New Signings & Team Ups – August 2

UMPG AUSTRALIA PACTS JAMES AND MELINDA APPLEBY FOR WORLD

Universal Music Publishing Australia signed James and Melinda Appleby to a global deal, announced by company President Andrew Jenkins and VP Creative, Arwen Curson.

Curson said, “James and Melinda have been a cornerstone of the electronic music scene for many years now.”

The duo were core writers for the Rogue Traders’ four albums which collectively sold 1 million physical copies. These also won an ARIA, out of a total of 12 nominations, and two APRA awards after garnering six noms.

James also produced the most recent INXS album Original Sin.

The deal also includes the Applebys’ latest project, Sioux City, formed with Colombian/Uruguayan singer and fellow UMP artist/writer Caterina Torres.

Sioux City’s new single Until The Sun Go is lifted from their debut album due later this year.

NORTH AMERICA BOOKING DEAL FOR ALI BARTER

Ali Barter has signed to WME booking agency in North America. She will be repped by Robbie Brown and Christina Lynch out of Los Angeles where Barter will be headed straight after her current One Foot In Australian tour.

The eleven dates, between August 25 and October 1, will see her joined primarily by Dunedin’s Kane Strang (Dead Oceans) making his Australian debut in Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra; and Melbourne’s Press Club, whose single Headwreck is getting triple j spins, at shows in Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Barter is also appearing at the Darwin Festival (August 11), Brisbane Festival (September 23) and Wollongong’s Yours & Owls (September 30).

One Foot In is from her debut A Suitable Girl, with a video created by Jam Nawaz.

Barter explains “The line ‘…and now I’m stripping for free’ was about me feeling exposed and a bit like a chump.

“The song is a lot of fun to play live and it’s helpful to remember these emotions when playing it because it gives the song a great energy.”

PACES JOINS USA’S REPUBLIC

Gold Coast producer Paces’ triple j hit Savage now gets a global push after his Australian electronic music label etcetc got him signed to US label Republic.

Republic is home to The Weeknd, Drake and Lorde.

Its SVP of A&R Brett Alperowitz said, “The Casablanca and Republic labels are very excited to welcome Paces to our artist roster.

“Savage is a fantastic tune that we feel can have success here in the US and around the world.

“The song was our point of discovery for this talented artist, but we look forward to more great music from Paces.”

Paces recently signed a worldwide publishing deal with Primary Wave and BMG out of New York.

Since its local release in January, Savage has collected six million Spotify plays.

Aden Mullens, Head of etcetc, stated, “As a humble Australian indie label, it’s affirming to have the excitement and support of one of the biggest labels in the world.

“Paces, Falcona and etcetc are looking forward to working with Brett and the global Casablanca/Republic team breaking Paces in key global territories.”

In the meantime, the new Paces single Creepin’ was premiered on triple j.

BIGGS LANDS NATIVE TONGUE PUBLISHING DEAL

Melbourne’s Alexander Biggs has landed a publishing deal with Native Tongue.

The 23 year old who grew up playing classical piano in rural Victoria, is also on the Sony Music roster. First singles Tidal Wave and Out In The Dark, which locally received triple j support, also got overseas airplay on BBC Radio 1 and KCRW, and generated 1.5 million streams on Spotify

Further developments overseas have already begun, reveals Native Tongue’s MD, Jaime Gough.

He said, “Alexander Biggs is a rare talent. He crafts simple yet extremely memorable songs, which is a true art.

“We are already receiving serious interest in his music at home and abroad, including his first US synch placement, so the future is bright for Alexander. “

New single Figure It Out is described as the “dark horse: off his debut EP Still You Sharpen Your Teeth out September 15 via Sony Music.

SPUNK PACTS ADELAIDE’S THE SAN SEBASTIAN

Spunk Records’ latest local roster addition is The San Sebastian. The act is made up of brothers Joel and Dan Crannitch, who after working on different projects in different cities, found themselves back in the Adelaide Hills where they rehearsed as teenagers in the band Leader Cheetah.

Armed with demos, they headed to Nashville to play the Americana festival. There they joined forces with producer Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty, The Shins) and worked on their debut album Alive On The Black Sea.

The record is due early 2018 but Spunk has in the meantime issued a single Red River, complete with a video shot in the Australian outback by director B. Dowie.

ADELE MAKES A SWITCH IN US

After years of being represented for performing rights in the US by BMI, Adele has switched to SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers).

Its Chairman and CEO John Josephson admits to being “humbled and grateful” at being selected by the 100-million album selling artist, adding, “With each new release, she surpasses her own prior record of achievement and confirms her place as a global superstar in a category all her own.”

MIDNIGHT OIL FILM GETS FUNDING GREEN LIGHT

A theatrical movie about Midnight Oil goes into production later this year after being selected as one of 15 documentaries to be funded by Screen Australia.

The Documentary Producer and Commissioned program commissioned $4.15 million worth of new content.

Backburning I will hit theatres in the second half of 2018, is written and directed by Paul Clarke (The Sound Of Alberts 2015 and Abba: Bang-A-Boomerang, 2012). It is produced by Martin Fabinyi and Carolina Sorensen and executive-produced by Ron Saunders and Mikael Borglund.

It “will look at a changing nation through the eyes of the rock band,” says Screen Australia.

“It will tell the story of Midnight Oil who, with their uncompromising attitudes, brought political awareness to their music and influenced a whole generation, making them one of the most revered, hated and storied musical acts in Australian history.”

NOEL GALLAGHER EXTENDS SONY/ATV RELATIONSHIP

With his third solo album out this year Noel Gallagher has extended his 20-year relationship with Sony/ATV. The deal, covering the globe, covers his songs with Oasis and High Flying Birds.

PRODUCTION STUDIOS MERGE

Australian production companies, Bruce Bigelow’s Electric Art and Steve York’s Cream Studios have merged to become Cream Electric Art.

The new entity has a team of 20 covering stills, motion, interactive, VR and AR.

JAMES CONDEN, METHOD MAN, HELM NEW TV SERIES

Late night TV presenter James Conden and Wu Tang Clan rapper Method Man are involved in a new rap battle TV series Drop The Mic, to premiere in America prime-time in late October.

Corden will executive-produce, and Method Man will be a judge alongside model Hailey Baldwin with weekly teams drawn from entertainment, music, sports and pop culture

RAW SETS OUT TO FIND INDIGENOUS TALENT

RAW is a new initiative to foster indigenous story telling and production skills, in partnership with ABC Indigenous, the Indigenous Unit at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and youth creativity championing organisation Artology.

Executive produced by Leah Purcell and Wayne Blair (Cleverman, Redfern Now), they will also mentor indigenous filmmakers aged 18-35 who will come up with three concepts and feature seven successful applications. One will be extended to a TV pilot with a $60,000 budget to be pitched to the ABC. Full details at rawfilmmakers.com.

SONY/ATV PARTNERS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA’S HEARD WELL

Sony/ATV finalised a publishing partnership with Heard Well, the LA-based music label set up two years ago to find new music acts through social media tastemakers and their communities.

The label has come up with enough talent to fill 15 new compilations in 18 months, issued through Sony’s Red Distribution.

Sony/ATV will provide publishing services for the acts unearthed by Heard Well, and also have some of its new signings featured on the label’s compilations.