The 18th annual International Record Store Day is being celebrated this year on Saturday, April 12th! The most anticipated day of the year for many music fans and physical media collectors, Record Store Day is a global celebration of the culture of independently owned local record stores.

It was first held in 2007 as a way to help buoy these cultural institutions against potential extinction by recession, online markets, music streaming services, and corporate box stores.

Cactus Records and Gifts, a Bozeman staple since 1970, and the more recently opened Wax Museum, will be 2 of more than 1,500 stores across the US, and thousands more globally, participating in the celebration.

This year’s US Ambassador to Record Store Day is Post Malone, who is releasing a live Nirvana tribute album on vinyl that is one of the over 200 releases exclusively available at locally owned independent record stores for Record Store Day 2025. Post Malone is also featured on a 7” vinyl single release for the song “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift, which is another such exclusive Record Store Day release.

“The whole energy in a record store is just super inspiring. I feel at home. It’s really an unexplainable feeling to hit up a shop and dig through crates, just see what grabs your eye.” – Post Malone, Record Store Day Ambassador 2025

Beck, B-52s, Gracie Abrams, David Bowie, Jeff Bridges, The Cure, George Harrison, Queen, John Legend, Sly & the Family Stone, Elvis Costello, Oasis, The Killers & Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Eddie Vedder, John & Yoko, Talking Heads, Cypress Hill, Waxahatchee, Wu-tang Clan, Charli XCX, The Grateful Dead, Marcus King, Thievery Corporation, Peter Tosh, The Pixies, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and The Doors are just but a few of the iconic artists offering newly waxed recordings especially for the big day.

Jazz aficionados have come to expect some fantastic unearthed recordings by the some of the genre’s greatest, and won’t be disappointed with this year’s offerings from likes of Pharaoh Sanders, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Bill Evans, and the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

And Hip-hop heads will be hounding stores for releases by De La Soul, Cypress Hill, Del the Funky Homosapean, Anderson.Paak, Gorillaz, Greyboy, Craig Mack, Snoop Dogg, Wu-tang Clan, Young Thug, Freddie Gibbs, Cunninylynguists, Ice-T, and more.

Plus oodles of blues, soul/R&B/Funk, reggae, metal & punk, soundtracks, country & folk, world, and others that are harder to define.

A complete list of releases can be found at https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialReleases (be sure to click IMAGES on the left side of the screen so that you can see the releases with their cover art!)

Note that these releases are only available in limited quantities.

In addition to exclusive Record Store Day releases, Cactus Records & Gifts will be hosting live in-store music performances by local musicians throughout the day.


The line-up at the time of this writing includes Jonathan Kennedy, Peter King, The Alex Robilotta Trio with Rob Kohler & Adam Greenberg, Witch Bitch, and the band Connie. There may be others added to the roster by the time the big day rolls around.

Additionally, Cactus Records will be offering a limited number of “Swag Bags” with free merch, Raffles and Prizes, free refreshments, including beer from local breweries (for those over 21), and more.

To see the entire list of titles planned as part of Record Store Day 2025, find participating stores and more general information about Record Store Day, please visit recordstoreday.com. 

Mike Good is owner of Cactus Records. Cactus Records & Gifts is located at 2742 W. Main St. (across from the Mall) and cactusrecords.net. The Wax Museum is located at 533 E. Mendenhall. Both stores will open their doors on Record Store Day at 9am.