Industrial Strength: Part 2

GOLD COAST TO TRIAL 24 HOUR PARTY

With the spectre of lockout laws in Queensland gone, the nightlife community are trying to revive the lost economy.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is calling for a three-month trial during next year’s Commonwealth Games where bars, nightclubs and music venues can serve drinks 24/7 along the entire coast. He says it would be economically beneficial to venues as cashed-up tourists arrive.

Surfers Paradise Alliance CEO Mike Winlaw totally agrees with the idea but is emphatic that the venues earn their privilege. Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek suggests the trial should be for ten days.

It’s also reported that some nightclubs, such as Sin City, Bedroom, Avenue, Shooters and Underground, have installed ID scanners well before the July 1 deadline, and started to red-flag pests. Another half a dozen will install them in coming weeks, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

After the deadline, any club that allows a patron to enter without going through the scanner will cop a $1219 fine.

CROWDDJ SEEKING OVERSEAS MARKET

Having now been installed in 5000 venues across Australia, the Australian made app crowdDJ might be entering the international market. It allows customers to choose their own music (courtesy a partnership with Spotify) at a range of venues including gyms, cafes and live music venues.

David O’Rourke, CEO of the app’s Brisbane-based parent Nightlife, says that having proved itself here, it’s investigating opportunities for the jukebox-style service in Europe and the US.

COOPERS IN DAMAGE CONTROL

One of the most admired brands within the Australian music industry, South Australia’s Coopers Brewery – known for its sponsorship of live music events in SA and nationally – was this week in damage control.

Its woes began when it issued 10,000 cartons of a special release beer for the Bible Society of Australia’s 200^th anniversary. The charity also issued a Keeping it Light” debate between gay agnostic Liberal MP Tim Wilson and his Christian conservative colleague Andrew Hastie about marriage equality.

Coopers initially said it was a “light-hearted but balanced debate about an important topic within Australia”.

But after a social media backlash over its supposed religious affiliations and several venues pulling out of stocking its product, Coopers insisted it had nothing to do with the video and that it gave no permission for its beer to be featured in the video.

“We respect the beliefs of our community and do not wish to try and change them,” it said in a statement.

Coopers’ sponsorship has included the gay and lesbian Feast Festival.

DOORS OPEN #1: MARLEN BEQUEST SCHOLARSHIP

Applications are now open for The Marten Bequest scholarships, to be delivered for the first time by the Australia Council for the Arts in a three-year partnership with Perpetual.

This year, the scholarships – worth a total of $600,000 – will support 12 successful artists across six categories. The music component covers instrumental music and singing. Applications close Monday April 10.

DOORS OPEN #2: RADIO AWARDS

Entries have opened until May 19 for the 33 categories of the 29^th Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs). They are held this year at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday, October 14 before 1000 identities from the radio sector.

NO SLEEP ‘TIL EDINBURGH

Arts SA is putting its hand in its wallet to financially help South Australian acts heading to Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival this August.

They can apply for a top-up grant of $2000 for individuals and $5000 for groups to help with costs. For the first time, an act that performed at the Adelaide Fringe and planning to register for the Edinburgh love-in will be eligible to win the $10,000 Made in Adelaide award. The aim is to help acts build an international profile.

More than 90 artists, presenters, producers, home companies and festival directors travelled as part of the 2016 Made in Adelaide delegation. Some tour bookings and negotiations began as a result.

ANZ STADIUM HOSTS 250,000 MUSIC FANS IN A WEEK

ANZ Stadium in Sydney reports hosting 250,000 music fans at three concerts in one week.

Two Adele shows (March 10, 11) drew a total of 190,000. Venue operators said they were “two of the biggest events held at the Stadium since the Sydney 2000 Olympics.”

To coincide, the Sydney Olympic Park precinct pumped it up for fans with international-themed food stalls, red carpet welcomes, photo-walls, Adele-themed trivia challenges, vox pops and other pre-show experiences.

Justin Bieber is drawing 70,000 to the stadium on Wednesday.

Aside from Adele, only three acts have exceeded Bieber’s figures at the venue. Taylor Swift did 78,000 in 2015;U2 drew 77,000 and 76,000 over two shows in 2006;AC/DC did three dates there during their 2010 run: 76,000, 72,000 and 67,000.

DARWIN DEALS WITH ASSAULTS

Among strategies used to deal with Darwin’s street violence in entertainment precincts, the CBD Working Group has recommended that club security should be given powers to also deal with fights outside their venues as these areas are not been policed properly. The idea has got approval from the Australian Hotels Association (NT) which says the idea should be trialled later this year at the cost of $40,000.

The Northern Territory Government is also considering buying back some liquor licences but as recently as last Friday, Attorney-General Natasha Fyles emphasised that the Government would not consider lockout laws.

SPRINGSTEEN GROSSES $50M

Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band’s run through Australia and New Zealand grossed A$50 million (US$38 million), according to Billboard figures. These were for seven Australian shows and two NZ stadium dates through Frontier Touring.

The trek began at Perth Arena, with three shows (Jan 22, 25, 27) each drawing 39,957. The Melbourne engagement, a stadium date at the 30,000-seat AAMI Park earned the top gross of $7.3 million from over 51,000 fans on Feb. 2 and 4. His other Victorian show at Hanging Rock drew a sell-out 19,644. The other outdoor show, at Hope Estate winery in Hunter Valley was also a sell-out.

Billboard noted that Springsteen has grossed over US$102 million in Australia and New Zealand on the three tours that have visited the continent during the past five years. More than 686,000 tickets were sold for 37 performances at 10 venues during that span.

Gross and attendance comparisons among the three tours show slightly higher averages on 2014’s High Hopes trek compared to Wrecking Ball and the recent Summer ’17 jaunt. This year’s revenue was an average $2.7 million and 18,500 attendance at each show. High Hopes was $2.9 million per show with an attendance average of 20,000.

The Wrecking Ball Tour in 2013 played four Australian markets with no stadium dates, averaging $2.5 million and about 15,000 fans per show.

SXSW TO DROP CONTROVERSIAL CLAUSE

Australian acts will no longer have to worry if they’ll be reported to US Immigration and face deportation if they play an unofficial show at SXSW.

The clause in the artists’ contract has been around for ages. But in the wake of President Donald Trump’s immigration rhetoric, punk band Told Slant pulled out in protest.

It blew up in SXSW’s face, and the next sound you heard was a screaming u-turn as the festival said it “strongly opposed” Trump’s immigration policies and that it would pull it off its contracts from 2018.

“In the 31 years of SXSW’s existence, we have never reported any artist or participant to any immigration agency.

“In this political climate, especially as it relates to immigration, we recognize the heightened importance of standing together against injustice.”

MINOGUE, CAVE, TRACKS MOVE

Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave are some of the acts whose overseas distribution has been moved by BMG to Warner Music Group’s ADA Worldwide. Altogether 95,000 tracks and 8,000 albums were shifted.

QMUSIC SETS UP INDUSTRY CONNECT

Peak Queensland music association QMusic has set up a new music program called Industry Connect. Its objective is to bring music industry professionals from around Australia to regional Queensland to help anyone interested in building a sustainable career in the music industry. It also provides showcase opportunities through the year for musicians, and offer travel grants to BIGSOUND in September.

Among those who are confirmed are Huw Nolan (Good Manners label and management), music lawyer Jackson Walkden-Brown, John Mullen (Dew Process), Joe Alexander (Bedroom Suck Records), Ali Tomoana (Soul Has No Tempo management), Sarah Chipman (Title Track), Tim Price (Price War) and music license broker Tyler McLoughlan (The Sound Pound).

BRIZ31 CEASES TV BROADCAST, FOCUSES ONLINE

While Australia’s community TV stations were given a lifeline by the Federal Government until June 2017, Briz 31 decided it would be too expensive to TV broadcast and run online at the same time.

It went off air on February 28, with acting GM Sean Poole-Warren predicting it could get a wider audience reach online under its current name Queensland Online. Some current shows may have to move to a subscriber model.

AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…

• Will Sydney be one of the cities where the La La Land soundtrack tour will land on a world run?
• Neil Finn got three encores for his sunset appearance at the inaugural Port Beach Weekender in North Fremantle. In the meantime, his set under the full moon at the weekend’s Golden Plains in Victoria was considered pretty special by the crowd too.
• The former partner of The Audreys’ Taasha Coates appeared in Mt Barker Magistrates Court over assault and property damage charges. These stemmed from an argument the couple had at their home last October. The man claimed he had accidentally fallen over during the row.
• Australian metal band Gods Of Eden is offering five-day package tour to SE Asian metal festival Philippines Pulp Summerslam headlined by Megadeth next month before 25,000 fans. Email them at slamtoursgoe@gmail.com
• One of Newcastle’s best-known bands DV8 return on April 1 at Belmont 16 Footers for a reunion show, and to launch the DVD format of the video of their farewell show – at the same venue – in 1987 before 2000 punters. That show also yielded a two-set album,DV8 Live. Interestingly, the musicians who went on to form Screaming Jets can be seen in the film, either in the support act or standing wide-eyed in the crowd.
• A musical about Queensland’s controversial premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Joh For PM, runs July 7 – 15 at Brisbane Powerhouse, It was written by Brisbane playwright Stephen Carleton with an original score by Broadway composer Paul Hodge,
• With Sneaky Sound System spending three months of the year playing to thousands each Sunday on the Greek island of Mykonos, the Daily Telegraph’s real estate section reports that Connie Mitchell and Angus McDonald are looking at buying a place there. So Mitchell is on April 4 auctioning off for $850,000 her Potts Point one-room investment property which she bought off the plan for $670,000 seven years ago.
• Melbourne-born Gold Coast-based guitarist and singer Corey De Luka is battling kidney and lung cancer. Members of The Tea Party, Baby Animals and The Superjesus will play a benefit on April 15 at the Coolangatta Hotel.