In light these odd times due to the current COVID-19 pandemic Triple J, the Australian broadcaster ABC’s youth radio station, have decided to bring forward their AusMusic T-Shirt Day for a special edition on April 17. It is the first time that this initiative has been held outside of November and now is the right time when artists and the music industry are doing it tough.
Every year in November Triple J hosts AusMusic month. It is a whole month to celebrate Australian music along with a AusMusic T-shirt Day where you wear an Aussie acts T-Shirt with pride to show your support for the Australian music industry.
Due to the current global pandemic of COVID-19, self isolation and social distancing has seen the mass cancellation of all live performances, concerts and shows, across Australia, and global, including 'Eurovision Song Contest 2020'.
So on April 17 we encourage all you to show your support for our Australian Eurovision and Australia Decides acts or even your favourite Australian artists and wear your t-shirts. If you’re brave you can take a selfie and show the world on social media with the hashtag #ausmusictshirtday.
If you don’t yet have a t-shirt to wear and you are able buy some merch from the artists and show your support, now is the best time to get on to it ,to make sure your merch gets to you before April 17. If t-shirts are a bit out of your price range, of course you can buy the artists tote bag or stickers, support them however you can.
Now Support Act, a charity set up to support the Australian music industry, have done the hard work and made a list of all the Australian bands and acts with links to their retailers or merch stores. You can find it here.
We at Aussievision have gone through the list with links to the merch stores from all the available Australian Eurovision and Australia Decides Acts right here:
Kate Miller-Heidke
Montaigne
Jaguar Jonze
Didirri
Sheppard
Buying merch is one of the direct ways of supporting our artists, but there are other ways too.
If you don’t need new merch but still want to help out you could donate to Support Act via https://supportact.org.au/ it is Australia’s only charity that delivers crisis relief services to artists, crew and music workers. There is an option to donate to the COVID19 Emergency Appeal.
A lot of us fans are also doing it tough right now, so if you can’t make a financial contribution just show your support on April 17 on social media by wear an old t-shirt or showing us their merch and wear it with pride.