Taylor Swift has been announced as the first global ambassador for Record Store Day, in celebration of the event’s 15th anniversary.
“I’m very proud to be this year's Ambassador for Record Store Day,” the US pop star said in a statement.
“The places where we go to browse and explore and discover music new and old have always been sacred to me. Record stores are so important because they help to perpetuate and foster music-loving as a passion. They create settings for live events. They employ people who adore music thoroughly and purely.”
She added: “Those people and shops have had a rough few years and we need to support these small businesses more now than ever to make sure they can stay alive, stay eccentric, and stay individual. It’s been a true joy for me to watch vinyl sales grow in the past few years and we, the artists, have the fans to thank for this pleasant surprise. Happy Record Store Day, everyone! Stay safe out there.”
A press release observed how, 15 years ago, Swift had just received her first Grammy nomination and was preparing to release her second album, Fearless. Around the same time in April, record shops were throwing their first RSD parties.
“Fifteen years later, Record Store Day has become the largest single-day music event in the world,” the statement said. “And Taylor Swift has become… TAYLOR SWIFT.”
“We're thrilled to learn that Taylor Swift is our 2022 Record Store Day Ambassador!” Anna Lundy and Doyle Davis at Grimey’s record store in Nashville said. “Swift has shown her love and support for independent record stores by not only supporting our shop specifically during the dark, early days of the pandemic, when she directly donated to help us support our staff, but also by steering her eager, excited, and dedicated fans to independent record stores, places that many of them visited for the first time while in search of her signed CDs.”
“The role of RSD Ambassador is, of course, something we take seriously in the sense that it helps us do our job of shining a light on these special places,” added RSD co-founder Carrie Colliton. “We’re pretty picky about the people we invite to ‘wear the sash’, and we always want to make sure those Ambassadors genuinely love record stores and are creative about ways to celebrate them. But mostly it’s a title we want people to have fun with, and we know that our RSD 2022 Ambassador loves having fun, loves music, and loves record stores.
“For our 15th Record Store Day, and for our first Global Ambassador, we’re teaming up with a woman who does all that and just happens to be one of the biggest artists on the planet.”
Record Store Day takes place on 23 April.
