Plenty of news from the industry circles this week, mainly in the opportunity area, with a chance to get grants galores care of The Hilltop Hoods or The Australia Council for the Arts. Push Songs also are giving a chance to get songwriting tips and advice for aspiring musicians. Also, CMJ applications have opened and Simon Crean appoints a new director of Sounds Australia. All this, and a historic event in the ARIA charts on The State Of Affairs this week.
SEA SHEPHERD TEAM WITH THE PEPPERS
Environmental activist group, Sea Shepherd Australia have announced that it will get together with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the band’s 2013 Big Day Out headline tour which started last weekend. The band incorporate Sea Shepherd digital visuals into the backdrop of their main stage performance in their first performance, and will do so for the remainder of the tour.
Sea Shepherd has enjoyed a long relationship with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and lists Anthony Kiedis as a member of the Sea Shepherd Board of Directors. In early 2012, the band made a public announcement that called on German authorities to stop the extradition of Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd ship to Costa Rica.
OPPORTUNITIES: HILLTOP HOODS INITIATIVE
An emerging Australian hip hop/soul artist will have the opportunity enhance their career with a $10,000 grant being offered by The Hilltop Hoods to anyone who has made music in the hip hop/soul field who have not released an album professionally. In addition, the winner will receive legal advice courtesy of David Vodicka and Media Arts Lawyers, which can be used for general or specific career advice plus a Shure Microphone prize pack.
Applications close on February 26 2013 and winners will be announced in late March. If you're keen to be a part of it head here.
OPPORTUNITIES: THE RECORDING INITIATIVE
The Australia Council has announced a new grant scheme for small labels, The Recording Initiative, which will offer funding of up to $50,000 to support growth for smaller music businesses. The Recording Initiative will cover costs associated with artist fees, recording, promotion and administration.
The new funding program is a result of the Australia Council consulting over the past year with AIR (Australian Independent Record Labels Association) as well as artists, industry organisations and labels themselves. Applications are now open and will close on the 18th February 2013. Application forms and guidelines are available on http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au
OPPORTUNITIES: PUSH SONGS
Songwriting and mentoring program, Push Songs is returning in mid Feb 2013, and are looking for songwriters of any age to take part.
Successful applicants will be involved in one on one, 90 minute workshops to develop their skills. Charles Jenkins, Mark Seymour, Adalita, Mick Thomas and Angie Hart will all be taking part in the initiative and lucky recipients will work with them to fine tune their songwriting craft.
OPPORTUNITIES: CMJ MUSIC MARATHON
Apart from SXSW, the CMJ Music Marathon has put the callout for all bands to be involved in their showcases and performances. The event attracts more than 120,000 music professionals, artists and music enthusiasts to the City every autumn. CMJ Music Marathon features 1,400+ artists performing live in over 80 of New York City's greatest music venues October 15-19, 2013.
Bands should submit by clicking here and following the prompts.
PBS DRIVE LIVE
Melbourne community radio station PBS will be undergoing it's second Drive Live from from Monday February 4th to Friday the 8th between 5pm and 7pm. Every day three bands in three studios will set up and simply play a set of tunes for your listening ears. A showcase of artists Performers during the Drive Live 2013 showcase will include Lower Plenty, Brothers Grim, Spinning Rooms, Pony Face and The Townhouses. And there will be more acts announced in days to come. Head to http://www.pbsfm.org.au for more details.
FRESHLY INKED: VANCE JOY
Liberation Music have announced that they've signed Melbourne songwriter Vance Joy (aka James Keogh). Vance Joy has been cutting himself a pretty good crowd in Melbourne venues The Workers Club and The Toff. The coming weeks will see Vance Joy release the video ‘From Afar’, which will be the first single to come from his ‘God Loves You When You’re Dancing’ EP, released later this year. The coming months will see support Of Monsters and Men at their Laneway sideshows and for Julia Stone on her Heavenly Sounds Tour.
GET SLAMMED
SLAM (Save Live Australia's Music) have asked for registrations to come in for it's annual SLAM Day on February 23rd. The event is looking to become an annual reoccurrence. The organisation was lobby group that came out of the SLAM rally a few years ago, the largest cultural protest in Australia's history. 20,000 people marched in Melbourne to change government policy that incorrectly linked live music to violence.
This year, Slam are aiming for 'the largest simultaneous celebration of Live Music and Small Gigs that's ever been held in Australia' and are looking for venues and bands to fulfil that. It is free to register, and it can all be done at http://www.slamrally.org
THE AMP GETS REALLY AMPED
The Coopers AMP (otherwise known as The 8th Australian Music Prize, before it all got corpratised) will be staging it's first live public event in Federation Square, Melbourne to finally reveal the final 9 albums that will contest the grant. After listening to around 320 albums and selecting 71 of them as entrants, our independent panel will criticise and analyse these least few albums to the nth degree.
The event will take place on Friday February 1st, 2013 and will have Hermitude, Jess Ribeiro & The Bone Collectors and Urthboy all performing. Clare Bowditch and Kevin Mitchell will co-host the event. The Winner of The (Coopers) AMP will be announced on March 7th and receives a $30,000 prize.
AIN’T PLAYING ANYMORE NOTES ANYMORE
Sydney's up and down live music scene continues its roller coaster ride, with Notes at Newtown being sold off last weekend all artist bookings from this last Saturday had been cancelled without much notice to those playing. The new owners of the venue plan to renovate and restore some of the venue before reopening later in the year.
SOUNDS AUSTRALIA APPOINT A NEW NATIONAL LIVE MUSIC COORDINATOR
Arts Minister Simon Crean has announced the appointment of live music advocate and policy consultant Dr Ianto Ware as National Live Music Coordinator for Sounds Australia.
Through previous roles in the not-for-profit sector, Dr Ware has extensive experience supporting artists, venues, industry associations such as CEO of Renew Adelaide and founding director of Format Adelaide, as well as state and local governments. "Live music has been a hugely positive influence in my life. I'm absolutely thrilled to take on a job that will allow me to give back to the Australian local music scene," Dr Ware said via press release.
ARIA CHART WRAP
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis achieve a rare feat on this week’s ARIA Singles Chart, as their new single ‘Same Love’ featuring Mary Lambert replaces their previous single ‘Thrift Shop’ at #1! ‘Thrift Shop’ enjoyed seven consecutive weeks at the peak, and this new chart-topper ensures eight unbroken weeks at the peak for the pair. The last time that this happened was in June 2009, when the Black Eyed Peas replaced six weeks at number one with ‘Boom Boom Pow’ with another seven weeks at the peak with ‘I Gotta Feeling…’ Other movements include Flo Rida's track 'Let It Roll’ jumping six places to #7 while the highest debut this week was by One Direction with their brand new track, ‘Kiss You’ at #13
On the album front, Bruno Mars retains a strong hold on top spot on this week’s ARIA Album Chart with Unorthodox Jukebox, enjoying a 20% lead over his nearest rival, Les Miserables: Highlights From The Motion Picture, which enjoys a new peak at #2. Mirroring their impact on the singles chart, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit the top 3 on this week’s ARIA Album Chart, with The Heist jumping from #8 to #3 this week thanks to a 15% sales rise.
HIATUS KAIYOTE GET WORLDWIDE
Nai Palm from Haitus Kaiyote flew to London recently to both perform at the and accept the Break Through Artist gong at The Worldwide Awards. The event has sometimes been said to be 'to music what Sundance Film Festival is to film'. Their debut release Tawk Tomohawk was nominated for best album of the year as well, coming in at #9.
In other news, the band have nearly secured 1/3rd of the funds to get over to tour the USA, including key appearances at SXSW conference in Texas, Austin in March. IF people are wanting to pledge funds to their campaign, head to http://www.indiegogo.com/HKUSA
