Industrial Strength: October 5
KEITH URBAN HITS 37TH TOP 10 COUNTRY HIT IN US
Keith Urban, briefly in Australia on the weekend, has scored his 37th consecutive Top 10 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with Blue Ain’t Your Color. It’s notched up 2.3 million streams in America and 30,000 downloads.
Urban is also one of the voices on the all-star Artists of Then, Now & Forever who recorded Forever Country as an ode to country music’s legacy. It debuted at #1 on Hot Country Songs and #21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
NINE SELLS SCA STAKE FOR $30M
Nine Entertainment Co offloaded its 9.99% stake in Southern Cross Media Group, the parent behind Southern Cross Austereo, for a reported $30 million. It made a tidy profit: it bought in for $1.15 a piece in March and sold off its stake for $1.54 per share.
GOODREM FINDS A MUSICAL ANCESTOR
Last week’s SBS’s Who Do You Think You Are saw Delta Goodrem scramble up the family tree to find out which ancestor had any musical blood as her immediate family didn’t have enough. She found it in her great-great grandmother from her mother Lea’s side, Florence Bray.
Bray grew up in the conservative Victorian countryside and managed to make the local papers by having an affair with a married man with whom she had a child, and had her windows smashed by the boyfriend’s wife. She moved to Melbourne and, as a musician and showgirl, worked in the city’s booming theatre scene in the 1920s and 1930s when there’d be 15 different shows staged at the same time. Bray also went to America and performed in New York and San Francisco.
Another ancestor might have given Goodrem her entrepreneur spirit with her fashion brands and record label. David ‘India’ Stewart, ambitious and enterprising, left Scotland as a 20-something, joined India’s tea industry, and then arrived in Victoria to work the land. Alas a nine-year drought wiped him out.
ACMA RENEWS BRISBANE’S 96FIVE
Brisbane community radio station 4FRB (Family 96five) has had its licence renewed after all. Initially, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) was unimpressed with its level of community participation.
More so, when its parent company Family Radio Ltd went into a deed of arrangement with Hope Media Ltd (Hope 103.2 Sydney) that ACMA said would compromise its community involvement even more. But 96five gave some undertakings and ACMA reached for its “renewal” stamp.
NZ MUSIC FOUNDATION LAUNCHES WELL-BEING SERVICE
The New Zealand Music Foundation, which provides support to music industry members in times of illness, distress and hardship, has now launched what it calls the world’s first well-being service. It is staffed by professionals who will help those who ring them for help.
In a recent survey, NZ songwriters, composers and performers report having attempted suicide in their lifetime at a rate more than double that of the general population, and being diagnosed with a mental health disorder, almost double the incidence in the general population.
TRIBUTES FOR TWO AUSSIE MUSICIANS
The late Cruel Sea / Widdershins guitarist James Cruickshank has a record inspired by him. Where James Once Played was written by Melbourne outfit Lost Ragas on the day that the 53-year old passed away 12 months ago. The single uses artwork designed by Cruickshank.
Twenty Tasmanian acts gathered last Sunday in North Hobart’s Republic Bar for Bev With Kev, to mark what would have been the 56th birthday of Kevin Gleeson. His passing away in April after a series of health issues was mourned by the local industry, Gleeson was a passionate supporter, in his role as mentor, sound engineer and booker.
ONLINE TAX FOR MUSIC IN NZ
The so-called Netflix Tax has begun in New Zealand. It applies to online music buys (as well as books and video downloads) made by Kiwis from platforms outside NZ.
BRISBANE MAYOR’S FELLOWSHIP HELPS ACTS
The Lord Mayor’s Young and Emerging Artists Fellowships support young and emerging Brisbane artists and arts workers aged between 17 and 30, for up to $20,000.
There are two funding streams. International Network is to complete training and professional creative development programs. Sister Cities Network is for creative development in any of Brisbane’s nine sister cities – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Auckland, Daejeon in Korea, Hyderabad in India, Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Kobe in Japan, Semarang in Indonesia and Chongqing and Shenzhen in China.
Applications close on Monday October 24, more details at Brisbane City Council’s grants and awards web page or phone Council on 07 3403 8888.
GABRIELLA COHEN PLAYS ABROAD
Melbourne psychedelic pop singer-songwriter Gabriella Cohen extends her A Crepe & a Nightcap Tour to seven shows in Manchester, London, LA, New York and Toronto between October 29 and November 15. She returns immediately to conclude seven Australian shows from November 17 to December 9. These include slots at the Queenscliff Music Festival.
Cohen, who impressed with her debut album, is also a finalist for the Development Award in the Melbourne Prize for Music. The winner is announced at a showcase at Federation Square on Wednesday, November 9.
NEW ENTERTAINMENT TV SERIES FOR NZ
Blue Bach Productions is to begin work on a 10-part TV series called My Party Song. It pays homage to the Maori and western pop sing-a-longs that Kiwis kick back to when they get together in past decades.
The Modern Māori Quartet is made up of a number of Kiwi musicians who will present the songs, explain the song’s background, interview the talent involved, and will be joined by guests as Stan Walker, Troy Kingi, Ria Hall and Jan Hellriegel. The series is directed by Tainui Stephens and produced by Libby Hakaraia.
MORE AUSSIES EMBRACING PODCASTS, AND FOR LONGER
Aussies’ love affair with podcasts is growing, listening to an average of 5.5 podcasts per week. One in five (19%) listen up to eleven a week. One in three make it a point to check out new podcasts a week, mostly from word-of-mouth recommendation.
The Audience Insight Survey was done on the ABC Yourspace with 1100 respondents. One in two listen on smartphones (rising to 70% of the 14-34 demo), mostly to news, current affairs and politics (59%), usually in the evenings (47%) or afternoons (44%) and usually at home (76%). They are keen listeners: 80% listen to the whole thing. Most of the respondents had been listening for at least three years.
LENNON MUSICAL TAKES YOU DOWN
An unsung Australian music export is actor John Waters and Sydney pianist/ composer Stewart D’Arrietta’s Lennon – Looking Through A Glass Onion stage show of conversation and 31 songs. It appeared 25 years ago, for a limited run on the small stage of Sydney’s Tilbury Hotel. Last year it staged in New York (with the blessing of Yoko Ono and the Lennon estate) and London. It now returns to the Sydney Opera House’s Playhouse Theatre from January 31 to February 5.
HOW FARNHAM’S ‘WHOOAAH’ ALMOST NEVER HAPPENED
In former Rolling Stone Australia Editor-turned-prolific author Jeff Apter’s latest tome, an unauthorised look on John Farnham, called Playing to Win, he reveals his major comeback in the 1980s almost didn’t happen.
No record company would touch him, so manager Glenn Wheatley mortgaged his house. Whispering Jack was completed but everyone involved knew it needed a killer track. Someone suggested a song You’re The Voice which a publisher had sent in and which had been stuck away in a drawer for six months.
Wheatley then sent it out to radio stations as a white label copy (ie, without Farnham’s name) and it got airplay which made it one of the biggest selling Australian singles and the album the biggest seller of all time.
NUMBER CRUNCHING
20 million listeners and 5 billion spins for Pandora’s Thumbprint Radio a year after launch. A playlist reflects the user’s thumbing history. Listeners tune in 3 times a week on average.
75% of readers of the Toowoomba Chronicle unhappy about the 91-year call sign 4GR now rebranded to Triple M.
22 days extra to be spent by Aussies online this year, according to NBN. 73% go online when watching TV, 34% when cooking, 33% when on the loo and 28% when we wake at night.
VALE
* Adelaide comedian, actor and filmmaker Dave Flanagan was also the breakfast announcer at Triple M Adelaide for four years between 1997 and 2001. Over 26 years, his Comedy Cellar taught and mentored generations of comedians, while his Stand Up With Confidence course instilled strength in unemployment people going for jobs. Dave Flanagan passed after a short battle with lung cancer aged 66.
* Don Crawford studied for radio at Clarke Sinclair’s 3SA radio school. He worked on 3GL, 3AK, 3AW and 3MP before changing his career to that of being a comedian and entertainer. He moved to Bangkok where, after a lengthy illness, he died aged 54.
* Tony Williams was a New Zealand pop singer. A 13-month stay in hospital as a child for a back injury caused him to develop his guitar skills, which lead him to form The Housewarmers at school in 1956, and then The Tremelos. In 1976, Rose Can I Share a Bed with You went gold, while You’re the One I Sing My Love Songs To (1977) was another hit. In 2010 he was awarded the NZ Order of Merit for services to entertainment. Tony Williams was 77 when he passed.
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS …
Is Nine Network about to announce The Veronicas as replacement for The Madden Bros on the judging panel on The Voice?
The sale of iconic Sydney label and publishing company Alberts to BMG has been completed by the legal firm of Norton Rose Fulbright. The team was lead by partner Ben Smits, Australian Lawyer revealed.
Airbourne’s Joel O’Keeffe had to finish off the band’s encore at a Canadian show at CJ’s Nightclub in Kamloops, British Columbia, in a chair after taking a tumble onstage. In the meantime, the band’s Breakin’ Outta Hell debuted in the UK at #9, their highest spot, and debuted at #3 in Germany.
AC/DC’s Phil Rudd was advised by his doctors to postpone a UK press tour behind his solo album Head Job to allow him more time to recover from his recent heart attack.
Live streaming app Meerkat, the darling of SXSW in 2015 until Periscope arrived, has been pulled from Apple’s App Store. Its owner Life On Air is moving on with a new app called Houseparty, a group video chat app.
Griffith University School of Cultural Research is doing research on the making and consuming music in regional areas of those in the 14 to 30 age group. It is looking for people to interview, contact Lisa Nikulinsky on lisa.nikulinsky@griffithuni.edu.au.
Anthony Albanese aka DJ Albo’s knowledge of music saw him pick up the gold record winning trophy on Sunday night’s Big Musical Quiz. In the meantime, Sydney band Sticky Fingers revealed how he helped out when they ran into visa problems for their first US tour last year (they had to be approved in 24 hours or it had to be cancelled). Albanese was their local MP. He was also a fan of the band, and quickly rang US Ambassador to Australia John Berry to fix it pronto.
Lime Cordiale notched up 1.1 million hits on Spotify with their last single Hanging Upside Down. Their new one Waking Up Easy has a cameo from Sydney model Emily Jean.
The band recalled, “We ran into a lot of luck creating this video. It was directed by our long-term mate, Matthew Jenkin. Matt had just finished working with Matilda Brown on her upcoming series. We convinced Matilda’s entire crew to come shoot our video at their wrap party, and started the next week. We had a pro DOP, the best underwater cameraman and a drone operator all helping out because they wanted to support us. Just a bunch of legends.”
Former 92.5 Gold FM Gold Coast breakfast radio host Richard Fowler, 61, married Sherie Malcolm, 50, before 40 guests on the Coast on the weekend. Broadcasting colleagues Adrian “AJ” Johnston and Ian Cousins shared celebrant duties, Fowler explaining he went for two because “I didn’t trust either not to be late”.
Australia has also been invited again to be part of The Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Malta in November. The entry, chosen by SBS, is 12-year old Alexa Curtis who won The Voice Kids Australia in 2014.
Tasmanian electrical and communications company Russell-Smith has ceased trading, after being placed in the hands of external managers Jirsch Sutherland last September Twenty staffers have lost their jobs.
When singer-songwriter Wes Carr was being interviewed on NXFM’s Nick and Sophie, Nick mentioned he’d written a song about a friend with a terminal illness who was considering euthanasia, he had Carr in his mind to sing it. After the interview, Sophie and show producer Caitlyn Sheehan contacted Carr and asked him to record the song – which they then played to a stunned Nick.
Jobs
