SongHubs London brings creatives together at legendary RAK Studios

The Aussie are invading England.

While Australia is the featured country at The Great Escape, APRA AMCOS’s SongHubs London is hosting Australian talent at legendary RAK Studios for three days of intensive songwriting collaboration with UK writers, producers and A&Rs.

It is being curated by Fergus Cooper of UK artist management firm Solar Management, whose client roster includes producer Nigel Godrich and Four Tet.

Beginning Monday, May 13, the sessions see the creatives split into groups of three, tasked to write, produce and record a commercially-viable song by the close of business.

On Wednesday evening (May 15) there’ll be a listening session.

Cooper invited XL Recordings’ in-house producer John Felton (Gorillaz, FKA Twigs, Years and Years), writer/producer Seton Daunt (Gabrielle Aplin, Kylie Minogue), songwriter-vocalist Valentina, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Rawle, solo artist and former Howling Bells frontwoman Juanita Stein, and others, to work with APRA AMCOS members selected through a competitive application process.

Those participants include: Great Escape showcase acts Winston of Winston Surfshirt, JEFFE, and The Dawn of May, along with Sydney up-and-coming artist imbi the girl, and a few Aussies making waves in London: electro-soul duo Two Another (Eliot Porter and Angus Campbell), rising star Mali-Koa, and singer-songwriter Jess Chalker, a frequent collaborator of Passenger, Lisa Loeb, and Lior.

Said Milly Petriella, APRA AMCOS director of member relations, “Hosting SongHubs in our UK home-away-from-home RAK Studios is very special.

“Not only do we get to welcome our members fresh from playing at The Great Escape and provide them with the opportunity to create with top international talent, but we also get to play host to a number of members based in London.”

Petriella explains: “With more members travelling and relocating overseas than ever before, it’s vital that we help create collaborative and professional opportunities in the world’s most networked music cities.”

The London session marks the 63rd SongHubs since the initiative started in 2013.

APRA AMCOS estimates that to date $2 million in performance royalties for the collaborators has been earned.

SongHubs has already produced commercial releases for the likes of Troye Sivan, Morgan Evans, Dean Lewis, Client Liaison, Peking Duck, Tkay Maidza, Ainslie Wills, The Chainsmokers, Guy Sebastian, Ecca Vandal and more.

RAK Studios was founded in 1976 by legendary record producer Mickie Most and opened in a converted Victorian schoolhouse in St John’s Wood, London.

It has been used by David Bowie, Al Green, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Adele, Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys and Sam Smith.

Among classic songs cut there were The Smiths’ ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, Hot Chocolate’s ‘Everyone’s A Winner’ and ‘You Sexy Thing’, Kim Wilde’s ‘Kids In America’, The Jam’s ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’, Suzi Quatro’s ‘Can The Can’, The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’, Smokie’s ‘Living Next Door to Alice’ and Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’.

Since last year, there is also desk space and writing rooms available to APRA AMCOS members and artist managers travelling through.

The organisation’s UK/Europe member relations representative Adam Townsend is based at RAK Studios and handles enquiries to use the space.