Amazon Joins Forces with Lewis Capaldi for ‘Prime Day Live’, a Free, Livestreamed Event Presented by Amazon Music to Support and Raise Funds for Grassroots Music Venues Across the UK
Prime Day Live will see Lewis Capaldi swap his arena tours for a very special ‘behind closed doors’ performance from a venue in Scotland which was instrumental to his career - and which is now among many venues at risk of closure owing to the COVID-19 pandemic
Supporting acts Celeste and Cate le Bon will join live from iconic, grassroots music venues in England and Wales
Amazon Music kicked off donations to Music Venue Trust’s COVID Fund in March 2020 and Amazon is making a second donation to the charity, as well as to the venues participating in Prime Day Live
All additional public donations generated from Prime Day Live will go to the Music Venue Trust #SaveOurVenues appeal
Learn more at www.amazon.co.uk/primedaylive
LONDON – 00:01, 05 OCTOBER 2020 - Amazon.co.uk has joined forces with chart-topping artist Lewis Capaldi,BBC Sound of 2020 winner and Amazon Music Ones To Watch2020 artist Celeste, and Welsh artist and producer Cate Le Bon for ‘Prime Day Live’, a special livestreamed event to raise awareness and funding for the nation’s much-loved grassroots music venues, which are now under threat of closure owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more at www.amazon.co.uk/primedaylive
Prime Day Live, presented by Amazon Music and in support of Music Venue Trust, will stream from 7-9pm BST on Friday 9th October, 2020 at www.twitch.tv/amazonmusicuk and via the Amazon Music iOS and Android app. Each artist will perform a 30 min set live on stage from a small independent music venue across the UK that is under threat of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lewis Capaldi was the UK's best-selling artist of 2019 and of 2020 to-date, and the Scottish star had both the top album and single of the year, with his song ‘Someone You Loved’ racking up 2 billion streams - putting him in unprecedented territory. For this special gig, the two-time BRIT award winner, who is more used to commanding sold-out arenas and festival stages, will swap thousands of screaming fans for an empty, small capacity venue where he played one of the first gigs of his career in 2017, serving as a poignant reminder of the challenges facing the live music industry today. Talking about the event, Lewis said he’s “Buzzing to be playing a v v special acoustic show for Amazon Music at one of the venues back home where it all started for me”.
Mark Davyd, Founder and CEO, Music Venue Trust, said: “Many of the UK’s iconic grassroots music venues remain at significant risk of permanent closure, which is not just catastrophic for everyone associated with each and every venue, but for UK music culture in general. Amazon Music was one of the first donors for our COVID-19 Crisis fund earlier this year, and we’re excited they are continuing their support through this Prime Day Live event to help us raise awareness of the plight of venues and help drive much-needed donations to keep them open. Every penny helps, so we are also hugely grateful for Amazon’s donations and any further support from the public.”
Patrick Clifton, Head of Music, Amazon Music UK, said “Prime Day Live will help raise awareness of the plight of important grassroots music venues that are so integral to music culture in the UK, as well as raise funds to help support them. It will bring music fans closer to some of their favourite artists through an evening of great music that can be enjoyed for free at home. Seeing these artists reconnect with some of the live music venues that are a part of their musical journeys will be a special moment.”
Raising Funds for Struggling Music Venues
As part of Prime Day Live, Amazon is making donations to each of the four participating music venues to support their ongoing operating costs, as well as making its second donation of 2020 to the Music Venue Trust’s #SaveOurVenues appeal www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-our-venues. During the livestreamed event on Twitch viewers will be able to donate directly to Music Venue Trust, and Amazon has also made Music Venue Trust one of its spotlight Smile charities for the month of October, meaning a portion of eligible purchases will support the charity when customers shop via www.smile.amazon.co.uk and select Music Venue Trust.
Prime Day Live ‘Watch Party’ Prize Draw
Amazon is offering two lucky winners the chance to win a Prime Day Live at home ‘Watch Party Kit’, for more details and to enter visit www.facebook.com/AmazonUK/ or www.instagram/AmazonUK. Terms apply.
Amazon Music Unlimited Prime Day Offer
For just £0.99, Prime members who haven’t yet tried Amazon Music Unlimited can get four months of the premium streaming tier with unlimited access to more than 60 million songs ad-free, and now a wide selection of popular podcasts. Find more information at www.amazon.co.uk/primedaylive.
Support Small Businesses on Prime Day
Prime Day Live is taking place in the run up to Prime Day which is taking place on 13th – 14th October and which is focussed on supporting small businesses. For Prime Day 2020, Amazon is making a £75million investment to support small businesses globally. In the UK, Prime members who spend £10 with select small businesses selling in Amazon’s store between September 28 and October 12 will earn £10 to spend on Prime Day, visit www.amazon.co.uk/supportsmall for more details.
-ENDS-
For further information please contact:
The Academy PR, amazonretailteam@theacademypr.com, 07958 245 277
Amazon UK, uk-consumer-pr@amazon.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
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About Prime Day
Amazon’s annual Prime Day event is back in time for the festive season, taking place on 13th and 14th October. The two-day shopping event delivers Prime members incredible savings and deep discounts on over one million deals globally across every category. Prime Day kicks off at 00.01am on Tuesday, 13th October and runs through to 23.59pm on Wednesday 14th October, for Prime members in the U.K, U.S., U.A.E, Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria, Australia, and – participating for the first time this year – Turkey and Brazil. Members can shop deals and top products including toys, TVs, electronics, fashion, beauty, kitchen, home, and Amazon Devices, starting today and throughout the two-day epic deals event at amazon.co.uk/primeday. Not a Prime member yet? Anyone can join Prime or start a 30-day free trial at amazon.co.uk/primeday to participate in Prime Day.
About Amazon Music
Amazon Music reimagines music listening by enabling customers to unlock millions of songs and thousands of curated playlists and stations with their voice. Amazon Music provides unlimited access to new releases and classic hits across iOS and Android mobile devices, PC, Mac, Echo, and Alexa-enabled devices including Fire TV and more. With Amazon Music, Prime members have access to ad-free listening of 2 million songs at no additional cost to their membership. Listeners can also enjoy the premium subscription service, Amazon Music Unlimited, which provides access to more than 60 million songs and the latest new releases. Amazon Music HD, a tier of premium quality streaming audio, offers more than 60 million songs in High Definition (HD), millions of songs in Ultra HD, and a growing catalogue of 3D audio. Customers also have free access to an ad-supported selection of top playlists and stations on Amazon Music. All Amazon Music tiers now offer a wide selection of podcasts at no additional cost. Engaging with music and culture has never been more natural, simple, and fun. For more information, visit amazonmusic.co.uk or download the Amazon Music App.
About Music Venue Trust
Music Venue Trust is a UK registered charity which acts to protect, secure and improve Grassroots Music Venues. These venues play a crucial role in nurturing talent, providing a platform for artists to build their careers, develop their music and performance skills. They are essential not only for artist development, but also for the cultural and music industries, the economy and local communities.
About Lewis Capaldi
2019 opened in the midst of Capaldi finding himself plauded from seemingly every critic spanning each and every corner of the globe. With a record breaking six back-to-back, completely sold out headline tours all over the world in less than two years, his ascent is quite simply unprecedented. His rapidly developing fanbase ravenous, outstripping the supply for tickets for every show. From humble beginnings, filling pubs merely 18 months ago, to headlining Arena tours, sold out in seconds, astonishingly all of which happened before the release of his debut album, ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent’.
There’s no better introduction to his debut offering than the worldwide number one smash hit single ‘Someone You Loved’, which spent seven weeks as the UK’s number one single shattering chart history at every turn. The album instantly became the fastest selling debut release from any artist for over six years, rocketing to number one, where it’s now spent no less than 10 weeks at the top of the UK albums chart and is on course to be the longest running top 10 album in UK chart history
The story soon became familiar all over Europe, Australia, Asia and finally, America, where it topped the Billboard Hot 100 propelling Capaldi into elite territory joining the likes of Adele and Ed Sheeran in a handful of artists from the UK to reach the summit of the American chart, shattering the one billion stream count in the process.
The heartachingly devastating ‘Before You Go’ followed, telling much a similar story as ‘Someone You Loved’ before, the single becoming Capaldi’s second consecutive song to reach the number one spot at American radio. Capaldi is simply walking territory which no artist in history has ever walked before.
About Celeste
Brit Award, BBC Sound of 2020 winner Celeste has been named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2020 and Amazon Music UK’s Ones To Watch 2020. Since 2017, she has released two extended plays and has supported Michael Kiwanuka on tour. She was predicted to be a 2020 breakthrough artist by publications such as The Guardian, Vogue, NME, GQ, MTV, Vevo and Amazon Music, and has performed at many of Europe’s biggest festivals including Glastonbury, Primavera Sound, Field Day and Rock en Seine.
About Cate Le Bon
Cate Le Bon's music has always resisted pigeonholing. It walks the tightrope between krautrock aloofness and heart-breaking tenderness—deadpan served with a twinkle in the eye. In 2019 Le Bon released her fifth studio album, Reward. Critically acclaimed and nominated for a Mercury Prize, Reward reflected the layered nature of Le Bon's art and its ability to take on multiple meanings and hold motivations which are not immediately obvious.
