History of Scottish Music Centre/Exhibition – How to help

There are several ways to help get this off the ground.

If you are a business then consider sponsorship. Those reading this probably know the goodwill that will be gained by helping make this happen so I’ll say no more. Always happy to chat over ideas with folk.

Dig out any old memorabilia you may have and get in touch. Posters, badges, tickets, t-shirts, photos and anything that you think might be of interest. Items can be donated, loaned or if something is felt to be of some significance then there will be a facility to buy things for the exhibition.

We will have an ongoing collection of Scottish music releases old and new for sale so we will be looking for stock. All money made from this will go back into building up the collection so donations would be gratefully received but we would be happy to buy stock too. I will personally add most of my own collection to get things started.

Does it have to be vinyl and Scottish ? Not at all. Obviously anything can be sold and the money still put towards building up the Scottish collection. CDs have slowed down dramatically saleswise but every little helps. 

We are looking for a space during the Festival where we can start to give a hint of what is planned and people can bring in things they think might be of interest. Obviously space is at a premium at this time of the year and it would need to be somewhere central with decent footfall. I will also speak to Edinburgh Council to see what they can offer as they have declared a willingness to help.

We’ll be covering old labels, venues, shops etc as well as the music so if anybody who was involved with any of these has stuff that would be great. Similarly if any bands with old artwork etc can let me know what they have then we can start to build up a data base of what can be drawn on if needed. There are already some excellent online resources of course that will be of great help  

I’ve already been offered a few interesting items from artists Avalanche has supported that we could auction so look out for some very exciting things in the future. I’m sure we will receive more. 

Avalanche is a “go-to” site for Scottish music already so I’m happy to use that to promote things just now but eventually it would be good to give the centre its own identity and online presence though I will always be happy for Avalanche to be involved. There is a very big difference between this and Avalanche the shop in that this will be solely based on promoting Scottish music without the scramble to attract sales of new releases which was becoming something of a losing battle anyway. Once the ball is rolling I will of course start to actively seek out things that I think may be of interest. 

There is of course worldwide interest in Scottish music and it has not been lost on me that the best way to reach that audience and involve them may well be to crowdfund. Once I’ve gauged the initial response it will certainly be a consideration.

As always any questions, suggestions or offers to get imvolved should be sent to [email protected]