Thanksgiving leftovers won't be cold for long before vinyl collectors and music lovers are expected to line up outside their favorite local record stores in droves, hoping to get their hands on the special releases coming to independent shops for the Record Store Day Black Friday event.
The RSD Black Friday sale will take place at independent records stores across the country on Nov. 28, 2025. The Black Friday event builds off the annual Record Store Day that has occurred each year since 2008.
"In 2010, Record Store Day coordinated its first RSD Black Friday event, which gives record stores exclusive releases as part of the attempt to redirect the focus of the biggest shopping day of the year to the desirable, special things to be found at these local, independently owned small businesses," Record Store Day's website stated.
For those new to vinyl and who are looking to get started in time for the event, some area collectors and experts shared tips and background on what is the most popular physical medium for listening to music.
Why vinyl?
While vinyl may have all sorts of draws for its aficionados, many collectors swear by the quality of the listening experience above all.
"The sound quality of digital versions of music, such as music from a streaming platform, is often compressed," said Matt Bradish, owner of the record store Underground Sounds in Ann Arbor.
The way vinyl is mastered contributes to the quality of the music on it, said Brie-Anne Andrews, pressing and operations lead for Third Man Records, a vinyl-manufacturing plant in Detroit.
"Most music is mastered a completely different way when it's on vinyl," Andrews said. "Your highs will sound really high and your lows will sound really low."
"You can have your bluetooth speaker streaming off of, you know, whatever streaming service, and that music is going to sound great because it's a song you like, or music you love, but when it's on vinyl, it just fills the room in a completely different way, and I do think that is just because of the extremities of the sounds," she said.
The turntable
While some collectors are just looking for album art to hang on their walls, there's one thing anyone interested in spinning their records needs.
"Well, obviously, you need a record player," said Shawn Gates, owner of Wyrd Byrd, a media store in Ypsilanti that sells records. He suggested looking no further than family hand-me-downs and used stores.
"Used players are typically a good way to go," Gates said. He suggested trying the Kiwanis sale or Share House in Ann Arbor for used players. Sometimes, Wyrd Byrd carries used players, too, he added.
For those ready to upgrade their setup or invest in a high-quality, new player, Bradish recommended a few of his favorite brands, specifically U-Turn Audio and Audio-Technica.
For audiophiles and those serious about starting and maintaining a vinyl collection, Bradish said turntables with built-in speakers should be avoided.
“Anything with built-in speakers — they may be cheap, they may be a good way to ... get started, but they don’t deliver very good sound. They are functionally inferior,” Bradish cautioned. “You have speakers built into them that vibrate the platform that is supposed to be as steady as possible.”
These turntables also tend to use acrylic needles, which can contribute to less-than-stellar sound quality, he said.
However, if a suitcase turntable is what listeners have access to, then there’s no shame in starting out with one, Andrews said.
“I think if you are just getting started off and that is the best way that you find to listen to your vinyl, please do it,” Andrews said. “There is no shame in any way that you have to listen; if that’s the only way you have to listen to those records, then that’s fantastic.”
The records
So, you’ve got the turntable. Now it’s time to start your personal collection. But where do you begin?
“Start with what you like or what you’re interested in,” said Gates, who built Wyrd Byrd's inventory from his own, longtime collection. Collecting vinyl doesn't have to break the bank, he added.
"You don't have to go looking for really expensive records," Gates said. "There are plenty of records out there that are under $10 that are good."
He recommended checking out used records.
“It’s still just fine to go, not just to record stores, but garage sales and thrift stores to look for things, because sometimes you get lucky,” Gates said. “Sometimes you don’t, and that’s OK, but you might find things that look interesting to you for cheap, and then you’re not spending a ton of money; some records are crazy expensive.”
With vinyl selections readily available at stores like Target and Urban Outfitters, finding records is easy these days, Andrews said. She recommended listeners go out to independent sellers to build their collection.
“The hunt is not the same as it used to be,” Andrews said. “I feel like there’s so many options out there for getting started that if you start off with an album you really love, I think that’s all you need to do.”
“Seek out record stores — something local,” Andrews said.
RSD Black Friday
This year, RSD Black Friday will feature titles from artists such as Billie Eilish, Fleetwood Mac, Post Malone and many more. For a full list of releases coming to shops this RSD Black Friday, as well as a list of participating stores, visit the Record Store Day website.
Underground Sounds will participate in RSD Black Friday and titles will be limited to one per customer to discourage resellers, Bradish said.
Third Man Records, which has its own label that features Michigan's own Jack White, will release a complete boxset of the White Stripes' entire discography on RSD Black Friday, exclusively at its storefronts in Detroit, Nashville and London, Andrews said.
Shoppers can escape the RSD Black Friday lines at Wyrd Byrd, which doesn't participate in the sale, but may see some of the RSD releases in its stock later.
