Record Store Day Australia is coming together again for 2014, organised for the sixth year by the Australian Music Retailers Association (AMRA) on Saturday April 19 (Easter Saturday).
The day is not related to International Independent Record Store Day.
Record Store Day emphasises that music stores around Australia are still an important source to buy records, and to find new music and new styles.
According to AMRA, the public still loves to browse and buy a physical product, as seen by the rise in vinyl purchases over the past 12 months.
AMRA Chairman George Papadopoulos points out, “People who don’t know about the resurgence of vinyl ask me who buys it and I usually say anyone who doesn’t have cloth ears. So many true music lovers are turning away from the flattened audio of an MP3 and want a warmer, richer sound and that’s where vinyl comes in. Sales of records are up 77% in the past 12 months, and Record Store Day Australia helps drive that.”
Full details of activities will be posted over the next few weeks on recordstoreday.com.au and facebook.com/RecordStoreDayAustralia.
The word is that this year will have two Ambassadors, neither of them artists. Last year’s mbassador was Russell Morris.
Activities will range from store to store. But they can include in-store appearances, signings, one-off promotions, events as music trivia and record launches, free food, discounts, gift vouchers, and special releases just for the day. One longtime retailer told AMRA that last year it had more business on Record Store Day than over Christmas.
Last year saw special vinyl releases from Kings of Leon, Iggy & The Stooges, Gotye, Cypress Hill, Hermitude and Parkway Drive, and CD one-offs by Urthboy and Hungry Kids of Hungary.
For more industry news visit Christie Eliezer’s Industrial Strength column in the BRAG.
