U2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica special releases coming Nov. 26 for ‘Back to Black Friday’
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Continuing their efforts to reward music fans who still patronize independent record stores, a coalition of small retailers will be offering exclusive releases on Nov. 26 from rock, pop, R&B and country artists including U2, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix and many others.
The special releases are part of indie retailers’ ‘Back to Black Friday’ promotion for the day after Thanksgiving, typically the heaviest shopping day of the year.
Many are being released on vinyl, which gives rise to the ‘back to black’ theme. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Cee-Lo, Iron & Wine and Drive-By Truckers are among the other acts participating.
‘These exclusive pieces not only create nice sales, but a lasting memory and connection between the customer, the store, the employee and the artist, whose importance can’t be overstated,’ Mike Batt, who owns Silver Platters, a Seattle indie music store, said in a statement Thursday.
The store owners also seek to increase awareness of existing retailers each spring with National Record Store Day, which also has become something of a cause celebre among pop and rock stars.
‘Many of the great indies have disappeared in recent years, but Record Store Day is giving us yet another chance to show appreciation to this wonderful endangered slice of Americana,’ Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers said in the same statement.
Among exclusive high-profile reissues coming to the indie stores for the holiday season are a special edition of Harrison’s 1970 solo triple-album ‘All Things Must Pass’ and a Hendrix holiday EP, ‘Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year.’
-- Randy Lewis
