U.K. Music Industry to Celebrate National Album Day
The U.K. music industry announced plans to unite to celebrate the album format, marking 70 years since the first LP was released in Britain.
Columbia Masterworks launched Mendelssohn’s Violin Concert in E Minor in June 1948; National Album Day will be held on Oct. 13 this year.
Led by the BBC, music fans will be asked to nominate the album that’s most inspired them, and to play it in full at 3.33PM on the day. A full week of events will have taken place before that, including retail events, listening parties and a large-scale publicity campaign, celebrating not just the music, but the artwork, technological achievements and other aspects of LPs.
MusicWeek reported that the British Phonographic Industry estimated that more than 5 billion albums had been sold over the past seven decades, and cited a study published by the Entertainers Retail Association, which showed that 60 percent of respondents had listened to an album during the month of May this year.
“The format of the album is so important," Cherry Red Records chairman Iain McNay, one of the event’s instigators, said. "Even in this era of the growing popularity of streaming, the majority of artists still think in terms of writing and recording albums rather than just tracks. National Album Day is a great reminder of the creative thought and brilliance that goes into the making of an album, and it is a way that we can all participate by listening to and remembering our favorite albums. The album is the King of music formats. Long live the King!”
“Our favorite albums become the soundtracks to our lives – they have the ability to take us back in time and leave us with lasting memories," Neil Warnock of the United Talent Agency added. "The album itself is a true art form and something we should absolutely celebrate.”
Further details will be revealed in due course on the National Album Day website.