Industrial Strength: November 14

WHAT WILL TAY-TAY’S 2018 LIVE SHOW LOOK LIKE?

In America, they’re not only excited that the Reputation album sold 717,000 units in its first day there and tipped for 1.4 million in its first week but also that contrary to rumours she was not waiting until her birthday next month to announce her next world tour.

She did it overnight, unveiling the first 27 shows of a North American run from May 8 to October 6.

Pollstar quizzed a couple of tour folks to get their take on what we could expect from the 2018 roustabout.

Everyone’s agreed that it will be bigger than the 1989 tour, which raked in $250 million in North America alone and was highest grossing in 2015 there.

The expectation is that there will be more stadiums and a big production that utilises the latest in stage technology.

Pollstar recounted, “The last outing included technological bells and whistles from a moveable catwalk to the Pixmob wristband technology that would make an entire stadium dance with synchronized LED lights.

“Whatever 2018 brings, it will certainly be a spectacle, whether it’s digital mapping, drones or the latest video technology.

She doesn’t like to repeat herself, but the array of superstar guests joining her for a song or two, to excite her fans, will be back.

The album is also going to widen her fan demo, to include younger and older ones, so more tickets might be sold.

OPTUS MUSIC SERIES GETS CLOSER

Optus has created a new original music series called Closer to deliver intimate, behind-the-scenes footage of global artists in their most relaxed environments.

The first in the series, Anne-Marie, who collaborated with Clean Bandit on summer anthem ‘Rockabye’, opens up about how music soothes her daily anxiety attacks and, filmed at home, performs her new single ‘Heavy’ for the first time.

Optus’ Head of TV and Content, Corin Dimopoulos explained, “We created this original series as another addition to Optus’ music and entertainment portfolio.

“We’re delivering engaging content that can be streamed on the move, which is what Australians are looking for more and more.

“The artists will be launching this content via their social media platforms.

“This is important to us as the behind-the-scenes episodes reflect how Australians use smartphones to create content and share their own lives.”

AUSTRALIA RANKS IN TOP 10 OF GLOBAL VINYL STORES

Australia ranks as 9^9th in the world for the country with the most amount of vinyl record stores. According to the Discogs site:

10. Spain, 139
11. Australia, 144
12. Japan, 158
13. Netherlands, 178
14. Italy, 258
15. Canada, 273
16. France, 285
17. Germany, 453
18. The United Kingdom, 537
19. The United States, 1482

Just how much do you expect to pay for the most valuable record? Anywhere between US$30,000 – $60,000 for a 78 single issued in 1927 by Long ’Cleve’ Reed & Harvey Hull (Down Home Boys).

A version of Bob Dylan’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan which was withdrawn at the last minute and reissued minus four tracks, will put you back $20,000–$30,000.

The most expensive Australian vinyl is A Sides by mid-60s Adelaide garage thrashers In Sect, which goes for up to $1000.

Australian collector and expert Brendan Pearse tells this column that Dragon’s first New Zealand album is in demand while post-punk issues by Radio Birdman and the Lethal Weapons compilation are also starting to hit serious money.

LMAs CRANKING UP

With the public voting for the Live Music Awards (LMAs) closing on midnight Sunday, things are cranking up as the event heads towards its finale in three weeks.

This week will see the announcement of the primary lineups.

EVEN MY OLD MAN LOOKS GOOD: DATE SET FOR EASYBEATS SERIES

ABC-TV announced that it will premiere the two-part Easybeats series Friday On My Mind at 8.40pm on Sundays, November 26 and December 3.

KLP has done a version of ‘Good Times’, saying there was an additional link: saying “My dad is a musician and actually worked at Alberts around the same time as Vanda and Young were hitting their stride – so it’s so nice to be able to be involved in something that connects us through time and music history.”

The track comes from the November 24-due Easybeats tribute EP Rebeat, which also features on its five cuts Daniel Johns and Boom Tish (‘Hello, How Are You’), The Bamboos featuring Montaigne (‘I’ll Make You Happy’), LDRU featuring Nicole Millar (‘Friday On My Mind’) and San Cisco (‘Friday On My Mind’).

As reported previously in TMN, November 24 also sees the re-release of the digitally mastered 43-track Absolute Anthology 1965 – 1969 from 1980. New merchandising has also hit the market, including a tee designed by Travis Price of the Rebeat artwork.

FRONTIER TOURING UP FOR GLOBAL GONG

Frontier Touring is the sole Australian finalist in the 2017’s Superstars of Live: Billboard Touring Awards.

The company is up for Top Independent Promoter Worldwide against California’s Another Planet Entertainment and Sao Paulo’s Mercury Concerts.

ENTERTAINMENT FIRMS TOP LGBTQ EMPLOYER LIST …

The USA’s Human Rights Campaign’s 2018 Corporate Equality Index placed a number of entertainment companies as Best Places to Work for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) Equality.

These included Live Nation, Apple, Pandora, Viacom, Sony Corporation of America, Sirius XM Radio, Sony Pictures Entertainment’ and Walt Disney Company

They got 100% for which non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, competency programs and public engagement with the LGBTQ community.

See www.hrc.org/cei for full details of the 609 businesses analysed.

Live Nation Entertainment President and CEO Michael Rapino responded, “Live music brings together fans of all different backgrounds while also encouraging self-expression, and at Live Nation, we do everything we can to promote that same culture of inclusion for our employees.

“As the world’s leader in live entertainment, we are proud to empower the LGBTQ community through concerts and career opportunities, and are honoured to be recognized by the Human Rights Campaign.”

…WHILE NZ AWARDS ACCLAIMED FOR NON-GENDER SPECIFIC

Gender Equal NZ has applauded moves by the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards to be more inclusive of all genders.

This year’s awards removed specific categories for male and female for the Best Solo Artist Award to recognise that some people do not identify with the rigid “either-or” options.

National Council of Women President and Gender Equal NZ spokesperson Vanisa Dhiru called it “an awesome step in the right direction for being more inclusive of all New Zealanders.

“Even those of us who feel comfortable as either male or female can benefit from less rigid ideas about gender, giving us more freedom to express ourselves in ways that feel most true to us.

“And these rigid ideas about gender have hugely negative impacts on transgender and gender diverse people, who often have problems being seen as who they are, and all the corresponding mental health impacts that carries.”

It cited statistics that 3.7% (or one in 25) of secondary school students in NZ describe themselves as trans or “not sure” of their gender.

Gender Equal NZ is led by the National Council of Women of New Zealand, which has 290,000 members around the country.

ENTERTAINMENT ASSIST FORUMS ON BIZ WELLNESS

Entertainment Assist is from this week until December 5 holding forums on around the country on entertainment industry wellness.

There will be an information session followed by a sector-based roundtable discussions particularly on “prevents first”.

Visit www.entertainmentassist.org.au/wellness for full details.

Entertainment Assist Chairman, David Mann OAM, says “Our research identified startling industry health problems – it is now the industry’s joint responsibility to build a roadmap towards wellness.”

SHEPPARD BACK TO AMERICA …

Brisbane band Sheppard yesterday kicked off their first US tour in two years in San Francisco.

Today they’re at the Roxy in Los Angeles, heading through seven other cities including Washington DC, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Columbus and winding up in Chicago on November 27.

The dates are behind new single ‘Coming Home’, with a world premiere on the US Today Show during Thanksgiving Week.

Band member George Sheppard calls the song “an anthem for the homeward bound.

“We’ve tried to capture the joy and excitement we all feel when we get to travel home at last – whether home is a place, a person or a state of mind. It’s our most euphoric song to date.”

This year Sheppard followed opening for Justin Bieber on his Australian tour and joined Little Mix through the UK.

In July they reunited with the Biebster at London’s largest outdoor event “BST” in Hyde Park.

On November 18 and 19, they played to 80,000 at Mexico City’s Corona Capital festival alongside The Foo Fighters, Green Day, The XX and more.

…WHILE CITY CALM DOWN HEAD TO UK/FRANCE

Melbourne band City Calm Down are playing four dates in the UK and France this month. “Nobody sounds quite like City Calm Down” the NME said about their In debut album A Restless House.

They play club shows in London (November 23), Paris (25), London (27), Manchester (28) and Glasgow (29)

In February the band play through Australia as part of the Laneway festival.

They’ve just dropped a new single through I OH YOU called ‘In This Modern Land’ in which singer Jack Bourke “adopts the perspective of a person coming to terms with, and perhaps embracing, their own social isolation.”

The track is off their upcoming second album which they recorded in their hometown with long-time producer Malcolm Beasley (Northeast Party House, Client Liaison, The Creases).

QLD TOURISM AWARDS LAUDS SUNSHINE COAST

The 33^rd Queensland Tourism Awards brushed past the Gold Coast’s music festivals as Broadbeach Blues and went for two Sunshine Coast love-ins for its Major Festivals and Events.

Surfers Paradise Sand Safari Arts Festival 2017 took silver, and Surfers Paradise LIVE 2017 ended up with bronze.

Surfers Paradise Alliance CEO Mike Winlaw said local businesses spent $450,000 staging this year’s Sand Safari Festival in February and $500,00 on Surfers Live in May.

The result of these free events paid for themselves, with attendance up 351% in the last six years, and next year’s festivals estimated to attract an additional 1.85 million.

He said attendance figures in Surfers were up more than 351 percent in the six years since 2010-2011, when 411,000 people visited Surfers Paradise events, with the precinct’s free entertainment offerings projected to attract an extra 1.85 million visitors next year.

STUDY: HOW AUSTRALIA RADIO ENGAGES WITH LISTENERS

GfK’s latest Radio Insights research reports how Australian radio’s expansion into an integrated multiplatform service – including websites, social media, apps, podcast and live events – has intensified listeners’ engagement.

63% of them engage with radio, outside of traditional radio listening with 52% using these platforms to keep up to date with national and local news.

Dr Morten Boyer, General Manager of GfK Media, said: “Radio listeners don’t just consume radio content – they form strong relationships with their favourite stations and announcers.

“This is why they are keen to engage with radio across a variety of platforms, as evidenced by this latest Radio Insights release.”

Commercial Radio Australia CEO Joan Warner added, “This Radio Insights research reinforces the Radio Alive rebrand showing advertisers how radio develops strong connections with Australians through its social media interaction and provides additional ways to engage with radio listeners outside a traditional radio ad.”

CANBERRA MUSICIAN GETS FRENCH HONOUR

As part of Remembrance Day (November 11), Canberra musician Christopher Latham was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ambassador.

The honour, recognising significant achievement in the arts, literature or the propagation of these, was bestowed in recognition of Latham’s project The Flowers of War.

Latham, first musical artist in residence at the Australian War Memorial, will join honourees as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, George Clooney, Peter Garrett, Robyn Archer and Kylie Minogue.

REPORT: TUNEIN SUED BY MAJORS

San Francisco based digital music radio platform TuneIn is being sued in Britain for allegedly broadcasting 800 unlicensed TuneIn music streams in the UK, Music Business Worldwide reported.

The IFPI has prepared a High Court case on behalf of the UK operations of Sony and Warner.’

Founded in 2002, TuneIn claims 60 million monthly active users worldwide.

FORUM LOOKS AT REVENUE RAISING

Create NSW in partnership with SAMAG is holding a free forum on how artists and small-and medium-arts organisations can diversify income streams.

The sessions ask: what entrepreneurial solutions and sustainable models have been tried and tested? What does success look like? How do you measure what you are doing?

Providing solutions are Janine Collins (J9 consulting), Hung-Yen Yang (Bailey and Yang), Marie-Louise Carroll (Creative Partnerships Australia), Elaine Chia (City Recital Hall) and Sheena Boughen: Strategist and Former Chair, Four Winds).

It is on Thursday, November 16 at Goulburn Mulwaree Council Civic Centre in Goulburn, NSW from 2 pm.

STUDY: 72% OF AUSTRALIAN WOMEN IN TV & FILM HARASSED

A new study commissioned by Women In Film and Television (WITF) NSW unearthed some alarming figures, especially as the sector has been seeing more women entering.

72% of women in the Australian film and television experienced workplace harassment or discrimination. Of these, 29.5% had been “sexually assaulted” and a further 35% “subjected to inappropriate touching”.

WITF said the figures were “merely the tip of the iceberg” as many incidents went unreported, and WIFT is in discussions “with key industry bodies and organisations to develop a sector-wide approach to address this issue, with the immediate steps including the development of an industry-wide agreement and a nationally streamed Sexual Harassment Industry Forum as a matter of urgency.”

‘GUITAR GODS’ RETURNS ON SEVEN

Guitar Gods returns on Seven’s 7mate at midnight on Wednesday, November 22, with Main Play starting on Saturday, December 3 at 10am.

The series presents artists filmed live on location and at Pony Music hosted by Dorian Chiiwahwah with Lisa Keller and Tanya Williams.

FUNDRAISER #1: STOLEN GENERATION MARKER

Dan Sultan, Ella Hooper, Kira Puru, organiser Clairy Browne, Kutcha Edwards, Uncle Jack Charles (and MC Brian Nankervis) play at a fundraiser in Melbourne to raise funds for the Stolen Generations Marker Fundraiser which is set to open in May.

It is staged at the Croxton Bandroom in Thornbury on December 2.

The Marker is being developed by Yarra City Council in consultation with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, as a public art piece and healing garden dedicated to the struggles and strengths of the Stolen Generations and their families.

It will be installed in Atherton Gardens, Fitzroy – a place of deep significance to the Aboriginal community as it was the place where many Stolen Generations survivors and other Aboriginal people found family, culture and community for the first time.

FUNDRAISER #2: SHENZO GREGORIA PLAYS HIGH

Classically trained Brisbane violinist Shenzo Gregorio will play for 40 hours non-stop to raise $40,000 for Motor Neurone disease research.

The 40 Hour Jammin for MND event is at the Queensland MND Centre in Coorparoo, starting at 8 pm on November 17 and winding at noon on November 19.

His 80-year old mother, Justeen, was diagnosed with it nine months ago. Donate at mndcommunity.everydayhero.com/au/the-40-hour-jammin

Gregorio says that musicians from four other cities have been in touch to offer their support in case he wants to also hold fundraisers in their cities

KEITH URBAN UNVEILS NEW SONG ‘FEMALE’

Keith Urban was among those honoured by performing rights organization BMI at its country awards.

It was for raising millions of dollars for the Country Music Hall of Fame and donations to music education programs.

Urban told the audience “I am far, far from a perfect human being,”, alluding to his years of addiction.

He said he “always wanted to give back” after Australian country music fans rallied around when their Gold Coast family home burned down when he was a child.

Urban also used the event to premiere his new song ‘Female’, which he says spoke to him “strongly in so many ways – as a husband, a son and profoundly as the father of two daughters.”

The country music superstar heard the song (written by Nicolle Galyon, Shane McAnally and Ross Copperman) three weeks before he rushed into the studio to record it.

He was affected, he said, by its lines as “When you hear a song that they play saying you run the world – do you believe it? Will you live to see it?”

MUSIC STREAMERS JOIN NEW EUROPEAN DIGITAL ALLIANCE

Spotify, Deezer, SoundCloud, 7digital, Qobuz and Soundcharts are among the platforms who have joined the newly formed Digital Music Europe (DME).

It will serve as a promoter and resource centre for the sector, “to highlight European leadership in this sector, inspire other European entrepreneurs and create a unique voice with policy-makers” says DME President Hans-Holger Albrecht, who is also CEO of Deezer.

YOTHU YINDI REMIX ALBUM

The multi-generational Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project – made up of original Yothu Yindi members with younger members – have teamed with production crew Filthy Lucre’s Gavin Campbell to make a remix album of their best-known numbers.

It is set for release in early 2018 through Mushroom Group’s new Bloodlines imprint.

The new line-up premieres at Strawberry Fields Festival in NSW on Saturday November 18, to be followed by a show the next day in Melbourne at the Croxton Bandroom (with indigenous singer/songwriter Benny Walker and a DJ set from Campbell), the sold-out Queenscliff Music Festival (25) and Sydney’s Enmore Theatre (January 12).

MUSICIANS IN OZ OF THE YEAR NOMS

Among NSW’s Australian of the year nominees 2018 are 80-year-old Don Spencer, who runs the Australian Children’s Music Foundation to engage disadvantaged children from isolated communities, juvenile detention centres and those with terminal illness in an inclusive musical education.

The Tasmanian nominees include music Lynne Price and Big Art founder Scott Rankin.

FREE CONCERT AFTER MARRIAGE EQUALITY SURVEY RESULT

On November 15, the day that the Marriage Equality survey result is announced, Reclaim The Streets is holding the free multi-stage festival from 6 pm at Taylor Square in Sydney.

The lineup is to be announced. The event will celebrate the Yes win, and demand that politicians respond to the result.

Reclaim The Streets spokesperson James Loch said this last push will cap off the long and stressful plebiscite campaign.

“We should never have had to go through this, but we’ve jumped through the government’s hoops and now’s the time for them to do their damn jobs.”

“If Australia votes Yes, it will be an opportunity for all of us to share the moment together and stand resolute against queerphobia and injustice.”

“In the unlikely event of a No vote, the campaign doesn’t end, we will keep pushing until the job is done.”

In other reports, mental health agencies noted that anxiety and negativity increased since the survey was announced.

ReachOut Australia had a 40% leap in young people wanting help.

ICEHOUSE ANNOUNCE CONCERT VIDEO

With their epic 40 Years Live Tour winding up on December 17 during a two-night stint at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, Icehouse will be releasing the full concert video from their Red Hot Summer Tour show Roche Estate in the Hunter Valley in March 2017 on their YouTube channel.

The full concert is issued on December 18. But in coming weeks, the band will be issuing in stages performances from the show. The first three are ‘Icehouse’ (- https://youtu.be/Yakb_eZiLtw), ‘Mr Big’(https://youtu.be/8H0J74dej1c) and ‘Hey Little Girl’ (https://youtu.be/1y52nNps1OI).

ENERATE’S ISSUES INTERACTIVE VISUA ALBUM

In what is possibly an Australian first, Sydney outfit Enerate will this week release their debut full release Good Times Airlines as an interactive visual album.

The app contains interactive music videos for each and every song (be it a game or another feature) including recent single ‘Half Asleep’ and the new ‘Transit Lounge’ which drops on November 16 with the app.

For the ‘Transit Lounge’ video, the camera follows a young boy out of an airport to a number of scenarios including a city street and a prehistoric land.

Singer Josh Graham, who produced the videos, explains, “We see this young boy walk through an airport terminal, and this is his reality.

“While the viewer watches him, they can swipe left or right, and take him into different worlds.

“These are his dream worlds. It’s like we can see inside his daydream, imagining who and where he wants to be in his future.

“This ties into the ‘Be who/what you want to be, just go for it’ messaging of the song. The worlds get pretty surreal at some points too.”

VALE

* Australian composer Dudley Simpson moved to England where he wrote the theme song for Dr. Who and a number of

other BBC TV shows and was a conductor at the UK’s Royal Opera House. He retired in the ‘90s and returned to Australia. He was 95.

* Chuck Moseley was the first singer with Faith No More in the early ‘80s and featured on their first two ground-breaking albums. He was sacked for his addictions and replaced by Mike Patton, after which he sang with a later version of Bad Brains. He was clean for a decade when he died at 57.

* Darren ’Razzle’ Thornburgh was a long-term Melbourne nightclub identity. He began promoting club nights at the Chevron and The Warehouse before acquiring the Boutique in Prahran which he turned into a celeb hang out. Last year his club was peppered with bullets and currently “closed for renovations”. Yesterday afternoon his body was found at his holiday home in the Victorian country town of Barmah where he also owned a local hotel, with a single gunshot wound to the face.

AND A FEW OTHER THINGS

Which record company ripped shreds off an intern who dared interrupt the boss during a Friday afternoon label meeting?

Which awards publicist and journalist exchanged words over breaking the embargo on a media release?

Is EMI Music Publishing back on the market for $3 billion, as Music Business Worldwide reckons?

New Bluesfest CEO Steve Romer is not moving to Byron Bay to take up his job. For the time being, he’ll commute from his Gold Coast home each day.

The AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema Television Arts) Awards have rescinded its 2013 International Fellowship award for Harvey Weinstein. The disgraced producer didn’t actually get the award as the event planned for the presentation was cancelled. But in any case, he’s not getting it now.

Former Rolling Stone and Juice editor Toby Creswell is the author of Shine Like It Does: The Life of Michael Hutchence.

Puff Diddy reckons he was “only playing” when he recently announced he was changing his name to Love, aka Brother Love.

The Fremantle designer who got Paris Jackson to wear her new $600 dress found that as a result, pre-orders escalated and it’s almost sold out before it heads to the stores.

Illness saw The Jezabels pull out of the Handpicked Festival in South Australia on the weekend, to be replaced by Dean Lewis who broke an Olympic getting the first flight out of Sydney to Adelaide and then drive to the vineyard.

Aspiring 16-year old guitarist and singer Sarah Crimmins from Barwon Heads, coastal Victoria, who was starting to play the circuit, died after a car she was a passenger in rolled over.

Melbourne DJ and one time Two Floors Up nightclub operator Jason Kolbeck, 36, copped a four-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to trafficking a large commercial quantity of drugs and possession of prohibited weapons.

Former Australian Idol winner and singer-songwriter Kate DeAraugo avoided jail but was hit with a community corrections order and a six-month loss of licence after pleading guilty to eight charges for drug driving, possessing ice and weapons offences in Bendigo Magistrates’ Court.

The Waifs’ Ironbark 25th anniversary regional tour ’An Evening With The Waifs’ keep adding dates. Six shows sold out immediately, with second shows for Castlemaine, Albany and the Sydney Opera House hastily announced.

Australian/US hard rock band The Dead Daisies have recruited former Journey drummer Deen Castronovo to replace Brian Tichy. They’ve started work on their next album with him in Nashville.

Wollongong artist Gina Kalabishis, awarded $20,000 in Australia’s only still life painting prize, the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award, says her floating flowers work was inspired by Nick Cave and Danish soprano Else Torp. It’s on exhibit at Wollongong’s Project Contemporary Artspace with the other finalists until December 9. Cave? Flowers? We can’t see it ourselves.

The word from London is that X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger threw a boozy party for her acts – which went on for so long that one of them couldn’t come for rehearsals the next day.