MACON, Ga. — It's time to put the needle on the record and let the music play.
April 20th marks Record Store Day, highlighting independent record stores, the continued growth and popularity of vinyl records, and it celebrates the culture of music as a collective.
Record Store Day is when some major music labels put out their biggest most exciting releases.
Many artists are going back to producing vinyl records, which have resurfaced in the music industry.
Noah Silver is the owner of Vertigo Vinyl Records.
He is 19 years old and a sophomore at Mercer University studying English.
He says just on Saturday, they sold about 500 records and albums and he's expecting triple in numbers tomorrow when the sale moves online.
"It's a really nice way to commemorate music and just have a community get-together," Silver said. "Physical music means a lot to me because it's a way to have a more intimate relationship with the music. It's fun, it has a clear sound, it's a form of collecting which is really nice. For me, it's so cool to have a record store."
William Dantzler is the owner of Fresh Produce Records on Cherry Street.
"I think a lot of people like the novelty of records and it's more of an intentional practice when you listen to a record," Dantzler said. "You're going to go to the store, pick it out, hold it in your hands, put it on, sit down, and enjoy and I think people are just getting back to that."
Dantzler says before they opened for the day, they had a line of people wrapped around the corner.
They sold at least a couple hundred records within their first 30 minutes, and vinyl records shopping is seen as a form of bonding.
"Music is always a great way to start a conversation so you can find common ground with people or show them something new that you love and it's a different language," Dantzler said. "It's across borders and it just helps people connect."
Riley Hall is a Mercer student and stopped into Vertigo Vinyl to see if they had the new Taylor Swift album.
"It's a way to support small businesses and specifically record stores which I think is pretty awesome," Hall said. "I think we should support small businesses and I think this is a great way to do it."
Hall says she has a growing collection of 15 records here and triple that at home in Florida.
"I've been collecting for a couple of years now," Hall said. "Most of the time they're gifts, sometimes when a new album comes out I like to go buy it especially if it's an artist that I love."
Mathew Escobedo took his mom, dad, and daughter out to explore music as a family.
He says his mom passed down his love of music to him, starting with Ozzy and Led Zeplin.
"We're starting to appreciate the tangible things," Escobedo said. "We got real deep into getting stuff electronically because it's quicker and it's faster and it's in our hands, but now we get to where we can collect and actually show music again, show it to the younger generation that it's real important."
Almost everyone I talked to mentioned shopping local and keeping stores like these alive for future generations.
Record Store Day is a twice-a-year holiday celebrated in April and on Black Friday in November.