Long before the global financial crisis outbreak, there was the global music crisis, with CD sales falling rapidly and the panicking record companies witch hunting.
The fact is that the ease of downloading (legally and / or illegally), increasing prices on the CD market, the economic crunch and perhaps a decline in quality - but not in quantity - in music, led many, small and big record shops, to close down.
In this climate, in 2007, the idea of Record Store Day was born in the U.S., in an effort to strengthen the small independent record shops - in America and internationally - so as to survive the adverse economic climate of the era. Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April (this year on April 17th of course) and it was first celebrated on April 19, 2008, with Metallica officially kicking off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco.
According to the organizers: “This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on.”
Record Store Day got bigger every year, with more and more artists from the alternative and mainstream music scene showing their support with both statements and collectible releases.
Some of the dozens of special releases of this year’s Record Store Day are: 
• Sub Pop Records has scheduled several releases such as: Beach House - 'Zebra', vinyl 12 " with 4 songs, Dum Dum Girls / Male Bonding split 7", Soundgarden’s first single from 1987 'Hunted Down '/' Nothing to Say '.
• Wichita Records has a series of reissues on vinyl, including 'Fevers & Mirrors' from Bright Eyes, the self titled debut from The Cribs, 'Silent Alarm' from Bloc Party and Yeah Yeah Yeahs self titled first EP.
• 4AD is releasing 'Fragments From a Work in Progress' 12" compilation including groups like Blonde Redhead, Gang Gang Dance and The Big Pink.
• Blur will release a new song (the first since 'Good Song' in 2003) as a 7" single and in 1000 copies only.
• The Rolling Stones will also have a previously unreleased song, 'Plundered My Soul' in 7".
• From Crystal Castles we have the 'Doe Deer' on 12"
• Modest Mouse reissue 'The Moon and Antarctica' for the record’s 10th anniversary.
• 'Quarantine the Past' from Pavement will be released with a different track list from the original version
• Bon Iver and Peter Gabriel have a split single where they cover each other’s song as part of Gabriel's 'Scratch My Back' project
• The Thermals and The Cribs also have a split single with new songs in 2000 copies only.
• Rough Trade in association with British turntable manufacturer Rega will sell exclusively at the Rough Trade Shops a special edition turntable with the Rough Trade logo while will also be releasing a range of special, very limited edition vinyl records including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' 'Mercy Seat' in white vinyl.
The Full list of Record Store Day special releases you can find here . 
The Greek record stores that participate in this effort and you may find some of the above records are, in Athens Rock & Roll Circus , Sonic Boom Records & Usedrecords.gr and Vinyl Kiosk , in Chalkis in Mister CD , in Kilkis Play Our Music , in Nafplio High Fideliy and Sticky Fingers Patras.
Record Store Day website is here. Watch Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age below, the official ambassador of Record Store Day 2010, talk about this day and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth telling us all about the first album he ever bought.
"I was introduced to lots of great music through my local record store. It was a place where people knew music and they knew me, and could make great suggestions and discoveries. Whether it is in the physical world or on-line, the value of a great and knowledgeable record store has not gone away." Peter Gabriel
"I think it’s high time the mentors, big brothers, big sisters, parents, Guardians, and neighborhood ne’er do wells, start taking younger people That look up to them To a real record store and show them what an important part of life music really is. I trust no one who hasn’t time for music. What a shame to Leave a child, or worse, a generation orphaned from one of life’s great beauties. And to the record stores, artists, labels, dj’s, and journalists; we’re all in this together. Show respect for the tangible music that you’ve dedicated your careers and lives to, and help It from becoming nothing more than disposable digital data." Jack White
Perhaps today is a good day to take a ride at your local record store.
Josh Homme - Ambassador of Record Store Day 2010.
Thurston Moore Talk Fist Record, Major Label and Record Stores