New Signings & Team-Ups: UK deal for Tired Lion; Andrei Eremin booked by Select Music; Stan outsources media buying; Caloundra Music teams with bank; Opera House gets first naming rights sponsor

UK deal for Tired Lion

Fast rising Perth band Tired Lion(pictured)are looking at touring the UK after assigning its UK bookings to London-based X-Ray Touring. The agency handles The Pixies, Blur, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins and Queens Of The Stone Age, and Australian acts Bad//Dreems, Courtney Barnett, Hilltop Hoods, The Creases and Nick Cave.

Guitarist Matt Tanner said in a statement that the news came through while “we were sitting at my place after rehearsal reading comics and drinking beers. We immediately started taking about how rad it'd be to go to the UK and the antics we'd get up to. A couple of us may have to become Uber drivers to save some money for airfares, haha."

Tired Lion won Channel V’s Discover competition, took out the WAMI for best rock song, opened for Splendour In The Grass as the triple j Unearthed winner and got national airplay for their second single Suck and their ‘Like a Version’ mash-up of Violent Soho’s Saramona Said and Smashing Pumpkins’ 1979.

Ivy League adds Rolling Blackouts to roster

Sydney-based Ivy League Records added Melbourne “soft punk” quartet Rolling Blackouts to its roster, alongside Alpine, Youth Group, Josh Pyke and The Vines. The act is to release an EP Talk Tight, which includes last December’s debut single Clean Slate and the new Wide Eyes, and is to tour with Bully and The Preatures. Ivy League is part of the Mushroom Group.

Andrei Eremin booked by Select Music

Things have been moving for 23-year-old Melbourne producer and audio engineer Andrei Eremin since he decided to focus on his own music. Behind the August 29 release of his debut EDM-themed EP Pale Blue (out on his birthday) he signed with Sydney’s Select Music for bookings. The agency organised his live debut at the EP’s launch at Melbourne’s Hugs & Kisses on October 10.

Eremin worked with acts including Miami Horror, Chet Faker, Hiatus Kaiyote, Banoffee, Oscar Key Sung, Closure In Moscow and Japanese Wallpaper. He recently had his first #1, in Singapore, with a track by Charlie Lim.

Stan outsources media buying to OMD

Since its launch this year, SVOD service Stan has been using its owners Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment’s in-house resources for media buying. Now it’s amping up its marketing, and appointed OMD as its media agency to handle its marketing budget – rumoured to be between $10 million and $20 million.

UK’s largest supermarket stocks new Maiden vinyl

The UK’s largest supermarket chain Tesco is testing its entry into the vinyl market with Iron Maiden’s new album. The Book of Souls, its first in five years, comes as a triple LP and also in a 2-CD format. The veteran British metal band’s record will be stocked in 55 extra outlets to a mainstream consumer as a result. Tesco is also offering discounts on Maiden’s own brand of beer, Trooper.

Tesco is the first UK supermarket to return to vinyl. It said that it experimented with Maiden because its last album went to #1 in 28 countries including the UK. It will consider adding more vinyl titles if Maiden sales are strong.

Jessica Mauboy sings on Indigenous Literacy Day

In her role as an ambassador for Indigenous Literacy Day, Jessica Mauboy sang at Sydney Opera House. She was joined by other creatives as Deborah Cheetham, William Barton, Ursula Yovich, Alison Lester and Justine Clarke as four kids from remote communities read from a folklore book. Mauboy expressed her concern that government cuts to health and educational programs would “come at a price.”

At the event, host Natalie Ahmat of NITV announced that Mitsubishi Australia Ltd had signed on as a new sponsor and donated nearly $50,000 to deliver 7,000+ books to remote communities across Australia.

Burleigh Brewing extends tie-in with Gold Coast Music Awards

Pleased with the national to July 22’s Gold Coast Music Awards (back after 20 years), Burleigh Brewing Co locked in for the 2016 event as presenting partner. The partnership was tested this year on the night. Burleigh Brewing Co. is right in the middle of constructing new buildings and planned to hold the ceremony outside. But due to threat of rain, it was decided a day before to move it inside.

Awards volunteers and brewery staffers had to hurriedly shift rubble before 350 guests arrived. An electrician was fixing power points three hours before show time.

“It was a lot of work,” Peta Fielding, brewery CEO said. “Hearing the rain pelt down later that night made me happy we’d made the call.” Next year’s awards won’t have that problem: construction will end at the end of this year.

Caloundra Music teams with bank

The Caloundra Music Festival on the Sunshine Coast (October 2-5) pacted with the Commonwealth Bank to use its EFTPOS tablet Albert for all transactions. Festival Director Richie Eyles said that as a result of the 50 Albert tablets on site, punters would see greater efficiency in ticketing and less queues. Festival-goers without their own card can also purchase a Caloundra Music Festival cash card as they arrive to use on the EFTPOS devices.

Chapter gets the goon sax feeling

Melbourne based Chapter Music signed Brisbane art-pop teen trio The Goon Sax – its first inking from an unsolicited demo. Their first single Sometimes Accidentally is out, with debut album Up To Anything due early 2016. The band formed at high school in 2013 when James Harrison and Louis Forster began workshopping song ideas in James’ bedroom. Riley Jones joined last March, after a month of drum lessons.

Nuclear Blast arises

Nuclear Blast’s owner Markus Staiger and Tobbe Falarz (former label manager of People Like You Records) jointly set up imprint Arising Empire. It’s aimed at new acts playing metalcore, punk and rock outside the metal mainstream. It’s signed France’s Novelists, Sweden’s Imminence, USA’s Amor and Germany’s GWLT, to be released here through Nuclear Blast Australia.

Remote Control driving behind Car Seat Headrest

Remote Control will release the Teens Of Style album by Car Seat Headrest in Australia, through a US deal struck by the act with Matador Records. Car Seat Headrest is Will Toledo from Leesburg, Virginia. Since 2010 he has released eleven albums on Bandcamp which have been downloaded 25,000 times.

Opera House gets first naming rights sponsor

Global computing company Intel has become the Sydney Opera House’s first naming-rights sponsor, with the launch of Intel Broadcast Studios. The two-year partnership will include a digital content series, live on-site activations and a range of projects trialling the latest Intel technologies to create new experiences. The venue’s CEO Louise Herron said, "Our partnership with Intel is one of the many ways in which we are renewing the Opera House for new generations of artists, audiences and visitors.”

BBC ANZ chooses media account

To grow its brand and revenue in Australia and New Zealand, BBC Worldwide ANZ appointed Vizeum Australia to provide media strategy, planning and buying across the region. It will work with brands including live entertainment, e-commerce and retail.

Wick Studios to host Real Songwriters TV

Melbourne’s Wick Studios complex will host The Real Songwriters of Melbourne’s TV show Real Songwriters TV. To start filming this month, the show allows artists to share their story via video interviews and showcase via live sets at Wick.

Australia part of WWE/ Exponential Interactive deal

Australia is one of seven countries in the Asia Pacific where digital advertising company Exponential Interactive will work with WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). The three-year deal will offer desktop and mobile web advertising to brands and agencies on WWE.com to reach the sport’s fans. Other countries involved in the deal are New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. WWE attracts an average of 21 million monthly unique visitors worldwide on its digital properties. They viewed an average of 439 million pages and 40 million monthly video streams.