Tomorrow, Saturday 19th April, a number of dusty-fingered shopkeepers across the globe are coming together in a united front forRecord Store Day. With everyone pronouncing the death of the record industry, it's good to see that Brit and Yankie indie retailers are really pulling together in their collective hour of need.

It looks like a great day for music in general.Rough Trade East in Brick Lane have announced appearances by Veils, The Metros, Jason Molina, Eugene McGuinness, Make Model, Billy Bragg, Can's Irmin Schmidt and more. Piccadilly in Manchester have an in-store performance by The Kills, andAvalanche in Edinburgh will play host St Jude's Infirmary.

Record Store Day will also mark the official launch of the Coalition Of UK Indie Stores, an alliance of 15 UK shops. The idea is to co-ordinate activity up and down the country and fight a corner for the beleaguered music retailer.

In America, Vampire Weekend are releasing a new 7" exclusive to all participating shops and ol' Pavement man-child Stephen Malkmus serving up a limited edition 10' for "Cold Son", packaged with two exclusive songs. Guess who else is waving the waxy banner? METALLICA. Yes, the rabid peer-to-peer haters are going to make a 'low key' appearance at Rasputin's in Mountain View, California. It will probably be as easy to get into that one as Radiohead's recent Rough Trade trip.

Whatever you do, make sure you pick up a new record for your collection and help keep this vital part of the music industry alive.