Coveted exclusive releases will be available at record stores across the country on Black Friday.
As part of the annual Record Store Day Black Friday, Wuxtry Records, located in downtown Athens, will have more than 100 special offerings including: The 13th Elevator’s reissue of “Bull of the Woods,” Olivia Rodrigo’s “GUTS: the secret tracks,” 7-inch box set of De La Soul’s “Three Feet and Rising” and Billie Strings’ “California Sober featuring Willie Nelson.”
“The fun part about Record Store Day is that you’re getting a limited edition exclusive,” Nathaniel Mitchell, manager at Wuxtry Records said. “Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”
Across the globe, independent brick-and-mortar record stores, such as Wuxtry, gain access to a catalogue of about 170 artists releasing music on Record Store Day Black Friday. The stores then pare down the list to what they anticipate will do well with local clientele. Wuxtry Records will have about 130 titles for fans to choose from. However, the store will not know quantities of each release until the day of.
“It’s a worldwide phenomenon,” Mitchell said. “We have music fans that are entrenched with vinyl and will pay attention to the list and show up early.”
Mitchell noted that the ideal situation is to offer a title that has never existed on vinyl before. That scenario gives the Record Store Day events a fan club mentality.
“Hopefully we’ll get the stuff that people are looking for,” Mitchell said. “The speculation on what the interest level will be is going to be a toss up on whether or not it’s going to connect or not.”
Which artists release music?
Releases include well-known artists to lesser-known up-and-coming artists. For example, up-and-coming artist Noah Kahan is releasing a Record Store Day Black Friday ‘RSD First’ Release, along with RSD exclusive releases by other well-known artists such as Olivia Rodrigo, Joni Mitchell, The Grateful Dead, The Doors, Dr. Dre, Willie Nelson and Cypress Hill.
“Record Store Day has definitely helped with our sales,” Mitchell said. “About 50% to 60% of our customers that day show up for the event.”
Here’s a short list of the RSD exclusive releases that Wuxtry Records will sell on Record Store Day Black Friday:
- The 13th Elevators: “Bull of the Woods” (Reissue)
- Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: 45th Anniversary deluxe edition of “Shiny Beast”
- De La Soul: 7-inch box set of “Three Feet High and Rising”
- English Beat: “I Just Can’t Stop It” (Reissue)
- Enon: “Believo!” (Reissue)
- Goody Mob: “Soul Food”
- Grateful Dead: 5 LP box set, “Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA 3/2/1969”
- Souls of Mischief: double LP, “93 to Infinity”
- Three 6 Mafia: double LP, “Da Unbreakables”
- Flaming Lips: “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots – Live at the Paradise Lounge, Boston Oct. 27, 2002″
- Linkin Park: “Lost Demos”
- Joni Mitchell: “Court and Spark Demos”
- Willie Nelson: “Shotgun Willie (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)”
- The Doors: “Live In Bakersfield”
- Dr. Dre: “The Chronic (30-Year Anniversary Edition)”
- Cyprus Hill: “Black Sunday Remixes”
- Olivia Rodrigo: “GUTS: the secret tracks”
- Billie Strings: “California Sober featuring Willie Nelson”
The vinyl prices range from $10 for a 7 inch, to $250 for box sets. The average price is about $20 to $25 depending on the artist and the size of the album. For example, if the vinyl is a double LP, that might cost about $30.
ERNEST comes to Athens:Q&A: Nashville’s on the rise country artist ERNEST brings tour to Athens
UGA researchers recognized:UGA researchers contributed to one of the best inventions of 2023, Time magazine says
What is Record Store Day Black Friday?
Record Store Day was established by a group of record store owners and staff who wanted a way to get music fans into buying music from independent record stores.
The Record Store Day brand started in 2007 “as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1400 independently-owned record stores in the U.S. and thousands of similar stores internationally,” according to Record Store Day’s website.
Record Store Day is the third Saturday in April, and Record Store Day Black Friday is the second annual event put on by the organization. The first Record Store Day event occurred over 15 years ago on April 19, 2008, at a time when record stores were seeing low sales or were shutting down.
“At the time, there’s a lot of stores that were going out of business and it did kind of help get people more interested in going down to their local independent store and making a music purchase,” Mitchell said. “I think that it was started with good intentions and I’m glad that it has continued for so long.”
Record Store Day events have released music by little-known artists and international sensations such as Taylor Swift. In April 2022, Swift released 10,000 copies of “the lakes” on 7-inch vinyl. Mitchell said about 80 fans showed up early and waited in line to buy that album. Wuxtry Records could only get a hold of 50 records to sell that day, so he had to turn away about 30 fans, Mitchell said.
Mitchell offers some advice for Record Store Day Black Friday shoppers: “Show up early, be patient…and be kind to your fellow man.”
Low Yo Yo Stuff Records, located on West Washington Street, is listed on the Record Store Day Black Friday’s website as participating, but did not respond to phone calls from the Banner-Herald to confirm.
