For the second consecutive year, Vinyl.com partners with the Recording Fund on its Black Friday “Play it Forward” sale, a feel-good program that runs until November 30th.
In the run-in to Black Friday, Vinyl.com gets the good times rolling with savings of up to 40% on its vinyl and merch inventory.
At the same time, the online record retailer will donate 2% from those sales to the Recording Fund, the not-for-profit organisation supporting independent artists and musicians, and providing grants for their recording process.
Speaking on this second year of partnership, Recording Fund founder Max Allyn comments, “independent artists need support more than ever to thrive in today’s music industry, and this partnership embodies the goodwill and collaboration we believe the music industry is capable of.”
The money makes a difference. Among the grantees from last year’s Play It Forward is Lizdelise, the Philadelphia art-pop musician, who drops new music thanks to contributions generated from the campaign.
Lizdelise’s Recording Fund-supported single “Hotel Pool” arrived Friday, November 11th to kick off this year’s program. Stream it below.
“Witnessing the cycle of people purchasing vinyl—which supports bigger artists—also turn into support for smaller artists via our recording grants has been a thing of beauty,” notes Allyn. “We’re grateful beyond words to do good in music with Vinyl.com.”
Vinyl has been playing a sweet tune for the past decade, or more, as music fans return en masse to the classic soundcarrier, grooves and all.
According to ARIA, sales of vinyl albums in 2023 blossomed, up 14.1% for a value of $42.1 million. For the year, vinyl accounted for 70% of the total physical sales revenue in Australia, easily outpunching the former heavyweight of the class, the compact disc.
The Recording Fund operates with a vision is “to bring humanity back to music.”
In today’s profit-driven music industry, the “human experience” is all too often overlooked, reads its mission statement. “We believe artists’ hopes and dreams should be nurtured with kindness and opportunity, not exploited or discarded. Every recorded song tells a human story.”
“Play it Forward” donations will be honoured by sales made on Vinyl.com and official store feeds such as the Facebook and Instagram stores, and Google shopping.
Vinyl.com, a division of ASX-listed Vinyl Group, parent of The Brag Media, will make the final donation as one single payment to RecordingFund.org no later than 30 days from the end of the campaign to account for any refunds or returns.