Industrial Strength: New download service for Australia; End of the road for two more festivals; Aus speakers head to NZ Summit; Celeb mags continue tumble

New download service for Australia

LG Electronics is this month launching high-fidelity music download service that can be used with smartphones and promises a quality six times clearer than that of CDs. The phones require 24-bit playback to work with the service on the LG SmartWorld app. Australia is one of 70 countries which get the service as well as the United States, India, Brazil, China, France, Italy, Russian Federation and the United Kingdom.

The service bowed in Korea last year. It is not a streaming service, but a download only.

End of the road for two more NSW festivals

Two more NSW regional festivals have come to the end of the road.

This October’s Great Southern Blues Festival in Narooma, South Coast, will be the last, founder Neil Mumme announced. He cited the increasing amount of festivals, compliance issues and health issues for his partner Rhonda for his decision. The festival is a well-regarded institution and brand name. 71% of the tickets for the 2015 event have already been sold.

Mumme said: "When we started this event in 1996 I never envisaged it would grow to become one of the most respected and loved blues festivals in Australia but our success and future is being challenged in many ways.”

Meantime, organisers of the five-year-old Bellingen River Festival(pictured) announced it would not go ahead this year, citing lack of funding and volunteers. But it is hoping to get community input and revive it. In April, the Bellingen Jazz Festival also ended after a 25-year run.

Musicians win at Adelaide Reclink Cup

The musicians’ Rockatoo team trounced the media and music industry team the Anchors 13.4.82 to 10.4.64 at the inaugural Adelaide Reclink Cup on Sunday at Coopers Stadium in Norwood. Attendance figures and funds raised for Reclink were expected to be revealed today.

The Rockatoos, captained by Koral Chandler of Koral & The Goodbye Horses and Max Savage of The False Idols, included members of Bad//Dreems, My Dynamite, Teenage Crime, Smudge, Old Mate and Men With Chips, Jimmy & The Mirrors, Surviving Sharks, The Villenettes, Juliette Seizure & The Tremor Dolls, The Sloe Ruin and Goldstein.

The Anchors, captained by Jay Bangers of Fresh 92.7, were represented by staffers of Rip It Up, Three D Radio, Radio Adelaide, Fresh 92.7, Hit 107, Cargo ART Magazine, 5RPH Life FM, The Gov, Live Music Adelaide, The Advertiser, Red + Black Rockstar, B-Side and the Adelaide City Council.

Australian speakers heading to NZ’s Global Music Summit

Four Australian music industry executives are announced as speakers at New Zealand’s Global Music Summit. They are Meredith and Golden Plains festivals booker Woody McDonald, record label Chapter Music founder Guy Blackman, Paper Shoes Music agent and booker Will Watson and The AU Review editor in chief Larry Heath.

The Summit is held in Auckland on Friday Sept 4 and Saturday Sept 5 to advise NZ musicians and managers on how to take new NZ music global. Speakers are from America, the UK and Hong Kong. New Zealand speakers are Flying Nun label manager and IMNZ chair Matthew David and Rippon Festival founder Lynne Christie.

Study: Music means more to girls than before

Music is more important to Australian girls than before, says Roy Morgan Research’s Young Australians Survey. Looking at the 6 to 13 demographic, 30% said they “took music with me everywhere”, compared to 23% in 2007. But boys didn’t rate music as highly, with 41% preferring to play computer games.

HopeStreet launches Wyall Style imprint

Melbourne funk and soul HopeStreet Recordings launched its first imprint, Wyall Style Records. It is the brainchild of a collective of musicians, filmmakers and artists (www.wyallstyle.com) based in a house Wyall St, Brunswick West.

Many of the musicians are key members of cinematic soul group The Cactus Channel as well as indie-pop band Frida. The new label’s first signing is Frida, who issue their debut Slowly in mid-Sept. The collective say “Wyall Style aims to bring you music with just as much heart and groove as its parent label, but seen through a different set of glasses. Sometimes warped, sometimes crystal clear, they put out rough and delectable pop, electronic backyard BBQ beats and everything in between.”

Perth stadium named

The new $1.6 billion 60,000-capacity sports and music stadium in Burswood, due to be open in 2018, will be called Perth Stadium, the Sunday Times said. In its early design stages it was mooted to be Crown Stadium or Chevron Stadium but Premier Colin Barnett wanted ‘Perth’ in the name to help with tourism prospects. Naming rights could be worth $2 million a year, the paper estimated.

Venues update: openings, fire, doco, burglary

* After closing in June after 24 years, Melbourne’s jazz club Bennetts Lane will reopen on August 27 in an unspecified Brunswick location. Long time manager Megg Evans will drive the new club alongside owner David Marriner who acquired Bennetts in early July.

* Melbourne gets a new music and arts venue, Dr. Sugar, at 48 Clifton Street in Prahran. The operators describe it as a “grunge pimp” space with live music, cabaret, comedy and functions to launch mid-September.

* Perth’s Rosemount Hotel has upgraded the stage, sound and design of its 100-capacity Four5Nine Bar to make it a serious live music showcasing space from this week.

* Sydney’s The Valley in Bondi this weekend launches a weekly Saturday night club called YOURS dedicated to “live entertainment, international acts and top-tier DJs in a house-party style setting.”

* Adelaide’s Union Hotel caught fire, apparently due to an uncleared chimney.

* One time live music host Cabbage Tree Hotel in Wollongong – it had to close its band room The Patch 18 months ago due to noise complaints – was robbed by two armed men who threatened staff with a gun and fled after taking cash.

* Fridey At The Hydey, a documentary about Perth’s Hyde Park Hotel and its falling prey to bureaucracy and gentrification, can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1YWHxDeiRo.

* The hearing involving alleged alcohol breaches by an Adelaide Fringe pop up venue Royal Croquet Club has been adjourned the case until September 17. The prosecutor said he needed more time to prepare material requested by the defence. Judge Bill Jennings allowed the extension but grumbled, “The matter has been dragging on a bit.”

Radio Adelaide looking for new home

Community station Radio Adelaide is looking for a new home. The University of Adelaide, which it is part of, has sold the building at 228 North Terrace (the station’s home for 26 years) to free up cash to invest in other projects. The station has to be out by mid-2016. GM Deborah Welch says, “With a new location, we’re open to ideas. We’re a great option for buildings or precincts that want to bring people into an environment. More than a thousand people come through the doors each week; 50 – 200 every day, including weekends. Looking practically, we need 400 – 600 square metres, with flat public access and full accessibility, including proximity to public transport.”

Arab Film Festival premieres Jacko impersonator doco

A documentary of a Sydney asylum seeker turned Michael Jackson impersonator made its world debut at the 12th Arab Film Festival when it ran in Sydney on the weekend. The festival now travels to Melbourne (Aug 21 to 23) and Canberra (Aug 28 to 30). Man In The Mirror, by Western Sydney filmmaker Ali Mousawi follows the life of 16-year-old Abbas.

At Darwin detention centre Abbas was told he looked just like Jackson. When he moved to Sydney, he taught himself to dance and became a Jackson impersonator, using proceeds from his shows for plastic surgery on his nose. The doco covers how his conservative Arab-speaking family is not impressed with the career move. Abbas says, "Despite the fame, it has not erased the loneliness and isolation of the experience of being a refugee so far from home and family. However I do find joy in performing for people – everyone loves Michael Jackson!"

Warner Bros. renames licensing resource

Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) has renamed its commercial clip licensing library. Andrew Bromell, Director of Retail Marketing and Licensed Advertising WBCP ANZ, says that with more brands wanting to use Warner characters and plots and themes from movies and TV shows in their marketing and promotion, the new name had to reflect a wider scope of what was on offer.

Celebrity magazines continue tumble

The latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures covering the April to June period showed celeb magazines being hit.

Bauer Media’s Yours, launched last February, dropped 1.60% to 60,146 copies a week while NW was down 18.8% to 65,014 a week. OK! slid 14.7% to a weekly 61,401.

Over at Pacific Magazine Who was down 7.10% but with an impressive circulation of 100,484 while Famous dropped 8.20% to 57,021.

Five fellowships for regional creatives

Regional Arts Australia’s $125,000 worth of Regional Artist Development Fellowships allocated $30,000 each to Launceston-based arts worker Emma Porteus to expand her knowledge of community festivals and dance in four European countries, to Darwin playwright Mary Anne Butler for an extensive writing professional development program at Browns Mart, and to artist Lee Darroch for a residency with the Koori Heritage Trust in Melbourne.

$20,000 went to Djambawa Marawili and Gunybi Ganambarr from Yirrikala to collaborate with Native American glass artist Preston Singletary to develop new forms of cross cultural artworks, while Geraldton performing artist and comedian Julian Canny was granted $15,000 to develop his writing skills and to research and develop links with Melbourne, Perth and New York performing arts organisations.

SVOD growth shows pent-up release by Aussie consumers

A new study by Citi Research claims that Netflix is dominating the SVOD sector in Australia with a five times higher take-up than its rivals. Citi says Netflix has 1.6 million active users since its March launch here, and with subscription take-up at 900,000 will overtake Foxtel within three years. 25% of them use VPNs (virtual private networks) to access the US version. Citi reckons 2.5 million Australians will be using Netflix by 2018.

In comparison, Stan has 332,000 users with 153,000 paying users, and Presto with 193,000 sign-ups and 90,000 subscribers. Citi also estimates Stan will lose $200 million in the next four years. Streaming services will rob major TV networks of 10% of their viewing time, and SVOD penetration will be 35% (or 3 million) of Australian households by 2018. Citi says it’s not the end for free-to-air TV but will limit its revenue growth. It won’t be the death either of Foxtel, which currently has 2.7 million subscribers, but will lead to an explosion of content consumption. Citi suggests there could be a drop in illegal downloading.

Wellington studio on the move

Wellington’s Munki Studios is moving from Martin Square to Park Road Post Production in Miramar, as the building is to be destroyed to be part of the National War Memorial Park. Sound engineer Mike Gibson set it up in 1995 in a former Security Intelligence Service (SIS) spy house (there are rumours of a network of underground tunnels beneath) and recorded Hollie Smith, Shihad, Flight of The Conchords, Trinity Roots, Fat Freddy's Drop and The Phoenix Foundation there. Kanye West had wanted to record after a gig. But by the time his entourage arrived at 3 am, Gibson was fast asleep and didn’t hear the door bell. This Saturday it is streaming sets by Trinity Roots, Orchestra of Sphere Eru Dangerspiel and a specially-reunited Fur Patrol.

Number crunching

$675,000 asking price for the final piece of land where the legendary Sunbury festivals were held for four years in the early ‘70s on the Duncan family’s 620-acre farm outside Melbourne.

$35 million asking price by The Offspring for their six Sony albums (which they regained control to the masters of last year) and music publishing.

$3.2 billion estimated worth of Australia’s IoT market by 2019, according to research firm Telsyte, up from its current $289 million.

5 minutes is what Phil Rudd reckons he needs in a room with Angus Young to get his old job back.

Figures unveiled for digital stations

In a GfK report on listening figures for commercial radio’s DAB+ digital radio and DAB+ only stations. Triple M Classic Rock topped the list with a 173,000 cumulative audience. The rest of the Top 10 had Coles Radio (140,000), Pure Gold 80s (131,000),Koffee (103,000), Edge Digital (101,000), Buddha (98,000),Stardust Radio (96,000), More 80s And 90s (85,000), News Talk Sport (81,000) and Pure Cold 90s (71,000).

MusicNT calls out for Desert Diva

MusicNT is calling for Indigenous female musicians, singers, songwriters, rappers and performers from Central Australia to shine with The Desert Divas when they perform at the 2015 Bush Bands Bash in Alice Springs September 5.

Desert Divas provides aspiring and established female musicians with workshops in songwriting, singing, performing and music industry. The Divas then put what they’ve learnt into practice by performing their songs in a showcase. This year’s mentors are Mandy Garling, Jacinta Price, Katie Harder, Edi Donald, Cassandra Williams (Assistant Mentor) and Kirra Voller (Trainee Coordinator).

Music names in B&T Women In Media Powerlist

B&T’s Top 30 Women In Media Powerlist, topped by Vogue editor in chief Edwina McCann, included Pandora MD Jane Huxley at #8, Sydney Festival’s Head of Marketing & Customer Service Tina Walsberger at #15 and Nova Entertainment CEO Cathy O’Connor at #19.

Festivals update: record crowds, new events

* Indications are that the seventh annual Broadbeach Jazz Weekend (Queensland) on the weekend equalled 2013’s record attendance of 20,000. An extra boost was that the Australian All Star Cheerleading Federation event was being held at the same time, and drawing extra crowds.

* Organisers of the Bangalow BBQ and Bluegrass Festival said 68% of attendees came from outside NSW’s Northern Rivers region, some from afar as Perth and Adelaide.

* In a series of tweets, promoter AJ Maddah indicated that next year’s Soundwave has virtually booked all its acts, with the headliners to confirm how long their sets will be before any other small acts are brought in. There’ll be no 30 minute sets, Maddah said, with lots of big name acts.

* Sydney’s Carriageworks arts precinct is in October hosting the inaugural Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art. It spans theatre, dance, digital technology and visual arts.

* Sydney’s celebration of Jewish music, Shir Madness, makes its debut in Melbourne on September 6. Festival Directors Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier have booked 30 acts (including those from Tel Aviv and New York) covering Broadway, jazz, Yiddish folk and electronica.

Vale

Tasmanian-born California-based singer songwriter Audrey Auld-Mezera released 11 albums and three EPs on her own label Reckless Records. Her collaborators included Bill and Kasey Chambers (he recorded her first track in 1999), Fred Eaglesmith, Mary Gauthier and Dale Watson. Her 2000 release The Fallen was up for Best Country Album in Australia. After marrying Mez Mezera she moved to America and made an impact on the country-folk community there, including syncs on TV shows and fellow artists covering her songs. She led workshops at San Quentin prison and her latest release, Hey Warden, featured songs co-written with inmates. She was diagnosed with melanoma last year and passed aged 51.

Joy Collins helped build the Gold Coast’s reputation as a “fun” destination through the ‘50s and ‘60s. She ran the Max Blake Talent Agency which imported bands and acts to the area, and was one of the first women on radio with her Gold Coast Calling show on 4KQ Brisbane.

And a few other things …

Power FM Hunter Valley’s breakfast co-host Nicky Ainley revealed on air that she and partner Chris are expecting twins.

New Zealand’s The Hits husband and wife radio team Polly Gillespie and Grant Kereama told listeners they have separated but would continue to present their show.

Pete Davies of Mix 104.9 FM Darwin is in intensive care in a Brisbane hospital under induced coma over the weekend. He had surgery this month for oesophageal cancer. Davies turned 58 on the weekend.

Following a 10-day stay at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital after suffering a brain aneurism, radio presenter Mark Irvine is now at home recuperating.

Doctors have given Radio National’s Robyn Williams the all-clear after his battle with bowel cancer.

Former 2DAY FM presenter turned Adelaide ad agency marketing manager Mel Greig posted on Facebook the loss of her mother to cancer.

A meeting by the board of the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues with Federal Arts Minister George Brandis left the festival organisers with high hopes. Chairman Paul Squires reported that the “very positive feedback” from the Senator was “that there would be greater recognition and capacity for rural and regional projects which included the potential to quarantine funds for regional areas. We were also informed of proposals to double the funding available within the budget pool to festivals”.

The Angels have recorded a studio version of the infamous live rendition of Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face, using the same analogue gear used on the 1976 original and for release on 7” vinyl.

Sydney’s New Empire are calling it quits after ten years and three albums, and do a final round of dates in October.

The musical theatre adaption of the SBS series Prison Songs, about indigenous jail inmates expressing their lives through song, is about to go on the road. This follows its successful debut at the Darwin Festival when five performances over three days were sell-outs and received standing ovations at each. Among its stars is singer songwriter Shellie Morris.

Hands Like Houses embark on a three-month world tour, kicking off with five Australian shows between October 9 to 18. It is followed by 27 US shows (October 23 to November 27) and eleven UK dates (November 30 to December 11).

Applications for the fourth Canberra Comedy Festival next March are from canberracomedyfestival.com.au and close on September 18.

Oscar winning Adelaide filmmaker Scott Hicks’ Highly Strung, based around the rare 18th-century Guadagnini violins, and featuring the Australian String Quartet, has its world premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival on October 15.

In a possible world first, Darwin got all shoot up over the NT Field and Game Association’s inaugural Elvis Presley Memorial Clay Target Shoot competition. Held on the anniversary of Presley’s death on August 16, shooters dressed up in Elvis gear while listening to his music and feasting on an Elvis-inspired lunch of bacon, banana and peanut butter sandwiches.

Adelaide Hills Magazine will drop the $8.95 cover price and double its print run to 20,000 as a freebie found in retailers, businesses and newsagencies.