Industrial Strength: December 4

WILL AUSTRALIANS GET THEIR MONEY BACK FROM VIAGOGO?

We’re not sure when Australia’s current legal fisticuffs with Viagogo will end, but this is a suggestion that we can nick from the Brits.

One of the new orders obtained by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last week was that the Switzerland company must fund an independent review to look into a backlog of refund claims submitted against the site since January 2016.

Viagogo could be forced to repay millions to fans who purchased tickets only to be turned away at the event.

Those affected – including the  10,000 turned away from Ed Sheeran’s concerts – don’t have to make a claim.

Viagogo will automatically contact them and fork over the dosh.

Industrial Strength doesn’t expect too much to happen in tackling online ticket scalping in this country in a rush.

After last week’s Labor promise to nationally cap resales at 10% and ban those nasty bots, the Coalition’s response was hardly anything to get hot flushes over.

Assistant treasurer Stuart Roberts’ prim response through gritted teeth was that it welcomed Labor’s move to “address this issue” but would not create the new laws.

SONY CELEBRATES EMMANUEL CANDI

At Denis Handlin’s traditional ARIA chairman’s cocktail party before the awards, it became official that his longtime 2IC, Emmanuel Candi, had stepped down on medical grounds.

However Candi, former chief of ARIA, attended the awards with his family, and Handlin presented him with a framed copy of the first-ever ARIA chart as a thank-you from his company and the music industry.

NEW AUSSIE MUSIC STREAMING DME3

Australia has a new music streaming service called DME3 which launched over the weekend.

Its owner Nathan Johnston says, “I have been working very hard to get to this point in time for over4 years now (and) had to jump through hoops f to make the DME3 project a reality.”

Johnston, who is based in Brogo, NSW, has cerebral palsy and set up the service with reading programs as Read and Write Gold and ClaroRead so it could also be used by people with disabilities.

DEEZER’S MOST STREAMED

Deezer revealed that Latin performer J Balvin was most streamed artist worldwide in 2018 (up from #26 last year) while his song “X” was at #2.

Dua Lipa had the biggest single track on the global platform with the Calvin Harris collaboration “One Kiss”.

Most streamed female worldwide was Brazilian singer Anitta.

The top 10 streamed global artists 2018:

1. J Balvin

2. Ed Sheeran

3. Drake

4. Jul

5. David Guetta

6. Damso

7. Maître Gims

8. Xxxtentacion

9. Imagine Dragons

10. Anitta

The top 10 streamed songs worldwide 2018:

1. “One Kiss” – Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa

2.” X” – J Balvin

3. “God’s Plan” – Drake

4. “Shape of You” – Ed Sheeran

“5. Havana” – Camila Cabello

6.” FRIENDS” – Marshmello & Anne-Marie

7.” Échame la Culpa” – Luis Fonsi

8. “Mafiosa” (feat. Caroliina) – Lartiste

9. “Flames” – David Guetta

10. “Sad!” – Xxxtentacion

NEW NIGHTCLUBS OPEN IN SYDNEY, MACKAY

Nightclubbers in Sydney and Mackay had new places to go from the weekend.

Limited opened in Kings Cross, in the old Sapphire site with a US flavoured format.

Owner Nathaniel Bourke is part of the new breed of venue operators who are set to work around the new landscape created by lockout laws, saying, “People are willing to go out for a premium experience.”

In Mackay, Rabbit Hole re-opened under a new regime after Mackay Grand Suites went into voluntary administration in April.

Gary Choy, the licensee of the Palace Hotel, was brought on as an advisor to reopen the Rabbit Hole, as well as the former company’s two other venues, Movidas and Dirty Martinis.

Choy also ran Gordis, Envy, Z Bar and Pulse Nightclub in Mackay, and 21 on the Gold Coast.

ANOTHER AWARD FOR GURRUMUL MOVIE

Yet another accolade for the Gurrumul doco-movie. This time it picked up Best Documentary Feature Film the  Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane.

It was the first Australian film to win the category in the organisation’s 12-year history with director Paul Damien Williams and producer Shannon Swan both making the trip to Brisbane to accept the award.

FIRST ROUND OF EUROVISION POSSIBILITIES

The first four of the ten acts to duke it out to represent Australia at next May’s Eurovision in Israel have been named – Sheppard, Kate Miller-Heidke, Mark Vincent and Electric Fields.

They play the inaugural Eurovision: Australia Decides event which is held on the Gold Coast on February 8—9 and broadcast on SBS.

Eurovision: Australia Decides is not the only new way for a competing country to overhaul its selection process.

Britain’s BBC new approach for 2019 is that three songs will each be performed in two different styles by two different artists, with one act from each pair going through to a final public vote.

An international jury will choose the three songs and then give viewers a pick of the different styles before the vote to pick the winner.

APRA SUCCESSFULLY SUES NZ VENUE

The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) has had a successful court win in New Zealand.

High Court judge Matthew Palmer has ordered the Rock Salt Bar & Restaurant at Kerikeri to pay NZ $22,605 for playing music without a licence.

The $18,000 is for damages and court costs, and $4605 for the fees the venue operators should have forked out for in the first place.

APRA had contacted the Rock Salt as far back as 2016 to remind them it had to pay for a licence.

AUSTRALIA GETS SPOTIFY CAMPAIGN

Australia gets Spotify’s Wrapped campaign, alongside Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, the UK and US

“Wrapped” is an annual end-of-year staple in which Spotify looks at data  to focus on strange listener habits.

Like the one who in 2017 listened to Selena Gomez’s “Bad Liar” 86 times on the day Sean Spicer resigned.

Or the 28,802 users who created God is a Woman” playlists named after Ariana Grande’s hit – and nine who made up “God is a Man” playlists.

Thus year sees an expansion to podcasts as well.

The campaign looks at how 327,676 users claim My Favorite Murder as their fave podcast.

“Careful, one of them might be behind you” warns the campaign.

DEADLINE LOOMS FOR FAST TRACK

Thursday, December 6 is the deadline for the Fast Track Fellowship program.

An initiative of the Victorian government and delivered by the new Victorian Music Development Office (VMDO), it is open to the state’s music artist managers and independent labels.

It supporters selected participants to undertake overseas residencies and immerse themselves within international music companies over a two-month period.

The Fast Track Fellowship is in partnership with the Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) and Association of Artist Managers (AAM).

NEWCASTLE VENUES CHANGE HANDS

Three music-showcasing venues in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie – the Sydney Junction Hotel (SJs) in Hamilton, the waterfront Gunyah Hotel in Belmont and the Argenton Hotel in Glendale – have now been bought by Sam Arnaout’s Iris Capital for a reported $30 million.

AND A FEW OTHER THINGS …

The next Lorde album might have a different sound, she hints. “I haven’t started properly on the next record yet, and I’m not sure how long it’ll be,” she writes. “But I’ve been teaching myself how to play piano, and here and there little bits come out. I think this next one will probably be born out of the piano in my house; me and my friends, keeping it simple. But we’ll see.”

Celine Dion is accused of promoting Satanism by launching gender-neutral children’s clothing line. Pennsylvania priest Monsignor John Esseff told the Catholic Register that

erasing gender differences is the direct work of the devil. “The devil is going after children by confusing gender.”

The Gang of Youths told triple j that they plan to do more instalments of their Brisbane mini-festival A More Perfect Union. It drew 8,000 fans to the Riverstage.

Mark McEntee is touring The Divinyls next year, doing 18 shows February 27— March 25 as a tribute to Chrissie Amphlett. He got the idea after aanLA producer friend asked him to play guitar on a Divinyls cover that emerging LA singer Lauren Ruth Ward was doing. He flipped over her voice (“a Janis Joplin vibe”) and brought in former Blondie member Frank Infante, and The Sleepy Jackson rhythm section Malcolm Clarke and J. Cortez.

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has put his Bay of Plenty six bedroom waterfront mansion on the market for NZ$4 million.  He’s downsizing after nine years there—and is where he was sentenced to eight months home detention after his clashes with the rozzers over drug possession and threats to kill.

Just in case you were wondering what happened to Guvera, Brisbane’s Courier Mail has an update.  It’s posted a $3.3 million loss and the family of a disgruntled investor are trying to wind up its funding partner Amma which raised $180 million for the Gold Coast streaming service.

The Grapevine Gathering festival in Pokolbin in NSW on the weekend offered a VIP pass to anyone taking an STI test.

7500 punters hit Wollongong’s North Beach for Corona Sunsets music festival

Awww mum!  Migos rapper Offset’s mum has revealed that sonny boy made his video debut as a 10 year old dancing in  the one for Whitney Houston’s ‘”Whatchulookinat” and also popped up in a TLC video.

The Townsville Stadium continues to court controversy. The latest, says the Townsville Bulletin is that the Queensland government has accused its managing contractor of failing to pay workers fair wages despite being given more funds to do so. The government has vowed to hold contractor Watpac to account following allegations.

WA’s minister for culture and the arts David Templeman saluted parliament’s wrap-up for the year with a version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence” which began “Hello Speaker, my old friend” and then tweaked the noses of his colleagues with a run-through of their antics in 2018.

How much compensation can you aim for if you slip over on the dancefloor next time you’re, umm, shakin’ your booty at your fave nightclub? A Melbourne judge has knocked back an application by a woman who was knocked over by a conga line doing a traditional Zorba-style at a Slavic cultural centre. The woman said she fell over, causing shoulder and hip injuries and psychological trauma. Her lawyer claimed the club should have ensured the dancers remained on the dancefloor instead of zorba-ing it through the tables.