Well it is not exactly Christmas coming early, but this year we will see an extra AusMusic T-Shirt Day thrown into the calendar,
Rising to popularity in 2015 the first AusMusic T-Shirt Day was held in order to raise money for SupportAct, a charity that is designed to help out artists and those who work in the music industry who are currently doing it tough. In recent years SupportAct have put most of the money raised towards their Wellbeing Helpline, a valuable lifeline for those who really need help from it.
The brainchild of Triple J and ARIA the special day is held in mid-November to coincide with ARIA week and the ARIA Awards. The premise behind the day is pretty simple – you group together with a team of people and all decide that on the actually day selected you and the rest of the team will all wear a T-Shirt of your favourite Australian artist.
This year though Triple J and ARIA have decided to hold a very special AusMusic T-Shirt Day on November 19th to raise extra money for SupportAct who have recently found themselves inundated for those seeking help after their gigs have been cancelled because of the Coronavirus pandemic that is currently sweeping across the globe. The special day will also see all ABC radio stations, including Triple J, only play Australian music throughout the day.
A statement from Triple J declared, “This year we are bringing you an extra Ausmusic T-shirt Day because now is the time to wrap our arms around the Australian music industry and let them know we’re here for them during a time when they can’t make a living from playing live.”
The day has not only become a day where every Australian music fan can do something to help out the industry that they love, it has also become a special day for music collectors as various companies have teamed up with artists to produce special limited edition T-Shirts that are only available in the weeks leading up to the big day. And it hasn’t just been smaller artists that have got involved – in previous years arts like Parkway Drive, INXS, Midnight Oil and Silverchair have all released limited edition T-Shirts.
Already some big names have got behind the AusMusic T-Shirt Day coming up on the 197th and if you want to see what various artists have on offer then you should head over to https://thesoundofsilence.com.au/support-the-artists/ for a full list of those who have gotten behind the day. That list will also be updated as further artists add their name to the list.
Of course there is also nothing stopping you from buying T-Shirts off your favourite artist’s websites and social media pages as well – it doesn’t really matter where you buy your T-Shirt from as long as you have one that you can wear on the day. And if you’re doing it a bit tough yourself at the moment then that is no problem either – simple get an old shirt out of your cupboard that you can wear on November 19th, register you and your team at https://www.ausmusictshirtday.org.au/ and then get other people to sponsor you to help your fundraise.
Now more than any other musos need the support of SupportAct so make sure you get behind them this AusMusic T-Shirt Day.
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