Australia Council raises funding for indies

The Australia Council For The Arts has raised funding and added a further 11 independent record labels to its Recording Initiative.

Chapter Music, Future Classic, Head Records, Hope Street Recordings, Mistletone Enterprises, Rice is Nice Records, Split Records, Stop Start, SugarRush, Two Bright Lakes and the Wantok Music Foundation will share more than $400,000 in funding.

The Recording Initiative, which specifically supports label activity, started last year. It initially supported six labels, including Spunk, Skinnyfish and Elefant Traks.

“We were obviously pleased to have the budget to fund more applicants this year” said Australia Council’s Director of Music Paul Mason. “The output from these labels covers a really wide range of music practices, and the grants will directly support around 50 new releases by artists from around the country,” he adds.