This spring we’re supporting the Musicians’ Union with Levy Market Mixtapes which sees a host of local record labels, venues and other independent music organisations each putting together a playlist for the market. We’ll be releasing a new mixtape each week and asking you to donate to the Musicians’ Union Coronavirus Hardship Fund.
Market day is speeding your way! And, as if that wasn’t news enough, we are SO excited to launch Levy Market Mixtapes with our very first playlist.
Here is the first of our mixtapes for you to enjoy while it plays at Levenshulme Market while you do your shopping (full details here) AND you can also listen along at home via the modern marvel of Spotify.
For our first playlist we’ve asked none other than Dipped in Gold Recordings and lads, it’s a corker.
Dipped in Gold are based right here in Levenshulme and are a record label born of pure passion, releasing wild psychedelic music, all of which is created by artists similarly driven by an unstoppable yes-to-the-world DIY ethic. They are, simply put, very Levy.
Their playlist is comprised of some of the great artists on their roster – Grotbags, Heavy Salad, Mush, Loose Articles and Another New Thing – alongside a great big meaty banquet of the kinds of alt-anthem and anti-banger that have inspired all of them over the years.
Listen on Spotify here.
And remember: all of this music was written and recorded by artists who, for a full year, have not been able to perform live, the main source of income for most artists and the lifeblood of the UK music industry. So if you like a song you hear – why not buy the artist’s record? You could even order it direct from the Dipped in Gold shop? Did you also know that Spotify, while it has a reputation for not being the most lucrative platform for its artists, now allows them to feature a ‘Fundraising Pick’ link on the top of their Spotify profiles, allowing you to pay them direct for their music?
More urgently, you can also donate to the Musicians’ Union Coronavirus Hardship Fund which we’re asking all our customers to support if they can this spring.
The Musicians’ Union provides small grants of £200 to musicians in urgent financial hardship. They have distributed over £1.3M to members via their hardship grants since April 2020, but there are many more who are still in dire financial circumstances.
So when you visit the market at the weekend, please enjoy listening to the sounds of your city, take them home with you and make a donation if you can – anything at all can make a difference. We’re all looking forward to live music returning later this year – let’s do what we can to ensure that there are people there to play for us.