7-Eleven commits to 100% Australian in-store playlist for Ausmusic Month

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Convenience retailer 7-Eleven will exclusively play Australian music across its 700+ stores throughout the month of November.

Three months ago, the company announced it would be putting local artists on high rotation throughout its stores in response to increasing pressure from artists and certain industry bodies to more prominently support the local sector.

This latest move, however, sees the chain move to a 100% Australian playlist for Ausmusic Month.

The playlist will be curated by Qsic, 7-Eleven’s in-store commercial streaming partner. The Qsic curation team includes former Temper Trap guitarist Lorenzo Sillitto, and the company said it had always placed a strong focus on championing local artists.

The November line-up will feature the likes of Jack River – one of the driving forces behind the initial campaign for organisations to play more Aussie music – Baker Boy, Ocean Alley and Client Liaison.

River and Baker Boy have also recorded special announcements for 7-Eleven customers that will play in-store across the month.

7-Eleven said the two organisations had been working on the initiative for several months, ensuring the playlist covers a diverse range of Australian artists and continues to resonate with the stores’ customers.

7-Eleven Australia’s general manager, Julie Laycock, said the brand is proud to continue celebrating Australian artists in November.

“Australia has such a wonderful music culture, and getting out to enjoy gigs and venues, with perhaps a sneaky trip to 7-Eleven on the way home, is something that our team and customers have really missed in the past 18 months. Being able to give Aussie artists more airtime and help with some extra income [via royalties] is something we were happy to support,” she said.

“Our November playlist has some amazing artists, and the Qsic team has done an incredible job at curating the mix customers will hear in-store. We’ll also be featuring some of these songs on our socials in the coming weeks, so the love can continue from in-store to online. It’s going to be a great summer o Aussie music,” she added.

River noted the power of 7-Eleven’s move.

“I’m pleased to see Qsic and 7-Eleven take the industry’s call out and put it into direct action so definitively. Taking this simple step has a huge effect on local and emerging artist discoverability,” River said.

Qsic CEO and co-founder, Matt Elsley, said the company is excited to be helping Australians discover new artists and then potentially experience new live gigs via their in-store experiences.

“Music is an integral part of any in-store experience. It not only creates a welcome environment, but enables customers to feel safe and familiar,” he said. “As the Christmas rush builds in retail, now is the time for Australians to continue rallying behind each other as we recover from COVID as a community.

“We love helping brands tell their stories through music. Working with 7-Eleven to create an Aussie music experience that reflected their brand is something that deeply resonated with us.”

As Ausmusic Month kicked off earlier this week, pressure once again increased on brands and organisations to step up their support of the local sector.

The Hold Aussie Music campaign – spearheaded by Karen Eck – said it would target 30 brands for 30 days, encouraging them to use Australian music on their call-waiting systems.

On the first of the month, Woolworths revealed it had partnered with ARN to create its in-store and iHeartRadio audio experience, Woolworths Radio, which will place a special emphasis on Aussie artists and songs.

On the same day, online bank ME said its November playlist for consumers stuck on-hold would feature 100% Australian songs.

For Ausmusic Month, social media platform TikTok has also created a local music hub and will stream various performances from local artists.