Industrial Strength: April 28
Australia, NZ, get Sony Music’s new royalty tracking portal
Australia and New Zealand are among the six countries that gets Sony Music Entertainment’s new royalty-tracking portal. Built on its existing six-year-old eLink portal, it provides a greater look at each artist’s sales and the huge increase in streaming activity and royalties, which see some artists’ statements reach 1 million lines. The other countries getting the enhanced portal include the US, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Sony Music Entertainment EVP & Controller of Global Finance Carmine Coppola explained, “We had two primary goals: make the statement easier to review and understand at a glance, and provide the artist and their management with a more powerful and flexible tool so they can analyse their royalties in whatever way they want.”
Police presence rises for Groovin’ The Moo
The regional Groovin’ The Moo continued its rise as a great festival experience, with social media flooded with acclaim for its first three shows so far. Alison Wonderland, Emma Louise, Jarryd James, Boy and Bear, Drapht, British India and The Rubens were among those singled out for spectacular sets.
Police ramped up their presence at regional touring festival Groovin’ The Moo – but that didn’t stop the punters from raging out. Fashion sense extended to cow onesies, denim overalls, cows, bananas, dinosaurs and one man as a taco.
The kick-off in Maitland, NSW at the Showground before 20,000 was marred with the suspected drug overdoses of two teenagers and punters escaping serious injury when their car hurtled off an overpass and landing on railway tracks below.
The next stop was sold-out Canberra. Although organisers addressed the drug issues in Maitland with a message to “party safe”, police confiscated five stashes, 30 detected carrying MDMA in, and made two arrests – for drunken behaviour and assaulting a security guard after being asked to leave the festival. Oakbank in South Australia proved a near-sell out with gorgeous weather.
Silicon wins Taite Music Prize
This year’s Taite Music Prize, for New Zealand’s most creative album in the past 12 months, went to Silicon’s Personal Computer. The album was described by one reviewer as a “shiny, retro-futurist, disco-funk acid trip.”
It was the second Taite win for Silicon, real name Kody Nielson, who has also recorded as Opossum and was in The Mint Chicks with his brother Ruban. In 2012, the brothers took the prize for Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s self-titled album. This year, Silicon won NZ$10,000, free studio time at Red Bull Studios, a year’s supply of Red Bull and two magnums of Moa beer. The ceremony at Galatos nightclub in central Auckland before 300 invited guests was live-streamed by 95bFM.
The award, given in the honour of the late music journalist Dylan Taite, is organised by Independent Music New Zealand, with the prize money from Recorded Music NZ. Previous winners include Lawrence of Arabia, Ladi6, SJD, Lorde and, last year, Jakob.
As previously announced in this column, the Independent Music NZ Classic Record award, designed to recognise albums that continue to inspire went to Upper Hutt Posse’s 1998 album E Tū.
Sydney to host Red Bull Academy
After being staged in Tokyo, Vienna, Warsaw and Stockholm, the Red Bull Music Academy Weekender will be held in Sydney this year in its 18th year between September 8 and 11. The event will cover signature music events, live performances, public artist lectures, club nights and art exhibitions. The first line-up announcement is on April 26, with tickets on sale two days after.
The Sydney EDM community is awash with speculation as to which international big names will be on hand. The recent announcement of Red Bull Music Academy Festival in New York includes the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Spike Lee and Anohni headlining.
According to organisers, “The 2016 Red Bull Music Academy Weekender Sydney will tell the city’s inimitable stories through multi-medium editorial and innovative radio programming via www.rbmaradio.com. For the Weekender’s Australian debut, internationally recognised artists and Academy alumni will populate the city, taking part in high-scale events, lectures, parties and exhibitions in Sydney’s most iconic venues across four days – celebrating the many elements and unique counterparts to the city’s musical and cultural identity.”
Voting begins for Jazz Bell Awards
Voting has opened for the 13th Australian Jazz Bell Awards. It closes midnight on May 2. The annual celebration of the creative achievements of the country’s jazz community is on June 20 at Melbourne’s newly opened Bird’s Basement club.
A new initiative is that the public can vote, but they must be a member of the (not-for-profit) Australian Jazz Academy.
The Bells, named after the late performer and composer Graeme Bell, MBE AO, has a prize pool of $40,000. Each category winner gets $5000 prize money. The categories cover Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album, Best Instrumental Jazz Album, Best Produced Album, Best Australian Jazz Song/Composition of the Year, Best Australian Small Jazz Band (Up to 6 members), Best Australian Jazz Ensemble, Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year (for musicians up to and including 25 years of age) and the Graeme Bell Hall of Fame. See www.australianjazzacademy.org.au for more details on membership and voting guidelines.
Port Fairy Folk generates $9.6 million for economy
A survey by data collection agency ITESA found that last month’s Port Fairy Folk Festival in Victoria generated $9.6 million for the local economy. The festival, celebrating its 40th anniversary, grossed $3.2 million from ticket sales and bar takings. A further $1.2 million was on food and drinks, and $517,000 in on-site merchandising. 38% came from Melbourne, 26% from the rest of Victoria, 2,8% from South Africa and 8% from Port Fairy itself. This year, at its peak, there were 15,000 patrons, volunteers and artists on site. While artists reported that there was a surge of young people attending, majority (63%) of attendees are aged 35 to 65.
60% of attendees stayed at caravan parks, almost 20% in boutique accommodation and 6.2% in motels. 55% stayed for three days or more, 28% for four nights, and 6.2% five nights. For food and accommodation, 40% spent $200 and $500 while 17.3% spent over $900. Nearly 93% of those surveyed forked out between $50 and $300 on retail shopping at local businesses. Most said they’d return next year. Artistic applications have already opened for 2017.
More festival updates: sell-outs, funding, more returns
* Launceston Council recommended that promoter Vibestown Production receive $40,000 in events sponsorship for its New Year’s Eve event – double that of last year’s. The company will use the funds to attract a greater portion of the 25 to 35 age group. Vibestown also runs Party In The Paddock which draws 5500 punters.
* Chop Top Promotions is holding Kustom Kulture – music, custom cars, art, night markets – at Maitland Showground in the Hunter Valley from May 6 to 8.
* Those attending Darwin’s Garrmalang (May 20) could hear the latest music from headliner Dan Sultan. He’d have finished recording his next album in Melbourne with producer Jan Skubiszewski.
* Last weekend’s music, comedy and food Gum Ball in NSW was a sell-out for the first time in its 10-year history, with all 2500 tickets going.
Its organisers also announced two more festivals for 2016. The one-day bush bash Pigsty In July (dress code: second hand formal) is headlined by Shihad. The July 2 event in Dashville has sold out the last two years. More info at http://dashville.com.au/pigsty-in-july-2016/.
The Americana-themed Dashville Skyline is back on the September 30 and October 1 long weekend with tix on sale from May 2 at dashville.com.au.
* Music, arts and environmental Strawberry Fields by the banks of the Murray is back November 17 to 20 for the seventh time. This time it’ll have double the activities, with an extra day announced. Over 100 musicians will play. The festival’s aim is to provide a platform for emerging acts; create a unique environment including a a bamboo beach, a suspended gallery, giant wooden hands breaking out of the ground or creatively designed stages; and celebrate the beauty of the bush.
* WOMADelaide and WOMAD UK get a sister station, with WOMAD Canada applying to have a three-day festival in the district of Squamish in September 2017. It will retain the WOMAD format of world music, arts and dance, with a strong presence of First Nation people. It is aiming at 60,000 attendees and gross $4 million.
* The five finalists for a new name for Adelaide’s Come Out Children from 300 entries are: dreamBIG Children’s Festival, Jolt! Children’s Festival, SA Children’s Festival CREATE! Children’s Festival and Inspire Festival for Children. The winner is announced on Sunday May 8. The student or teacher who came up with the new name will get $1000 of tickets to Festival events or $1000 of arts related products (eg books or art products or workshop/s) or songwriting workshop/s with a professional singer-songwriter in developing a new song for the 2017 festival, May 18 to 27.
* Perth International Jazz returns for a fourth year over the WA Day long weekend June 3-5. Over 50 performances are set for various venues around Perth in a mix of free and ticketed events. Two headliners are Melbourne’s Hiatus Kaiyote and America’s Yellowjackets on consecutive nights at Brookfield Place. For the first time, Cathedral Square will host free shows, along with Perth Cultural Centre and Northbridge Piazza.
* Artist applications are open for Adelaide’s Semaphore Music Festival, staged September 20 to October 3. Deadline is April 30. Successful artists will be notified by email by June 30, with the program launch on August 5. See semaphoremusicfestival.com for details.
Incidentally, if you are a South Australian based songwriter interested in composing a ‘Semaphore Song’ inspired by the Semaphore/Port Adelaide area, contact Deb at 0401 076 560 Monday to Friday 12noon to 5pm.
Mix 106.3 at the top in Canberra…
Mix 106.3 toppled ABC 666 from top place in Canberra’s first GfK survey for 2016. It had a 17.9% share from 13.6%, with FM 104.7 at 14.6% (from 15.9%) and 666 down to 14.2% from 17.9%. It seems 104.7 is most popular with the 10—39 demographic, drawing 44.7% of the 10—17 group, 29.1% of those 18-24 and 22.3% of the 25-39 group.
At fifth spot with 7.8% was 2JJJ, down from 8.3%. The j’s listeners showed major changes, up in the 10—17 age group to 12% from 9.6%, the 25—39 group (14.6% from 13.2%) and the 40—54 years (6/1% from 4.2%). It lost ground with the 18—24 year olds (to 13.7% from 22.8%), the 55 to 64 group (2.3% from 6.1%) and the 65+ demo (0.1% from 0.2%).
Others on the list were ABC FM at 9.9%, 2RN at 8.9%, 2CC at 7.2%, 2CA at 5.5% and News Radio at 3.4%.
…while Mt. Gambier gets surveyed after 10 years
Mt. Gambier’s 5SE and 96.1 Star FM in South Australia are included in the first radio ratings in ten years. They are included in a regional survey by Xtra Research (released today on the Radio It’s A Love Thing site) and includes Bendigo, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Bunbury and Townsville.
Ticketbooth help police break alleged false ticket ring
Sydney-based online Ticketbooth has helped NSW Police break up an alleged ticket counterfeiting ring. The company, set up in in 2010 by Simon Guerrero and Matthew James, identified a series of phony tickets sold via sites as Gumtree, and then helped the force identify those distributing the stolen tickets. The company also worked with victims to establish the validity of tickets being purchased via third parties. Three Sydney teenagers were arrested for selling counterfeit tickets to last Saturday’s HSU (Harder Styles United) event Midnight Mafia at the Sydney Showgrounds. HSU alerted police after complaints from patrons.
Ticketbooth says that aside from security measures as ticket buyers taking photos of their tickets and emailing them to www.ticketbooth.com.au for its support team to authenticate, it is also working to develop new types of ticketing technology for high target events as HSU Events to make it harder for criminal organisations to target them. Ticketbooth works with promoters and venues in Australia, NZ and the Middle East.
Reformed Taste heading back on road…
Reunited Melbourne ‘70s band Taste are heading out on tour for the first time in decades. In its heyday, the band was signed to Sire Records in the US and counted Queen among their fans. Their new album Life On Earth is out on May 27. They follow it up with dates at Brisbane’s Crowbar (July 1), Adelaide’s Fowlers Live (9), Sydney’s Frankie’s Pizzeria on (14) and Melbourne’s Corner Hotel (16).
The lineup sees Ken Murdoch (guitar), Joey Amenta (guitar), and Michael Tortoni (bass) joining up with Damian Corniola (drums) who replaces Virgil Donati who lives in America. Murdoch opines that Taste, who started as a glam-rock band of teenagers, now “sound like people who’ve been playing every day for 40 years, there’s some complex stuff on the album..” For the video of lead off single I Am God (the world as a video game and a not-so-benevolent God putting up obstacles for his own entertainment), director Clayton Jacobson (Kenny, Animal Kingdom) asked what they wanted. Murdoch quipped, “Just the band and lots of robots.” Jacobson delivered a myriad of robots.
…and Supernaut also
A reformed lineup of ‘70s glam rockers Supernaut are doing shows in June. The band, best known for I Like It Both Ways and Too Hot To Touch, last played in Australia at the 2007 Countdown Spectacular. The band’s climb began in 1975 when Molly Meldrum asked Paul McCartney, touring here at the time, if he’d seen any good bands. McCartney recommended Supernaut, and Meldrum produced their hits.
These days singer Gary Twinn lives in LA and fronts The International Swingers with Clem Burke from Blondie and Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols. Phil Foxman released two solo albums and scored the Broadway musical Atomic. Chris Burnham writes and directs movies and Joe Burnham issued two solo albums.
End of an era for four venues
Surfers Paradise nightclub Melbas On The Park has gone through an ownership change. It is now owned by developer Bob Ell whose offices are already in the Cavill Ave building. The club was run for 26 years by the late Paul Allen until receivers stepped in, in 2009. The building’s freehold was bought by Sydney publican George Flemming for $7.5 million. It is not known how much Ell paid for the property.
Darwin’s Daly Waters Pub, which hosts live music each night during the winter months, is for sale. Owners Lindsay Carmichael and Robyne Webster say that after 16 years, they want a break to go travelling abroad.
After 16 years, the Roberts family had last drinks for their patrons at the Royal Hotel in Warrnambool in regional Victoria. Part of the building is being turned into a medical centre by the new owners.
GPT Group has put the building of Wollongong’s jazz supporting Humber Bar for sale on May 7. However the Crown Street club will continue, with operators allowed to lease it until January 2022 with a five year option. The venue has just gone through a $1.5 million renovation.
Gold Coast nightclubs plan 5am openings
A number of Gold Coast nightclubs have announced that they will use a little-known clause in Queensland’s upcoming lock-out laws, which start in stages from July 1.In February, the 1.30 am lockout expires at 3 am, which means they can stay open until 5 am as long as they don’t serve alcohol.
Talking to the Gold Coast Bulletin, strip club operator Craig Duffy said he would stop his promotions staff at 1.30 am and then re-employ them at 3 am. Tim Martin, GM of Sin City and The Bedroom, and acting President of the Surfers Paradise Licensed Venues Association, said his clubs would also open until 5 am. The question now is: will people linger around the nightclub precincts for two hours, and what’s going to happen out in the streets in that period? Jupiters Casino has already told patrons not to turn up in the interim as they won’t be allowed in.
More Venue Updates: hearings, relocations, charges
* The Victorian Civil Administrative (VCAT) hearing over Melbourne’s Palace Theatre has wound up with a blow to the live music industry. The VCAT decided that developer Jinshan Investment can retain the façade but the rest of the venue can be destroyed so a hotel can be built on it. The Save The Palace group says it will fight the ruling.
* The Motor Room, the live music component of the Boundary Street Markets is relocating to the rooftop of the Boundary Hotel from April 29 to continue its menu of roots, soul and rock. The markets head to the carparks of the Boundary and Rumpus Room as the site which draws 5000 visitors a year is being turned into residential apartments as part of a $800 million makeover. Both the Motor Room and Boundary Hotel are owned by Adam Hill.
* Brisbane nightclub The Squeeze Club in the Alexandra Hills Hotel soon found out that the word ANZAC is protected “from commercial misuse”. It planned an event called G.I. Joes & Army Hoes, which it marketed online with a woman with a low-cut camouflage top who didn’t look she served in the forces. It got a stern call from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and all promo material was abandoned.
* Eleven Nightclub in Paddington, outside Sydney’s lockout laws, will from Friday May 6 host dance promoter Peoples Club weekly late night Club Night in its basement. It was previously at the Oxford Hotel.
* The Melbourne Age reported that people involved in the operations Two Floors Up nightclub in the CBD and Brunswick’s Railway Hotel have been charged after thousands of ecstasy pills, methamphetamine and cash were allegedly discovered during a raid.
* After a two year renovation costing a few million dollars, the 160-year-old Hotel Q in Queenscliff, Victoria, reopened last December under new owners Katalin and Stephen Blond. But unexpectedly it has closed “for a few months.
* A row broke out in Perth when it came to light that the new Perth Stadium footbridge is going to be made in Malaysia, rather than creating 170 jobs in WA.
I Love Live Music 60 Second comp unveils Top 10
The Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN) unveiled the Top 10 finalists of its I Love Live Music 60 Second film/music competition. The brief was to make movies about the importance of live music in our lives. The winner and runner are decided at St Kilda Film Festival SOUNDKILDA event on Thursday May 26.
The approaches to the theme by film makers and documentary makers included profiles on musicians as The Living End’s bassist Scott Owen, Adelaide multi-instrumentalist and composer Adam Page, electro/ soul Melbourne guitarist/producer Alice Ivy and electronic musician Jack Mclaine. Others looked at the gigs put on at a North Melbourne lawn bowls club, a collage of live music venues and others titled Date Night, Encore, Who Played Last Night and You Can’t Download This. Full details of film makers and musicians involved are at www.amin.org.au.
New venue, date, for WA’s SOTA
This year’s WA Day concert, State of the Art, is for its fifth instalment moving to Elizabeth Quay. What’s more, the annual celebration of WA music over three stages is free. Held for the first time on the WA public holiday of Monday June 6, the bill includes Jebediah, San Cisco, Ta-ku (with a full band) and Koi Child, The Merindas, singer-songwriters Riley Pearce, Morgan Bain and Jacob Diamond Morgan Bail as well as Our Man In Berlin, Love Junkies, MC Mathas, triple j Unearthed winning pop duo Mosquito Coast and another j fave Verge Collection.
Presented by Celebrate WA, the day also includes sports clinics, circus workshops, pop up performances, tours and community art. There is also a competition for two to the UK to see Perth trio Methyl Ethel at the End of the Road Festival thanks to Etihad Airways.
Number Crunching
900,000 Prince tracks and 200,000 albums sold within the first 18 hoursafter his death.
4 drug overdoses at NSW music festivals over the Anzac long weekend, two at Groovin’ The Moo Maitland and two at the Midnight Mafia Dance Party in Homebush, Sydney,
100 fans of Limp Bizkit still turned up at a “gig” at a Ohio petrol station even despite the publicity that it was a hoax and cops were after those who sold tickets to it.
500 + people took to the street in Newtown, Sydney, to protest the rise of homophobic and transphobic violence in the area as a spill-over from lockout laws in other suburbs.
£36,000 expected at auction for a rare acetate version of David Bowie’s Hunky Dory album with a tracklisting hand-written by him.
Vale
* NSW-based alt-country troubadour Karl Broadie was born in Scotland into a family of philosophers, musicians and artists. His compelling songs saw him strike a record deal with ABC Music and publishing with Mushroom Music. His single Black Crow Callin’ took out first place in the Americana category of the International Songwriting Competition in 2006, and two albums topped the Americana charts in the UK. He also taught at the Country Music Academy, a role he continued despite the pain he felt from pancreatic cancer. Guitarist Brendan Gallagher, a close friend, collaborator and one time neighbour, “In his short time on this planet Karl did many great things. He fathered and cared for two fine sons, Oskar and Travis. He wrote beautiful songs and played them in the hotels and theatres and public places all around Australia, making fast friends wherever he ventured. In doing so he wove himself into the cultural fabric of his adopted country. He was one of the good ones.” He died a few days after the cream of the country music community played a fund raiser for him.
* Craig Russell was bassist with two Melbourne early ‘80s bands The Z-Cars and The Zorros, who were influential on the city’s punk band scene. Both released records on Au Go Go Records, the Z-Cars a single This Is Z-Cars (which Juke magazine called “Possibly the worst guitar sound ever put on record”) and The Zorros’ Too Young (produced by Tony Cohen) which went to #3 on the RRR charts. They also released album in 1988 on Dreamtime Software. In his later years, he continued to write and record privately. Craig Russell was 53.
* New Zealand-based Tongan-born Bill Sevesi was a master of the ukulele and the steel guitar, and popularised Hawaiian-style music in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. His band The Islanders were a huge live draw between the ‘50s and ‘70s. He was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame last year. Bill Sevesi was 92.
And A Few Other Things …
The Who’s Roger Daltrey on AC/DC: “Go and see karaoke with Axl Rose? Give me a break!” Seems Angus Young and co tried out the singers of two American AC/DC tribute bands – Darren Caperna of Texas-based Back In Black and Lee Robinson of North Carolina’s Thunderstruck – auditioned at a rehearsal studio in Atlanta before they decided on the Guns N’Roses frontman.
The two Armin van Buuren dates, in Sydney and Melbourne in June, are cancelled.
A 21-year old man involved with a group of friends in the theft of Darwin Hot 100 promotional Sandman van was given a jail sentence. Radio station staff found it gone when they arrived at work on March 28. It was found abandoned in a paddock minus its $25,000 sound system and $2700 chrome wheels. Leigh Martin pleaded guilty in Northern Territory Magistrates Court and was sentenced to five months’ jail (suspended after two) and ordered to pay $3697.
Irish-born Sydney celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge is to show off his other talent, as a drummer. He told Style magazine he’s starting a band with musician John Fink who owns the Quay restaurant.
New Zealand’s RipItUp (no relation to the Adelaide title Rip It Up) is for sale. The 37-year-old title was put for sale on TradeMe but without its identity being known. It was bought from Grant Hislop in November with the new owner planning a relaunch. But another project “which requires medium-long term commitment and capital” came into the picture instead.
The latest radio ad by Australian adult toy shop AdultShop.com has been pulled, after the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) agreed with complaints it was “too raunchy” for radio. The ad for “The Womanizer”, aimed at females, includes enticements as “Channing Tatum softly kissing and sucking…until I explode…”
Law firm Bannister Law is asking disgruntled shareholders in the Dick Smith chain to get in contact so it can mount a Federal Court class action against the company which collapsed with debts of $400 million. It is looking at official statements by the company in recent years that may have been construed as suggesting it faced no financial issues.
Channel [V]’s Danny Clayton got a hero’s welcome at Groovin’ The Moo in Maitland, NSW, when he played just weeks after a serious motorcycle accident which lead to him flying in the air and crashing on the ground leaving him with torn shoulder muscles and badly bruised feet.
Much acclaimed Perth classical organist and choristers master Joseph Nolan has been awarded the medal of Chevalier (Knight) in the Order of Arts and Letters by order of the French Minister of Culture and Communication, in recognition of his services to French Music.
While Australia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest Dami Im prepares for the event by getting her parents and husband to join her, there’s another Australian in the contest. Melbourne-born Sydney-based creative director Alex Zabotto-Bentley will be working with Malta’s entry, Ira Losco, designing her costume and choreographing the team’s stage movement. His clients list has names as Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, Prince and Human Nature.
Gold Coast country music performer Casey Barnes is one of ten global finalists to play the Country Summer Music Festival in California. He needs enough votes on countrysummer.com/contender-challenge to get the gig.
Equinox Sounds is held on May 14 as a fund-raiser May 14. It is set up by social worker and music fan Rhys Tranter as a way to showcase emerging Newcastle talent and raise funds for Lifeline Hunter Coast and ANTaR to help continue their work with suicide prevention and indigenous projects.