BIG NAMES NOMINATED FOR MPEG AWARDS, MIKE CHAPMAN HONOURED
Names such as Ninajirachi, Anna Lunoe, and Dom Dolla made the nominees list for the third Music Producer and Engineers’ Guild of Australia (MPEG) Awards, while Australian-born global uber-producer and songwriter Mike Chapman receives a Lifetime Achievement award. The awards celebrate excellence across music production, engineering, and studio practice in Australia across 11 categories. They’ll be held on Wednesday, February 25, in Sydney, with Ron Haryanto—co-founder of Mentor Academy and long-time advocate of Australian producers and engineers—hosting.
Anna Laverty, Chair and Founding Director of MPEG, said, “What really stands out this year is just how strong the work is across the board. These nominations reflect an incredible amount of care, craft and creativity, and being recognised by your peers in this way really means something. Huge congratulations to everyone nominated.”
Lauded with a Lifetime Achievement is Mike Chapman, the high-profile producer and songwriter born in Nambour, Queensland, who racked up 30 global #1 singles and over 160 million albums after moving to London in the late ‘60s. A chance meeting in a club with songwriter Nicky Chinn led to an influential partnership which shaped ‘70s pop-glam rock, and created hits as The Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz” and “Blockbuster!”, Mud’s “Tiger Feet”, Smokie’s “Living Next Door to Alice’ and Suzi Quatro’s “Devil Gate Drive” and “Can the Can”. After Chapman moved to the USA, he continued to create classics with the likes of Blondie and the Knack. He also worked with Aussie acts Baby Animals, Divinyls and Australian Crawl as well as Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, Bow Wow Wow, Agnetha Fältskog and Lita Ford.
2026 MPEG Award Nominees:
Producer of the Year:
Alex Burnett, Anna Lunoe, Aidan Hogg, Alice Ivy, Robby De Sa
Breakthrough Producer of the Year:
Xavier Dunn, Fletcher Matthews, Ninajirachi, Jonathon Tooke, Moss McGregor, Sophie Edwards
Writer-Producer of the Year:
Anna Lunoe, Robby De Sa, Lucy Blomkamp, Rob Amaruso, Aidan Hogg
Recording Engineer of the Year:
George Carpenter, Lewis Mitchell, Simon Cohen, Rohan Sforcina, Wayne Connolly
Mix Engineer of the Year:
Simon Cohen, Eric J Dubowsky, Thomas Purcell (Wave Racer), Nao Anzai, Nick Herrera
Mastering Engineer of the Year:
Nao Anzai, Lachlan Carrick, Nicholas Di Lorenzo, Joe Carra, Andrew Edgeson
Studio of the Year:
Pughouse Studios, Empire Studios, Synth Temple, 4000 Studios, Audrey Studios
Self-Producing Artist of the Year:
Harvey Sutherland, Alice Ivy, Anna Lunoe, Ninajirachi, Skeleton
Overseas Achievement:
Tim Tan, Catherine Marks, Styalz Fuego, Keanu Beats, Dom Dolla
Outstanding Community Work:
Songmakers, Kool Skools, Music Producers Development Program, Music Production for Women, Resonate
BLUDFEST COMING IN 2027
Yungblud’s own festival Bludfest is set to land in Australia in 2027—and that’s straight from the man himself, announced at each show of his Australian tour. The UK act and his fans showed incredible rapport with each other, not only at the concerts but at airports, where hundreds welcomed him back. Some drove two to three hours just to see him arrive.
A fan who told him his album IDOLS helped him through eye cancer treatment received a special hand squeeze and a heartfelt “love ya bro.” Yungblud also hung out at his own photo exhibition by renowned photographer Tom Pallant. In Brisbane, after two sold-out shows at the Riverstage, he headed down to the Crowbar and jumped behind the bar to personally serve fans.
GYM FINED FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
Sydney-based boutique fitness operator S1 Training has been ordered to pay $175,000 after the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia found it guilty of playing unlicensed music during fitness classes.
The infringement occurred between 2020 and 2024 across the group’s sites in NSW and Victoria, with music including tracks by Avicii, Vengaboys, Swedish House Mafia, Mousse T., and Taio Cruz.
APRA, which licenses music for public use, sent compliance officers undercover into the classes to record entire sessions. After contacting S1 founder Kieran Turner about the copyright infringement and offering to help him obtain proper licensing, the court heard Turner declined the offer and continued playing music without a licence.
UNTITLED HIT RECORD 800,000 IN 2025
Independent promoter Untitled Group celebrated its 10th year in 2025 with a record-breaking run, selling over 800,000 tickets across 180 live events and hosting 70 artist tours.
Key successes included Beyond The Valley festival, which drew 40,000 patrons, RÜFÜS DU SOL’s sold-out national tour, and Dom Dolla’s first stadium show, all sold out, plus the Wool Store series and Wildlands festival.
RÜFÜS DU SOL’s November shows at Qudos Bank Arena sold 48,865 tickets across three performances, setting a new benchmark for the highest ticket sales by an electronic dance music act on their Inhale / Exhale tour.
Internationally, Untitled Group debuted at #12 among all global promoters on Billboard’s Midyear Boxscore, one of the few independents to reach such heights. They also placed #5 on Pollstar’s 2025 rankings for concert promoters in Australia and New Zealand.
Over the decade, Untitled has evolved into an interconnected ecosystem spanning festivals, touring, artist management, artist bookings, a creator agency, and even a vodka brand.
BANDCAMP BANS AI
For direct-to-fan platform Bandcamp, human creativity is the most important element. To that end, it has banned all AI-generated music and audio “wholly or in substantial part.”
The platform stated: “We want musicians to keep making music, and for fans to have confidence that the music they find on Bandcamp was created by humans. The fact that Bandcamp is home to such a vibrant community of real people making incredible music is something we want to protect and maintain.”
General Manager Dan Melnick added: “Instead of algorithms, fans get human-curated picks from some of the best DJs and journalists in their respective areas, exclusive interviews with artists, and community listening parties.”
According to its website, fans have paid artists $1.65 billion through the platform. In one day alone, 76,532 records were sold via Bandcamp.
By contrast, French streaming platform Deezer receives over 50,000 fully AI-generated tracks daily—representing 34% of all tracks uploaded to its platform each day.
How are other platforms dealing with AI?
Spotify allows AI-generated content as long as it’s properly credited, but draws the line at vocal deepfakes and unauthorised voice cloning, as well as AI used to mislead users or illegally claim royalties. Last September, the platform announced it had removed 75 million “spammy” tracks over the previous 12 months.
Apple Music acknowledges AI as an effective creative tool but bans tracks that attempt to bypass transparency requirements or proper attribution.
YouTube Music embraces AI as beneficial for creators, helping them achieve their goals faster and reach wider audiences. However, creators must be transparent with attribution, especially for content related to health and finance.
FISHER’S OUT2LUNCH TAPPING INTO NATIONAL EDM BOOM
With Australia ranking as the third-largest EDM market in the world, it’s no surprise that local live tours pull strong numbers and sell out rapidly.
In late 2024, Dom Dolla shifted over 170,000 tickets across four cities. Last month, he became the first EDM act to graduate to stadiums, drawing 40,000 fans and scoring a feature story in US-based global live trade publication Pollstar. RÜFÜS DU SOL’s Inhale / Exhale tour in late 2025 sold 180,000 tickets across Australia and New Zealand, and 750,000 globally—leading to claims it was the highest-selling electronic tour of all time. This year, DJ Fisher’s Gold Coast event Out2Lunch is going national, expanding to Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne.
In its first year on the Gold Coast, Out2Lunch drew 30,000 to Coolangatta Beach and generated $50 million for the local economy. Last year, it attracted over 40,000 to Surfers Paradise Beach and generated $54 million.
Will Fisher—voted the world’s number one house DJ in DJ Mag’s Top 100 in 2025—beat the other national tours? The Sydney show is at Penrith Regatta, which can hold between 30,000 and 40,000 people.
This weekend (31 January), he plays a New Zealand show at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, which holds 10,000.
NEW OWNER FOR TAMWORTH’S CAPITOL MUSIC
Tamworth’s Capitol Music on Peel Street has changed hands. Ash and Shaz Hawken have passed the keys to local singer-songwriter Cody Walker, who spent considerable time in the store admiring guitars.
FINAL NSW LOCKOUT LAWS ABOLISHED
On 14 January 2014, when the NSW Government, led by Barry O’Farrell, rushed in lockout laws to curb assault rates in Sydney’s CBD and Kings Cross, few could have predicted how damaging they’d be. Now, the current Minns Government has abolished the last of them.
Those laws, pushed through without consultation with the live music industry, were so draconian that within a few years, 176 venues had disappeared.
This time around, there was discussion with the industry—enough for the State Government to move forward, knowing these laws were well past their use-by date.
The regulations being scrapped include:
- The 3.30am last drinks requirement
- Mandatory use of plastic cups after midnight
- Per-person drink limits
- Bans on promoting shots during late trading
- Mandatory RSA marshals after midnight for certain venues
The 1.30am lockout was partially unwound in stages between 2020 and 2021. Since then, alcohol-related assaults in the former lockout areas have continued to trend downward.
NSW Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris said: “We’re being far smarter with safety via targeted, risk-based regulation rather than blanket conditions.”
The State Government says dropping these regulations will boost NSW’s $110 billion night-time economy.
Eight Special Entertainment Precincts are currently being trialled, with 20 local councils working toward precinct establishment, including Manly, Cronulla, Liverpool, Burwood, Kiama, and Tamworth.
Live music remains central to the revival, with more than 521 venues now utilising extended trading hours for music—nearly four times the number recorded when the current government took office.
END COMING FOR ADELAIDE’S THE JADE
One of Adelaide’s longest-running live music venues, The Jade, is closing in mid-spring. The venue has operated from St Paul’s Rectory on Flinders Street since 2002, but operators say: “Despite the business’s success, we have been informed that our lease will not be renewed beyond November 2026.” It’s unclear whether The Jade will relocate to another location.
Operators thanked their community for years of support, calling it “such a privilege to be entrusted to host your live music, arts, and significant personal events.”
NO SLEEP ‘TIL TAMWORTH
The Tamworth Country Music Festival kicked off with a record 8,000 attending the opening night concert in Bicentennial Park. An estimated 300,000 people attended across the festival, with more younger city-dwellers making the trip. At the Golden Guitar Awards, formerly married duo Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson performed “The Divorce Song” about doing better at divorce than they did at marriage. It won Song and Single of the Year on the night. The Wolfe Brothers entered with eight nominations and left with five awards, including Album of the Year. In December, Nick Wolfe finally picked up his Bachelor of Music degree—he’d started at 19 at the University of Tasmania, but the band’s success got in the way.
The festival marked the end of two eras. John Williamson performed his final show before retirement, whilst Festival Manager Barry Harley also retired after being honoured for his 54 years of service.
VALE (THOSE WE LOST IN THE LAST SIX WEEKS)
Rob Hirst
Hirst stated that Midnight Oil “played the songs 30% to 40% faster than when we recorded them. We used to nail my drum kit to the stage because I used to leap in the air just to get an extra wallop on the drums!” He acquired the kit from a Turramurra music store in Sydney’s north in 1979, just before sessions for the second Oils album Head Injuries. The kit is now on exhibition at the Australian Music Vault in Melbourne. It had been listed in a charity auction last October with a reserve of $10,000 and an opening bid of $30,000. The Oils’ 16,000-member fan club Powderworkers, pooled their resources and pushed bidding to $65,000. A last-minute anonymous bidder raised the price to $75,000, but fans ultimately secured it for $77,500 and donated it to the museum “to keep it in public hands.”
Hirst was such a formidable presence behind his black Gretsch kit that it was easy to overlook his considerable contribution to the Oils’ songwriting and their advocacy on many issues. These included First Nations land rights and reconciliation, nuclear disarmament, and conservation. In the 1970s, they campaigned against a cigarette company targeting young people in nightclubs. In another instance, they destroyed disco records as a protest against disco’s impact on live music. Hirst was a consistent advocate for greater commercial radio support of local music. Six days after his passing, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 26 January Australia Day Honours list. Hirst’s nomination was put forward by music industry executives four years ago. Following standard protocol, he would have been contacted in mid-2025 to confirm his acceptance, with final confirmation coming shortly before his death.
His family encouraged people to continue his work: “Rob loved this Great South Land, and dreamt of a day when we could heal through Makarrata and get on with the urgent work of caring for Country together. The time has come.”
Velvet Pesu
Velvet Pesu, 46, was a Brisbane singer-songwriter, drummer, and visual artist who for 20 years also served as director of the Heart Health Foundation charity, which provides meals and music therapy to homeless people and disadvantaged children through busking. She died in tragic circumstances at a remote Logan property. A man has been charged in connection with her death.
Lawrence Hudson
Lawrence Hudson was a club DJ on alternative music nights around Melbourne, including New Used & Abused, which was also the name of his Wednesday night show on Triple R (1986 to 1999), where he played and championed new UK music.
Jim White
Jim White was a long-time music executive who spent 27 years at Festival Records, serving as Managing Director for the final five years. He was a strong supporter of PPCA and one of those who established the music charity Support Act. He was also a dedicated supporter of the local country music scene. He died at 86 following illness.
Mal Osborne
Mal Osborne began playing in Perth bands from age 14 after attending school with Bon Scott. He performed with Beggars Opera (best known for their Live At The Cannington Hotel album), Intensely Mellow, B Movie Heroes, and Hells Bells.
Marco de Koster
Marco de Koster was a Melbourne singer-songwriter best known for songs including “To Be Alone With You”, “You’ve Got Gold”, “Old Shoes”, “One Too Many Mornings”, and “Lies, Lies.” He passed away after battling Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Peter McFarlane
Peter McFarlane was a drummer with Finch/Contraband and Swanee. A post by Finch guitarist Bob Spencer revealed he “fought back after a debilitating stroke a little while back, only to succumb to another a few days ago.”
Kenny Weir
New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based Kenny Weir was a music journalist who served as Arts Editor at the Sunday Herald Sun (bringing diverse roots music coverage) and sports sub-editor at The Age.
He was a jazz presenter on community radio PBS 106.7FM from the 1980s onwards. He made a dozen trips to New Orleans and South Louisiana for its music and food, creating the western suburbs Facebook food blog Consider The Sauce, and continued discovering new music whilst battling cancer.
Ted Egan AO
Ted Egan AO, 93, was a Northern Territory folk singer-songwriter and cultural icon who recorded 30 albums throughout his career. One of the many musicians he mentored, Darwin-based singer Sally Balfour, performed a version of his 1980 hit “Ride On Little Cowboy” as a farewell at this month’s Tamworth Country Music Festival. A state funeral will be held on 17 February in recognition of his standing in the Territory.
Dr. Ashley Crawford
Melbourne music and arts journalist and editor Dr. Ashley Crawford came under the spell of punk’s DIY ethos and, in 1980, launched the highbrow music and arts magazine The Virgin Press, later rebranded Tension. He moved further into the global arts sector, writing books on arts identities and trends, worked at The Australian Commission For The Future, explored the possibilities of digital art forms, and in 2016 completed his Doctorate in Philosophy.
Jonno Colfs
Warwick, Queensland-based Jonno Colfs played with Sleeping Dogs, worked as a journalist and cricketer, and coordinated events for the local council before passing away from brain cancer at 48.
Trent Theodore
Melbourne nightclub promoter Trent Theodore, 39 (The Osborne, Bar Bambi, Eve) received the farewell he wanted, with a funeral at the Glasshouse, headquarters of his beloved Collingwood FC, and a wake at his beloved The Osborne. Colleagues recalled his remarkable ability to remember each patron’s name and face as a key to his success.
