Industrial Strength: Sia working on own doco; Telstra expands Apple Music deal; Sydney’s X Studio expanding; Metro Screen closing; Troye Sivan creates global music waves

Sia working on own documentary, movie

Buoyed by accolades for the Chandelier video which she directed, famously-private Adelaide-born Sia is working on a documentary about her life as well helming her first movie.

The documentary, to be made with her filmmaker husband Erik Anders Lang, has the working title Untitled Sia Documentary Project. Already in pre-production, it will be made through the newly-formed Los Angeles-based production company Pictures, Pictures, set up by Lang and producer Ryland Aldrich.

At the same time, she is also working on her first movie, to be directed and written by the hit singer-songwriter, about her collaborator, actress, dancer and model Maddie Ziegler who has appeared in her videos. It is based on a one-page story she wrote eight years ago but was too shy to do anything about until last year after the Chandelier video gave her the confidence.

Telstra expands Apple Music deal

Telstra is extending its association with Apple Music, now offering up to two years’ free access to Apple Music to its mobile customers. Its latest campaign is soundtracked with Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself. Last month, it offered 12 months free to Apple Music, weeks before it closed its own MOG streaming service after three years.

Joe Pollard, Telstra's GM of Media and Marketing, said recently, "When you combine Apple Music with Australia's best mobile network, you get a brilliant music experience that we know consumers will love. This is an incredibly exciting time for music lovers in Australia."

Wendy Bacon to keynote at CBAA conference

The Community Broadcasting Association (CBAA) announced award winning journalist and fervent activist Wendy Bacon as its keynote speaker. She will talk on the importance of community broadcasting in starting conversations and creating change, and nurturing an open society, strong democracy and vibrant culture in Australia.

Since the ‘70s, Bacon has been a seminal figure in Australia’s women's liberation, green bans and alternative journalism movements and was prisoned for some of her activities. She taught investigative journalism for 20 years at UTS as Professor of Journalism and was involved with 2SR.

Attendance up 10% for Noosa Jazz Festival

Attendance at the Noosa Jazz Festival was up 10% in the Noosa Heads Lions Park Festival Village where the main stage was, while the Noosa region drew 20,000 over the four days. Festival director Vickii Cotter told TMN that figures are still being collated as to the festival’s impact on the local economy.

Cotter and her team are already working on next September’s event, which marks its 25th year. “We'd love to bring out some well known international acts and we'd welcome suggestions on who people want to see!” she said. Future plans for growth include widening its demographic. “We have a large mix of patrons from 6 months to over 90! We are working on attracting the 25-34 year old market who want to relax and unwind with friends while listening to great music and we'd love to welcome more families too.” Noosa Jazz’s masterclasses are a traditional draw, this year the boogie woogie piano workshops by Clayton Doley and Jan Preston had strong turn-ups as did a Q&A with Colleen Hewitt.

Sydney’s X Studio expanding to Asia, UK

While Sydney studio, streaming broadcasting and music venue complex X Studio plans to celebrates its first anniversary by launching its social broadcasting app X Cast next month, owner and tech entrepreneur Ron Creevey is taking the brand more global. After last month’s announcement to open in Bali (just outside of Seminyak in a space that will hold 4,000 people) and Singapore in the next few months, London is targeted next year. One of two sites looked at is the famous Pinewood Studios. According to the Australian Financial Review, Creevey is also planning an initial public offer in London's Alternative Investment Market .

"London has a lot more tech companies listing than we do on the ASX,” he told the AFR. “We're a global player and it makes sense for us to be more aligned with what we're doing in London, and I've been way more successful at raising capital in London than Sydney."

Music offers at Antenna Film Fest

There are three music entries in the 47 films of the fifth Antenna Documentary Film Festival (Oct 13 to 18) in Sydney. B-Movie: Lust and Sound in West-Berlin is about the vibrant music and arts scene of 1980s West Berlin. No Land’s Song follows an Iranian female composer’s rebellious act to perform solo in public, banned since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Dominguinhos profiles legendary Brazilian composer, accordionist and singer José Domingos de Morais.

Tasmanian festival changes name

The biennial Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival on the island’s West Coast rebranded The Unconformity when it stages in October 2016. The festival’s board said that Queenstown’s remote and isolated location and picturesque underground mining caverns and rainforests inspire musicians and artists to “cross over to a new reality” and “created a purpose on the West Coast when it needed it.” In the wake of the mine scale-down, the festival injected $500,000 to the economy through visitor spend and 100% occupancy in accommodation.

At the unveiling of the new concept at a gala night on Saturday night, organisers explained the name change as “the next step.” Part of the strategy is to attract a wider younger audience and give the region a greater national profile. Already confirmed for 2016 is a world-first percussion performance inside the Mt Lyell copper mine.

Aussie winners at global Unsigned Only comp

This year’s global US-based Unsigned Only competition saw Australians take out major wins. There were 7,000 entries from which 28 up-and-comers not signed to major labels or their affiliates were chosen.

The grand prize went to Australasian country duo, Jared Porter from Brisbane and Kaylee Bell from New Zealand for their song Pieces. They won $10,000 in cash and $20,000 in merchandise and services and will be mentored by top executives from US-based labels as Atlantic, Warner Bros, Sony Music Nashville, RCA, Capitol, Big Machine, Roc Nation, Vanguard, Sugar Hill and American Recordings. The pair were “so incredibly honoured and blown away to have won this award. We both are so proud of our song Pieces and will use this achievement for the better''.

Rita Satch of Melbourne won the Pop/Top 40 division and Lucy Lowe of Sydney took top honours of Screenshot. Second place listings went to Sydney’s Allie & Ivy in Adult Album Alternative, Kirrawee, NSW-based Day in the Christian section and Sydney’s Liam Burrows in Vocal Performance.

Honourable Mentions in various categories also went to Sydney’s Burrows, Lowe, Stone Parade, Wren, The Blackbird Collective, Danielle Deckard and Nova & The Experience, Albury’s Anna Mannering, Melbourne’s Satch, Jeremy Drakeford and Brooke Allan, and the Gold Coast’s Alabaster Box.

Metro Screen closing due to funding crisis

Not for profit film and TV training and development organisation Metro Screen will close in December after 34 years due to funding issues. It has failed to find alternative sources of funding after it lost its $240,000 grant from Screen Australia, which itself was hit by government budget cuts. It would need $750,000 to continue, CEO Christina Alvarez said.

Social media star Troye Sivan creates global music waves

Perth-based Troye Sivan has translated his huge social media presence into global chart action with his debut mini-album Wild. Time magazine hailed him as one of the world’s Top 25 most influential teenagers with 1.5 million followers on Facebook, 3 million on Twitter and 3.5 on YouTube. Aside from its #1 debut on the ARIA chart, it came into the US and UK charts at #5, and at #3 in New Zealand. According to EMI Music, it’s also #1 on iTunes in 57 countries and Top 10 on iTunes in 80 countries. The video for Wild hit 3 million views in its first week.

Sivan, who turned 20 in June, is the youngest local to hit #1 since Taylor Henderson (21) last year, and the 25th Australian male solo to do so. Wild is the 388th record to come straight in at #1 in Australia, said The Gavin Ryan Report.

Venues Update: arson grudge, evacuation, donations

* An arson attempt at Hobart’s Flamingos nightclub was perpetuated by a former patron with a grudge, a court heard. 47-year-old Lawrence Bernard Sullivan pleaded guilty to pouring petrol through the gay club’s front door and setting it on fire on Sunday May 15. His lawyer said Sullivan was a club regular until he was banned for “inappropriate” behaviour. He took revenge to “scare” club co-owner Gary Quilliam. He will be sentenced on September 22.

* Canberra’s music showcasing Hopscotch bar had to be evacuated for a few hours last Friday evening after fire broke out in kitchen flue.

* Law student Joshua Findley is suing Melbourne’s Curtin House for gender discrimination, because he was refused entry into Cookie for having "too many guys" in his group. The venue rejects his accusations.

* The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over Melbourne’s Palace Theatre, set for September 28, has been rescheduled for February 22 next year. The heritage expert to give evidence was going on holidays.

* Soda Factory in Sydney is hosting a Covers For A Cause on Wednesday September 16 to celebrate what would have been the week of Amy Winehouse’s 32nd birthday. Amali Ward and full band, Alyce Schulte & The Bad Bitch Choir, Vanessa Raspa, The Sweet Jelly Rolls and Gabby Bloom

will perform selections from the Winehouse catalogue.

* Ipswich, Queensland mayoral candidate Gary Duffy says the city will get a 20,000-seat stadium at North Ipswich Reserve if he is elected next year.

* 29 Wollongong venue owners donated $60,000 for a new play area with specially designed equipment to meet the needs of the 108 students with disabilities at Para Meadows School in North Wollongong.

Deadline for WA Creative Industry grants

The deadline for applications to the Department of Culture and the Arts is Thursday October 8, for activities beginning after February 1, 2016. These help support the creative and commercial activities of musicians and acts and encourage new business on local, national and international levels.

Commercial Development supports musicians and businesses to access new markets and audiences.

The Skills Development category is for those wanting industry experience or collaborate with other industry folk in WA, nationally and internationally.

Sector Development covers strategies with clear commercial and creative benefits for participants and the contemporary music industry as a whole.

Creative Industries Travel Assistance contributes towards travel, freight and accommodation costs for WA musicians, designers and industry professionals to research new markets or attend relevant industry events that have strategic significance to the development or promotion of career/business.

Tasmania’s Basin Concert back on with new sponsor

After cancelling Launceston’s Basin Concert weeks back, promoter Clint Pease of OpCon said it is going ahead after a new sponsor stepped forward. It will be held January 9 at the Cataract Gorge. The lineup is unveiled on September 22. The Basin Concert ran 1970 to 2000 and was revived this year. In August it missed out on council funding.

While Basin’s future was up in the air, Vibestown Productions, the team behind Party in the Paddock, planned to run its own show at the Gorge.

Number Crunching

$2.7 million how much Pandora would have lost on its ad-free day to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

1.6 million impressions, according to Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings and 90,200 unique audience for the finale of Nine’s The Voice.

£45,000 successfully raised for a Bon Scott statue in Kirriemuir, Scotland, where he was born.

3.1 offered by bookies that Sam Smith will top the UK charts with the Bond movie Spectre theme Writing's On The Wall.

ABC launches iview Arts channel

The ABC is this week launching the iview Arts channel. It kicks off with 70 titles and 35 hours of curated arts programming including documentaries, short form commissions, daily arts news, classic clips from the ABC archive and cult arts shows from around the world. The idea will test the waters for future IP channels.

Last week the ABC premiered its Tuesday 9.30 pm show Artsville covering six documentaries.

Foxtel to express Jimmy Kimmel Live

US late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live, which has a large coverage of live music, will be expressed to Australia. From September 22, Foxtel screens it Tuesdays to Fridays at 6.30pm on The Comedy Channel.

Vale

One of the best classical radio voices heard in Queensland, Howard Ainsworth spent 27 years on ABC Radio from 1963 before taking on Broadcast Manager duties for 4MBS Classic FM. He was awarded an Order Of Australia in 2011.

And A Few Other Things …

Jessica Mauboy is heading off to the UK for two months to tackle that market. In Australia, aside from new single This Ain’t Love, she also released her own fragrance Be Beautiful which she says was inspired by hometown Darwin.

Crowded House donated their 1995 rarity Help Is Coming to the Save the Children organization’s aid to Syrian refugees. It is included in Mat Whitecross’ short film about how half the refugees are children. The track is released as a vinyl single in the UK on September 28 with artwork by bassist Nick Seymour and as a download on iTunes.

The success of the inaugural Outlet Music Festival in Beachport, SA, last year has led Cement Events to move it to a larger area. This Boxing Day it goes from Beachport Hotel to the Port MacDonnell Foreshore.

Australasian hip hop artist Hau Latukefu new single KILL.I.AM from debut solo album The No End Theory poses a question to will.i.am: how much will you sell-out to the devil to make money?

The $37.5 million redevelopment of the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct, set to begin in February, could get a purpose-built amphitheatre for concerts and events. It will have a flexible capacity ranging from 5000 to 850.

One of three films green-lighted by Screen Australia is Neil Triffett’s Emo The Musical, about a secret affair between a brooding Satan-loving emo boy and a happy bubbly Christian girl at high school. Triffett has written 19 songs for the extended feature film (it began as a short in 2013) and may collaborate with Australian indie acts to flesh out the soundtrack.

A three-month long-distance relationship between PJ Harding of New Zealand’s ZM and Michael Batty of Sea FM Sunshine Coast ended In an awkward proposal on air. Harding suggested that they get married in Las Vegas this weekend – but on the proviso the nuptials be dissolved an hour later. Reason: they could go to the iHeartRadio music festival in Las Vegas.

Barry Gibb returned to Brisbane to witness the opening of the second stage of Bee Gees Way in Redcliffe north of Brisbane. The bayside Redcliffe is where the Gibb family lived when they first migrated from the UK. The 50-metre lane links Redcliffe Parade to Sutton Street and filled with memorabilia in a glass structure including a replica of their first record contract (signed in the town) and two statues depicting them in childhood and as adults. Thousands of fans from afar as Victoria and NSW were gathered from 7am for the 2pm ceremonial opening and a walk on Bee Gees Way. Gibb spent an hour jive taking with them after.

60s performer Rob E G turned Robie Porter the hit producer and co-founder of Wizard Records will be inducted into the Wall of Fame at NSW’s Parkes Elvis Festival Week.

A strange story is behind the current tour by Topology and Kransky Sisters doing just TV theme songs. Turns out the Kransksys grew up without a TV in their home because their mum thought it an “evil force”. None of them had a set as adults. Initially the plan was to do a set of songs from the radio. Topology came around to rehearse bringing their TV with them to watch a sports match. They accidentally left it behind and the Kransksys became acquainted with TV songs. They still have Topology’s TV.

The Cat Empire may have a reputation worldwide as an upbeat fun act. But not in Transylvania where an obscure slower number The Lost Song made the charts and led to an invite to play a castle there. The crowd must have been startled with their distinct lack of somber ballads in their set.