In what is fast becoming one of the world’s biggest days for new music releases, Record Store Day 2016 takes place internationally on Saturday April 16. Music industry personality and former Killing Heidi frontwoman Ella Hooper is one of the Australian ambassadors this year, and we asked her all about it.
Sydney’s independent record stores are well known as outlets for unearthing hidden gems. Conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners, Record Store Day was fashioned as a means of celebrating the unique culture surrounding thousands of independent stores internationally, and to provide a speciality day for stores to show their wares. After years operating independently, this year sees Australia’s Record Store Day finally fall into line with the international date on Saturday April 16.
“It’s not just about buying records – it’s about communication, hanging out,” says Record Store Day Australia ambassador Ella Hooper.
“I know so many people who just like to go to stores to get recommendations from people who work there, and it’s a good way for musos to stay in touch. These days it’s everything from tapes and tote bags to CDs. It’s not just vinyl.”
With five ARIA Awards to her name, and as the youngest person and first woman to have received APRA’s Songwriter of the Year award, the former Killing Heidi singer was a logical choice as the face of the campaign. “I love my social media and I love communicating with people, so it felt like a really natural fit that I might get behind it too and spread the word,” she says.
Hooper didn’t ever really have any long-term plan to take on the role, until she recently found herself chatting to Record Store Day organisers by happenstance. “It was just born from a conversation at a music industry event. I met the guys involved at the launch of a music school where I was doing some MCing.Speaking to them I was saying how I loved Record Store Day; I was a big fan. Then they told me that they have ambassadors to promote the day and I thought, ‘Well, that’s something I would love to do.’”
Apart from acting as a media ambassador and spreading the word via various social media channels, Hooper’s duties as a representative for the day also extend to making a number of in-store appearances in her native Melbourne. These will double as a chance for her to showcase new and as-yet-unreleased music from her forthcoming EP, New Magic.
“I’ll be hitting up some of my favourite record stores to play with my band, which kind of works for everybody, because I can’t wait to play my new stuff,” she says. “We’re planning on playing lots of new tunes, if not all new tunes in our Record Store Day appearances.”
For Hooper, the celebration of independent record stores is integral to the survival of the music community in its current state – a community that has both benefited and suffered at the hands of the internet.
“Things have changed a lot in the last ten, even the last five years with streaming services and downloading,” she says. “It’s not all bad, but we do need to remember to support all the variety of outlets and the ways that the music community stays healthy, and one of those is independent record stores.”
As Hooper retierates, Record Store Day is just as much about getting out there and being part of the event as it is about actually making a purchase. “It’s not just vinyl; you don’t have to drop a huge chunk of money just to go into a record store. Some people go to record stores and don’t even buy anything – it’s a social hub that I think is really important and I’d hate to see that die out.”
Record Store Day 2016 is Saturday April 16. For more head to recordstoreday.com.au.
