Industrial Strength: April 24

SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED FOR CLIPPED VIDEO FEST

The first round of speakers has been announced for CLIPPED Music Video Festival, which returns to Vivid Ideas 2018 at its new home of Carriage Works in Sydney.

Set to begin on June 2, CLIPPED aims to give insights into the work behind the visual components of music through interactive exhibitions, competitions, premieres, live performances, discussion panels, screenings and VR explorations.

“I’m so proud that CLIPPED is heading into our third year as part of Vivid Sydney,” says festival director Sam Bright.

“It’s a beautiful city and an amazing time to hold such a unique event, now well-known for putting a spotlight on the best music videos from Australian and New Zealand.”

Leading the speakers is UK artist and music video director Jesse Kanda, whose credits include Björk‘s ‘Utopia’ artwork and ‘Mouth Mantra’ video, and FKA Twigs‘ ‘LP1′ artwork.

Others include Sarah Blasko, photographer and music video director Mclean Stephenson, music video director and cinematographer Anthony Rose, ABC Rage curator Tyson Koh, Ashlee Carroll of MTV Australia & New Zealand, Chris Chow of Chris Chow Creative Lawyers, Greg Carey of Grow Yourself Up and Lisa Bishop of MusicSA.

CLIPPED will also be hosting a film clip competition to showcase Australia and New Zealand’s best music video talent.

The winner gets a $17,000 prize pack – submissions close on Monday, May 7.

BRUNO GROSS FROM SYDNEY, PERTH

The latest Billboard Boxscore includes Bruno Mars figures from two Australian cities.

In Sydney, five concerts at Qudos Bank Arena from March 17 to 24, grossed US$9.2 million from a total of 88,592 sold seats.

The Perth shows on March 28-29 added $3.4 million from 29,434 tickets.

The 24K Magic World Tour began in 2017 and has so far sold 2.3 million tickets, winding up in October.

GOLD COAST GRANTS ACTIVATED

The Activate Music Grant has a total pool of $70,000 to help musicians and music industry workers increase their profile locally and internationally.

There are three areas of support:

• New Content Creation: The development and recording of new musical works and related audiovisual works that strengthen brand awareness, including web content, social media and other marketing and promotional channels. It is expected that projects will incorporate strategic commercial release plans.
• Professional Development: To build industry capability. Offering career development opportunities for artists, managers and related music industry professionals. Building capacity through attendance at industry and business training including workshops, conferences, masterclasses and structured mentorships will be considered.
• New Market Development (Touring): Will support bands to identify and develop new audiences through regional, national and international touring. Extending networks and connections for Gold Coast acts will enable new markets to be explored and new strategies considered to encourage long-term career development.

Applications close May 14. For questions, email cultural@goldcoast.qld.gov.au or call 07 5581 6075.

ELTON DRAWS HALF A MILLION METRO AUSSIES …

Nine Network’s Elton John: I’m Still Standing – A GRAMMY Salute drew 542,000 overnight metro viewers. It was the 6th highest non-news/current affairs show of the night, or #12 on the night.

In the meantime, the long-running saga of the Elton biopic Rocketman has, after seven years in the pipeline, finally chosen its lead man.

He’s Taron Egerton, star of Eddie The Eagle, joining director Dexter Fletcher (also Eddie The Eagle) and scriptwriter Lee Hall (Billy Elliot).

Tom Hardy was announced as the lead role in the movie in 2013 but pulled out after struggling with the singing bits.

‘THE VOICE’ BACK UP TO OVER 1M

The 4th episode of this season of The Voice hit 1.11 million on Sunday night. 

This was after Nine whipped up the promos as “the most controversial episode ever”, when WA 28-year-old Sam Perry’s vocal looping saw the coaches beg to be chosen (Kelly Rowland was the victor) after they yapped enthusiasm with “You just completely changed the entire game,” and “This was the coolest thing we have ever had on the show.”

BMG DONATES AFTER ECHO FIASCO

The shockwaves continue after the winning performance of an anti-Semitic song by rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang at Germany’s Echo Awards.

As TMN reported so far, one executive has stepped down, the media is braying for the head of another, winners have returned their trophies in protest, and the Awards’ process is being revamped entirely.

In the latest, BMG – which distributed the rappers’ duet album (through their own labels) – has made a donation of €100,000 (AUD$160, 490) to fund an education campaign to tackle growing anti-Semitism in schools.

SEEKERS CARNIVAL ISN’T OVER

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Seekers being named Australians of The Year just five months before their surprise break-up, Sydney-based Ambition Music is releasing their three TV specials as a DVD set.

The Seekers – The Legendary Television Specials includes 1966’s grainy, black-and-white The Seekers at Home, the big-budget colour 1967 musical travelogue of The Seekers Down Under and the 35mm film that captured 1968’s The World of the Seekers, which traced their quick tram ride up from singing in folkie coffee houses to global success in four years.

There is also historic footage of the group’s record-breaking appearance at Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl; airport mob scenes; and an inside look at a cocktail party held to present them with gold records.

UPDATES ON THREE SYDNEY VENUES

• Dick’s Hotel in Balmain, which features music on Sundays, is up for sale for about $10 million. Owners say that the demographic shift in Balmain has seen patrons move more to wine bars and small restaurants and that it’s time for them to move on. Balmain was once a thriving pub scene, but in the last 12 months, The Exchange has become office space for a travel agency and design studio, and the Town Hall Hotel has a gym and massage centre as tenants.
• In what its owners of two and a half years say is long overdue, Hudson Ballroom in Liverpool Street will close for a few months after this weekend for renovations. They said: “Due to several restrictions, we couldn’t renovate and upgrade this space… [but] now we’ve been given the green light.”
• The controversial development plan for the Bourbon site in Kings Cross has been withdrawn, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, after an online petition of 12,300 signatures and 650 letters to the City of Sydney Council objected.

STRANGE LORDE NOMINATION

We’ve kept up with Lorde nominations for awards all over the world – but this one is a bit, um, different.

She’s been nominated for video of the year in the New Zealand Radio Awards, but not for singing, dancing and acting.

The nomination in question is actually for what radio ZM host Vaughan Smith called ‘The Babysitter’.

It captured a real-life incident last year when Lordie Lordiie Mama fell in love with a photo that Smith posted on Instagram of his two young daughters Indie and August, and sent a message, “If you ever need a babysitter hit me up!”

In a subsequent on-air interview with Smith while she was promoting her ‘Green Light’ single, Lorde told the father she was “unhealthily obsessed” with his kids.

The $9-an-hour job (and a fridge full of NZ cookies) was offered to the multi-millionaire star – provided of course she pass the interview process on her skills at reading bedtime stories and making Milo.

ZM posted the video on its website and had 1 million hits.

MASSIVE ATTACK RE-RELEASE ON DNA

Bristol trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack, who recently left Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, have announced plans to re-release their 1998 album Mezzanine in the form of DNA as part of 20th-anniversary celebrations.

By using technology developed by STEM University ETH Zurich, in Switzerland, the record’s digital audio files will be converted into 920,000 short DNA strands, which will then be stored in 5,000 tiny (nanometre-sized) glass spheres.

Mezzanine is apparently the second-largest file ever stored using DNA.

PRINCE MEMOIR ON ITS WAY

Prince’s estate affairs and investigations into criminal behaviour linked to his death might be… dare we say it… a mess.

But plans for his memoirs are continuing and set to hit the Christmas market.

His publishing agent Esther Newberg organised for three publishers to meet at Paisley Park with Prince to make their pitches.

This took place just weeks before his April 2016 death.

Prince chose author Dan Piepenbring, and personally handwrote over 50 manuscript pages.

COMPOSER WINS AT SA SCREEN AWARDS

Cezary Konarski took home Best Music Composition at the South Australian Screen Awards for his work on director Nick Crowhurst’s zombie apocalypse horror film, Zoe.

The night was dominated by Sara West’s short film Mutt with four wins.

INDIAN SUMMER NOW SOLO HEAT

EDM act Indian Summer is now a solo act, fronted by Melbourne producer, Gabe Gleeson.

Its new single ‘Right At Home’, featuring American Aaron Michael and through Sweat It Out, is what Gleeson says “a collaborative process happening from opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean is always an exciting prospect, with Los Angeles’ Aaron Michael.

“It was an absolute pleasure. I’m very proud of what we’ve put together here, there was no need for phone calls or late night Skypes – we just bounced ideas back and forth in rapid succession.”

NOOSA FM REVIVES SINGER SONGWRITER CONTEST

With its 21st birthday looming up on June 2, Noosa FM has revived its singer-songwriter and musician competition.

It’s asking for someone to compose a song with a summer theme for its 21 Summers Music Festival, with the proviso it hasn’t been published and less than five minutes.

Winner gets $1000 cash, runner-up $500 and third place gets $300. Finalists also play at the J on the day for broadcast on the station.

Entries close at 5 pm on Tuesday, May 10, at www.noosafm.org or at the station’s Facebook.

PERTH UKIYO CLIMBS THE ALPS

When it came to 21-year-old multi-instrumentalist and producer UKIYO (Timothy Arnott) was working out the video for his ethereal track ‘Go’ (featuring Chymes) he thought to himself, “The only actor I want is the Earth.”

So he got director Kevin McGloughlin to head up the Austrian Alps to make an exquisite video to capture the track’s melancholia.

The track itself was inspired by a plane trip.

“It came about after my first Melbourne show last year. It was my first Ukiyo show outside of my hometown and the first time I’d flown for ages.  

“Being up there is always a harsh reminder of how small we are… the idea was centred around a feeling of adventure and the possibility of happiness out of sadness.  

“It’s about fixing relationships, whether that be with yourself, someone you love, or something you love.”

DOOF DOOF BOOF OOF

Arts Centre Melbourne has set up a new electronic dance workshop series helmed by EDM artists.

Under the umbrella Process Lab, producer Emah Fox will demonstrate how she builds up her songs in her studio, while engineer Robert D Jordan will demonstrate how to build a mini-synthesiser.

BATTS HEADS TO UK

In the wake of signing to THAA Records and the release this month of the single ‘Shame’, Melbourne’s BATTS is heading back to England, where she was raised.

The current schedule begins in the first week of May, with sets at the Notting Hill Arts Club, two at The Waiting Room with Cub Sport and the Aussie BBQ, with more to be announced at Rough Trade and Solar Sounds.

The UK dates follow her winding up her East Coast tour with Didirri, with two final shows at Howler, Melbourne on April 26 and 27.

‘Shame’ asks if the human race would make the same mistakes if it colonised another planet like Mars.

FILM VICTORIA UPDATES CODE

Film Victoria has updated the 2012 Victorian Screen Industry Code of Conduct and funding terms and conditions to reflect its zero tolerance approach to unsafe workplace practices and behaviours including discrimination, harassment and bullying.

From this month, all employers have to comply with all legislation (State and Federal) relating to providing a safe workplace.

Contracts for Film Victoria’s Assigned Production Investment programs include a requirement that funded projects comply with all applicable laws, legislation regulations and the Victorian Screen Industry Code of Conduct.

Funding acquittal forms require evidence of compliance with the Victorian Screen Industry Code of Conduct as it relates to sexual harassment legislation.

SBS RADIO ADDS TWO MORE DIGITAL STATIONS

SBS Radio launched two new 24-hour digital radio stations, SBS PopAsia and SBS PopDesi.

SBS PopAsia will focus on Asian pop, including from Korea (K-Pop), Japan (J-Pop) and China (C-Pop).

SBS PopDesi will feature a selection of Indian music hits from Bhangra to Bollywood.

HILLSONG IN BILLBOARD AWARDS

Christian music collective Hillsong (Hillsong UNITED and Hillsong Worship) are the only two Australian acts up for wins at the Billboard Awards.

In fact, the two groups are up against each other in two categories.

These are for Top Christian Artist alongside three others.

In Top Christian Album, Hillsong UNITED’s ‘Wonder’ and Hillsong Worship’s ‘Let There Be Light’ vie against Alan Jackson’s ‘Precious Memories Collection’, Elevation Worship’s ‘There Is A Cloud’ and MercyMe’s ‘Lifer’.

For Top Christian Song, Hillsong Worship’s ‘What A Beautiful Name’ is a contender against Elevation Worship’s ‘O Come To The Altar’, Lecrae ft. Tori Kelly’s ‘I’ll Find You’, MercyMe’s ‘Even If’ and Zach Williams’ ‘Old Church Choir’.

VALE

• Sunshine Coast DJ Green Genes aka Dale Coutts worked extensively around the region, starting out as a guitarist in the band Frisbie or Die before getting into an electronic music after falling in love with drum and bass, throwing beach parties and featuring in festivals. Friends said the 32-year-old’s larger than life character and sense of inclusiveness at his sets made him highly in demand.
• Canberra entrepreneur Pawl Cubbin was co-owner of Academy nightclub in Canberra, (which closed on the weekend) as well as bars as Belluci’s and Public in Manuka, Little Brooklyn in Kingston and Shorty’s in Civic. He was also behind businesses as regional airlines REX and Zoo Advertising, the latter which had been in financial problems.
• Peter Campbell was a South Australian and Melbourne sales rep and PR manager for Festival Records in the 1980s. Such was the family atmosphere at the label that Campbell insisted on attending its 2017 reunion despite being in the middle of treatment for bowel and liver cancer. His funeral was held yesterday in Adelaide.

AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…

Are Kendrick Lamar and J Cole secretly recording an album?

Sony Music pulled out its stars The Script, Dami Im, Amy Shark and Samantha Jade to play at the Sony Foundation charity arm’s River4Ward fundraiser at Melbourne’s Southbank. It raised $770,000.

Congrats to Mollie McClymont of The McClymonts and her husband Aaron on the arrival of their second child, daughter Elky Blackburn. The Macs head out on tour in July.

For Record Store Day, The Flaming Lips had an album pressed with their Dragons & Yums Yums beer in it. In 2012, the ‘Heady Fwends‘ vinyl re-release had drops of their blood in it.

Radio 97.3 FM host Bianca Dye told the Sunday Mail that she now has an instant family, after falling for a father-of-four whom she met last year on dating app BUMBLE.

The Australian Road Crew Association (ARCA) reunions are getting bigger and bigger. The one held in Melbourne on Saturday drew 140. Brian Nankervis MC’d, singer-songwriter Allan Caswell teamed with blues guitarist Phil Manning to serenade them with ‘Boys In Black’ (which he wrote specifically for ARCA) while Mae Parker and a star-studded band also played. This year saw the introduction of awards – the GFAs, supposedly after the roadies’ most essential tool, gaffa tape, but more likely the roadie’s fave phrase, The Get Fucked Awards. One prominent tour promoter threw in a large cash donation to feed the crews.

Chase Atlantic was forced to pull out of the Sleeping With Sirens’ tour due to frontman Mick Cave’s ill-health.

Perth band Rag N’Bone, who recently changed their name to New Talk, have issued their first single under the new moniker. ‘Red Tuesday’ was inspired by a devastating bushfire that ravaged through South Gippsland in Victoria at the turn of the 20th century.

Music NT is unveiling its full program for 2018 at an event where bands will play, and association director Mark Smith will do a Q&A.

The UK’s biggest selling comedian Michael McIntyre sold out five Australian arena shows in three days.

A number of R Kelly’s inner circle resigned after sexual allegations were made against him.

Goldman Sachs has been hired to find a buyer who will pay $20 million for the Darwin Casino.

Peter James Moore, 20, a club DJ in Ballarat, Victoria, indicated he will plead guilty to selling nightclub patrons, the Ballarat Courier reported. According to the story, he bought MDMA from a man and built up a debt, and began selling drugs for the man, and using profits to pay off his debt.