Well, good day to all you fine people out there! It’s the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., traditionally known as Black Friday — and legions of idiots have been lining up outside retailers for hours (or days, in some cases) to get their hands on TVs and junk at discounted prices.

I hate shopping, and I hate crowds of people (or more accurately, I hate most people in general), so would be pretty much the worst possible time for me to go out. Therefore, I won’t be anywhere near any stores today.

However, there are some other good deals out there, if you know where to look — lots of record labels and music stores are offering discounts or bonus gifts or incentives — and this is stuff that interests me way more than anything that people will probably be fist-fighting for at Wal-Mart or Target!

Since many of you readers probably feel the same way (why else would you be reading a music-related blog?) I’ve thrown together an assortment of these special offers right here in this post, for your shopping convenience. Enjoy!

Click for larger image

 
The Relapse Mailorder division of Relapse Records is offering discounts on all purchases this whole weekend! Visit their online store for:

• a FREE GIFT with any orders above $20
• a 15% discount off orders above $51 (coupon code BF15)
• a 20% discount off orders above $101 (coupon code BF20)

 
While you’re there shopping for presents (or for yourself!), something you might want to consider would be the recently-released Death Spiritual Healing Limited Die Hard Fans Pack — only 500 bundles are available, which include the reissued CD; an exclusive t-shirt; and patches, stickers, pins, and guitar picks! This $100 package is available in sizes from small to XXX-large (with no extra charge for us fat people!

 

Click for larger image

 
Earache Records is also advertising a Christmas sale in their web store — it doesn’t appear to be Black Friday specific, but they have reduced the prices of tons of CDs, t-shirts, bundles, and more, plus:

• CDs as low as $0.49!
• FREE surprise gift with any order over $30
• FREE copy of the Worldwide Metal boxed set with any order over $60

 
Shadow Kingdom Records is holding a huge vinyl sale this weekend — now extended through Monday, 26 November 2012, at 11:59pm eastern (U.S.) time.

Head over to the SKR webstore, where you can take $4 off all vinyl records over $14! Plus, the shipping cost (for U.S. orders) has now been reduced to $6. Just use coupon code Listen to Corsair

Click for larger image

 
Stormspell Records has announced a Black Friday sale which is running for the whole weekend* (23-25 November 2012) — check out their webstore to find:

• Eleven new Stormspell titles priced at $9.99 (after this sale, the regular price will be $11.99
• Selected brand new distro items from premiere fellow indy labels at $9.99 or less
• Many existing Stormspell titles at clearance-sale price of $5.00
• FREE WORLDWIDE shipping on all orders of 9 CDs or more!

 
*Originally this sale was scheduled to last until next Friday (the 29th), but due to an overwhelming demand, the Stormspell store has to be closed early to ensure enough time to package and ship all orders in a timely fashion. The same prices offered in this sale will be brought back sometime in January when the store re-opens, so be sure to keep an eye out for that if you missed it this time around!

 
Horror Pain Gore Death Productions is offering a FREE mystery CD with any purchase from their webstore!

Just visit this page anytime this weekend (through Monday, 26 November 2012) and add the MYSTERY CD to your shopping cart, along with any other product from the store. Limit one free CD per customer; get more details on the promotion here.