Industrial Strength: April 3

GOOD CHARLOTTE ROCK [V] ISLAND

Good Charlotte closed the final [V] Island party of the season, rocking Sydney Harbour with acoustic renditions of ‘The Anthem’ and ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ among others.

MICROSOFT BUYS SPOTIFY FOR $41B, ‘LION KING’ FOR ANTARCTICA… AND OTHER APRIL FOOL REPORTS

Among the media reports on April 1 were that Microsoft had bought Spotify for a massive $41.8 billion, which effectively cancelled its direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange this week.

To round off the continents it has played in, The Lion King The Musical announced it would stage in Antarctica.

Southern Cross Austereo put in $5 million into Jackie O’s bank account as a sign-on fee to entice her to leave KIIS FM.

Madame Tussauds Sydney set up a special room to feature nude versions of celebs.

The Vic Hotel in Subiaco WA dropped the price of a beer to 50 cents.

T-Mobile launched the world’s first “smartshoephone”.

Redbox, the DVD rental service, announced it will now stream films directly from its touchscreen kiosks.

Coca-Cola introduced an avocado flavoured range, and Burger King a chocolate whopper.

ASC HITS FUNDING TARGET, ANNOUNCES TWO SPEAKERS

The Australian Songwriters Conference hit its $12,000 crowd-funding campaign, reaching a total of $12,275.

ASC general manager Lisa Butler said, “I’m so excited that the ASC can go ahead in June and we can move toward non-profit status later in the year as planned.”

It’s also announced two more speakers, from the country field.

These are singer-songwriter Gina Jeffreys providing her insight to writing for the country genre, and musician, songwriter and producer Rod McCormack on writing and production.

STICKY FINGERS BACK IN ACTION

Rock-reggae band Sticky Fingers made a surprise return to the stage last Friday in their hometown Sydney after a 13-month hiatus.

They were the “secret headliner” advertised for last week’s Bad Friday festival in Sydney, where they threw in some of their new songs.

They’d been hanging out in NSW’s Northern Rivers area weeks before, and recording Rocking Horse Studios.

They took their new official shot there, posted on Instagram with the caption “Look who’s back.”

Sticky Fingers took time off to work out some “internal issues”, playing their last date at Tasmania’s Party In The Paddock festival in February 2017.

At the time they were emphatic they would return, saying “There’s a huge difference between hiatus and breaking up”.

BEATPORT TO LAUNCH DJ DOWNLOAD SUBS, CLOUD LOCKER SERVICE

In what promises to be a game changer for DJs, online music store Beatport is launching a download subscription service and a cloud locker service in Q3 of 2018, its new CEO Robb McDaniels told Music Week.

The store had already recently revealed the arrival of a new creative services division to engage more closely with artists and brands.

A DJ download service would put it in direct competition to DJ download pools such as DJ City and BPM Supreme.

The cloud locker service puts a DJ’s online playlists with Beatport directly into their software and offline access for when there was no internet connection at gigs.

“There’s a massive opportunity for us to become more successful and give this genre and community a better platform and a bigger voice,” McDaniels told Music Week.

PERTH BRUNO FANS SCAMMED

At least twenty Perth consumers attending Bruno Mars’ sell-out show in Perth were refused entry.

Despite official warnings to be careful when buying tickets from thirs party sites such as Gumtree, the fans had done just that – only to discover that a single seller had sold the same two tickets to all of them.

Each had paid $300 for two tickets. WA Police are investigating.

RECYCLED ESKYS FUNDRAISING FOR SUPPORT ACT

The latest fundraiser for Support Act is Eskybition, which sees a number of Melbourne illustrative artists collaborate to produce a series of hand-painted, classic Aussie Eskys.

Presented by Melbourne Bitter Eskybition will take place at Melbourne’s RVCA Gallery, opening Friday April 13. The items are also up for auction.

“The ‘Eskybition’ group show adopts the concept of upcycling; the process of transforming waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new products of better quality or for better environmental value,” organisers explained.

The dishevelled coolers were sourced from Gumtree, eBay, vintage and charity stores.

Among those giving them an aesthetic rebirth were tattoo artist Clare Hampshire, street artist Andy Murphy, and screen-printer and illustrator Steve Cohen.

MAN FINED OVER ED SHEERAN DRONE

An unnamed Brisbane man was fined $1,050 for flying a drone over one of Ed Sheeran shows at Suncorp Stadium.

Police spotted the unmanned device and alerted the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

The CASA determined he’d broken four no-nos: the drone was flown at night, in a populated area, within 30 metres of people and beyond the line of sight.

SEXUAL ASSAULT CLAIMS UPDATE: CHARLIE WALK, RYAN SEACREST, R KELLY

• Republic Records and its president Charlie Walk have reportedly agreed to a mutual parting of the ways after more women stepped up alleging sexual misbehaviour.

Not all the women were prepared to identify themselves, and Walk repeatedly denied the allegations.

He’s hired the same lawyer who’s representing Harvey Weinstein.

• After an internal investigation by E! News cleared Ryan Seacrest of sexual harassment. His accuser, his former personal stylist Suzie Hardy said she would not “stand by silently”.

She’s filed a police report, which LAPD confirmed. Seacrest’s people say she did so because she was not offered money.

• In the wake of a BBC documentary’s allegations of underage sex against R. Kelly, Bleachers musician and producer Jack Antonoff tweeted that he had spoken to their mutual label RCA Records about dumping the singer “a number of times”.

The tweet has since been deleted.

ANNA LAVERTY TAKES UP RESIDENCE AT NEWMARKET STUDIOS

Producer, mixer and engineer Anna Laverty (Florence and The Machine, Nick Cave, Courtney Barnett) is taking up residence at North Melbourne’s Newmarket Studio for a six-month stay, commencing June 1.

Having learned her craft under the tutelage of Paul Epworth (Adele, Foster The People) and Ben Hillier (Blur, U2) at Miloco Studios in London, working on releases by Bloc Party and Depeche Mode amongst others, Laverty established herself as one of Australia’s finest young producers.

Her name is on the credits of recordings by: The Peep Tempel, Something For Kate, Eagle and the Worm, Cut Copy, Meg Mac, Lady GaGa, New Gods, Jae Laffer, Loose Tooth and East Brunswick All Girls Choir.

PANEL: ATTRACTING PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORT

Increasing production costs, rising competition and finite funding has meant that philanthropy is more crucial than ever before for artists and small- to medium-size organisations.

Philanthropists are increasingly making data-informed decisions and are seeking more measurable outcomes

Creative NSW points out, “Due to this strategic shift, the onus is on artists, organisations and collectives to build more meaningful relationships with donors, and present opportunities where social impact is intrinsic.

“It really is about much more than the ask.”

The organisation is rounding up a panel of experts to shed light on this significant attitudinal shift, and offer insights on how to attract ongoing philanthropic support.

The event will be on May 7 from 6pm at Riverside Theatre, Parramatta. More details to come.

SYDNEY’S IBRAHIM FAMILY SET FOR TV SERIES

Production company Endemol Shine Australia is putting together a glossy international TV series based on the infamous Ibrahim family of Sydney’s Kings Cross, Andrew Hornery’s Private column of the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Talks have already begun with broadcasters around the world, Private said.

The series about the nightclub owners would be seen as Australia’s answer to The Sopranos.

It will also be the most expensive production in Australian TV history, with each series costing multi-million dollars.

Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac is apparently a contender to play nightclub operator John Ibrahim, who will also co-produce the series.

Firaz Dirani played Ibrahim in Nine’s Underbelly series.

CRICKET AUSTRALIA PULLS ADS FROM ARN AFTER ‘INTERN PETE’ STUNT

Major sponsors began pulling their money deals after the ball-tampering hoo-hah involving Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

But it seems to have now expanded to Australian Radio Network.

During Smith’s emotional spill-my-heart media event, KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O’s serial sidekick Intern Pete turned up and went off-topic.

He told Smith that his actions were nothing compared to “what Davina and Dean did on Married at First Sight.”

The rest of the media groaned and cut him off.

The backlash against the radio producer (real name Peter Deppeler) was swift and, he said, including a death threat.

“It wasn’t my intention to make light of his personal situation, but to show him that the millions of Australians who aren’t obsessed with cricket empathise with him,” he told News Limited.

“But timing is everything and, on reflection, it wasn’t the best time to ask that.”

The next day ARN issued a pompous statement defending their man.

“The ball-tampering incident has evoked an extraordinary reaction from a broad range of Australian audiences, both those who follow cricket, and those who don’t know anything about the sport.

“Obviously the majority of those asking questions at the airport were sports journalists, unlike Intern Pete, so Pete’s question was framed for those who don’t follow cricket.

“But as you can hear when you listen to the audio of the question, Pete genuinely felt for Steve, as he tried to inject some warmth to what was a difficult situation.”

While the show addressed the issue this morning, it’s not known how much Cricket Australia spends with ARN and if the pull-out is a permanent one.

VANDAL IN THE WIND #1: DAVID BOWIE STATUE

A British David Bowie fan has offered to donate £5000 to a homeless charity if the person who vandalised a new statute honouring the musician came forward.

With money raised from a crowdfunding campaign, the Earthly Messenger statue (claimed to be the world’s first for Bowie) was unveiled in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on March 26.

A day later someone slapped a sign on it, stating Feed The Homeless First.

VANDAL IN THE WIND #2: ED SHEERAN MURAL

The four-metre Ed Sheeran mural in Dunedin (on Bath Street) was defaced, with the words “Coyote Fuck U” daubed in green paint at the low end.

It seems to have been related to an attack on a Chorus box featuring artwork honouring legendary Dunedin band The Chills and replacing it with the name Coyote.

Dublin siblings Jeremy and Louis Potts of the band Coyote filmed themselves during the attack, and posted a one-minute segment on Facebook.

The post says that Coyote should have been honoured and not The Chills.

They deny responsibility for the graffiti attack, saying it was actually the work of street artist Banksy.

The NZ$8,350 Sheeran mural was cleaned up before crowds of 60,000 descended from outside Dunedin for his three shows, which attracted 120,000.

STUDY: AUSSIES 5th BIGGEST SVOD SUBS IN WORLD

A new study by Ampere Analysis found that Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVoD) take-up by Australian households rose from 51.1% in Q3 2017 to now 59.1%.

Australia has the fifth-highest proportion of SVoD subscribers after Denmark (71.4%), USA (71.1%), Sweden (69.6%) and the UK (60.0%).

Nine out of 10 SVoD Aussie users subscribe to Netflix, while Stan is second with 28% and Foxtel Now third at 23%.

An interesting point about Aussie viewing habits is that pay TV has 34.3% subscribers and 26.3% a premium channel subscription.

Australia and Japan are the only two countries where SVoD has outpaced pay-TV.

ASIAN FIRMS BUY INTO STAR

Two major Hong Kong retail and hospitality companies Chow Tai Fook Enterprise and Far East Consortium International have put in $490 million to get a 4.99% stake each in gambling and entertainment complex Star which has complexes in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

The idea is to target more Asian high rollers. through their “expertise, networks, customer bases and loyalty programs”.

These have dropped drastically since the Chinese government cracked down on gambling and jailed executives who marketed related activities.

The two Asian companies are already heavily involved in Star’s Gold Coast development.

VALE

Melbourne-born Maurie Service started out singing and playing piano in talent quests, but moved to radio in the 1960s at 3XY and 3DB.

But he made his mark on Gold Coast radio – first with 4GG when it opened in 1967, and leaving 24 years later for community station 4CRB where he stayed until last month.

A witty personable man, he collected clean jokes for 50 years and published The Maurie Service Joke Book’ in 2009.

He returned to Melbourne and passed on March 31 from cancer.

AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…

Aussies continue to make an impact in the US: Alison Wonderland is the highest placed female DJ in the history Coachella line-ups… Morgan Evans who’s based in Nashville is applying for permanent residency… and former Hi-5 member Fely Irvine is a contestant on the rebooted American Idol.

A New York court of appeals has refused Lindsay Lohan permission to sue Rockstar Games, the makers of the video game Grand Theft Auto V. The actress had been claiming that its character of Lacey Jones looks, sounds and dresses like her.

Bruno Mars and Cardi B’s ‘Finesse’ remix has been certified double Platinum in the US for two million equivalent song units. It’s Mars’ 16th US platinum single and Cardi’s second.

Cairns is now minus an entertainment venue, after The Billabong Kuranda was blown over during heavy thunderstorms.

Iggy Azalea tattooed the name of her never-released album on her finger.

The Sunshine Coast’s World Festival drew 50,000 patrons.

Colin Beard, co-founder of ‘60s pop magazine Go Set and its founding photographer (and went on to snap the cream of the London ‘60s scene) is a judge for May’s Ridgewood Photo Fair.

Beyonce’s BEYGOOD4BURUNDI charity, in association with UNICEF, has dug 35 wells in the African nation to provide clean water. A further team-up with Gucci and Chime For Change provides a further $1 million to build 80 extra wells.

Inspired by the #MeToo movement, ‘90s female punk band Loose & The Horny Chicks made a comeback, with the Newcastle locals headlining Same Ol’ Bullshit at the Lass O’Gowrie Hotel, alongside Bitchcraft, Spam and Boudicca.

Melbourne progressive instrumental project I Built The Sky almost got arrested while shooting the video for new single ‘Cumulus’, in what they thought was vacant land in the suburb of Footscray.

“It turned out to be owned by Melbourne’s Metro Trains network!” IBTS main man Ro Han explained.

“They saw us filming mid-way through the shoot and approached us in their ute. Three of them jumped out and surrounded us and at that point we thought we were in some serious shit!

“As it turns out, they are djent lords themselves! They said ‘you guys are trespassing but we’re happy to let you finish and then get the fuck out.'”