Crowdfunding Campaign Launched For Burgled Aussie Indie Record Store & Music Venue: A crowdfunding campaign has been set up in support of Wollongong record store and live music venue Urge Records after the storefront was burgled this week. The Thirroul venue was broken into on Sunday night (11 March) with thieves stealing a cash box among other items as well as damaging the front door so badly that it caused owners to close for the foreseeable future. “This was a huge blow to a small business and a frightening event for the community. Urge can’t continue having shows or operate as a store until a new door is installed,” campaign organiser Phoebe McDonald explained. The crowdfunding campaign seeks to raise $3,000 to “help them with the purchase and installation of a roller door and a security system to prevent this from happening again”.
Record Shops Partake In Record Token Scheme: A number of independent record shops in the UK will team up with National Book Tokens to relaunch a record token scheme in May. National Book Tokens and an array of independent record shops around the UK are teaming up this May to relaunch the Record Tokens gift card scheme. The scheme will relaunch on May 14 and will see tokens act as a kind of debit card allowing people to purchase the tokens and exchange them as gifts to be used at a wide array of record shops around the UK. Tokens will be valid for eight years after purchase, though National Book Tokens says they will try to replace your gift even if it is not redeemed within that period for any reason – they also say that they will try to replace your card if you lose or damage it. You can find out more about the scheme, including a list of shops at which the tokens can be used, here.
Red Wing man delivers golden oldies for seniors’ golden years: Our favorite songs bring back memories, taking us back to a time and place where the music impacted our lives. Bob Knutson has seen it happen as he delivers music each month to more than 30 retirement homes around the region as part of his nonprofit, Song for Seniors. With more than 17,000 albums on the shelf, he said, he holds a lot of memories. “It’s so worthwhile doing this. I can’t think of anything that pays itself off like this,” he said. “And it doesn’t pay money.” Knutson, a retired welder, donates his time, effort and a little of his personal fortune, to deliver the gift of music to seniors around the region. He supplies old record albums — 20 at a time each month for each of the 42 stereo systems he’s donated — to more than 30 senior living facilities.
In a world of playlists, the album fights for its survival: “A great song is a house party; a great album is a dinner party.” So says Shannon Logan, a judge of the Australian Music Prize — awarded yesterday to Sampa The Great for her record Birds And The BEE9 — and the owner of Brisbane record store Jet Black Cat Music. Debates about the imminent death of the album — to be replaced by fans consuming single songs, here and there — have been going on since piracy platform Naptser, at the turn of century, made it possible for fans to cherry-pick tracks they liked and discard the rest. Vinyl is back and streaming is surging. What are you going to do with those racks of plastic discs? “I think the album is going to die, “Aram Sinnreich, from media consulting firm Radar Research, told The New York Times back in 2007. “Consumers are listening to playlists.”
Vinyl records fair to be held in Skipton Town Hall: A vinyl record collectors fair will be held at Skipton Town Hall this Sunday. The vinyl record fair, which runs from 9am to 4pm, returns with new and familiar dealers from around the country. A free valuation service will be available for anyone who wishes to bring along their items for expert valuation or sale. Specialist dealers in jazz, soul, folk, rock and 1960s/70s will be attending the event. Entry is free.
