Taylor Swift loves things indie. On Thursday morning, a number of independently owned record companies in America took to social media to share that signature Folklore CDs “just appeared” – as Chicago’s Reckless Records put it – at the door.
Fans were instructed that the offer was limited to one per customer and that the situation was first-come-first-served. Attitudes and phone orders were not allowed. According to a representative of Newbury Comics, a UMG rep had earlier contacted the store about the plan earlier this week. “Fan reaction has been through the roof,” the Newbury rep said Rolling stone. And that’s not an overstatement, considering that many locations sold out almost immediately.
A representative of Bull Moose, which has locations in Maine and New Hampshire, tells Rolling stone that one of the sales representatives of Universal Music Group’s team has the opportunity to enter late on Tuesday night at a “promotional sale for signed CDs by a great artist”. ‘I said’ Sure, sounds like fun. Who is the artist? and he said Taylor Swift, ”the Bull Moose representative explained. ‘And I was pretty damn good. The idea, as I understand it anyway, was to work with Record Store Day to provide something super cool for indie stores to sell to send some foot traffic into stores to help those affected by the pandemic. “
A funny thing happened today on the way to Bull Moose. Several locations received a shipment of Folklore CDs all autographed by @ taylorswift13~! View Windham, Lewiston, Bangor, Salem, Scarborough, Mill Creek, and Keene.
Thank you T Swift for supporting local record stores! pic.twitter.com/onP2H6GvQO
– Bull Moose (The Reopened Store) (@BullMoose) August 20, 2020
The short message cited some “scrambling, overnight sending, and a lot of online communication,” according to a representative of Zia Records, which has locations in Arizona and Nevada. “Mar Folklore is one of those titles that appeals to the hardcore fanbase and indie heads of Swift via the Bon Iver and National Connections, ”he says. Rolling stone. “We knew it would be worth it.”
Not only did the plan bring together pop, country and indie fans, but it also drove young people into the world of brick and mortar. “[All involved members of the Alliance of Independent Media Stores] “our stores were full of young people when we opened, most of whom had never been here before, saw what a cool place this was, and over the month were happy to receive a signed CD,” says a representative. of Nashville-favorite Grimey’s – who’s a founder of AIMS. “This was an incredible promotion. And the right way to do it!” to play and provide their health care.)
“Eventually we got copies at nine of our 12 locations,” the Bull Moose representative added. ‘And it only took about two hours after I tweeted at 11:10 in the morning to fully sell through. Phones ring off the hook in every store. People took road trips to visit one. It was an enormous deal! Honestly, I expected it to be great, but this was more fun than I had expected! ”
“Obviously, the voltage level was pretty high,” a Reckless spokesman said Rolling stone. “We posted that we had the CDs on our Instagram and that they were gone in about an hour. Two of our locations received copies. Everyone loved it, and it was fun to see people honestly excited about everything. ”
When Rolling stone asked Reckless about winning lots – and whether or not the store should buy the CDs, or if they were gifted – the representative simply replied, “We sold them like normal CDs so we could make some money.”
thank you @ taylorswift13 for supporting local record stores and shipping our limited number of “Folklore” CDs! These are only available for local purchase! Limit one per customer! #recordstorefolklore #taylornation #taylorswift pic.twitter.com/PaNPWOHgiN
– Zia Records (@ZiaRecords) August 20, 2020
While happy excitement is a treasure in the monotony that is in quarantine, some were apprehensive about the risk of potentially spreading Covid-19. “That was definitely a concern of ours, but each one appeared fairly sporadic,” representative Reckless shares. There was never a single line or anything. Most of the people who were here together were a family of four. The Grimey representative also confirmed that there were never too many people in their 20-person store. There was a line, but shopkeepers said they did not have to police it, thanks to social distance and masks.
Some other recipients of the CDs included Portland, Oregon’s Music Millennium, Cincinnati, Ohio’s Shake It Records, Kansas City, Missouri’s Mills Records, Lexington, Kentucky’s CD Central, Brooklyn’s Rough Trade, Long Island’s Looney Tunes, Dayton, Ohio’s Omega Music, St. . Louis, Missouri Vintage Vinyl, and Arizona Zia Records.
About a month ago, Swift released the usual album release for her new album. May Folklore, there were no pre-drop singles nor music videos, radio promotions or physical commercials. She released the project, full of poetic prose and ethereal production, completely and surprisingly.
In the past, Swift has partnered with huge retail chains such as Target, allowing companies to deliver luxury versions that were changing art in an effort to encourage fans to collect everything. But this time, she announced last month, all physical products and brands were available exclusively on her own website – until now.
When Rolling stone asked if Swift intended to ship these items only to smaller stores instead of eventually delivering the likes of Target and Walmart, a Universal Music Group spokesman declined to comment.
