1. Quick links
2. Editor's picks
3. Home studio deals
4. Laptop deals
5. Software deals
6. Keys & synth deals
7. Guitar deals
8. Electronic drum deals
9. FAQs
10. Shopping tips
Ok, so the actual date of Black Friday is 28 November, but the Black Friday music deals are here right now. Don't believe me? Sweetwater have just gone live with their full Black Friday sale, boasting over 5,000 items up to 80% off, alongside Guitar Center offering 40% off a range of major instrument brands. And with Thomann dropping some bumper Cyber Week early deals, it's safe to say that the savings are already here, earlier than ever before.
This is your page to get the full lowdown, help you prep and find the best offers for music makers online.
Myself and the MusicRadar ream have been covering Black Friday deals for musicians and producers for over 8 years now, and we know where to find the biggest savings, which deals represent genuine value for money and which products to look for (we're field testing gear year-round, after all), alongside the stuff to avoid. We've also been keeping tabs on how prices have changed over the years so we can tell the good offers from the too good to be true ones.
Whether you're a guitarist, producer, DJ, drummer, or podcaster, I can say with genuine authority that this is the best time of year to invest in your rig, or to drop hints to your nearest and dearest about the musical upgrades you crave ahead of Christmas.
Our deals experts will be keeping this page up-to-date daily and regularly adding to our handpicked selection of the best savings between now and Black Friday itself.
⚡ Quick links
Amazon: Huge holiday savings
B&H Photo: Early Bird Holiday deals
Fender store: Acoustic and parts sale
Guitar Center: Up to 40% Black Friday sale
Guitar Tricks: $899 $99 annual sub
IK Multimedia: Up to $300 off Tonex hardware
Musician's Friend: Early Black Friday 50% sale
Native Instruments: Over 50% off UA bundle
Plugin Boutique: 100s of software savings
Positive Grid: Up to $50 Spark savings
Reverb: Black Friday early access
Sweetwater: Black Friday deals up to 80% off
Universal Audio: 12 Days of UAD software sale
Waves: Huge plugin bundle deals up to 95% off
Gear4Music: Early Black Friday deals are live
Guitar Tricks: $899 $99 annual sub
IK Multimedia: Up to $300 off Tonex hardware
Native Instruments: Over 50% off UA bundle
Plugin Boutique: 100s of software savings
Positive Grid: Spark bundle savings
Reverb: Early access to up to 70% off
Thomann: Early Cyber Week deals!
Universal Audio: 12 Days of UAD software sale
Waves: Huge plugin bundle deals up to 95% off
🥇 Editor's picks
🎛️ Home studio deals
💻 Laptop deals
🇺🇸 US deals
🛠️ Software deals
Keys & synth deals
UK deals
🎸 Guitar deals
🥁 Electronic drum deals
🇺🇸 US deals
🇬🇧 UK deals
✍️ Black Friday music deals FAQ
When do the Black Friday music deals start?
For 2025, the Black Friday music deals will officially arrive on Friday, November 28 - the day after Thanksgiving and less than a month before Christmas Day, making it the ideal event to pick up Christmas presents for the music makers in your life (we have more options in our guide to the best Christmas gifts for musicians), or to finally land that new piece of kit you've been lusting after all year.
As usual, the deals will extend across that weekend (also know as Cyber Weekend), before finishing with a final flurry of Cyber Monday music deals on Monday 1 December.
Previous experience tells us that the deals certainly won't be isolated to this concentrated four day period. Many of the best Black Friday music deals will emerge many weeks before Black Friday itself, some arriving as mid-to-late October. Some deals will stick around well into December, too.
What deals should I expect?
There are definitely some key retailers to watch in the lead up to Black Friday and we’ll be keeping a close eye on them throughout October, November and December. Based on last year's evidence, the Guitar Center Black Friday deals, Sweetwater Black Friday sales, and Musician's Friend Black Friday deals will be the ones to watch - these sites are particularly good for chunky savings on guitar gear, electronic drums and home studio equipment. They will often offer coupon codes for bulk savings on your basket, too.
When it comes to laptops for music production, this time of year is a great opportunity to pick up a Black Friday laptop deal for the home studio. Last year we spotted discounts on Apple M3 Pro and Air laptops - mostly at Amazon - plus significant money off Dell laptops and older but still well-specced MacBooks. We're confident this year will be the ideal time to grab a chunky discount on your next laptop, including the latest M4 models.
If you're a sucker for software, we're excited to see what the likes of Waves Audio, Plugin Boutique and Universal Audio deliver across the event. You'll want to keep a close eye on our Black Friday plugin deals page for the very best offers this year. We'd recommend making a beeline for price cuts on software bundles - these are a great value way to pick up a whole raft of essential production tools for just a few dollars each.
For drummers itching to pick up a great electronic drum set, we’re looking forward to seeing price-slashing on some of the year's most popular models, including - fingers crossed - the beginner-friendly Alesis Nitro Pro and Max models, the former of which is our beginner electronic drum set of choice. Yamaha deals were more abundant than ever before last year, so we're keen for a repeat of that. Keep tabs on our Black Friday drum deals page for the latest.
The Black Friday music deals aren't all about individual product discounts, either. Some retailers prefer to offer discounts overall on a range of product categories. Usually this comes in the form of a code that you enter at checkout to redeem your discount.
To give you an example, last year Sweetwater was offering up to 80% off a range of guitars, drums, recording gear, software, headphones and so much more from the big brands. Elsewhere, Guitar Center and Musician's Friend were both offering 15% off select products.
This is a great way to shop and can end up saving you more when you have multiple items you're looking to purchase.
Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are the main types to look out for:
- Single item - A single product with a great discount
- Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
- Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
- Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items
Also FYI, deals are launched at all sorts of random times - sometimes in the middle of the night - so savvy shoppers will need to keep a close eye on their favourite retailers to ensure they grab the bargains they're after. Some Black Friday music deals may stick around for the whole of Cyber Weekend, while others may only be live for a matter of hours, or could be stock-limited. So, if you're looking for a bargain, you need to be ready to pull the trigger.
Are Black Friday deals worth it?
On the whole our experience of covering deals year-round tells us that Black Friday is the best time of year to find genuinely good offers on the top brands, the best gear and the widest range of offers. It's a very lucrative time for the big online retailers, so they save their best deals for this time of year.
We only cover deals that we know are decent and represent the best prices of the year, so if you're drowning in options and don't know which offers are genuinely worth your hard-earned cash, if we've not covered it on MusicRadar then it's probably a hard pass.
Can I get free stuff on Black Friday?
If you know where to look, the answer is yes! Freebies mostly come in the form of music software, with many sites offering a free plugin to celebrate Black Friday and as a way to tempt you onto their sites. So, you could feasibly take advantage of the Black Friday hysteria without spending a thing.
Waves is a sure bet when it comes to free stuff and last year they gave customers the IDX Intelligent Dynamics plugin completely free. Usually, all you have to do is provide them with an email address to get your freebie.
In the past we've also seen offers where you buy a product and get something free bundled in, for example free online lessons when you purchase a drum kit, or free strings and a cable with a new electric guitar.
So, Black Friday isn't just about saving money, it's about adding value to your purchase and maximising your budget, too.
Do bricks and mortar shops have Black Friday sales?
Oh yes! Of course, the convenience and speed of online shopping means that often the best place to pick up deals is by heading to your favourite retailer's website, but you will find great deals in physical stores too. Basically, everyone gets involved in Black Friday price cutting.
Buying in a physical store is particularly beneficial if you want to test a piece of gear before you buy - recommended when you're planning on spending a serious amount of cash.
Whether you buy online or in-store, you should always check the refund policy of the place you're shopping. This will give you extra peace of mind if you're making a big purchase, or something more impulsive that you may wish to return down the line.
🛍️ Black Friday music deals: Shopping tips
Got your eye on a few things and wondering whether Black Friday is the time to buy? Here's a few tips from our personal experience that will ensure you're ready to strike if the gear you want is up for grabs:
1. Create a wishlist early - The most sensible way to take advantage of this year's Black Friday music deals is to know in advance what you’re looking for. This will make searching much easier, rather than having to trawl through loads of deals you don’t want to find the ones you do, or pondering things you don't need. To help you create your dream shopping list, take the time to explore our expert and up-to-date buying guides and reviews.
2. Work out what you actually need - Check out your favourite brands, see what you need and will genuinely use - don’t waste your cash and fill your basket with stuff that will never truly see any action.
3. Consider your music goals - What do you want to achieve with your music over the next 12 months or so? Do you want to gig more? Learn a new instrument? Or finally record your songs? Now could be the time to invest in gear that helps you fulfil your musical aspirations.
4. Streamline your current gear - Something else you should consider ahead of time is whether you have enough space in your collection for new gear. Could you offload some gear you don't use to make room and generate funds for some new gear?
5. Sign up to mailing lists - In addition to bookmarking this page, we'd recommend signing up to mailing lists of your favourite retailers now to get the jump on the best deals when they do come around.
☝️ How we choose which deals to cover
Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music-making, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products we recommend.
First and foremost, we are players and creators, and we want to match like-minded folk with the right products for them, at the best prices.
For us to recommend a deal on music gear it has to be a product we rate that’s a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers where you will have a positive shopping experience.
🤔 Why you can trust our choices
We spend a lot of our time scouring music retailers for fantastic deals on our favorite music gear. Not only is it our job to research and recommend the best gear in our buyer’s guides and reviews, but we’re also dedicated to helping musicians get the best deals on the stuff they need, too. After all, the only thing better than new gear day is a hearty discount.
We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view on which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.
