New Signings & Team-Ups: April 4

BUSBY MAROU FACE AND SOUND OF TOURISM CAMPAIGN

North Queensland duo Busby Marou are the face and sound of the new Tourism and Events Queensland campaign.

Their ‘Beautiful One Day, Perfect The Next’ is back as part of a new campaign to launch to coincide with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“Thomas Busby and Jeremy Marou are not only two of Australia’s most popular musicians, they are authentic Queenslanders who perfectly symbolise our enviable way of life.” said Kate Jones, tourism industry development minister.

Added Thomas Busby, “This was so much fun and an experience we’re so proud to be a part of.

“We love being Queenslanders and love sharing it’s beauty, so for us, this is the easiest job the world.”

Busby Marou’s current album Postcards From The Shellhouse debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts and they sold 3,000 tickets to their inaugural One Hot Night festival in Rockhampton.

They embark on a 13-date three-state run in autumn, kicking off on Thursday May 10 at Mt Pleasant Hotel in Mackay and winding up on Saturday June 2 at the Spotted Cow in  Toowoomba.

123 AGENCY GET BITTEN BY SOPHISTICATED DINGO

123 Agency signed up cheeky garage surf pop Melbourne outfit Sophisticated Dingo, and have wasted no time putting the doggies on the road behind their thrash punk new single ‘Yuppie’.

The band are no fans of yuppies. They say they “make inner city living a drag.

“They push up the prices of avocado let alone housing!

“Bread is no longer something you toast but something you have to source from an artisan bakery and don’t even get me started on coffee!”

In fact the song was inspired from band member Jimmy’s experiences working 11 hour shifts at a café with demanding (read: whiney) customers

Says Lewis, “Cafe-goers complaining about having to settle for dark rye when light-rye wasn’t available, complaints about the music being too loud, and baristas being forced to froth 3 different types of milk at once all for some fuckwit who wants it served with a shot of decaf!”

The single is launched at Oxford Art Factory, Sydney (Saturday April 21) and The Gasometer, Melbourne (Thursday May 17).

VALLIS ALPS SIGN WITH NATIVE TONGUE & NINJA TUNE

Electro duo Vallis Alps have inked new deals with Native Tongue Publishing and Ninja Tune.

This morning it was announced that deals had been struck with English independent Ninja Tune publishing, and independent ANZ-based publisher Native Tongue.

“When I first heard Young I had to learn more about Vallis Alps. Who had written this song that is at once a chill-out classic and festival anthem?” said Native Tongue’s Jamie Gough said.

“Parissa Tosif and David Ansari was the answer. Together, they make perfect ear-worms and we are very excited to welcome this talented duo to the family.”

“We are super excited to join the Native Tongue family and are honoured to be sitting alongside some of our favourite musicians,” added Vallis Alps.

GWEN STEFANI TO LAUNCH COSMETICS LINE

Word from the US is that Gwen Stefani is quietly trademarking her first cosmetics line, apparently called P8NT (pronounced: paint).

It will include a wide range of makeup and skincare including lipsticks, nail polishes, powders, fragrances, hair dye, sunscreen and moisturizers.

It’s not the first time she’s dipped a pedicured toe in the wunnerful world of fashion.

In 2015, she teamed with Urban Decay for her UD x Gwen Stefani collection.

RCA OFFERED $15M FOR HIP HOP ACT?

RCA finalised a recording deal with 15-person US hip-hop collective Brockhampton who call themselves “the internet’s first boy band”.

They’ve self-released four albums and a feature movie through their own label Question Everything, Inc. It’s not known if the RCA deal includes solo releases.

A source close to the negotiations blabbed to Billboard that RCA thought enough of their commercial potential to fork out $15 million for six albums over three years – and this does not include touring or merchandise.

As the fortunes of the recorded music industry re-escalate, labels are starting to pay big sums to acts.

Billboard noted that in March, Interscope signed Juice WRLD with a $3 million joint venture deal.

Warner Bros Records paid $8 million to get back teen act Lil Pump.

But in this case he’d had a massive hit with ‘Gucci Gang’ when Warner Bros was told by his reps that the original contract was void as the label had signed him when he was underage and failed to certify it properly in court.

NATIVE TONGUE LANDS PROJECTS

In the latest edition of its regular newsletter, ANZ publisher Native Tongue provided updates of its composers latest works.

Sam Scott, Luke Buda and Conrad Wedde are currently finishing up work on Season 3 of Netflix’s Skylanders Academy, after successfully completing Seasons 1 & 2.

The trailer for documentary, The Will To Fly, featuring Tom Rouch’s compositions was screened during the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Native Tongue has placed a number of songs in the film The Breaker Upperers, and also features some composed works by Jeremy Toy.

DOWNTOWN GOES DUTCH WITH MR. PROBZ

Downtown struck a worldwide deal with Dutch producer, artist and songwriter Mr. Probz.

His 2014 track ‘Waves’ reached #3 in both Australia, and New Zealand #1 in the US and UK (where it sold 800,000 units) and through Europe.

He most recently performed in Australia at the Stereosonic festival.

The Downtown deal covers previous collaborations with Armin van Buuren and Anderson Paak, and an upcoming EP which features the single ‘Space For Two’.

UKARIA DEAL TO HELP MUSICIANS

The Australia Council is calling for applications for a residency offered for the first time as part of a partnership between the Australia Council and UKARIA Cultural Centre in Adelaide.

The successful applicants will spend up to 10 days in residence at the Centre, with access to facilities including a state-of-the-art recital centre, and adjacent accommodation in the Adelaide Hills.

The residency is open to artistic teams led by Australian musicians and composers seeking to develop new creative projects.

Teams may be multi-disciplinary groups of up to 10 artists, but must be led by musicians and/or composers.

Successful applicants will also be provided with cash support of up to $10,000 to assist with travel and per diems

UKARIA is ideally located in Mt Barker, 30 minutes from Adelaide, a designated UNESCO City of Music.

Australia Council CEO Tony Grybowski said; “UKARIA provides an ideal setting for groups of multidisciplinary artists to collaborate and develop new work.

“We’re delighted to partner with UKARIA to offer this residency, which is a fantastic example of how such partnerships can open up new possibilities and opportunities for Australian artists.”

Alison Beare, CEO of UKARIA added; “UKARIA aspires to play a role in shaping Australia’s national identity by being known as a place where new work is born and where artistic collaborations result in new ideas, new experiences and unexpected outcomes.

“We’re very pleased to be working with the Australia Council to support Australian artists realise their artistic ambitions.”

Applications close on April 20, go to australiacouncil.gov.au.

FOXTEL MUSIC BOOKS IN AT THE Y.M.C.A.

In a first for the Australian fitness industry, Foxtel Music and YMCA Victoria partnered to deliver a music service to YMCA-managed recreation facilities throughout Victoria.

18 million visitors attend YMCA facilities in the state each month.

It rolls out initially in 15 sites across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Troy Walker, health and wellness manager at YMCA Victoria said, “Until now, our approach to music programming has been inconsistent throughout centres.

“In working with Foxtel Business to implement Foxtel Music, we can now deliver playlists researched specifically for our communities, playing a range of music styles throughout the day, in the right location, for the right audience.”

TOM WAITS FOR NO ONE

Cooking Vinyl Australia will re-release Tom Waits’ 1970s Asylum catalogue, as part of a deal struck overseas with Anti.

The deal covers Waits’ first seven albums – many of which have been long out of print – are to be re-released on hi quality 180-gram vinyl throughout 2018.

Additionally, the Tom Waits Web Store will exclusively offer limited editions of 1000 clear 180-gram vinyl per title in the US and 1000 180-gram moss green vinyl in Europe.

To coincide with all these catalogue re-releases, Waits has personally curated a 76-song playlist spanning his entire career via Spotify and Apple Music..

SNEAKING OUT WITH A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

A team-up with Vans, A Tribe Called Quest and Sony Music’s merchandising company The Thread Shop sees the release of a range of sneakers with visuals based on their album covers and lyrics through the lyrics.

The collection includes Slip-On, UltraRange, Old Skool, Authentic, Sk8-Hi and Era in bold colors and prints

The range launched with a pop-up in New York last week and goes global from April 6.

RESERVOIR DEALS WITH CARLA MARIE WILLIAMS

Reservoir signed Ivor Novello and Grammy-nominated writer-producer Carla Marie Williams.

The British singer songwriter has notched up hits in the US and UK working with Beyonce, Britney Spears, Girls Aloud, Naughty Boys, Kylie Minogue and Paloma Faith.

But Williams is equally known for her success in her mission to unearth female talent. Her first EP All My Girls featured a range of young female singers on songs she wrote and produced.

In 2016, she founded Girls I Rate to provide female empowerment for those in the creative industries.

It encourage equality, education, and collaboration between women, as holds songwriting camps for unknown female creatives.

QUEENSLAND MUSIC AWARDS LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS

Work has begun on the Queensland Music Awards (Monday May 14, Brisbane Showgrounds) and organiser Q Music is looking for volunteers to help out.

Jobs include assistant to the event manager, registrations, stage hands, green room artist and presenter liaisons, backstage manager and mpre.

Look at QMusic’s website for full list.

TOYOTA TOOK OVER GOLD FM

As part of its launch of its latest Camry model, Toyota last week took over the entire advertising on Australian Radio Network’s Gold FM network

To emphasise the “defy expectations” theme, breakfast hosts Brendan ‘Jonesy’ Jones and Amanda Keller presented stories about Australian professionals, sportspeople and artists who have ‘defied’ expectations.