Industrial Strength: Part 1

APPLE MUSIC PLANNING TO BUNDLE TV CONTENT?

Rumours are that Apple is looking at the possibility of bundling video streaming with Apple Music. Apple is in talks with Hollywood studios about TV content says one report, while others suggest that Apple might just cut to the chase and buy HBO, home of Games of Thrones. The New York Post reported that Apple might go one step further and buy HBO parent company Time Warner, which would also give it CNN, HLN, TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network.

The word is that Apple’s negotiations with Hollywood is dragging because it wants 30% of all subscriptions, and Hollywood isn’t too happy with that.

QLD GOVT. TO DROP OR DELAY LOCKOUT LAWS?

After talking tough about introducing the second part of the state’s lockout laws on February 1, the Queensland Government may be having a rethink. It now says that it is waiting on the release this month of an interim report on the first lockout initiatives introduced midway through last year— including last drinks at 2am or 3am in nightclub precincts and a ban on shots after midnight.

If the report says these measures have reduced alcohol-fuelled assaults, then the second round –including a 2am closure – will be delayed or dumped altogether.

Brisbane City Council has backed the change in tack, saying that the second stage is unnecessary and is unfavourable for “the Queensland economy, for the Brisbane economy and for the Brisbane night-life scene,” said Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner.

Lobby groups as Cairns Safe Night Precinct and the Surfers Paradise Licensed Venues Association have asked for a 12-month delay in introducing Phase 2, presumably to give them time to offer compromises. This could include the installation of $10,000 ID scanners at entry doors to build a database of offenders.

Venue operators in Brisbane’s entertainment precinct Fortitude Valley have apparently already begun their discussions with the Government.

KEEP SYDNEY OPEN CALLS FOR RALLY, FRESH DIALOGUE

Irritated by NSW premier Mike Baird’s move to relax Sydney lockout laws by 30 minutes, Keep Sydney Open is calling for an evening rally in Kings Cross this weekend (Jan 21) to send an appeal that the law be completely dumped, and that protest groups begin a dialogue about smart solutions given the Government’s lack of leadership on the issue.

KSO’s Campaign Director Tyson Koh says, “We want smart and innovative policies that will make Sydney a world-leading city for culture, entertainment, and nightlife, and if the government isnʼt interested in that outcome, then weʼll start doing it without them.”

KSO has offered to work with the Premier on ending the impasse. Its strategies include smarter policing, 24-hour public transport, integrated urban planning reform, diversification of after-dark activities, anti-violence education & intervention campaigns, incentivising well-run venues, and appointing a Night Mayor or office to manage Sydney’s night-time economy.

Flight Facilities will be DJing at the rally, and will undoubtedly recall how they met at the Cross nine years ago and played early gigs at Hugo’s, one of the first victims of the lockouts.

CHENEY, JAMIESON, STAR IN ‘AMERICAN IDIOT’

The Living End’s Chris Cheney and Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson star in the Australian premiere season of Green Day’s American Idiot musical. It starts at the Playhouse in Brisbane from February 23. The two rockers share the featured role of rebellious and charismatic St Jimmy.

Cheney, meanwhile, has been added to the Sydney bill of the global Celebrating David Bowie concert. Held on Sunday January 29 and Monday January 30, the show at the Sydney Opera House includes Bernard Fanning, Sarah Blasko and Paul Dempsey.

20 MORE AUSSIE ACTS INVITED TO SXSW

20 more Australian acts were among the latest 498 global acts invited to play South By Southwest in Texas. Melbourne had the largest contingent, with nine. They were Slum Sociable, Sui Zhen, Japanese Wallpaper, Tim Wheatley, Slow Dancer, The Elliotts, WILSN, Woodes and Totally Mild.

Sydney had seven, with All Our Exes Live In Texas, The Rumjacks, Starley, Food Court, Black Rheno, Castlecomer and ELSZ. The others were Tkay Maidza and Coconut Kids from Adelaide, Cameron Avery from Perth and Beth Brown from Newcastle. So far 450 Aussie executives signed on to attend, while 39 acts have confirmed.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN MOVIE

Given their stand-out music videos, it was inevitable that Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore would be thinking about an Empire of the Sun movie.

Steele teased the big screen venture during a triple j interview, suggesting that top of their wishlist for directors was Oscar-winning Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu.

“I actually ran into Alejandro, director of The Revenant, I met him the other day, he was really sweet, gave him my number, he actually lost it the paper but then I went back to the restaurant next week and he said his wife called up and went back to get my number again, so hopefully he gives us a call and wants to direct the Empire movie.”

STARLEY REACHES 100M SPOTIFY STREAMS, ENTERS UK TOP 10

Sydney dance pop singer songwriter Starley’s debut single Call On Me (Ryan Riback remix) has reached 100 million streams on Spotify. “That’s insanity” she quipped, adding, “Thank you so much for the best (Christmas) gift ever.”

The track, which is Top 15 in Australia, has also caused waves abroad. It has just entered the UK Top 10, after peaking #1 on the Swedish chart, #9 in New Zealand, #13 in Czech Republic and #23 in Slovakia. Last year, it dipped into the lower end of the US Hot 100 after influential blogger Perez Hilton dubbed it “one of the best songs of 2016!!”

SOUTH AFRICA’S GROOT SERVICE EYING OZ

South Africa’s white label music platform Allexis has launched a new music service, Groot Tunes, which it plans to debut in Australia later this year. Groot has one of the world’s largest collections of Afrikaans repertoire as well as content from Universal and Warner, with more in the pipeline.

It has currently 6 million tracks and will set up a base in the UK shortly, followed by Australia and the United States most likely in the second half of 2017.

TASMANIAN REGIONAL ARTS TO CLOSE?

Tasmanian Regional Arts (TRA) is staring down the barrel at closing after 70 years after failing to secure state funding. Annette Downs, Chair of the island state’s peak regional arts association, said it had been looking at options after being unsuccessful in gaining $150,000 of core funding for 2017. This came after a Government review of its grants distribution. The closure of TRA also puts a question mark on events such as Launceston’s Junction Arts Festival.

LIGHTING STRIKES FOR DARREN MIDDLETON

When former Powderfinger guitarist Darren Middleton decided to post his song Lightning Halos on Facebook to encourage people to add their voices to the chorus, he expected 20 people to respond. 88,000 people sent in entries from all over the world, 99% of which he says were used on the track, blending them all in with the help of producer Marty Brown.

“There were school children church choirs, people around a campfire… people just want to connect.” The choir got a live singalong when Middleton played at Falls Festival in Lorne on December 30.

CANBERRA ARTS SECTOR PROTESTS FUNDING CUTS …

Over 80 members of Canberra’s arts sector have protested to the ACT Government over $500,000 of reduced funding, as reported by The Canberra Times. 14 projects will share in about $250,000 of funding through artsACT in 2017, compared to around $730,000 in 2016. The arts sector said this was the biggest drop in 10 to 15 years.

…BUT GIRLS ROCK! IS SET FOR A RETURN

Girls Rock!, Canberra’s contemporary music mentorship program, will return for a second year after securing ACT Government financial support. It was the only music group to do so in its 2117 Arts Project Funding, securing a funding total of $24,689.

It will be held for a second year on July 10-15 at Ainslie Arts Centre. It serves as a safe work camp for girls aged 10—17 to gain self-confidence and purpose by expressing themselves through music. Participants form their own band, learn an instrument, watch live music sets and take part in workshops – like making zines and screen printing band t-shirts – while also writing an original song to be performed at the end of the week with mentors.

IMPALA’S AVERY PREPS DEBUT SOLO ALBUM

While Tame Impala takes a gap year in 2017, its multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Cameron Avery is prepping his debut solo album. Titled Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams, it is due for release on March 10.

Based in New York after a stint in Los Angeles, Avery says “I wanted to make something that sounded like the old records I love — Johnny Hartman, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Sarah Vaughan, Etta James — the big band stuff with less metaphorical lyrics.”

HOLIDAY RATINGS

New Year’s Eve’s Hoodoo Gurus Live on ABC-TV drew 720,000, the second highest rating show of the night. It was beaten only by the ABC’s midnight fireworks broadcast which drew 1.17 million. The Gurus were #2 with the 25—54, 18—49 and 16—39 demographics.

The Christmas Day Royal Variety Performance with Barry Gibb and Lady Gaga drew 500,000 metro viewers for the ABC. Woolworth’s Carols In The Domain (7 Network) got 209,000, while Andre Rieu’s Christmas In London drew 177,000 for SBS.

SIX BOROUGHS MOVES

Six Boroughs Media has moved to Level 5, 292 King Street, Newtown NSW 2042. Their mobile phone numbers have not changed.

BOOK REVIEW #1: DIG

In his fourth book, music scribe David Nichols takes on his most ambitious project – an irreverent history of Australian rock/pop music between 1960 and 1985. After starting work on the book in 2007, the research is exhaustive, drawing on sources of that time (Go-Set, Juke) and his own interviews.

Nichols named the tome Dig (published by Verse Chorus Press) to encourage readers to dig a bit further to find the unknown geniuses. For him, they include Pip Proud, Lobby Loyde, Billy Green of Dough Parkinson in Focus, Gulliver Smith, Reels, The Moodists and McKenzie’s Theory, among others.

Nichols argues that ’Australian’ is not an ethnicity or a language, thus its cultural touchstones are a lot less fixed. He says that Australia was part of the music globe almost from the start, and dismisses the notion that Australian music was highly derivative until the 1970s. The rise of indigenous and multiculturalism in music are themes that surface, along with many instances of great lost opportunities due to ego and/or drugs.

BOOK REVIEWS #2: GONEVILLE

Goneville (AWA Press) is a part-memoir and part-history by 58-year old Wellington based Radio New Zealand music reviewer and musician Nick Bollinger of NZ’s music scene in the 1970s. The son of two ardent peace activists, Bollinger was given his first record player at three and snuck into gigs in his early teens. He joined Rough Justice and toured in their bus for two years, a gateway to sex, drugs and rock and roll.

As insightful as it is affectionate, Goneville recalls a totally different era when music fans who were searching for radical new music had send away for imports through ads in music magazines sea-mailed from the UK. They could only buy a £2 postal note a day, so they’d go three times through the week to get £6. Once a record came in, friends would cram into their bedrooms to hear this latest exciting blast of creativity.

CAPITAL COUNTRY RADIO LAUNCHED

Australia’s latest online radio is Capital Country Radio, set up to address the problem of recognition and exposure for Australian country artists. It’s mixture of classic and new tracks is broadcast from Tamworth NSW.

The station is operated by the publishers of the Country Music Bulletin, and its Station Manager is Bob Kirchner.

Kirchner says: “Not that we have any issue with artists or music from overseas, much of it is very good. But the only reason foreign material dominates here is because of the sheer amount and the dominance of overseas based music labels pushing a global catalogue in our small market.”

WA MUSICIANS JOIN ROE-8 PROTEST CONCERT

Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker and The Waifs’ Donna Simpson joined Koi Child, POW! Negro and Grace Barbé for the Live! In The Wetlands concert.

The Beeliar Wetlands are in the way of the Roe 8 road extension project. Protesters have locked themselves in bulldozer yards for six hours, protesting the destruction of pristine woodlands and fearing for the safety of animals escaping the area.

KEITH URBAN TRACK TOPS THREE US CHARTS

Keith Urban notched up his 21st Number One on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with Blue Ain’t Your Color. Sales were up by 18% to 44.8 million audience impressions for the track to rise from #2 to #1 in its 20th week.

Blue Ain’t Your Color has also topped two other country music charts. One was Hot Country Songs after a 88% to 48,000 downloads in a week brought it to a total of 651,000 downloads to date. It also stormed Country Streaming Songs with 4.2 million streams in a week.

UNIFY “APPALLED” BY SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS

Organisers of Victorian hard rock festival Unify responded to allegations that a woman was sexually assaulted in the moshpit. Following her report to the police, Unify said “We’re working very closely with the authorities to assist the investigation and identify the perpetrator.”

The company added: “Sexual assault and harassment is something we absolutely do not tolerate. We are disgusted and appalled that anyone thinks this is an acceptable way to act.”

SIA, 3 BURNERS, SHAZAMED

Two Australians were the most Shazamed artists in 2016. Shazam uses your phone’s microphone to listen to your surroundings and help you identify a song. Sia’s Cheap Thrills topped the list, while at second was Kungs vs (Melbourne soul act) Cookin’ On 3 Burners’ This Girl.

Cheap Thrills was’ also MTV’s Most Played Video last year, with This Girl on the list alongside those of Twenty One Pilots, Calvin Harris, Beyonce, Justin Biever, DNCE, DJ Snake, Jonas Blue and Fifth Harmony.