Tim Burgess announces The Listening Party book, will donate royalties to Music Venue Trust

It's been 365 days since Burgess decided to bring people together over Twitter through music. He started hosting Twitter Listening Parties just after the first national lockdown was enforced in March 2020, beginning with The Charlatans' Some Friendly album on 23 March.

One year on and 735 Twitter Listening Parties later, Burgess has announced his Listening Party book, which will celebrate 100 of the most memorable Listening Parties over the past year, complete with stories from bands and fans, as well as rare photos and insider information from people who worked on those albums.

Burgess will also be donating royalties from the book to Music Venue Trust. He wrote on Twitter, "They’ve been doing such a brilliant job this past year and for a long time before. A pleasure to do my bit to help."

Royalties from the @LlSTENlNG_PARTY book will be going to The @musicvenuetrust - they’ve been doing such a brilliant job this past year and for a long time before. A pleasure to do my bit to help x x @dkbooks pic.twitter.com/uQTnhfCzfu

— Tim Burgess (@Tim_Burgess) March 23, 2021

As NME reports, DK Publishing Director Mark Searle said, "In March 2020, stuck in lockdown and missing gigs, a friend sent a group text telling me to join one of Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties. We listened along to Fontaines DC’s Dogrel and reminisced about seeing them live. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have done the same across more than 700 parties."

He added, "The way Tim has brought people together while we’ve been apart is a phenomenon. To be publishing The Listening Party is a real honour. It will be a book for any music lover to treasure."

The Listening Party book announcement follows last week's launch of Burgess' custom Listening Party earphones made by Flare Audio. Burgess also decided to donate £5 from every pair sold on Flare Audio's site to Music Venue Trust, who are fundraising to save grassroots music venues in the UK from closure amid the coronavirus pandemic.