Record Store Day draws hundreds to Dearborn Music

On this particular Saturday, the early bird got the vinyl.

At 8 a.m., an ever-growing line stretched from the corner of Military and Newman streets to the front of Dearborn Music for the 16th annual Record Store Day — the one day a year that record labels distribute exclusive releases to independent record stores across the U.S.

"If it weren't for Record Store Day, there wouldn't be any kind of independent record store today," said Dearborn Music co-owner Rick Leannais. "It brought back the collections, like 'There's a color variant, I got to have that' — it brought back the collectability of music.

"Some of (the stock) is just limited to today, but some of it is available first for the indie stores and is going to come back out for everyone to order ... in two or three months," he continued.

On Saturday, more than 250 people lined up along the sidewalk waiting for Dearborn Music's doors to open, sitting in foldable lawn chairs and wrapped in thick blankets with hot beverages in hand to warm their freezing fingers in the early-morning upper-30s temperatures.

Some had already been there for hours, or even overnight — such as Paige Vandooren, who secured the first spot in line at 8:30 p.m. Friday before the store had even closed that day. Vandooren, a Dearborn Music frequenter and returning Record Store Day customer, said she was motivated to snag a copy of a new EP by the Japanese House, only 800 of which were distributed among the 1,500 participating U.S. record stores.

A few years ago, pre-pandemic, the store was flooded with an estimated 400 people on Record Store Day. So to prevent free-for-all chaos in following years, Dearborn Music devised its wish list protocol to keep avid vinyl fans in a neat, orderly and organized line. Customers arrive as early as they like and at 8 a.m. on Record Store Day, the team passes out wish lists of the day's exclusive features. This year, that list was nine pages long, filled with 411 records, CDs and other merchandise from which to choose.

The event is first-come, first-served; customers mark as many titles from the wish list as they'd like to purchase and only receive one of each until stock runs out. Some titles like the Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan split 45, one of the most sought-after items of the day, came to Dearborn Music in a shipment of 200, while others, like a Paramore and David Byrne single, were limited to just five copies.

More: Big Sean, Detroit Youth Choir tapped as NFL draft concert performers (freep.com)

Then, as the wish lists began to flow in, employees quickly got to work, running to and fro like North Pole elves on Christmas Eve — to which Leannais compares the store's Record Store Day sales.

When the doors opened at 9 a.m. for customers to come collect their records and check out, some titles sold out fast, but fortunately Record Store Day goes on all day at Dearborn Music, along with a rare 15% discount on all new and used merchandise.

"We use Record Store Day as a customer appreciation day," said Leannais. Then talking about the exclusive Record Store Day items they have in store: "What's 'best' to you is not always the 'best' to someone else. ... We're still going to have stuff all through the night. Last year ... we sold out five minutes before we closed at nine o'clock."

Dearborn Music has participated in Record Store Day since it began in 2008, when many independent record stores across the country were in limbo and sometimes struggling to hang on. But over the years, the number of participating stores and the number of exclusive titles available has grown exponentially, helping to bring back the popularity of independent record stores.

"There's a lot of people that say, 'This is a money grab for the labels,' but it really isn't," said Leannais. "The labels don't make that much money on limited runs. If you make 2,000 LPs, the labels don't make anything, the artists don't make anything — it is about the independent record stores and the physical aspect of music."

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Record Store Day draws hundreds to Dearborn Music