Record Store Day Australia Announces Anthony Albanese as Final Ambassador for 2017: Perhaps better known as the Federal member for Grayndler, former Deputy Prime Minister and member of the Shadow Cabinet, the magnificent seventh ambassador for Record Store Day in Australia is a passionate music lover and DJ. ‘Albo’ is a familiar face in the many record stores in his electorate as well as at live gigs, most recently Adele, The Pixies, Spiderbait and Nick Cave. He owns an extensive record collection which includes his first record ever which was Elton John’s Honky Chateau and the record he is most proud of owning is Midnight Oil’s Bird Noises. He strongly believes in live music as a force for enriching communities and as an industry providing jobs.
Twist & Shout on the origin of Record Store Day and 2017 plans: “…I was in the hotel room with Michael Kurtz and four other people when Eric Levin of Criminal Records in Atlanta said, ‘There’s this thing called Free Comic Book Day – we should do that with records!’ And that was the genesis of the whole thing. This was a bunch of stoned record store owners sitting a hotel room saying ‘man, we should do something cool’ – and that’s how it started.”
Albo Talks Up Record Store Day Australia In Parliament: Former Deputy Prime Minister the Honorable Anthony Albanese has spoke up for Record Store Day in Parliament today…In Parliament Albo spoke about the importance of record stores. “We all know independent record stores are important in our communities as small businesses, generating economic activity and providing jobs, but the importance of independent record stores extends well beyond economics. It goes to our culture, our lived experience and the way we understand and engage with the world”.
Australia’s Recorded Music Market Reports Growth in 2016, Streaming Revenue Soars: Australia’s record business is on the upswing. Fueled by a surging streaming music sector, the recorded music market enjoyed a 5.5% bump in revenue to A$352.2 million ($269 million) in 2016, according to wholesale trade figures published Wednesday by ARIA. It’s the second successive year of growth in this top 10 market, which reported gains of 5% in 2015…Though a niche format, vinyl continues to play a positive tune. Vinyl sales grew by 70% to more than A$15 million ($11 million in value, for the sixth consecutive year of gains, ARIA reports in its trade figures.
Czech firm sees surge in sales of turntables amid vinyl boom: As vinyl records make a global comeback, so do turntables. The biggest maker of quality turntables, a company in the Czech Republic called SEV Litovel, has increased its production fourfold between 2009 and 2016, when it made 124,825 units. “I really can’t see the end (of the growth),” said Managing Director Jiri Mencl, who estimates production of 150,000 in three years. His firm has opened a new production site worth 180 million koruna ($7.2 million) this year to meet the demand for turntables, which has been rising globally.
