New Signings & Team-Ups: Dec 1

Barely Dressed/ Remote Control take on Oh Pep!

Barely Dressed Records and Remote Control have brought on board Melbourne indie-folk duo Oh Pep!. Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs met at the Victorian College Of The Arts where they studied jazz and classical music respectively. Incorporating these styles with folk, they won awards at Folk Alliance Australia and played Stateside at the Americana Music Festival and CMJ. Their debut EP Living is out now.

REMI’s House of Beige moves a Man Made Mountain

REMI and Sensible J announced the second signing to their recently founded label House of Beige this morning, new Melbourne Hip Hop Duo, Man Made Mountain.

Comprised of The ARIA Award winning producer Billy Hoyle and vocalist Cazeaux O.S.L.O, Man Made Mountain’s debut EP is scheduled for release early in the new year.

Imagem push press on Basic Tape

Independent publisher Imagem has the global publishing rights with Paris-based electronic duo Basic Tape. Ben Emard and Sav Milot follow up 6.5 million SoundCloud plays with debut single Not Afraid, which blends elements of ’70s disco, contemporary house and soulful pop.

BMG tales on ELP catalogue

BMG has been assigned British prog-rockers Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) 40-million album selling catalogue. The deal covers all territories including Australia and New Zealand, but not Southeast Asia. The act released 17 albums from the early ‘70s, including Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery.

ARN brings in Big Mobile

Big Mobile, set up in 2006 to allow brands and agencies to harness the power of mobile marketing has gone into a deal with the Australian Radio Network. ARN will be available on display products including premium music, news & entertainment contextual categories, Big Mobile’s high impact OTP network, and its audience product Profile+. ARN COO Michael Harvey said: “ARN is constantly looking at ways to further improve its commercial offering and this partnership will allow advertisers more opportunity to access our premium digital inventory.”

Deezer adds a Ministry of Sound section

Ministry of Sound added a global page on Deezer which features its playlists and artists, video content from its Live From The Club series, and links to buy MoS’s audio products including headphones and speakers. It has similar pages on Spotify, Napster and Mixradio.

New cash prizes for QLD Music Awards

Bank Of Queensland has sponsored three new categories for emerging talent as part of the 2016 Queensland Music Awards. These are Most Promising Songwriting Team ($2000), Most Promising Male Songwriter ($1000) and

Most Promising Female Songwriter ($1000). It’s open to any songwriter who has been writing for a public audience for less than three years, has not had a song on high rotation on radio and not yet had a song or album in the ARIA Top 100.

Argentina’s Jaime Torres collaborates with indigenous players

Argentina’s 77-year old legendary Charango player Jaime Torres, known as the Jimi Hendrix of Latin America, is collaborating with Australian indigenous players, didgeridoo player William Barton and singer songwriter Archie Roach. According to SBS, as a member of an indigenous people himself, Torres works to spread traditional Andes music. “It is crucial to know our origins and defend them,” he told the broadcaster. “Otherwise the history will only be written by the people arriving in the ships.”

Torres plays with Barton in Melbourne this week (December 4) after performing with him in Sydney. He also meets up with Roach in Victoria, accompanying him to the mission where he was taken to as part of the stolen generation, and performs with him in Castlemaine on December 3. A mystery guest joins him at the Dec 12 Perth show.

JMC Academy sponsoring STREAT

JMC Academy is sponsoring Melbourne social enterprise STREAT, which helps homeless and disengaged youth tell their stories through music. With Danish producer Mads Oustrup and singer/songwriter Nicole Wheatley, STREAT is working with a collective of songwriters, producers and music pros, to co-author these stories: #STREATbeats. The project is worked on by audio students Glenn Davidson and Thomas Newton and mastered by audio staffer Jacob Munnery. 44,000 of Australia’s homeless is made up of folks aged under 25

Official: ITV gets ‘The Voice’ UK

Announced by TMN some weeks ago, commercial network ITV has officially nodded it has grabbed the rights to The Voice UK from public broadcaster BBC. The change-over is now official. The BBC will air one more season, from January, with coaches Boy George, Paloma Faith, will.i.am and Ricky Wilson.

Digging up Goldfields talent

After albums of music from Pilbara and The Wheatbelt, WA music association WAM’s next Sound Of… series sets its eyes (and ears) on the music from the Goldfields region. WAM’s partners in the initiative include Celebrate WA and their major supporter BHP Billiton, Brookfield Rail, Regional Development Australia Goldfields Esperance and The City of Kalgoorlie Boulder.

A call-out is made to Goldfields songwriters, bands and sound engineers to register their interest in being part of the compilation by January 15. Like the other compilations, a pop up studio will be set in a house in March, with local engineers to be mentored by award-winning Matt Gio and Sean Lillico, and Eskimo Joe’s Joel Quartermaine joining on some sessions.

Young Aussie players rebrand classical music

Australian Youth Orchestra tapped Sydney brand consulting and design firm Landor to widen classical music’s appeal. The resultant Momentum Ensemble is a program and brand identity where young players perform new interpretations and partnerships outside traditional recital halls to reach a broader audience.

Beyonce new clothing line set for Australia…

Beyonce is to launch a new streetwear clothing line in the first half of 2016 with British retail tycoon Sir Philip Green, owner of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge. Green said it would be sold in 20 countries, one of which is expected to be Australia where Topshop opened in 2013.

…while Bono announces charity eyewear line

Bono’s team up with Revo eyewear for a range of sunglasses is part of a Buy Vision, Give Sight campaign to raise $10 million in the next five years for the Brien Holden Vision Institute. The U2 singer admits “I’ve been dealing with glaucoma for 20 years. I was told just yesterday that without the treatment I’m getting, I would be blind.”

BBE Australia launches agency

BBE Australia, who brought Flosstradamus, RL Grime, Baauer, Odesza and Skepta to these shores, have now set up their own agency. The first three signings are LA’s Slander and NGHTMRE on for bookings in Australia and New Zealand, and LA-based Australian house producer Wax Motif who’s touring here from this week. BBE is holding its first festival, FOMO in Brisbane in January, with Flight Facilities, Jamie XX and Anna Lunoe.

Good Manners learn Makeness

Melbourne label Good Manners signed their first international act, Scotland’s Makeness, through licensing from UK’s tastemakers Handsome Dad Records. The solo act’s track Rogue has been championed by Fader, DIY, Clash and BBC Radio 1. In August Good Manners struck a partnership with Caroline Australia.

BMG makes first acquisition in China

BMG made its first acquisitions in Greater China, snapping up the catalogues of high profile publishers set up by hit songwriters. EWorld was founded by Alan Ho and twin brothers Lee Shih Shiong and Lee Wei who dominated the Asian pop scene in the ‘90s, and J.Music by producer/songwriter Joanus Lam.

Canberra Songbook puts spotlight on capital city talent

Launched on the weekend was The Canberra Songbook, a CD/ songsheet of works by 17 songwriters as The Cashews, Fun Machine, Readable Graffiti, Hashemoto, Julia Johnson and Ben Drysdale. The project has been in the works for five years, driven by Canberra Musicians Club past President Rob Thorman and convenor Nigel McRae, as an ongoing series.

Tamworth country music festival welcomes Mooggee

January’s Tamworth Country Music Festival will for the first time welcome the Mooggee campsite business. Mooggee sets up its own campsite within festival grounds offering colourful pre-pitched tents, 24-hour security, exclusive toilets and showers, a pamper parlour and food area. Mooggee will be set up at the Cross Park fields at the bottom of Gipps St near the Bicentennial Park footbridge.