Taylor Swift has been announced as the first global ambassador for Record Store Day 2022.
The 'All Too Well' singer has taken on the role for Record Store Day, which takes place on April 23. This year marks the 15th annual celebration of record stores.
In a statement confirming her ambassador role, she said: “I’m very proud to be this year’s ambassador for Record Store Day. 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. 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."
Taylor has released exclusive Record Store Day records in the past and this year she will also release a “special” RSD 2022 vinyl as part of the celebrations.
While they occupy three spots on the Top Ten Best-Selling Albums of 2021 list (MRC Data), the albums of Taylor Swift, including 'Folklore', 'Evermore', 'Fearless (Taylor’s Version)' and 'Red (Taylor’s Version)' are constantly on record store sales charts, partially because it’s important to her that they all be released physically, on CD and vinyl, and available to independently-owned record stores.
RSD co-founder Carrie Colliton insists no one could be more suited to the role of ambassador than Taylor.
Colliton said: "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.
"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.”
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 Taylor helped support independent record stores by sending them signed copies of her surprise albums that year, ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’.
The musician also made a donation to Grimey’s New & Preloved Music, a record shop in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, to help keep them going.
Grimey's Anna Lundy and Doyle Davis 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.”
“As Swift has grown as an artist, we’ve watched her fans grow with her and have been delighted to see her taking control of her recordings and working with musicians like Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, artists whose music has resonated in shops like ours for years.
“We can’t think of a better choice for RSD Ambassador for 2022!”
Find out more about Record Store Day and the first Global RSD Ambassador at Recordstoreday.com.
The full list of Official Releases for RSD 2022, including a special RSD 2022 release from Ambassador Swift, is coming soon.
