New Signings & Team-Ups: October 11

BOY & BEAR BREW THEIR OWN

For their latest regional tour, Sydney outfit Boy & Bear have collaborated with Akasha Brewing Company to jointly create All Australian Ale (AAA). All proceeds go to the charity Buy a Bale, to support rural Australian communities and farmers.

Akasha was set up in 2015 by Dave Padden and Wesley White and uses only Australian ingredients.

To coincide with their tour, a new version of the #1 ARIA album Limit Of Love comes with 10 live tracks recorded at their sold out Hordern Pavilion show in Sydney this year.

TAYLOR SWIFT ENTERS MULTI-YEAR DEAL WITH AT&T

Taylor Swift struck a multi-year deal with US telcom company AT&T which will see her do concerts staged by the company and/or for their customers. One of these will be headlining the February 4 AT&T DIRECTV Super Saturday Night concert in Houston the night before the Super Bowl. More details of the deal to come.

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GETS BLUE

Universal Music Publishing Group has signed UK DJ, producer and remixer Jonas Blue. There’s been a bidding war for Blue since Fast Car was the biggest selling global debut by a British act this year. Perfect Sand sold 5.2 million. The two tracks have been streamed 950 million times.

WIZ KHALIFA LABEL HEADS TO WARNER MUSIC

Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang Ent label will be released in the future in Australia through Warner Music. The performer, directly signed to Warner imprint Atlantic Records for the past six years, ran Taylor Gang Ent as an independent.

Set up in 201, it includes acts as Berner, Chevy Woods, Raven Felix, J.R. Donato, Tuki Carter and Sosamann.

NOAH SLEE AT NICHE

Noah Slee, Auckland raised, Berlin based RnB singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, has joined Niche’s agency roster. Over the past year, since he relocated to the continent, he’s made waves on the European festival circuit.

His Otherland mixtape, to be released on Melbourne label Wondercore Island early in 2017, saw him collaborate with German native Ben Esser to produce and support from Red Bull Studios in Berlin. Slee will be in Australia from December 10 until March 10.

NEW WORLD ADDS SMITHY

New World Artists is now repping Sydney singer-songwriter Allan Smithy in Australia and NZ. His debut single The Streets was instantly picked up by triple j while new single Air is off a 4-track EP I See A Palm Tree due early November in time for East Coast dates with The Belligerents.

KELLY CLARKSON EXTENDS ASCAP DEAL

Kelly Clarkson renewed her agreement with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Their relationship goes back to the start of her music career. In 2003 she was signed through its Nashville chapter, before her debut album Thankful entered the US charts at No.1.

AUSSIE RADIO UNITES FOR NEW MOBILE APP

The commercial radio industry joined with the ABC and SBS to launch RadioApp, the first Australian mobile app that will allow listeners to live stream more than 250 Australian radio stations.

It was unveiled at last week’s radio conference in Melbourne. Industry body Commercial Radio Australia as part of a strategy to make listening on tablets, smartphones and computers much easier.

“Listening habits are evolving and RadioApp will ensure radio remains easily accessible no matter what platform or device our listeners choose to use,” said CEO Joan Warner.

Developed by All In Media for launch in late November, RadioApp allows Australian listeners to access all commercial, ABC and SVS stations, find stations by genre, find stations by locality and purchase songs off the playlist.

DUAL DEALS FOR TIMBERWOLF

24-year-old Adelaide singer-songwriter Timberwolf (Christopher Panousakis), who last year picked up two wins at the SA Music Awards, sees his career take a step forward. With a debut album out shortly with a psych rock/ hip hop sound that moves from his two EPs, he’s signed publishing and booking deals.

The publishing is worldwide with US company Third Side Music which is interesting in getting sync deals for his tracks. They spotted him at last month’s BIGSOUND in Brisbane. Meantime, he’s assigned his Australian live bookings to Select Music.

Timberwolf just dropped a new single Something That I Said, a follow-up to last year’s Flux EP which notched up 1 million Spotify plays.

SABRINA LAWRIE AT PIG CITY AS PART OF COMEBACK

Brisbane underground singer-songwriter Sabrina Lawrie has signed with new Brisbane imprint Pig City as part of her comeback. In recent years Lawrie was dividing her time between Brisbane and LA, playing festivals across the US and sharing stages with GOTSA’s Nick Oliveri, Cat Power and The Brian Jonestown Massacre and creating a vibe.

But this year a broken back from a fall meant a lengthy stay in hospital. Now she’s determined to catch up for lost time. An album is due in March, which Pig City gush is “magnificent” and “MORE than worth the wait.” Lawrie and her band The Hunting Party are added to Pig City’s official launch party at Black Bear Lodge on October 28.

APPLE STORES BRING IN SONOS AUDIO

Australia’s 22 Apple Stores now stock the Sonos range of 16Bit network speakers. Those who buy the system from Apple outlets and online get a three-month free subscription to Apple Music. Sonos said, “This is a big deal — both for our companies, and for music lovers around the world who can now experience Sonos and Apple Music like never before.”

BRIT ACTS GET GOVT. FUNDING TO BREAK GLOBALLY

A team-up by the Dept. for International Trade and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) will see funding to the tune of £2.8 million (A$4.57 million) for British independent labels, musicians and managers to help them break into international markets. The first round of recipients is announced in December.

This comes at a time when Brit acts have a record 17.1% share of the global market, making it the second largest exporter after the US. In 2015, British artists accounted for almost one in almost every six artist albums sold worldwide.

WARNER/CHAPPELL INKS DYO

Warner/Chappell Music’s latest signing is pop/R&B songwriter and performer Dyo. Originally known as Ms D. Dyo, she first emerged as featured artist and co-writer on Wiley’s hits Heatwave, Can You Hear Me? and Reload. She also co-wrote Iggy Azalea’s 2014 hit Bounce and Swedish producer Neiked’s current track Sexual.

DEEZER TEAMS WITH FEATURE FM

Deezer’s new partnership with advertising network Feature fm, which allows artists to promote their music inside streaming services, allows them to target their audience through Deezer’s free-to-use platform.

Tristan Rachline, VP of Ad Sales at Deezer said, “The launch of this service now means that artists can easily integrate their music into the free Deezer platform, reaching the right audience at the right time. We are delighted to be collaborating with Feature.fm to further enhance both the user and artist experience.”

SBS LAUNCHES NEW CHANNEL

SBS has dropped SBS2 after seven years and replaced it from November 15 with Viceland, a new TV and online network with a lifestyle and culture focus in partnership with youth media group VICE. The new shows from Viceland cover culture, music, sports, fashion and technology.

NBC EXTENDS ‘AMERICA’S GOT TALENT’ TO 2019

NBC has extended Simon Cowell’s America’s Got Talent deal for three more years through to 2019. Cowell has held a creative role at the show since it began, and in the past northern summer became a judge. This summer, the show had its highest ratings in five years.

In August, NBC announced that America’s Got Talent would return for a 12th cycle — with judges Cowell, Mel B, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel as well as host Nick Cannon expected to return.