Industrial Strength: new signings and team-ups – October 2, 2013

Universal Music Publ. get Horrorshow, Jackie Onassis, Joyride Spit Syndicate, as part of One Day deal 

Universal Music Publishing Australia (UMPA) pacted a deal with Sydney based artist collective One Day – which allows them to represent the publishing interests of Horrorshow, Jackie Onassis, Joyride and Spit Syndicate on a global basis. Heath Johns, director of A&R at UMPA said, “There is so much to be excited about with this deal. Horrorshow, Jackie Onassis, Spit Syndicate and Joyride are all incredibly special artists in their own right and I feel genuinely privileged that the entire One Day crew have chosen UMPG to represent their collective music publishing interests. With this deal we pick up a team of world-class beat-makers, hook-writers and story-tellers and we couldn’t be more pleased.”

Horrorshow aka vocalist Solo and producer Adit reached #2 on the ARIA chart with third album King Amongst Many (through Elefant Traks) and currently on a 22-date national tour. Adit Gauchan said of the One Day acts, “There’s still a lot that we all want to explore with our music. A partnership between Universal Music Publishing and One Day is an affirmation of a strong shared vision and we’re looking forward to what the future holds.” Jackie Onassis aka Raph Dixon and vocalist Kai Tan are signed with Sony Music and receive triple j and BBC Radio One support. Joyride, who moonlights as a Sydney community station FBI presenter, is also a DJ and songwriter and his EP Chivalrous is getting triple j action. Spit Syndicate, aka rappers Nick Lupi and Jimmy Nice, are eying Universal Music’s network of local and overseas producers and songwriters as they work on their next album.

One Direction work it for SA Tourism… 

When One Direction arrived in Adelaide, they eschewed staying in city hotels. Instead, they went an hour out, to the Novotel Barossa Valley Resort. Cue photographs of band members outside the hotel chatting with fans and signing autographs being sent to global and social media including their 16 million twitter followers. But as the Adelaide Advertiser revealed, the Barossa stay was an initiative of Barossa Tourism. Novotel Barossa general manager Sarah Henderson is a Tourism Barossa board member. The One Direction coup is the latest in inventive initiatives to boost South Australia’s tourist numbers. Others have included using Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand in an ad campaign. The other was to pay the likes of Shannon Noll and chef Matt Moran up to $750 per tweet to gush about the assets of Kangaroo Island.

… and sign a £50 million deal with SyCo. 

One Direction, possibly at the peak of their career at the moment with a world tour, a top grossing (if critically slammed) movie and a third album on its way, have extended their deal with Simon Cowell’s company SyCo. It is worth a reported £50 million, say unconfirmed published reports. The deal extends their schedule to 2016 and could see each of the five – aged between 19 and 21 – pocket £10 million. They’re already worth £25 million each and tipped to become the world’s first ever billion dollar group.

Warner Music Australia, Converse, launch charity auction In Their Shoes 

Warner Music Australia has teamed with Converse sneakers, Sharpie fabric markers and eBay to launch its major charity auction to help raise funds in October for Cancer Awareness Month. In Their Shoes sees musicians across the globe come together in the name of charity to hand design Converse sneakers. In Their Shoes follows up Warner Music Australia’s 2012 campaign which raised $120,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The In Their Shoes project when Warner blog Cool Accidents was filming an ‘Under the Bridge Session’ with U.S indie band Grouplove. What stood out to them was that the custom designed Converse sneakers worn by their tour manager was a one-off designed by the band’s singer Hannah Hooper. Over the course of 18 months local and touring musicians were asked to create a design. In that period, 70 sneakers were designed by acts as Bruno Mars, The Black Keys, Ed Sheeran, James Blunt, New Order, Kimbra, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Skrillex, Architecture In Helsinki, Busby Marou, You Am I, Tame Impala, Illy, James Blunt, Rudimental, Owl Eyes, Cold Chisel, Dannii Minogue, Birdy, Django Django, Eagle and The Worm, Ed Sheeran and Grouplove. The 70 will be exhibited from midday to 7 pm on Sunday October 27 at The Standard in Sydney, entry by gold donation. The designs will also be gradually unveiled from Monday October 7 through www.intheirshoes.com.au and Cool Accidents ’Sneaker Peak’ website. The auction on eBay goes live between Thursday October 24 at 6pm and Tuesday October 29. All bids start at $99. 

Flume works with brands for ‘Felix the robot conductor’

Chip manufacturer Intel got the message out to customers that its technology is inside tablets with an inventive music film project called “Intelligent Sounds” featuring Sydney electronic performer Flume. The project involved production house Finch and The Monkeys agency. The film features sixty Intel tablets used in various ways to create the idea of a live performance. In “Intelligent Sounds”, ‘Felix the robot conductor’, his tablet-powered band members and their instruments perform a piece of music that Flume created especially for the project. Each band member is programmed with synthesized notes and triggered to play notes on cue, while robot arms were pre-programmed to hit the required notes in time. This took Finch 2000 developer hours on a 10 week deadline, using several specially designed apps. Flume reckons this was one of the most challenging and enjoyable projects, explaining, “I love the challenge of writing music for a particular project and a defined theme. I find working within these boundaries inspires, rather than limits, creativity.”

David Bowie the ‘face of Louis Vuitton’? 

Reports from the UK claim that David Bowie has signed up to be the face of Louis Vuitton. He reportedly shot a TV ad in Venice to be aired in coming weeks for its L’Invitation au Voyage campaign with model Arizona Muse. The fashion brand used Bono, Keith Richards and Madonna previously.

Cub Sport land US deal

Brisbane band Cub Sport will release their latest EP Paradise in the US through Cosine Records, following on from their previous EP Told You So entering the CMJ college radio top 20 earlier this year. The band, previously known as Cub Scouts until the arrival of a friendly lawyer’s letter, play the CMJ Aussie BBQ at the Delancey in New York City on Saturday October 19 before a run on the Australian East Coast in November. Cosine is also home to The Coopers, who began in Queensland and now in Leeds, UK.

Oisima Joins Niche Agency 

Niche Agency added Adelaide beatsmith and producer Oisima to its roster. Oisima, better known to his mum as Anth Wendt, made his live debut at Adelaide’s Lost City Festival in February 2012. Since then he released two EPs, signed to Berlin’s Herbede Records and has his debut album coming.

Qantas, MONA, sign two year partnership

Qantas struck a two year partnership with Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), designed to increase visitors to both the museum and Tasmania. The airline’s group executive for Brand, Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Olivia Wirth, said, “This sponsorship demonstrates new ways of working with the Australian tourism industry and reinforces our position as the as the largest single private investor in Australian tourism.” Customers get promotions and packages for MONA exhibitions and festivals. From October to November Qantas customers who present their boarding pass or Frequent Flyer membership card at museum reception will get two-for-one tickets.

Brisbane bands combine for Music for Mental Health Vol. 1 

26 Brisbane bands, including The Gin Club, Thelma Plum, The Medics and Emma Louise donated their music for a compilation called Music For Mental Health Vol. 1. All proceeds go to Group 61, which pairs volunteers and those suffering mental illness for a weekly coffee outing. The record goes $15, from www.coffeebreak.org.au. In the past two years it raised $32,000 in donations.

HUB gets Thumped 

Sydney’s HUB The Label added U.K. alt-pop duo, Thumpers, to its roster, which includes Glass Towers, Dappled Cities and Zeahorse. Thumpers will release their debut album in early 2014.

Matt Coleman adds two more acts 

New Zealand based manager Matt Coleman of Let The People Speak Entertainment (Avalanche City, Midnight Youth) has taken on two Aussie acts. Melbourne pop rock singer songwriter Hamish Anderson recently released a self-titled debut EP featuring Foo Fighters and The Wallflowers keyboardist Rami Jaffee. Ezra Vine is a Sydney based instrumentalist whose work has yielded offers from US labels in Nashville.