Your next crate dig could land you 48 hours of free music, art and a hotel room. Happy Record Store Day, indeed.
Record Store Day Australia returns on 18 April, and this year’s haul could include much more than vinyl.
RISING and ACMI have partnered with Record Store Day Australia to mark the arrival of The Vinyl Factory: Reverb, a multisensory exhibition exploring vinyl culture that opens at ACMI on 22 May and runs until 31 August.
Customers who make a purchase at any participating record store on 18 April will receive a Reverb tote bag. Inside each tote is an exhibition discount code and a link to enter the Reverb x Record Store Day competition.
Record Store Day x The Vinyl Factory: Reverb
Victorian participating stores
- Desert Highways, 715 Plenty Road, Reservoir
- Footscray Records, 1/40 Leeds Street, Footscray
- Funky Duck Vinyl, 211 High Street, Preston
- Greville Records, 152 Greville Street, Prahran
- J Wray Records, 28 Baines Crescent, Torquay
- Licorice Pie, Collingwood Yards, 3/30 Perry Street, Collingwood
- Oh Jean Records, 276 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy
- Record Paradise, 159 Sydney Road, Brunswick
- Rocksteady Records, Level 1, Mitchell House, 358 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
- Sight N Sound, Shop 20, Northcote Plaza Shopping Centre, Northcote
- Soundmerch, 64 Oxford Street, Collingwood
- Wax Museum Records, 250 Flinders Street (basement), Melbourne
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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Some very cool prizes
The major prize is a 48-hour music-lovers weekend package in Melbourne. The winning recipient receives one night at Sofitel Melbourne on Collins alongside double passes to four events: The Vinyl Factory: Reverb, RISING’s Day Tripper program, a Daniel Avery live AV show and an intimate Listening Room session with poet, rapper and actor Saul Williams.
Ten runners-up will each receive a double pass to the exhibition. Entries are open to anyone who picks up a tote bag from a participating store on 18 April.
A landmark exhibition
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The Vinyl Factory: Reverb was originally commissioned and produced by 180 Studios and The Vinyl Factory in London, where it attracted more than 50,000 visitors across a twice-extended season. The Melbourne presentation at ACMI features 14 artworks spanning immersive sound installations, large-scale moving image works and interactive vinyl experiences.
Visitors can get hands-on with Technics turntables loaded with endlessly remixable vinyl loops, or explore The Vinyl Factory’s archive of 100 pressings from across the musical spectrum.
The exhibition traces how sound reverberates through culture, from the early days of techno and house to Kingston’s dancehall scene and the late-1980s Second Summer of Love. It includes a reconstruction of Columbia’s legendary 30th Street Studio alongside work from artists including Stan Douglas, Jenn Nkiru, William Kentridge, Jeremy Deller and Virgil Abloh.
A standout feature is The Listening Room, an acoustically optimised space designed for deep listening that hosts intimate after-hours sessions with local and international artists during RISING, which returns to Melbourne from 27 May to 8 June.
A prize with purpose
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Melbourne has more record stores per capita than any other city in the world, making it a natural destination for an exhibition built around vinyl culture. The Record Store Day competition runs across five states and territories, with 12 participating stores in Victoria alone. Tote bags are available on a first-in, first-served basis while stocks last. Terms and conditions apply.
Record Store Day has been running since 2008 and has grown into the world’s largest celebration of independent music retail. This year features more than 400 exclusive releases available over the counter only at participating independent record shops.
For more information, head here.
