Record Store Day Black Friday provides new music on vinyl records to independent record stores around the United States.

Each April Record Store Day works with musicians and indie record stores to connect fans with limited released material. This has grown in such popularity that they have added a second day on Black Friday to give the opportunity of releasing limited music a second day in the year.

In my area within Southern Illinois, we are kind of spoiled with indie record stores in comparison to large cities that may have fewer, and larger populations. The ability to be one of the first people in the door is a huge blessing as a avid vinyl consumer.

Record Store Day and RSDBF both offer musicians on major labels and independent labels the ability to release new, re-released and unreleased music to their fans in an engaging manner. In an era of digital music, it is a relief to put on a record and let it play all the way through. It feels like a story or book that is unfolding with each piece of audio art.

This year is the first year I partook in RSDBF, and was more than happy to see the selection of music at Joe’s Records in Marion, Illinois at 6 a.m. on Friday, November 24. This also marked my first time engaging in a Black Friday sale. Normally, I wait for sales on products, but with Black Friday 2016 and Record Store Day, I wanted to get to the store early, so the selection of vinyl would be as large as possible. The albums that are being released on Record Store Day normally is a limited release. The vinyl is sold to the first customer present. So, it is import to arrive early.

Recently, the owners of Joe’s Records in Marion added a new location in Carbondale, Illinois in the mall known as Hard Copies. They both contain excellent music, games, movies and additional items.

The vinyl that I picked up for the store included: Otis Redding, Ben Folds with yMusic, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Clark Jr., and Erykah Badu. The store didn’t have The Revivalists record I was looking for, but that is the randomization of Record Store Day. Each store can request albums, but depending on demand, only so many records can be sent to each store.