IRISH MUSIC RETAILER GOLDEN DISCS LAUNCHES IN THE US
- John O'Brien
- November 29, 2020
- Edited 6 months ago
Table of Contents
IRISH MUSIC RETAILER GOLDEN DISCS LAUNCHES IN THE US
Ireland’s oldest home-entertainment retail chain sets up online sales outlet in time for the holidays
Record retailer Golden Discs was established in 1962 by Jack Fitzgerald and Tom Rogers under the name the Trans-Atlantic Record Agency (TARA) in Dublin, Ireland. Today Golden Discs caters to a global customer base across more than forty countries. It is Ireland’s oldest music retail chain, with twenty-two outlets nationwide. The site’s focus is on Irish music, be it Traditional folk, ‘Celtic’ music and modern singer songwriters and bands.
The site also sells books, t-shirts and merchandise. Golden Discs is now looking to reach the Irish American music fans with the launch of www.goldendiscs.com.
In 1966, the name The Golden Disc was chosen as the name of the first store in the first shopping center in Ireland; Stillorgan Shopping Center. “The Golden Disc” was originally associated with an accolade presented to artists upon sale of 500,000 vinyl albums, which at the time was very rare and impressive, thus a seemingly fitting name for the new store, considering the achievements of the company in the previous years. Every store thereafter was given the name Golden Discs.
In the 1990s, the business was taken over by Stephen Fitzgerald, the son of Jack, who had spent many years in the States monitoring the evolution of the industry. The catalog of music the company carries reads like a complete history of Irish music.
U.S. Launch
Says Stephen about the US launch, “We’ve been getting inquiries from the US for years and have been promising to launch a separate site dedicated to traditional and contemporary Irish Music away from the full range we offer on our domestic site. With the renewed interest and resurgence in Vinyl, we thought the time was right to launch this year.
“Ireland punches way above its weight in music talent and has produced some incredible artists over the past century… from Trad giants such as Christy Moore, Planxty, and The Chieftains to more contemporary bands like Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison, and U2 to recent upstarts like Hozier, Imelda May and The Script.”
As well as all the Irish catalog products, the site will also carry new releases such as the forthcoming Christy Moore album; The Pogues – The BBC Session 84 – 86; U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind 20th Anniversary edition, released with Vinyl and boxsets; A Woman’s Heart – rereleased later this month on CD and on colored vinyl; Thin Lizzy – Rock Legends box set and vinyl, to name but a few.
The success story and legacy of Golden Discs is a testament not only to the vision of Jack, Tom, Stephen, and the entire staff pool over the years but also to the millions of Irish music lovers that walk through its doors and log on to its website every year in support of this fully Irish-owned, family-run company.
For more information on the history of Golden Discs and how to purchase your favorite Irish artists, or to simply sign up for the Golden Discs newsletter, go to www.goldendiscs.com.
