This morning I started to receive emails from record shops regarding ‘National Album Day‘ as apparently it returns on October 19th 2024 for its seventh year of existence and this year they have decided the theme is going to be ‘Great British Groups’. It is also teaming with what it calls a ‘broadcast partner’ in Radio 2 to celebrate the album format and albums released by British Groups. No surprise the record shop emails were promoting the Records and CDs they have for sale associated to the listed albums, that’s what record stores do!
The website states “National Album Day was first celebrated in 2018 to praise the album format. After all, we’ve enjoyed over 70 years of albums; classic, life-changing, first, influential and even the ones we couldn’t live without. Albums mean different things to different people – but there is no denying the huge impact they’ve not only had on our lives but on British pop-culture as we know it.”
So why National Album Day? Before you read on this is not an anti-post i’m all for anything that promotes music in a positive way and helps record shops keep going, I just don’t recall much about this ‘day’ over the last six years so want to know more. Whereas ‘Record Store Day’ has been all over my socials and emails in what seems like forever and more than annually, their marketing team are on it!
Again from the website – “National Album Day is organised jointly by the BPI – the UK association of record companies and independent labels (BRIT Awards and Mercury Prize) – and ERA, the digital Entertainment and Retail Association (Record Store Day).
https://www.nationalalbumday.co.uk
Shed Seven are listed as Album Champions on the site with an incomplete list of their tour dates?
The event is supported across Radio 2 and the breadth of BBC Sounds, radio, TV and online channels, and is backed by the wider recorded music community, taking in UK record labels; AIM, PPL and other trade associations; independent record stores and specialist chains including HMV; and online retailers and digital/streaming services including Amazon, Spotify and YouTube.”
So in a nutshell it is a day to promote and sell existing album for British Artists. Works for me! There is so much past music and great albums around that a younger audience especially may not be aware of due to the volume of new music released on a yearly basis and ever changing trends.
It made me think of an interview on Sirius with Ad-Rock from the Beastie Boys
“Are you listening to any artist now like rappers or rappers?”
“I don’t listen to any new music.”
“Why not?”
“You know I was gonna say that I’m really busy but I’m really not. I don’t actually do anything ever except order food and watch TV. I don’t listen to like new songs I go through phases there’s so much great reggae music from the 70s like why do I need to? There’s so much undiscovered stuff like I kinda like that’s what I like and you know when you become a old person you get stuck in a different time. So I’m stuck in a time where I was still discovering reggae and different types of music and so I’m still discovering types of music.”
I understand that thinking, its easy to get stuck in a niche when you’ve been listening to certain styles of music and more importantly you know ‘WHAT MUSIC YOU LIKE‘. That’s the beauty of bands, especially from the 90s still making music, case in point the current furore over Oasis25. It keeps older music alive and the likes of Shed Seven and other bands of that ilk not just releasing anniversary editions but making new music. Another case in point their last album ‘A Matter of Time‘ should be in anyones record collection it’s a belter so no surprise they are champions. My view on this is:
“A younger audience is looking forward with music as they don’t buy music, they consume music. An older audience who grew up buying music both consumes and retains music.”
How many albums are saved in a Gen Z Spotify account compared to a Gen X Spotify account. Playlists are king, so yes promoting albums to a younger audience is a good thing.
