New Signings & Team-Ups: November 22
EMBASSY MUSIC TAKES DAMIEN LEITH FORWARD
Music Sales Creative announced the signing of Damien Leith to a worldwide music publishing deal with Embassy Music Publishing.
The deal was, completed recently in the Sydney office with Managing Director Jane English and A&R Manager Larry Heath.
Leith will be published worldwide by the Music Sales Group of affiliates.
The Irish-born singer-songwriter used his Australian Idol 2008 win to expand his career as a producer, author, playwright (he’s currently touring his play The Parting Glass – An Irish Journey) and TV host, in Australia and internationally.
Two albums reached #1 on the ARIA charts (Where We Land and The Winner’s Journey. His songs also had sync success in ads and on TV. ‘Beautiful’ was used on a global Estee Lauder ad and ‘Not Just for the Weekend’ was the theme song for TV series Saving Kids – which he also hosted.
At his Sydney studio (www.damienleithrecordingstudio.com) he collaborated with others like Dean Lewis, Ilan Kidron, Adam Harvey, Travis Collins, Missy Lancaster, Dami Im, Demi Louise, Marlisa, Bella Ferraro, Will Singe, Allan Casswell, Amber Lawrence, Ciaran Gribbon, Andy Brown, Diana Rouvas and Chris Rose.
Jane English, said: “Damien Leith is a household name in Australia – a celebrated and super talented artist, a prolific songwriter with a history of successful synchs and a love of collaborations.
“With our superb team of Denise Sharp on synchs and Larry Heath on covers, we aim to take Damien’s songs to the next level.”
EUROPE’S ECM EXPANDS TO AUSTRALIA
European contemporary, jazz and classical music indie ECM Records has entered the Australian market after expanding its physical distribution deal with Universal Music Group.
Curated by its visionary founder Manfred Eicher, ECM offers music from the likes of Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Paul Bley, Arvo Pärt, András Schiff, Kim Kashkashian, Anouar Brahem, Jack DeJohnette, Tomasz Stanko, Avishai Cohen, Nik Bärtsch, Vijay Iyer, Gidon Kremer and Meredith Monk.
ECM began streaming late last week after expanding its global digital distribution partnership with Universal Music.
‘DESPACITO’ GETS SPANISH/CHINESE TREATMENT
The biggest hit of 2017 ‘Despacito’, which in July set a new streaming record with 4.6 billion hits after six months, is set for a further lease in life.
Billboard reported that Luis Fonsi has teamed with Singapore-based JJ Lin for a Spanish and Mandarin version for release in China. Mandarin is spoken by 70% of China’s 1.37 billion population.
Work on the new version began in July, Billboard said, with international production team The Swaggernautz (aka Tat Tong and Jovany Barreto) and Harry Chang but was delayed by a series of hurricanes in the Caribbean
BLND DATE LAUNCHES WITH SHOWCASE
Blind Date Records launched last weekend with a showcase at the Melbourne Museum as part of Melbourne Music Week and a number of releases.
They include former Moonmen member Sean McMahon’s cosmic cowboy ‘Show Me The Way’, Americana outfit James Ellis & the Jealous Guys’ country folk ‘Xmas Lights’, ‘Dreaming of You’ by South Australian ace guitarist and writer Jeb Cardwell, and ‘Round Again’ by guitarist and songwriter Matt Green’s solo project Greenville.
NICHE SEES THE FUTURE
The latest addition to Niche’s Talent Agency is Brisbane producer Future Jr. His sophomore shoegazing single ‘Sentimental Trick’ through Kobalt was added to triple j Unearthed’s radio and Spotify and Apple Music’s playlists in Australia and the U.S., reaching over 220,000 streams.
An EP Vacancy is set for release next year.
UK GRIME PIONEER KANO GOES DOWNTOWN
UK grime/ hip hop act Kano, the two-time MOBO winner has inked a world publishing deal with Downtown. It is the first signing for Downtown UK’s A&R chief Daniel Lloyd Jones who joined from Sony/ATV this year
The deal includes his Mercury Prize-nominated Top 10 album Made In The Manor and all future recordings.
Kano has collaborated with Gorillaz, Craig David, Ghetts and The Streets, He has signed for the third season of the Drake-executive produced Topboy to air on Netflix in 2019.
STONES’ COLLABORATOR MATT CLIFFORD AT WARNER CHAPPELL
Matt Clifford, keyboardist with The Rolling Stones since 1989, has assigned his publishing to Warner/Chappell.
He’s worked on a number of Mick Jagger’s solo projects as co-writer and producer including the Goddess In The Doorway album and this year’s singles ‘England Lost’ and ‘Gotta Get A Grip.’.
Clifford has also penned theme music for numerous European boxing and football events, written soundtracks for movies (The Return Of The Living Dead, The Basket Case) and ballet (Darcey Bussell’s The Red Shoes) and worked with artists as Brad Paisley, Jon Anderson, GTR, Julien Clerc, Daniel Balavoine, Francoise Hardy and Richard Ashcroft.
GOLDEN ROBOT REVIVES HORSEHEAD
‘90s rock band Horsehead, once touted as the next big thing,get to see their past music back in the spotlight courtesy Golden Robot Records, whose founder Mark Alexander-Erber was and is a huge fan.
The band’s back catalogue will be re-released, along with previously unreleased material called The Lost Album, an album of B-sides, and its 1999 triple j Live At the Wireless set. Their first two albums will also be issued on digital for the first time.
Golden Robot Records will also issue a full vinyl box set d The Legacy, featuring liner notes by music writer Jeff Jenkins, an early champion of the band.
Jenkins once wrote a review of the band, dazzling in its brevity: ‘If there’s a better band in this world, I’d love to see it.” He still holds that sentiment
The Melbourne band consisted of former members of Cattletruck, 21 Guns, Boom Crash Opera and Uncanny X-Men.
ROLLING ON A RIVER…
Travelrite International has put together a US Deep South cruise for music and travel lovers, down the Mississippi June 22—July 10) with stops to check out music landmarks in New Orleans, Memphis and Nashville.
These include Elvis Presley’s Graceland, the Louisiana Delta Museum, The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Sun Studios, Fame Studios, New Orleans Studios and the Blues Foundation’s Fall of Fame, as well as gigs at legendary venues.
The cruise will be hosted by the BBC’s ‘Rock Brain of the Universe’, Glenn A. Baker whose 17 books cover travel and music.
He says, “I can’t wait to get on board our version of ‘Proud Mary’’. From a true music fan’s perspective, it really doesn’t get much better than this.”
ANTONY & CLEOPATRA AT DEW PROCESS
Following the success of their ‘Dust’ single and Motex collaboration ‘The Future’ (3 million Spotify streams) electronic duo Antony & Cleopatra announced that their debut album will be out through Dew Process/ Universal Music Australia.
They play live shows on Alison Wonderland’s Scarehouse projects.
NOVA’S $6M MEDIA ACCOUNT GOES TO CARAT
Nova Entertainment assigned its $6 million media account to Carat after a competitive pitch, Ad News reported. It was previously handled by UM, which gave up the account after landing the lucrative global Spotify deal.
Carat previously had Southern Cross Austereo as a client until it headed off in May to Maxus (now Wavemaker).
NSW GOVT WANTS YOU TO PEE
The NSW Government Sexual Health Festival Activation Campaign will over the next three years be encouraging music festival attendees to get themselves checked for sexually transmitted diseases.
Those who pee in a cup as part of their check-up will be rewarded with VIP Chill Zones, including glam bars and clean toilets. The activation takes place a number of times a year.
The Down to Test Zone made its debut at Sydney’s Listen Out, where the VIP offer drew 550 splish-splashers, much more than the 150 expected. Next were Strawberry Fields Festival and next month’s Festival of the Sun.
The campaign is run by Banjo Agency, which was briefed by the government to break down barriers of chatting about STDs.
BUDWEISER AUSTRALIA LAUNCHES VIDEO SERIES
Carlton & United Breweries is following up the Australian launch of Budweiser’s global ‘Discover What’s Brewing in Music’ platform with a new four-part video series My Friend’s Band which puts the spotlight on Sydney’s emerging bands.
Each episode provides an insight to emerging musicians (launch series featured These New South Whales) talking about their lives, friends, eating habits, their inspirations and performing at clubs and Budweiser’s Bud Garage Series.
SPOTIFY BUYS STUDIO
Spotify has bought Stockholm-based online recording and production studio platform Soundtrap. Launched in 2015, it calls itself the “world’s first web-based, cross-platform collaborative music recording studio”.
It is aimed at school and college students who pay a subscription of $6 to $18 a month to access 460 virtual instruments, 3330-plus loops, autotune and downloads to create with others around the world.
Spotify said in a statement, “Soundtrap’s rapidly growing business is highly aligned with Spotify’s vision of democratizing the music ecosystem.”