LCD Soundsystem to release 'Bye Bye' single Nov. 7

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem

It may not be on the forthcoming full-length album, but a new single from LCD Soundstystem will at least temporarily sate the masses.

"Bye Bye Bayou," an Alan Vega cover, is being released, at first, exclusively as a 12" single to select record stores on Record Store Day, Nov. 7, via DFA/Virgin. It goes wide to digital retailers and everyone else on Nov. 24. As previously reported, LCD's James Murphy told Facebook fans that a new album is due in March.

Now, some of you may be wondering, what is a record store? Back in the day, people used to physically remove themselves from their desk chairs and walk into a retail space that would contain CDs (compact discs), cassettes and vinyl (or records) of new and old albums and singles.

Facetiousness aside, Record Store Day Vinyl Saturday is supposed to act as a celebration of a dying breed: the independent record store. (The regular ol' Record Store Day was back in April.) It acts as a promotion, too, for these largely struggling businesses, with incentives stemming from these exclusive vinyl releases. Murphy is repping his format of choice while supporting smaller businesses, in a way.

But that will always present a problem, as LCD fans are going to simply wait for that One Fan who rips the vinyl single into a digi format and then it's over, for the most part. Not only will some vinyl sales be lost, but so will digital sales.

Would it be any better if they released both the vinyl and the digital on the same day? No telling. Is there a serious uptick in sales for the day? In general, no, but for those select stores, it may be Live Another Day if they have enough people buying LCD and other Vinyl Saturday exclusive releases.

As reported by retail badass Ed Christman at Billboard, Record Store Day earlier this year helped produce a 1% uptick in sales from one week to the following for independent stores, and nearly twice as many vinyl albums were sold comparted to the same week a year prior (86,000, up from 40,000). Not game-ending numbers, but that's also just indie stores.

There's not much more information known about Vinyl Saturday on Record Store Day's website -- considering it doesn't seem to be updated all that often -- but keep your eyes peeled, vinyl nerds.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.