Kristin Anderson weighs in on RSD

Based out of Malden, Mass., Forced Exposure is an independently owned and operated mail order and record and CD distribution powerhouse. Every April, the company sees an influx in Record Store Day titles pass through its warehouse before being shipped out to stores across the country. This year, General Manager Kristin Anderson checked in to talk about Forced Exposure’s role in the annual record store holiday and where she’ll be hanging out come Record Store Day 2014.

How do you spend most of your days working at Forced Exposure?

Forced Exposure distributes records in North America and the world. My official title is general manager. I am in charge of “general” things including hiring and payroll, systems management, marketing, and making sure that the warehouse manager knows if there’s a pallet of dildos at the loading dock. As it relates to Record Store Day, I gather release info from our exclusive labels and provide that info to the RecordStoreDay.com folks for official sanctioning.

Why are independent record stores important?

I have a great deal of respect for what the Record Store Day people are doing, insofar as they have created a monster holiday in support of independent record stores and independent labels. Sales at some stores on that single weekend will be enough to float the rent for the rest of the year. This can mean the difference between being around and not. And it’s important because independent stores exist because independent labels exist and vice versa. These stores attract enthusiastic and voracious listeners who are looking way beyond America’s talentless major-label manufactured artists. Record stores stay in business against all odds in order to support the art of music. I just don’t know how good music can exist in this country without the interest of independent record shops.

We have both heard the anecdote about a Dave Matthews Band fan who stood in line at a record store all night, waiting to nab that highly coveted DMB release. When the store opened he ran to the “D” section and everyone else ran to the “M” section and he didn’t get his record. So the layman needs to be educated on how records are filed. Is there anything you would like to see done differently in regards to how RSD titles are handled from both a distributor’s side and from a consumer’s side?

Distributors should accept returns so that there are fewer RSD exclusives hanging in the bins throughout the year. Consumers should stop buying Dave Matthews Band records!

Where will you spend Record Store Day this year?

I will probably go out to Ted Lee’s Feeding Tube Records in Northampton for Record Store Day. Since Feeding Tube is not a Record Store Day sanctioned store, they won’t have the Sir Richard Bishop/Alvarius B. split LP on Three Lobed Recordings or the Charlotte Gainsbourg “Hey Joe” 7-inch. But I’ll gladly pay an eBay record flipper $75 for either of those records because they’ll be worth it.