To say that 2020 has been a difficult year for the Australian Music and Arts industries doesn’t even begin to touch the sides of what industry workers have faced, and continue to face, during the pandemic. For many, it’s been a complete wipe out!
Support Act has been there from Day One assisting musicians, crew and industry workers and their families who have been doing it tough. Thanks to this year’s official Ausmusic T-Shirt Day, we can all show how much we love and care for the people who create the soundtracks to our lives and make us smile and dance, in spite of all the doom and gloom that may be around us.
Ausmusic T-Shirt Day, to be held on Friday 20 November 2020, is a massive nation-wide celebration of Australian music that reminds us how lucky we are to have such a strong local music scene, with many highly talented and successful artists across all genres of music.
It is also an opportunity to rep our favourite Ausmusic T-Shirts and to help raise desperately needed funds to meet the ever growing demand on Support Act’s services, with requests for Crisis Relief having increased by 883% since the pandemic began, and calls to the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline having increased by 52%.
“If there is one thing our donors and supporters have been telling us since the start of the pandemic, it’s how much they miss live music,” said Clive Miller, CEO Support Act. “They also get that artists, crew and music workers have been doing it tough. Ausmusic T-Shirt Day is a great way to celebrate Australian music and the people who create it, while raising funds to ensure that Support Act can continue to provide desperately needed services to our friends and colleagues in need.”
This year’s event boasts a brand new website, which will make setting up a team fundraising page or making an individual donation super easy. You can then post your photos to socials using the hashtag #ausmusictshirtday and tag @supportact, @triplej, @aria_official.
We are also partnering with TikTok to encourage users to create fun videos repping their favourites artists.
We even have some fun prizes including gear from Audio Technica.
The campaign will have a brand new logo, featuring The Binz, designed by First Nations artist, Bree “Little Butten” Buttenshaw. She describes her inspiration as follows: “When thinking about Ausmusic T-Shirt Day, I was thinking about what music means to me. So I asked a few friends what is important to them in this current climate. So I combined a lot of that into this bird boy. This ibis boy is a deadly guy. He enjoys surfing, music, cares about our sacred land, loves having a good time and is just a general all round good bloke.”
We are working with artists from across all musical genres to reach out to their fans to encourage their support of the campaign, and we’re honoured to announce our Launch Ambassadors who are helping us to kick off the campaign: Keith Urban, Missy Higgins, Briggs, The Teskey Brothers, Nathan Cavaleri, Alex the Astronaut, Ruel, Jaguar Jonze, Greta Bradman and Simon Tedeschi. Click here to view Keith and Missy’s launch videos and here for all the Launch Ambassadors’ social media videos.
“Raising funds for musicians, crew and music workers has never felt more important than in 2020,” said Keith Urban. “I want to do what I can to support local music…let’s kickstart Ausmusic T-shirt Day by all getting involved!!”
Our Launch Ambassadors will be joined by many wonderful Campaign Champions who will be reaching out to their fans over the course of the next 5 weeks. They include: Alex Lahey, Birdz, Bliss n Eso, Caityn Shadbolt, Clowns, Cry Club, Catherine Britt, Jessica Braithwaite, Julia Zemiro, Jane Gazzo, Kian, Kim Churchill, Lady Lash, Melinda Schneider, Mo’Ju, Motez, Ngaiire, Nooky, Ocean Alley, Powderfinger, Sons of The East, The Merindas, The Rubens, Timmy Trumpet, Vanessa Amorosi, with many more to come.
Many artists, record labels, publishers, collection agencies, brand partners, music fan clubs, media and service organisations, streaming services and other friends of Australian music will be setting up team fundraising pages, including: Alberts, APRA AMCOS, ARIA, Australia Council for the Arts, Banki Haddock Fiora, BMG Australia, Century Venues, Cheyena Lee, Chugg Entertainment, Comes With Fries, Community Broadcasting Foundation, Facebook, General Pants, Good Intent, Jands, Live Nation, Lunatic Entertainment, Moshtix, Mushroom Group, Nala Music, Nando’s Australia, Native Tongue, Netflix, Powderworkers, PPCA, Secret Sounds Group, Sony Music Australia, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Spotify, Ticketmaster, TikTok, Universal Music Australia, Warner Music Australia, Wise Music, with many more in the works.
So start planning your wardrobe! Support Act has developed a Premium T-Shirt range with exclusive, limited edition designs from Amy Shark, Ball Park Music, Briggs, Cold Chisel, Dope Lemon, Kate Miller-Heidke, Kylie Minogue, Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly, Ruel and The Teskey Brothers, with 100% of net proceeds donated to Support Act. For the first time, we will also have an official Ausmusic T-Shirt featuring The Binz. Click here to purchase yours now. But hurry as stocks are limited and they will be snapped by fans including those in the Spotify Fans First program.
You can also visit the merch section of your favourite artist website; or check out our Merch Partners page and buy shirts from 24Hundred, LovePoliceATM, Band T-Shirts, Sound Merch, Space Mirror and Warner Music Australia, all of whom are donating a percentage of sales to the campaign.
Finally, we are excited to announce that Isol-Aid in partnership with the Australia Council will be curating a special livestream program on Ausmusic T-Shirt Day. Artists and times will be announced in the coming weeks.
Show your support for Australian music this Ausmusic T-Shirt Day, held during ARIA Week, and celebrated across triple j and the ABC as part of Ausmusic Month. Proudly brought to you by Support Act, triple j and ARIA.
