"I recall the summer of 1993 when I was 20 years old," Yang says. "I bought cassette tapes of the Chinese rock band Tang Dynasty and the rock singer-songwriter Cui Jian. The songs coming from these spinning tapes stunned me and I wanted to make music like them. That's why I still stock and support the physical format. It's something for me to keep and something to hand down to my kids."
For Wang Zhuohui, owner of Free Sound, Yang's arrival is one of a series of events to celebrate Record Store Day.
Wang's shop does its bit for Record Store Day by staging live performances, fan meetings and exclusive releases. Record Store Day is a way to help keep a dying industry alive, Wang says. For him one big attraction of record stores is that unlike social media where everything is delivered at the push of a button, they offer a place people can visit and communicate with like-minded souls face to face.
The Beijing native, who quit his job in the hospitality industry and opened the shop 17 years ago, says seeing people in the shop, no matter they are looking for something in particular or simply browsing, is a delight. Over 16 years Free Sound has sold about 300,000 records, he says.
"It started out as a dream for me and I feel so fortunate to have lived out that dream."
