New Signings & Team-Ups: February 21

Image: The Living End

STING, BARNES, LIVING END ON TRIPLE M TVC

Sting, Jimmy Barnes and The Living End join a number of sporting names on the new national multi-media TVC for Triple M. The campaign uses Cold Chisel’s Barnes-penned Rising Sun.

Southern Cross Austereo’s Head of Marketing, Nikki Clarkson, said Triple M was the only radio brand that consistently supported Australian music, sports and comedy in the past 30 years, and the TVC included music and sports icons – ”Those who have been an integral part of Triple M over the decades.”

The TVC comes after Triple M renamed its regional stations to become a national brand last December.

TIM McGRAW, FAITH HILL, AT SONY MUSIC

US country music big sellers Tim McGraw & Faith Hill signed with Sony Music Entertainment in individual deals. McGraw, whose Humble And Kind took the recent Grammy for best country song, was previously with Big Machine Label Group for five years. Hill was with Warner Music Group’s Warner Bros label.

MILK!, BEDROOM SUCK, LAUNCH VINYL SERVICE

Two Aussie indie labels, Melbourne-based Milk! Records and Brisbane’s Bedroom Suck Records, have launched a vinyl subscription service called The Split Singles Club.

The first seven 7” tracks, which comes as a package, include acts from both labels: Courtney Barnett, Cable Ties, Blank Realm, Jade Imagine, Primo!, Treehouse and The Maraby Band. Over the next three months, they are sent directly to subscribers, two at a time.

Milk! co-founder Jen Cloher says it is a way to break new acts to an adventurous music demographic. “Split Singles Club was a fun and relatively cost-effective way to show off some of the bands we love that people may not have heard before.”

LOW KEY SOURCE CASHES IN COIN BANKS

Sydney-based Low Key Sources pacted Perth rapper Coin Banks who’s returned after a short hiatus. He’s issued new track Be Real, which he says was “inspired by the women around me who afraid to be themselves. They cover outsides in makeup and hide their true selves by being who they think people want them to be.”

Banks’ Think Of You, Hatches and Someone received high rotation on triple j, while Banks was 2015’s most played artist on Unearthed and one of their nominees for their artist of the year. He also took the WAM Song of the year in 2015 and 2016, as well as WAM Urban artist of the year 2015.

BEDLAM BRINGS IN CAMOUFLAGE ROSE

Brisbane rapper Camouflage Rose, who emerged through a series of jams and singles, releases his highly anticipated debut album R O S E L E V E L in the autumn through Bedlam Records.

It brings the MC in the same stable as homies Midas.Gold and Gallus as well as Twin Haus, Shady Bliss, Baskervillain and Sunbeam Sound Machine.

In the meantime, Rose has dropped his latest visuals for Grime Joint Part 1, directed by David Fischer.

SONY/ATV STRIKES IT WITH TORI KELLY

Sony/ATV Music Publishing entered a long term worldwide deal with Grammy-nominated Tori Kelly. The YouTube sensation’s debut album Unbreakable Smile entered the US charts at #2 in mid-2015.

She starts work on her second album shortly. Kelly, who won America’s Most Talented Kids when she was just 11-years-old, is managed by Scooter Braun.

FIRST ARTIST FOR VELVET STONE

Velvet Stone, the Nashville-based management company set up by NSW artist manager Melissa Core and branding executive Rick Caballo has taken on The O’Connor Band. Their current album Coming Home took the 2017 Grammy for Bluegrass Album of the Year.

Velvet Stone was set up by two high profile Nashville music community identities: entertainment attorney John Mason and producer Tony Brown.

LOCAL ACT TAPPED FOR SUNSHINE COAST CAMPAIGN

Sunshine Coast folk-roots singer-songwriter Dan Horne has been commissioned to write the theme song for the massive tourism campaign behind Visit Sunshine Coast’s 50th anniversary celebrations of the naming of the Sunshine Coast.

Horne’s track is titled This Town, which was written aptly enough about what he loved about the region after moving there seven years ago from the UK. A staffer of Visit Sunshine Coast heard him perform the song at the Caloundra Music Festival.

REMOTE CONTROL BEAMS IN ALDOUS HARDING

Remote Control will be releasing the works of NZ angst-folk act Aldous Harding, through a deal she signed with England’s 4AD. She first emerged with her eponymous debut album released two years ago.

Harding’s new release Horizon, her first for 4AD/Remote Control, saw her work with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse). Its video, directed by Charlotte Evans, and produced by Evie Mackay, features her mother performing a blend of Aikido and physical theatre in the NZ hinterland.

TICKETMASTER UPDATES WITH APPLE MUSIC

Ticketmaster updated its iOS app with Apple Music integration, allowing users to easily track upcoming concerts using the Apple Music library for their favourite artists. Users then receive ticket alerts when these acts announce their latest tours, citing locations and dates.