Teeny Tiny Stevies Sign With Native Tongue Publishing (Exclusive)
Teeny Tiny Stevies, the ARIA Award-winning kids’ entertainers, are the latest addition to the Native Tongue Publishing roster.
The global publishing deal, which TMN exclusively announces today (May 6), is signed ahead of TTS’ fourth studio album, How to be Creative, due out May 20 via ABC Music.
The Australian music act has been quietly blowing young minds over the last couple of years, during which time they’ve bagged over six million plays on ABC iView (a record until Bluey came along), and scooped ARIA and AIR Awards for best children’s album in 2020.
Established in 2015, TTS is the sibling act of Sibylla and Bethany Stephen.
The Native Tongue deal is the latest feather in a cap which includes a commission to write music for Sesame Street’s online channel in the United States; a record deal with ABC Music; and a book deal with Harper Collins, which issued their first, ABIA Award-nominated picture book in 2021.
“Native Tongue are a family business and so are we,” the Stephen sisters say in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be keeping it in the family. And looking forward to someone finally being able to facilitate our deals with Disney & Pixar.”
The new publishing pact also covers works by The Little Stevies, the sisters’ original band.
“We’ve been watching Teeny Tiny Stevies grow over the past few years and are delighted to welcome them into our world,” comments Jaime Gough, managing director of Native Tongue.
“Byll and Beth write children’s songs with positive and educational messages that parents enjoy. They are also a touring machine. My four-year-old loves them and so do I.”
Australia is recognised as a leader in the colourful world of kids’ entertainment, with the likes of Wiggles, Hi-5 and TTS leading the charge.
The planets, it would seem, have aligned in recent years, with Bluey dominating the APRA Screen Music Awards and ruling the ARIA Albums Chart, and the Wiggles cleaning up with its own publishing deal (with Universal Music Publishing), a No. 1 album, top spot on the triple j Hottest 100 countdown and, just this week, the Ted Albert Award.
TTS has a lively schedule for the year ahead. After selling-out the Sydney Opera House on four occasions between lockdowns in 2021, the Aussie group received a $697,000 RISE grant to produce a 63-show tour across Australia in 2022 and 2023.
“How Am I Different,” the first single lifted from TTS’ forthcoming album, is out now.
Founded by Chris Gough in 2003, Native Tongue has amassed a respectable — and growing — catalogue of songwriters, including Grammy-nominated writer/producer Stuart Crichton (Backstreet Boys, Kesha, Kygo, Robin Schulz), multiple ARIA Music Awards winner Courtney Barnett, APRA Silver Scroll award winners Aldous Harding, Marlon Williams, Don McGlashan and Dave Dobbyn, along with The Amity Affliction, Vallis Alps and The Jezabels, M-Phazes and many more.