Taylor Swift surprised independent record stores around the country this week by providing them free signed copies of her album “Folklore” to sell.
On Thursday, Twitter lit up as record stores shared their new merchandise courtesy of the singer-songwriter.
Bull Moose, a record store with locations in Maine and New Hampshire, told Rolling Stone a sales representative from Universal Music Group reached out earlier this week with an opportunity to get in on a “promotional sale for signed CDs by a major artist.”
“I said ‘Sure, sounds like fun. Who’s the artist?’ and he said Taylor Swift,” the Bull Moose representative told the publication. “And I was pretty floored. The idea, as I understand it anyway, was to partner up with Record Store Day to give something super cool for indie stores to sell to drive some foot traffic into stores to help those affected by the pandemic.”
The store tweeted Thursday that it did not have to pay for the CDs.
While Record Store Day isn’t until next week (Aug. 29), Swift’s gesture clearly upheld the sentiment of an event meant 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,” according to a website dedicated to the day.
The Bull Moose representative told Rolling Stone it only took “about two hours” after tweeting for the CDs to completely sell out.
“Phones rang off the hook in every store. Folks took road trips to try to get one. It was a huge deal! Honestly, I expected it to be big, but this was huger than I expected!” the rep said.
Angie Roloff, the owner of Strictly Discs in Madison, Wisconsin, told Billboard they “weren’t permitted to talk about it until the CDs were in hand, and then we could post socially about it so folks could come and find us.”
“And the other requirement was it has to be just local customers, not just shipping them to people outside of our immediate area. So today has been the day of Taylor Swift frenzy, which was actually quite fun,” she shared.
There was an overwhelming response to the “Cardigan” singer’s generosity on social media, with fans excitedly showing off their signed CDs and praising their rollout.
Swift also made headlines this week for helping an 18-year-old university student in London, Vitoria Mario, meet her tuition goals on GoFundMe.
“Vitoria, I came across your story online and am so inspired by your drive and dedication to turning your dreams into reality,” Swift wrote on Mario’s GoFundMe. “I want to gift you the rest of your goal amount. Good luck with everything you do! Love, Taylor.”
Mario, who describes herself as “a young Black 18 year old with a dream,” received more than $30,000 from Swift and surpassed her goal.