New Signings & Team-Ups: Live Nation acquires UK promoter; Flightless swoops up King Giz project; Future Classic brightens Midnight To Monaco; New Adelaide event donating to indigenous causes

Live Nation acquires UK’s Great Escape promoter

Live Nation acquired MAMA & Company, the UK operator of London venues including The Forum, The Borderline and Camden Barfly and promoter of festivals The Great Escape, Global Gathering, Somersault and Love Box.

In the meantime, Live Nation has set up German operations, appointing respected promoter Marek Lieberberg to head it and promote shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Live Nation says setting up Live Nation Concerts Germany will add over 700 shows and 2 million fans to its platform of

over 23,000 shows for 60 million fans, across 40 countries.

Flightless swoops up Pipe-Eye project

Flightless, the label run by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, will release its side project Pipe-Eye’s debut EP Cosmic Blip on September 25. Debut single and video People Move Along was premiered on BrooklynVegan. Cosmic Blip is described as, "Composed on space station Mirus 4 as a collaboration between scientists from the international space community, Cosmic Blip is an expedition cataloguing the effects of space melody and cosmic rhythm whilst in close orbit to Earth." The Flightless roster, distributed by Remote Control, includes The Murlocs and The Babe Rainbow.

Future Classic brightens Midnight To Monaco

New Future Classic addition is Midnight To Monaco (pictured), consisting of Canadian singer Ricky Ducati and LA-based producer Donnie Sloan whose debut single Suicide just dropped.

Publishing deal for Lucy Rose

Emerging British singer songwriter Lucy Rose, whose Columbia / Sony album Work It Out went Top 10 in the UK, signed a global publishing deal with US publisher Reservoir, through its Reverb Music affiliate in London.

Junkie Uncle to release Greta Stanley debut

Far North Queensland singer songwriter Greta Stanley's debut EP Bedroom City is out on Junkie Uncle Records. The 20-year-old cut the six-tracker at Big Sister Studios with Mark Myers (The Middle East, Emma Louise, Passenger).

New Adelaide event donating to indigenous causes

The new Around the Campfire event in Adelaide (Alberton Oval on October 10) is donating all proceeds to the Fred Hollows Foundation Indigenous Australia Program, The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation and the Power Aboriginal Program. It is held to raise awareness of programs to improve Aboriginal health and literacy, with performers including John Williamson, Central Australia’s Warren H. Williams and Jacinta Price, Whyalla rapper Caper, Carus Thompson Band and The B-Sharps.

Rolling Stone sets up Sydney pop up venue

After its pop up bars in Melbourne and Sydney last year, Rolling Stone set up its Live Lodge at the Newtown Social Club on Newtown’s King Street. It will take over its band room six nights a week for three weeks between September 23 and October 11 offering live sets, Q&As and guest DJs.

Kiss’ Gene Simmons promoting charity in Perth

When Kiss hit Australia in October, Gene Simmons will do more charity work for Health Hope Zambia. It was set up by Perth businessman Brendan Clark and his wife Portia to reduce death from malnutrition with mobile medical clinics and free meals for 100,000. Simmons and Clark became new besties in 2012 when the Kiss lizard travelled to Zambia to meet his sponsor children – a trip featured in the reality series Gene Simmons Family Jewels.

50 people get backstage passes to the Kiss show in Perth on October 3. On the night after, Simmons plays a private show.

Jagger/ Scorsese’s vinyl solution

The long-awaited TV series produced by Mick Jagger and directed by Martin Scorsese is titled Vinyl and will air next year on US network HBO. The 9-episode series will be based on a ‘70s New York record executive and the "drug and sex-fuelled music business as punk and disco were breaking out." Jagger and Scorsese worked together on the 2008 Rolling Stones doco Shine A Light.

Jägermeister uses Aussie talent for electronic music tie-in

Jägermeister is using four Australian electronic music artists based in Berlin in its latest campaign to build its music credibility with “a progressive millennial audience.” The campaign is run with Vice, using its electronic music channel THUMP until the end of September. A video documentary titled Australians In Berlin is part of the campaign, created by Vice’s in-house content agency Virtue with media agency UM.

Alex Light, Commercial Director of Virtue, explained: “There’s a real cultural movement happening in the growing influence of the Berlin scene on Australia’s electronic music community. With Jägermeister looking to reinforce their roots and modernise their connection to the motherland, whilst bringing a distinctive Australian element to the campaign, shining a spotlight on Australians experiencing the electronic music scene in Berlin made perfect sense.”

Fanning to curate Youngcare benefit

Bernard Fanning curates, and will perform in, a benefit concert/10th anniversary celebration of national charity Youngcare. It is held Saturday October 10 at Brisbane City Hall, supported by the charity’s foundation partner Suncorp Insurance. The bill includes Melbourne’s #1 Dads, Brisbane six piece Mosman Alder and comedian Julian Morrow. Fanning has long been involved in the charity, with up to $650,000 raised for young Aussies with high care needs with shows that included Missy Higgins, Kasey Chambers, Powderfinger, Pete Murray, Tim Rogers and Clare Bowditch.

Stan, Screen Queensland, to work on film

In an Australia first, Screen Queensland and Australian SVOD service Stan will partner to develop and finance a $1 million feature film. The Stan exclusive will feature only Queensland producers, writers and directors.

Quickflix dumps Presto deal to buy Chinese firm

Australian streaming player Quickflix is hoping to identity a new market as new rivals lead to a 12% drop in its users in the June quarter (to 108,000) and 15% in revenue (to $4.2 million). It has withdrawn its content reseller deal with rival Presto to buy an unnamed Chinese language Shanghai-based film and television production company. It will produce and distribute Chinese language film and television content in China and internationally. The Shanghai company is in profit, unlike Quickflix which has never been in profit in its 12 years and blew $8.6 million in the first half of 2014-15

The Presto deal was touted as giving struggling Quickflix a widened content offer to users. But it told the ASX the deal had to be scrapped as the “conditions precedent to the Foxtel Presto Reseller Agreement have not been met.”

BMG acquires Walking On Sunshine

BMG acquired the publishing and master rights to one of the most successful UK tracks in the past 30 years – Walking On Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves. The price tag was reportedly £10 million. The song was released in 1985, reaching #4 in Australia, #8 in the UK and #9 in America. It was one of EMI’s biggest earners from advertisers and reportedly earned $1 million a year for the past 10 years.

Walking On Sunshine is sought after by movies. It has appeared in Ask Max, The Secret of My Success, Look Who's Talking, Race The Sun, Bean, American Psycho, High Fidelity, Daddy Day Care, Scandal Makers, Moon and Camille Rewinds. It has been played on TV shows (Gilmore Girls, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Prison Break, Sports Night, The Drew Carey Show, Supernatural) and video games including Lego Rock Band, SingStar and Band Hero. It has been covered a multitude of times, including by Dolly Parton, the Glee cast, Aly & AJ and The Muppets.

Tassie festival to expand mental health partners

Launceston’s Party In The Paddock festival, set up to raise awareness of mental health, plans to expand its charity and corporate partners. Co-founder Jesse Higgs told The Examiner that while it is already a supporter of beyondblue, it hopes to team with youth mental health organisations Stay ChatTY and Headspace before it stages on February 19 and 20 in White Hills for the fifth time. This year the festival drew a capacity 5,000.

Music video director Kimble Rendall finds nest in China

Kimble Rendall, the one time XL Capris and Hoodoo Gurus member turned music video maker turned film director, has found his scene in China. While his debut movie Bait 3D struggled in some markets it made $25 million there, his English-language follow up an Australian-Chinese production will start shooting in October. The Australian company is Nest Holdings, the Chinese partner is not known.

Barnes, Everage, land in cream

Peters Ice Cream continues its Legends On Legends series with Jimmy Barnes and Dame Edna Everage branded with a limited edition Drumstick series. The Barnes ice-cream is made up of chocolate sauce and cookie crumbs. The Dame’s is lamington-flavoured with a raspberry swirl.

Hospitality deal extended

The Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust, the managing body of the SCG and Allianz Stadium, signed a seven-year renewal of its exclusive hospitality agreement with the MatchPoint Group, Australian Sponsorship News said.