got tired of not having a tangible product in their hand,” he said. “The old phrase is, you never invited somebody over to see your MP3 collection.”

Music fans, audiophiles, and younger generations have rediscovered in recent years the distinctive sound and tactile experience of playing records, which was once considered a technology of the past.

“Album covers are art. It’s something you can hold,” Blabaum said. “The album makes you listen, rather than just jumping and hopping between songs… You have to pay attention to the way the artist lined up that album. You have to invest time in it. You have to get up. You have to flip it. So it’s an effort, but you’re sharing it with that person.”

After decades of being overshadowed by other digital music formats, record stores, vinyl pressing plants, and turntable manufacturers have seen a significant increase in demand for their products.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 41.3 million vinyl records were sold in the U.S. last year, more than 45 times the amount sold compared to 2006, when many considered the vinyl comeback to have begun.

“It’s kind of reached the point where people aren’t questioning it as much,” Blabaum said. “Last year, vinyl outsold CDs. We won’t really grow into a dominant thing, where that’s the only music we listen to, but it still has room for growth. I think there’s a point where it’s gonna level out.”

Though vinyl records may never truly regain their spot on top of the musical hierarchy, where at points over 300 million records were being sold each year during the 1970s and 80s, Blabaum indicated that the rekindled love for records is here to stay, and for now, as the old song goes, it’s the perfect occasion to let the good times roll.

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Contact Nick Baur at 641-753-6611 or nbaur@timesrepublican.com.