New Taylor Swift album expected to boost Record Store Day sales in Detroit area

With Record Store Day taking place Saturday, this weekend was already practically guaranteed to be one of the busiest of the year for independent record stores across the country.

Then singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced that her new album, "The Tortured Poets Department," would be released the day before, alongside a new Pearl Jam album, "Dark Matter."

“It’ll be radically different” from nearly every other weekend of the year, said Joe Lalich, owner of the Detroit Record Club in Royal Oak. “We’ll have 100 people or more lined up outside the store first thing in the morning. You’ll get people that really, really want that record. They’ll be there with their friends, sort of camping out and waiting.”

That’s because, under the rules of Record Store Day, everything is first-come, first-served; there are no holds or reservations.

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With the promise of pressings that are extremely limited, people likely have to be prepared to wait if they want one of the headline offerings.

“If they say they’re pressing 1,500 of record X, that means that there’s 1,500 probably in the world. There’s 3,000 or 4,000 record stores in the country,” Lalich said. “You get allocated in, you get allocated out. We might order 10 of something and get three. It’s all sort of luck of the draw.”

Mike Plasha, the owner of Electric Crown Records in Flint, said waiting is part of the experience, helping to turn vinyl collecting into a communal experience.

“It’s almost like you’ve got a concert vibe prior to opening the doors for Record Store Day,” Plasha said. “Everybody’s talking about what they’re looking for and what bands they’re into. If they find somebody with similar interests they may turn them onto a band that person hasn’t heard of. It’s a good little culture swap that goes on in line.”

It also creates the opportunity to cross demographic divides, Plasha said.

“The teens will be out for Noah Kahan and Olivia Rodrigo, those will be hot titles for sure. But I have a pretty varying crowd, I have teenage boys and girls up to people in their 60s,” Plasha said. “It’s a little bit of everything as far as the crowd goes, and they’ll all be in line.”

While the level of frenzy created on Record Store Day depends on the status of the artists participating each year, Lalich said he expects that this year’s list will generate serious momentum.

“Every list, we kind of will get a general perspective from our customers who will tell us maybe this list is a little down or this list looks really good,” Lalich said. “This list we’ve gotten a ton of great feedback on. People have been very interested in legacy artists, bands like the Talking Heads, up through newer bands, like the 1975.”

Jon Howard, a co-owner of Flat, Black and Circular in East Lansing, said this year’s list is better than those in recent years because of its diversity.

“We’ve done it since the beginning and there’s always two or three or four really hyped-up releases. For this year it was Noah Kahan, Paramore and Olivia Rodrigo,” Howard said. “I think this list was much better than the last few years as far as being good and varied and not just clogged up with live albums. We went pretty hard on ordering without going totally insane. There’s good jazz titles, old school and new school stuff in here. We’re pretty excited about it.”

Fans of Taylor Swift may join those waiting in line on Saturday even though the artist has not officially announced anything for Record Store Day.

Swift shared a video on social media earlier in the week to promote the Friday release of her 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," which included a look at her calendar, showing that she has Record Store Day penciled in on Saturday.

“That’s as cryptic to us as it is to everybody else,” Lalich said. “We’ve fielded some calls, we saw the posts, we’ve had some social media requests on that. We don’t know what that means more than anybody else.”

Howard said that while not a Record Store Day release, independent record stores will be receiving three variants of "The Tortured Poets Department" that include unique bonus tracks, alternative cover art and different colored pressings of the vinyl that were previously available on Swift’s website for a limited time.

But when the extra variants will arrive is up in the air, Howard said.

“It’s still good for us, because maybe some Swifties don’t want to come get it in that crazy weekend like that,” Howard said. “We’re already usually busy on Fridays. It’s not going to be the end of the world if the other variants don’t make it until Monday or Tuesday. If they come Monday or Tuesday, we’re good.”

After "The Tortured Poets Department" became available on streaming services Friday at midnight, Swift surprised fans by following it up with a 2 a.m. drop of 15 additional tracks, in addition to the initial 16, in a version named "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology."

“Any time Taylor Swift is involved, it’s going to be good for the fans and for the store,” Lalich said.

In addition to the new Record Store Day releases, Plasha said he has been preparing for more than a month by holding back some used vinyl that are highly sought after due to being limited pressings.

Various record stores, such as Electric Crown Records and Flipside Records in Berkley, are also running other promotions on Record Store Day, including giving away concert tickets, providing refreshments, and hosting live music.

After months of hard work to prepare for the back-to-back release of new Taylor Swift and Pearl Jam albums with Record Store Day, nerves – and excitement – are high.

“Of course, it was a big outlier of money to do all this, too. The bill is going to come due big time for these two days,” Howard said. “That’s the only thing that’s scary, at least when we pre-ordered Pearl Jam. We know T-Swift is going to eventually sell, but how fast is the question, and we’re just hoping that there’s not stinker albums coming at us that we’re going to have to sit on for a while.”

Customers will sometimes begin lining up outside the stores as early as closing time the day before, Plasha said.

“I’m always a nervous wreck. I never sleep the night before,” Plasha said. “This is my eight year doing this, and still, you drive up to the store and you’re like ‘I hope there’s a line, I hope there’s a line, I hope there’s a line.’ And there always is, but there’s always that doubt in the back of your mind. You never take it for granted.”

Ultimately, when the doors are unlocked and fans start rushing in to select their albums, it all pays off, Lalich said.

“It’s always an exciting day for us just because so many likeminded people coming together on one day, celebrating music and vinyl, is just great to have,” Lalich said. “And people are just so excited when they come in as well, and they’ve waited for a certain thing; it’s no different than back in the day when people used to wait for concert tickets until you actually sort of persevere and get the thing you want.”