New Signings & Team-Ups: May 24

Image: Adam Harvey to headlineSouthern Cross Austereo’s Give Me 5 for Kids concert

UK record deal for Kylie Auldist

Australian nui-soul singer Kylie Auldist has been picked up by UK soul label Freestyle Records. She’s known for her work with The Bamboos, Cookin’ On 3 Burners (who’re also signed to Freestyle) and her solo albums Still Life, Made Of Stone and Just Say (Tru Thoughts). Currently, The Kungs’ remix of Cookin’ On 3 Burners’ This Girl is getting pop radio and club play. Freestyle will release the 5 track, 12 inch single/download Waste Of Time followed by the electro-boogie Family Tree album later in 2016.

Freestyle A&R chief Greg Boraman said “Whilst Kylie has featured on various Freestyle releases over the years, to have her fully on board to release this incredible album is exciting and feels like a natural and long overdue happy collaboration’’.

Auldist, a longstanding admirer of Freestyle adds, “Freestyle take soul seriously! I’ve known them a long time now and they’ve always embraced great music. I know I’m in good company and it feels right to be a part of the Freestyle family!

Monday tick Bin Juice boxes

Monday Records inked Sydney funk psych five-piece Bin Juice. They are recording their debut EP. Creating their songs from jamming, their live shows are high energy.

Sony Music flies with Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Five years after his debut album Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm sold 100,000 worldwide and over 150 million Spotify plays, Benjamin Francis Leftwich returns with After The Rain on August 19. It will be through Dirty Hit/ Sony Music Entertainment Australia. Out first will be the track Mayflies which intertwines samples with understated guitars. Sessions were delayed, first after Leftwich’s father fell ill, during which time Ben cared for him, and then during a grieving process after his death.

Germany’s Rodeostar lassoes King Of The North

Germany’s Rodeostar Records have pacted with Melbourne duo King Of The North, releasing their new album Get Out Of Your World simultaneously in 22 countries on August 5. Drummer Danny Leo quit recently. So guitarist and singer Andrew Higgs posted, “There are also epic tours booked for 2016. So, auditions for a new beast to sit at the stool have already started.” The new duo will play 10 countries this year.

Sean Garrett lands publishing deal

Having written or co-written hits for Usher, Beyoncé, Enrique Iglesias, Ciara, Chris Brown, Nikki Minaj, Destiny’s Child, Ludacris, Mario and Fergie, singer/songwriter/producer Sean Garrett’s publishing was in high demand. He signed on the dotted line with Atlas Music Publishing.

Its COO Jennifer Blakeman said she’d wanted to work with him since 2004 when he first emerged, ”Usually, when a writer says ’aim high’ they are talking about the A-Level artists that everyone wants to work with. When Sean says ’aim high,’ he’s talking about the quality of the song he wants to write. That says a lot about his dedication to the craft of songwriting, and sets him way ahead of the pack.”

Aaron Schroeder songs get new lease of life

Brill Building writer Aaron Schroeder is generally regarded as one of the unsung heroes. His I Was The One was the b-side of Elvis Presley’s 1956 RCA debut Heartbreak Hotel, and he went on to write A Big Hunk Of Love and I Got Stung for the King. He also wrote for Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Perry Como, Cliff Richard, Bobby Vee and Roy Orbison.

New Songs Administration has, through a multi-territory deal, will represent his A Schroeder International catalogue, and will “actively work on placing such wonderful songs in TV and commercials.”

Loudon Wainwright III gets the spirit

Spirit Music inked US troubadour Loudon Wainwright III to a global publishing agreement in a deal that encompasses the majority of his catalogue created in his 40-year-plus career. His first hit in Australia was Dead Skunk in 1972, after which he released 26 albums. He also wrote music for the Knocked Up movie (with Joe Henry); the British theatrical adaptation of the Carl Hiaasen novel Lucky You; and topical songs for NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and ABC’s Nightline.

Spirit Music Chairman David Renzer counts himself a major fan. He says, “Loudon’s long career and the consistent level of success he’s experienced throughout it speaks to the kind of talent he is. It’s rare to find a catalogue of music that is as smart, vibrant and artful as his, so it’s an absolute honor to be the publisher of a songwriter of Loudon’s calibre.”

Eventbrite simplifies e-signing of legal documents

Self-servicing online ticketing agency Eventbrite has simplified waivers and forms in first-of-its-kind a partner integration with HelloSign. It provides the easy way to electronically sign legally binding documents. Eventbrite customers can seamlessly create, populate, collect, and track documents requiring legally binding signatures for their events including liability waivers, race waivers, photo release waivers, sponsorship/exhibitor agreements, contracts, create templates for repeatedly sent documents, add logos to documents, and more — all directly from their event dashboard. No more having to print, scan, fax and snail-mail valuable documents, the company points out.

123 Agency expands with Bad Bony

Melbourne-based 123 Agency takes over bookings for Sydney band Bad Bony. Three singles Zombie, Down To You and Michael Moore hit community radio, triple j and online. New single Sideways, recorded at guitarist Cron Van Niekerk’s home studio, is followed by a 23-date tour May 27 to September 4.

The Grove’s open day for diploma course

The Grove recording studio in NSW is holding an Open Day as its Diploma of Sound Production classes begin on July 11. The course is a partnership with Hunter TAFE’s Regional Music Institute. It offers on analogue and digital recording, live PA, post production, music editing, location recording, mixing and pro tools with lecturers including Grove head producer and Director Scott Horscroft, Burke Reid, Jean-Paul Fung, Ryan Hazel and Jackson Barclay. The Open Day is on Saturday June 4 at Grove Studio (Mangrove Rd, Somersby) from 10am-2pm.

Adelaide discusses startup creativity

As part of Brand South Australia’s Entrepreneurs Week, St Paul’s Creative Centre and music/tech cluster Musitec in Adelaide are jointly holding a day-long event, Startup Your Creativity: A Celebration of South Australia’s Creative Entrepreneurs on Tuesday June 7. It will look at what makes a successful creative entrepreneur, and how that success can be harnessed to support economic growth.

It will also discuss how creative can build on Adelaide’s reputation as a city in which ideas can be trialled, startups can grow and innovation can flourish, and how creative entrepreneurs can collaborate with the technology sector.

The afternoon session (from 2.45 pm) is hosted by Christie Anthoney and showcases some of South Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs. These include Tom Hajdu the co-founder of music production company Tom & Andy, Heather Croall on festivals, Margie Caust on the Creative Boom, Sharni Honor on music entrepreneurship, Elizabeth Donaldson about craft, design and co-working spaces; and Richard Brecknock to chat all things Creative Entrepreneurship. A panel session on how to support creative entrepreneurs. Little Birdy, Novus Res, NXTGIG and Reality Media will be demonstrating their innovative technologies being developed in South Australia.

The evening session from Session 5:45pm, dubbed Special Edition TechJam, is hosted by Musitec’s Managing Director David Grice. Talking about his journey is serial entrepreneur Philip Vafiadis, founding Executive Chairman of Innovyz, founder of VAF Research and cofounder of ZEN Energy Systems. Davyd Norris, IBM’s Senior IT Architect (and muso) details IBM’s Global Entrepreneurial Program and how careers as creative entrepreneurs can be kick-started.

Jeff Lang issuing rarities on French label

Australian virtuoso blues guitarist Jeff Lang is releasing a limited edition vinyl rarities album via French based Red Hair Records. He says a few years ago during a European touir, a music fan “full of energy” would turn up at his shows giving him gifts of vinyl blues records and asking about Lang’s works. It turns out the fan was planning to start a vinyl label of his own, and wanted Lang to compile rarities as its first release.

The album includes live tracks from Melbourne’s defunct Continental Club and Memories Never Die from a Sydney show, a forgotten song co-written with Tim Hall from sessions for his first album Ravenswood (1994) and alternate takes. Lang kicks off a solo Australian tour from this weekend to August 13 to promote the record locally.

W Hotels Worldwide opens recording studio at Bali retreat

To cater for musicians on the go, W Hotels Worldwide is starting to install recording and writing studios at some of its properties. The first is in Bali, with W Sound Suite at W Bali – Seminyak. It includes professional gear from Native Instruments, Pioneer and Moog. More W Sound Suites will open in Hollywood, Barcelona and Seattle this year, with more to follow. The studios are in partnership with Coca-Cola and designed by W brand’s North American music director DJ White Shadow, the Chicago producer who worked with Lady Gaga.

New association to build Tamworth festival

Tamworth’s mid-winter Toyota Hats Off To Country festival is set to grow in coming years with Tamworth Stakeholders joined by Tamworth Regional Council in presenting it “We are certain now, that after 17 years, the future is secured and we can look forward to Hats Off becoming bigger and better. It’s another great reason to draw people to the home of country music in Australia,” Tamworth Stakeholders’ Chairman Max Ellis said.

Between July 7 to 10, there’ll be a series of gigs in the regional city’s venues. One of these is the sixth Southern Cross Austereo Give Me 5 for Kids concert, in Blazes at Wests on Saturday, July 9 headlined by Adam Harvey.

ABC Commercial and Hopster app to stream

ABC Commercial signed a two-year SVOD agreement with children’s TV and learning app Hopster to stream a number of ABC KIDS programs from June 1 through Australia and New Zealand. The shows, aimed at two-to-six year olds, include 50 episodes from The Octonauts, Thomas & Friends and Guess How Much I Love You, as well as episodes from The Wiggles’ Ready, Steady, Wiggle TV series.

Since launched in the UK in 2013, the Apple IOS and Android preschool app is available in 100 territories with over half a million installs and thousands of hours of contents. Jessica Ellis, Head of ABC Video Entertainment & Distribution stated, “This new agreement reaffirms our position as the territory’s leading distributor for high quality kid’s programming and we’re confident Hopster will enjoy the kind of local success it has already found abroad.”

Unsigned Management, Artmix, merge

On the back of recent wins, Melbourne’s Unsigned Management and younger sibling Artmix have merged under the Artmix name. Unsigned began 4 ½ years for artist representation and photography production. The more recent Artmix helped clients create strategic social and PR campaigns.

Facebook trials more music content

Facebook and Warner Music are testing a new social feature Slideshow that allows users to soundtrack photo albums or videos with music from the major. It’s been quietly tested since last October, and rolled out in Australia last week.