Record Store Day is the latest event to be impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, with organisers officially postponing celebrations til June.
The international event was originally scheduled to go down on Saturday, 18th April, but has now been shifted to Saturday 20th June as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organisers have confirmed that singer-songwriter Ross Wilson of Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock fame will continue in his role as Australia’s ambassador. And in the meantime, the President of AMRA (which runs Record Store Day in Australia) Blake Budak says there are plans in the works to celebrate indie music and indie music stores on the now-vacated date of April 18th.
“The third Saturday in April is a hallowed day in the diary of all music fans and we don’t want to abandon that, but we are also very aware that we are not operating under normal conditions,” he said.
“So we are looking at how we can still safely celebrate indie music and indie record stores on our Day of Days. How we do that is the challenge, but with the support of the record companies and sponsors we expect to have a plan by early next week. So stay safe and stand by for more news.”
It means this year’s Record Store Day will run two months and two days later than originally scheduled, and we’re told more ambassadors will be announced soon.
With this announcement, Record Store Day — which is celebrated by more than 85,000 music lovers and 200 indie music stores around Australia, as well as millions of people worldwide — becomes one of thousands of events being postponed or cancelled as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, including but not limited to Vivid Sydney, SXSW, Coachella, Download Festival, Tasmania’s Dark Mofo, Under The Southern Stars concert series.
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