Cookin’ On 3 Burners lauded for billion streams

Cookin’ On 3 Burners are the latest to join APRA AMCOS’ The 1,000,000,000 List.

The Melbourne-based soul band were recognised for one billion streams of their international hit ‘This Girl’, written by Jake Mason, Ivan Khatchoyan and Lance Ferguson.

Chief executive Dean Ormston presented them with their award yesterday (Oct 15) at a reception at the APRA AMCOS Melbourne office.

“A billion streams is an enormous milestone and a yardstick by which the international community looks and reveres the evolution of a work,” said Ormston.

Initially released in 2009 on their Soul Messin’ album, the song was picked up by soul fans and DJs around the world.

‘This Girl,’ featuring vocals by Kylie Auldist took on a new life when French DJ and producer Kungs discovered the song on YouTube and was inspired to release the Kungs vs Cookin’ On 3 Burners remix in 2016.

SoundCloud love and traction for the video online led to radio airplay, countless digital streaming playlists, mass club play, syncs and #1 chart positions around the world.

‘This Girl’ went on to become the most Shazamed dance song of 2016.

It reached #1 in 10 countries, including France and Germany, and achieved 4x Platinum status in Italy, double-Platinum in the UK, and Platinum in Australia and the USA.

“The kind of Euro-pop vibe was so far removed from the original track, yet it still somehow managed to capture the vibe of the song in a completely new and fresh way,” said Music Victoria’s deputy chair Chelsea Wilson, a friend and longtime supporter of the trio, who spoke at the reception.

Mason, Khatchoyan and Ferguson are the first Melbourne songwriters to be named on The 1,000,000,000 List.

The others on the exclusive list are Nat Dunn, Dean Lewis, and Flume.

The trio formed Cookin’ On 3 Burners over twenty years ago during their student days at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Mason told his co-writers: “Starting off as a band doing gigs and supporting our uni careers – who would have thought we’d write this song and many others?

“It’s great to have you as friends and colleagues,” Jake said to his co-writers.”

Ferguson acknowledged Kungs, “…for taking this song and twisting it in a way that connected with people beyond our expectations.”

Acknowledged at the reception alongside the songwriters were their music publishers – Origin Music Publishing (representing Mason and Khatchoyan) and Universal Music Publishing (representing Ferguson).