Industrial Strength: November 28
AFTER SYDNEY, EARTHCORE NOW SCRAPS WA, QLD, CLAIMS “SMEAR CAMPAIGN”
After EDM festival Earthcore’s Sydney show was scrapped late last week, this week’s love-a-thon in WA and Queensland have gone belly-up as well.
A Facebook post by the promoter revealed, “Due to a lack of ticket sales caused by a carefully orchestrated advertised smear campaign by international artist Coming Soon who stated that Earthcore was cancelled we have been left no choice but to cancel both shows.”
Earthcore Sydney was cancelled as many acts pulled out, alleging that they had not been paid.
The promoter claimed it was the fault of site operator Parks NSW who had not finalised approval for its application.
Israel duo Coming Soon, the headliners who started the stampede towards the exit door by the acts after airing their concerns about payment, are now considering legal action for the fact they had to cancel their Australian visit.
The refund process begins on December 15, and all ticket holders are being contacted, the promoter said.
MUSIC BIZ INVITED TO RESPOND TO NSW’S MUSIC/ART ECONOMY INQUIRY
The music industry has until February 28 to make submissions to NSW Upper House’s new inquiry into the state’s metro and regional music and arts economy.
It will look at:
* the progress of the Government’s actions on the Night-Time Economy Roundtable Action Plan;
* policies that could support a diverse and vibrant
music and arts culture across NSW;
* policies that could support the establishment and sustainability of permanent and temporary venue
spaces for music and for the arts,
* policyandlegislationinotherjurisdictions,andoptionsforNSW includingredtape reduction and funding.
“I welcome the opportunity for the music industry to appear directly before the Parliament,” said John Graham, Labor member of the Legislative Council.
“I look forward to working with the industry to find new ways the NSW Government can support our vibrant music and arts economy.”
The committee will be chaired by Paul Green (Christian Democratic Party) with Lou Amato (Liberals) as Deputy Chair.
Others are Jeremy Buckingham (Greens), Shayne Mallard (Liberals), Matthew Mason-Cox (Liberals), Penny Sharpe (Labor) and Ernest Wong (Labor).
CENSUS WORKING OVERTIME
Last Saturday (November 25), teams of volunteers were poking their faces into every live music venue in the Melbourne CBD and inner-suburban music precincts to conduct a Live Music Census.
They recorded who was playing, who was working, and who was there to see the gigs.
According to Music Victoria, “This information will provide invaluable data that will help drive home the cultural, social and economic importance of live music in this city as it confronts the worldwide tension between live music and inner-urban development issues.”
Anyone who fell through the cracks in the info-gathering on the night are invited to http://musicvictoria.com.au/mlmc to fill out a survey which will remain online for a few months.
TIME INC SOLD FOR $2.8B
One of the world’s most high profile magazine publishers Time Inc – titles include People, InStyle, NME and Sports Illustrated – has been acquired by Meredith Corporation.
The Iowa-based company will be writing out a cheque for $2.8 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
In late April, Time said it had pulled out of sales negotiations and decided to focus on its new strategy. Obviously that was code for “they didn’t want to pay what we wanted, so we’ll wait.”
NEWCASTLE LOCKOUT REVIEW EXTENDED
The review of Newcastle’s 1.30 am lockout laws and 3.30 am opening, reported in TMN last week and applying to 14 venues, has been hastily extended after a community backlash.
The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority initially planned to hold the review from November 21 to December 13 after a request from the Australian Hotels Association.
But public complaints about a rushed inquiry made its way to the NSW Upper House, which asked for am extension.
The review is now open to submissions until January 24.
It is expected that police will ask for tighter restrictions arguing that assaults rise by 20% for each hour a venue remains open after midnight.
LORDE GETS ULTIMATE COMPLIMENT FROM ‘NME’
After cleaning up at the NZ Music Awards and proving on her recent Australian shows she is capable of living up to all expectations, Lorde has been paid an ultimate compliment from the NME
The English magazine named Melodrama its album of the year in its annual Review of the Year issue.
Ella Yelich-O’Connor was put on the cover, with the caption Year of Our Lorde.
ANDREW McMILLEN NEW ‘OZ’ MUSIC WRITER
Award-winning Brisbane-based freelance music journalist, author and podcaster Andrew McMillen(pictured) is the new music writer for The Australian, effective January 2.
McMillen has long freelanced for The Oz, and his byline has appeared in, among others, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Monthly and The Best Australian Science Writing 2016.
His first book, Talking Smack: Honest Conversations About Drugs, was published in 2014.
MAJOR NAMES FOR ‘SCORE’ SYMPOSIUM
Globally acclaimed Australian screen composers David Hirschfelder, Cezary Skubiswewski, Adam Gock, Guy Gross, Amy Bastow, Burkhard Dallwitz, Phillip Brophy and LA-based Charlie Clouser are among speakers and presentations at the Glories Of The Score symposium December 8 and 9.
Presented by Australian Film Television and Radio School
(AFTRS), APRA and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers, the free event is at Building 130 at the AFTRS in the Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, Sydney.
STEELY’S WHEEL
It didn’t take long for the legal fur to fly in the wake of the September 3 death of Steely Dan’s Walter Becker.
There’s a battle over the control of the band and its brand.
The centre of the biffo is that in 1972, Becker and co-founder Donald Fagen signed a deal that if either left or died or got kidnapped by Martians, the other would buy out his stake in the ownership.
Four days after Becker’s death, Fagen got a letter from his peeps that the 1972 agreement was “of no force or effect”, that Becker’s widow Delia be appointed a director or officer of Steely Dan, and that she was entitled to 50% ownership of the group.
Fagen is suing the estate… and for good measure, is also suing Dan’s longtime business management firm Nigro, Karlin, Segal, Feldstein & Bolno, alleging the company has been withholding royalty statements and records regarding tour income.
FROZEN SONG FREEZE-FRAMED
Legal action has been launched over the song ‘Let It Go’ from the 2013 Frozen soundtrack.
Jaime Ciero claims that the song is similar to his 2008 song Spanish language song ‘Volar’.
Being sued are Disney, actress Idina Menzel who warbled the ditty in the movie, and Demi Lovato who released a recorded version as a single.
Ciero wants a cut of the movie and the soundtrack.
NO NZ DEAL FOR SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO
Southern Cross Austereo’s expansion plans into New Zealand have seemingly fallen through, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Negotiations began in April with US-based Oaktree Capital Management to acquire its MediaWorks radio assets.
MediaWorks operates in 23 markets across NZ, with brands as he Edge, The Sound, The Breeze and Magic.
According to the AFR, the deal stalled when Oaktree wanted to include its TV assets as well – which SCA was not keen on as it’s been divesting its TV operations in Australia.
NEW BEER ON DIVERSITY ISSUE
Melbourne beer company SAMPLE Brew created a new limited edition beer for the D&AD RARE event in Sydney on the weekend.
The brew represented figures on the lack of diversity in the Australian creative industries.
Pale Barley and Pale Wheat made up 82.9% and 17.1% respectively to represent the male to female split of CEOs within the industry. The 21.9% BU (International Bittering Units) signifies the pay gap between the two genders – and supposed to leave a bitter taste in your mouth.
The 6% ABV (Alcohol by Volume) marks the percentage of LGBTQs in the industry, and the 12% EBC (European Beer Convention covers the number of non-whites and people with disabilities.
ADDS TO SPOTIFY FOR ARTISTS
Spotify For Artists continues to expand its toolbox of free features aimed to help all musicians build and benefit from their presence on the streaming service.
These include a control of a custom image (where you add a pic of a forthcoming album cover, or backstage photos at the end of a tour) and geotargeted tour dates which are sent to followers as a tour nears their town.
VIC GOVERNMENT TAKES A COUNTRY MILE
The Victorian Government announced $66,000 in grants through the Small Regional Presenters program to help local community groups and arts councils bring a range of performances to their area.
As a result, restaurants, theatres, golf clubs, historic houses and community halls will be transformed into arts venues for everything from cabaret to comedy to Bollywood dances.
In a second initiative, the state’s inaugural Regional Centre for Culture will showcase local creativity through 2018 in the regions of Greater Bendigo, Central Goldfields, Mount Alexander and Hepburn Shires.
The 2018 Regional Centre for Culture program will be built around the six seasonal times observed by the Dja Dja Wurrung People and focus on events that celebrate communities and locales across the region.
TUMBLEWEED CONNECTIONS
Country Music World is a new country music streaming channel devised by Mick Lockhart and Jay Peters to “change how fans can see Australian country music and will give an incredible boost to Australian artists”.
The 100% local content is to address that too many acts are slipping through the cracks, and also has a strong discovery element.
Country Music World (www.facebook.com/CountryMusicWorld) is not a video-on-demand but looped video content.
BALL PARK MUSIC’ EXPLAIN ALBUM COVER
Ball Park Music announced that their next long player Good Mood is out on Feb 23 through Stop Start.
The follow up to 2016’s Every Night The Same Dream which cranked up to #3 on the ARIA chart, the next one was recorded in Brisbane. It was produced by the band and mixed by ARIA award-winning producer Paul McKercher.
What is already intriguing is the album cover.
Singer Sam Cromack explains, “I basically got obsessed with images of horses rearing. It’s such a powerful look. We thought it’d make for an amazing cover.
“We had the idea to shoot it out the front of our studio. It’s such an industrial shit-hole and we knew it would look wild.
“The whole concept just seemed so ridiculous. It went hand-in-hand with the album title and I knew in my heart it would be excellent if we could pull it off.
“We finally met our rider, Mindy. She was amazing to work with. Such a horse-whispering rebel.
“She came in with her horse Teddy and they absolutely nailed it. I was so proud of Dean from the band for shooting that photograph too. The whole experience was a dream.”
CHECK, CHECK, 1..2..3
Music SA and APRA AMCOS are jointly presenting an interactive masterclass on the technicalities on what goes on in a music venue or festival before show time.
Discussing PA systems, foldback, lighting safety and stagecraft are Steve Pitkin (Production Coordinator – Womadelaide), Luke Hancock (soundy – Timberwolf) and Lisa Lane Collins (venue technician) with more to be added.
It will be held on December 6, see Music SA’s website for full details.
GOOGLE INTRODUCING SECONDARY TICKETING RESTRICTIONS
Google has added new global restrictions on secondary ticketing on its platform.
From January, ticket resellers will need to be certified by Google before they can advertise through its AdWords online advertising service, “to protect customers from scams and prevent potential confusion”.
They have to disclose they are resellers and that their price might be higher than face value.
From March 2019, certified resellers to post the face value of the tickets along with the reseller’s price.
I’M STREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS: ELF RADIO RETURNING
Australian Radio Network’s award-winning digital Christmas station, Elf Radio, has returned to iHeartRadio Australia.
It was crowned the Best Digital Radio Format at the 2017 Australian Commercial Radio Awards
Listeners could win Christmas Cash to the value of $200 just by nominating their favourite Christmas song via iHeartRadio.com.au
VALE
* Former BMG Entertainment chairman John Preston, started his career at EMI in A&R working with Kate Bush. He was Managing Director of Polydor Records UK (1984–1985), Managing Director of RCA Records UK (1985-1989) overseeing The Eurythmics, M People and Take That, and then chairman of BMG Entertainment (1989–1998). He died at 67 after a short illness and remembered for his understanding of artists, charity works and promotion of female executives.
* Drummer Nathan Johnston started out in southwest Victoria with Kashmere Club, with whom he moved to Melbourne. He was most recently with stoner band Dr Colossus, who released an album in September. No details of his death are known.
* Wally Sparrow was a key identity in the South Australian country music scene for 50 years as a singer-songwriter (releasing three albums), promoter, broadcaster and with the South Australian Council for Country Music. He was inducted into the Australian Country Music Hands of Fame in Tamworth in 2008 and the SA Country Music Hall of Fame. He died a day before his 75th birthday.
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…
Which celeb delayed the release of their biography due to “ongoing” issues with their current partner?
Have stalking allegations hit someone in the live music industry?
How true speculation that Taylor Swift’s ‘Dress’ is about close buddy Ed Sheeran? He doesn’t think so. “She mentions someone with a buzzcut haircut, and I’ve never had a buzzcut haircut,” he responded.
Upset that she hadn’t known that Lorde was in Fleetwood Mac’s Auckland audience in 2015, Stevie Nicks invited the singer to her solo show this month and to bring her family.Unfortunately the day Nicks played Auckland, Lorde was a 5342.46 kms away playing a concert in Perth.
The hardy-ha-ha could be on P Diddy who tweeted that he was changing his name to Brother Love, and then saying it was just a joke. In the meantime, Nashville musician Larry Florman, who’s been performing under that name since 2004, has quickly moved to trademark it.
Jimmy Barnes is playing a fundraiser in mid-January at Melbourne Park for Neale Daniher’s charity FightMND against motor neurone disease. Meantime, Barnes is drawing huge crowds at his Working Class Man book signings, and on the weekend put in a thunderous show with Cold Chisel before 20,000 at the Newcastle 500 Supercars concert, with Spiderbait. Earlier Chisel played their first show in Tasmania for six years. 3000 fans packed out the Wrest Point lawns … while hundreds more watched from a flotilla of 50 boats on the River Derwent.
Aussie expatriate R&B singer, songwriter and producer Alston Koch, now based in Los Angeles, has been invited into the Grammys District Advocate program. It devotes itself to meeting with politicians to advocate in support of music creators. Koch recently has been working with the ruling family of Uruguay with Spanish language recording projects and also penned a climate control song for UNESCO.
To celebrate shoving Taylor Swift off #1 in the UK, Paloma Faith got married to boyfriend Leyman Lahcine in secret ceremony nearly a year after welcoming their first child
Former East 17 member Brian Harvey has been arrested in London on suspicion of sending malicious tweets.
Tamworth musician Jarred Taylor was the winner of the inaugural John Minson Scholarship, which won him a place in the CMAA (Country Music Association of Australia) Senior Academy of Music. Minson, a Tamworth country music identity, died last year.
Newcastle’s new talent search Tip Jar Competition drew 200 song entries from 150 local acts, and gained 2000 votes in two weeks. Benn Allsop’s ‘Here To Tell You’ won the public vote and Paris Grace’s ‘Longer This Time’ the industry thumbs-up. The event was held at the Cambridge.
With The Easybeats back in the spotlight with the first of the two-part Friday On My Mind ABC teleseries, the tribute Rebeat EP and the vinyl release of Absolute Anthology 1965-1969, Music Sales this week issued The Easybeats Songbook: Friday on My Mind a compilation of original 60s sheet music featuring 13 of The Easys’ songs.
Windsor-Hawkesbury Community Radio is being set up to apply for the now vacant frequency on 89.9FM. On its website http://www.whcr899.com/, it’s calling for radio presenters to come up with shows and members of the community to join as members. Its parent company CAMS already operates Flame FM in Bankstown.
The Copyright Agency is holding its AGM at SMC Conference and Function Centre, 66 Goulburn Street, Sydney on Thursday, November 30 at 4.30 pm.
A Victorian Government advisory panel is going through 50,000 suggestions for names for the first five underground railway stations of Metro Tunnel. The criteria was that they had to reflect their locations. But Noise 11 reckoned that didn’t stop fans from throwing in names as David Bowie (on the account he had a record out called Station To Station, like), Kanye West (for being a train wreck?) and Beyonce.
Melbourne 13-year old Isabella Clarke took third place at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 on the weekend at the Tbilisi Sports Palace, Georgia, behind Russia and Georgia. She performed her catchy anthem ‘Speak Up’. The content was screened on the ABC’s various platforms last night.
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