Create/Control team with Downtown and Mute; Lorde gets cosmetic; Sammy Jade pens Socceroos anthem

New international partnerships for Create/Control

The latest additions to Create/Control’s international labels are USA’s Downtown Records and the UK’s Mute. Downtown is home to Gnarls Barkley, Miike Snow, Santigold, Justice, Cold War Kids, David Gray and Mos Def. Mute grew with Depeche Mode, The Bad Seeds, Goldfrapp, Erasure and Richard Hawley with latest signings Ben Frost, Diamond Version, Liars and Swans. Create Control’s Managing Director Paul Piticco said, “One of the goals for Create/Control was to always be a label for labels and not just a distribution service.  Both Mute and Downtown are recognised worldwide for their remarkable rosters and incredible A&R.  I feel pretty honoured they would choose Create/Control to be their home in ANZ.”

More Aussie artists join Global Citizen Tickets

Fourteen more Australian artists have joined the Global Citizen Tickets initiative. These are Taylor Henderson, Tim Campbell, Christine Anu, Dragon, Kim Churchill, Mark Wilkinson, Casey Donovan, The Beards, Sarah McLeod and Jeff Martin, Dylan Joel, Five Mile Town, Casey Donovan and ILUKA. Global Citizen Tickets (GCT) Australia launched in late February as part of a worldwide initiative where artists provide free concert tickets to reward those who use online activism for the world’s poor. Local artists who joined at launch were Bernard Fanning, John Butler Trio, The Jezabels, The Temper Trap, Gotye, Art Vs Science and Eskimo Joe. Tourists Bruce Springsteen and Nine Inch Nails also signed up.

Crooked Colours learn to sweat

Sydney’s Sweat It Out Music! signed Perth electronic three-piece Crooked Colours. It will re-release their current single ’Come Down’ next month with remixes by Yolanda Be Cool, Jesse Rose, Alison Wonderland and wordlife. It’s on their EP In Your Bones out April 21. “Sweat It Out! has one of the most promising up and coming rosters in Australia and we are proud to be part of such a great and welcoming team,” said the band’s Phil Slabber.

MCM Media, Rebel, create work-out app

MCM Media teamed up with sports retailer, Rebel, to create a new music app Rebel Beats. The app uses MCM asset Take 40 to provide different music to match workout intensity. “People just don’t have the time or interest to seek out exercise music, so we curated it for them,” explained MCM Media’s Strategy Director Jonathan Hopkins.

Shamrock ain’t noise pollution

Following on from the recent launches of Warner Music, Hoyts, and Durex custom radio stations, the Australian Radio Network (ARN)’s digital music service iHeartRadio struck up a collaboration with Tourism Ireland earlier this week. On St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), the Shamrock station played non-stop Irish tunes on iHeartRadio’s web and mobile services, with further advertising and integration across ARN’s terrestrial stations, Sydney’s WSFM and Melbourne’s GOLD. ARN says that since the service’s Australian launch in late 2013, it noted a 71% increase in live streaming for all its stations.

Gold Coast festivals target sports fans

Broadbeach Alliance, which organises the festivals Blues on Broadbeach in May and Broadbeach Country Music in late June, is targeting sports fans. It is working with Gold Coast and New Zealand teams as The Suns, Titans and Queensland Firebirds who’re playing the region around that time. Broadbeach Alliance CEO Jan McCormack told The Music Network that the Alliance and the teams hopes to increase attendances by publicising each others’ events through digital marketing and utilising the teams’ databases. “We inform people from interstate and New Zealand that when they come here to see a game, there’s also a free music festival to attend,” McCormack said. “The response has been encouraging. New Zealanders who travel to the Gold Coast to see the NZ Warriors play the Titans on May 24 also get to see (NZ band) Trinity Roots headline the blues festival on the same day.”  Blues On Broadbeach, which drew 90,000 last year and injected $57 million into the local economy, has 68% of its crowd returning each year. The Broadbeach Country Music Festival got 30,000 at its inaugural event last year.

New Australian management for Sophie Monk

2DAY FM presenter and actress Sophie Monk has new Australian management, the Fordham Company. She was with Alex Reid for 19 months.

Nova Entertainment completes RCS Zetta roll-out

Radio network Nova Entertainment has finished its roll-out of RCS’ Zetta digital playout, automation and content management system software in all its studios. Zetta plays out all on air programs and distributes music, ads and other audio assets to every Nova and smoothfm radio station, their digital brands and the multi-channel Coles Radio from a single point of ingestion.

Samantha Jade pens Socceroos anthem

Football Federation Australia and Sony Music Entertainment Australia announced that Samantha Jade has written and recorded the song Up! as official anthem for the Socceroos’ World Cup bid. The song, released April 11, is based on comments from team members on what winning the Cup means to them. Jade will perform Up! at their May 26 farewell match at ANZ Stadium against South Africa before they head overseas for Cup matches.

Lorde teams with M.A.C. Cosmetics

Lorde says she’s been using products of Canadian cosmetic brand M.A.C. since her early teens. She also used its senior artist Amber D. to create her look for her current tour, and appearances at the Grammys and Brits. The relationship extends to a limited-edition collection out in summer 2014.

Third local signing for Feelgood Folk

Adelaide label Feelgood Folk, which signed South Australia’s The Timbers and The Brouhaha since its launch in January, has inked Victorian singer songwriter Jenny Biddle. She releases her fourth album in May. The label’s partnerships with the UK’s Little Acorn and North America’s The Planetary Group sees the indie issue nine releases through 2014.