Taylor Swift chosen as first Record Store Day ambassador to mark 15th anniversary

American pop icon Taylor Swift has been chosen as the first global ambassador for Record Store Day, to be celebrated on April 23.

The Instagram page for Record Store Day announced Swift’s appointment as its first-ever global ambassador for the 15th anniversary of the annual celebration, writing, “RSD AMBASSADOR (Taylor’s Version),” mimicking the artist’s recent release of re-recorded albums, ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ and ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’.

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“Thanks to @taylorswift for putting on the sash and serving as the first ever GLOBAL RECORD STORE DAY AMBASSADOR, helping us celebrate the culture of the independent record store around the world,” the post further said.

In response, the 32-year-old pop icon put out a statement, saying, “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.”

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For those unaware, Record Store Day celebrations were started in 2007 “as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1400 independently owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally.”

While the occasion as been conventionally celebrated on a Saturday in April, celebration dates were thrown off schedule in 2020 and 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.