AIR Awards celebrate Warren Costello, Gurrumul Estate issue back to court, and more!
Been out of the loop with everything that’s been going on in the music industry recently? We don’t blame you. Here’s a wrap-up of all the biggest Aussie music industry news stories from the past fortnight.
The top headlines:
- Native Tongue bought by US publisher Concord.
- Golden Robot launches female-only label.
- More moolah for creators from Facebook, Snapchat.
Keep up to date with the latest industry news here.
Native Tongue bought by US publisher Concord
Australian & New Zealand (ANZ) publisher Native Tongue has been acquired by giant US publisher Concord.
Just what the price tag could be is mind-boggling. No details were given. But UK trade magazine Music Business Worldwide put it at an eight-figure US-dollar sum.
Concord is certainly cashed up: the largest growing indie company in recent years, in April it turned down a buyout offer of five billion dollars.
Concord will set up its first ANZ office in Melbourne, under Native Tongue’s Managing Director Jaime Gough and SVP Chelsea Gough, along with their executive team including David Nash, VP Publishing, and Matt Tanner, VP A&R.
John Minch, Concord’s President of International Publishing, said “Australia and New Zealand are important music markets in their own right and this is a region that we have wanted to invest in for many years.
“This will be an important strategic move for Concord in coordinating our Asia publishing initiatives, which Jaime will handle.”
Native Tongue was founded in 2003 by Chris Gough and led since 2014 by siblings Jaime and Chelsea.
“This provides our home-grown writers with a truly international organisation capable of maximising their potential worldwide,” Chris Gough said.
NT’s roster includes Courtney Barnett, Stuart Crichton (Backstreet Boys, Kesha, Kygo), M-Phazes (Ruel, Remi Wolf), Sophie Curtis (Cosmos Midnight, Jessica Mauboy, aespa), Sir Dave Dobbyn, Jon Hume (Dean Lewis, Sofi Tukker), Don McGlashan, Steve Rusch (Clinton Kane), Gin Wigmore, and Marlon Williams.
Some like Ciara Muscat (NiziU, Twice) and Tim Tan (Enhypen, Seventeen) were among Native Tongue’s success in Asia, which included five Korean #1 releases and on two consecutive #1 albums in Japan at the start of 2022.
AIR Awards celebrate Warren Costello
The August 4 AIR Awards honoured the late Warren Costello with the 2022 Outstanding Achievement Award for supporting indie artists for over 30 years through the Liberation and Bloodlines labels.
The five thousand dollar Professional Development prize awarded by global indie rights group goes to Warren’s daughter, Caitlin Costello, to further her career as an entertainment lawyer.
The Best Independent Label went to Johann Ponniah’s I OH YOU.
Gurrumul Estate issue back to court
The issue of who will administer Gurrumul’s estate continues to be played out in the NT Supreme Court.
His daughter, Jasmine Yunupingu, has applied to run the estate, the NT News reported.
The musician stipulated in his will that all posthumous earnings be shared equally by Jasmine and his foundation.
According to court documents, Gurrumul had asked Mark T Grose of his record label Skinnyfish to administer the estate.
Grose had applied to court to do so but withdrew this year with his lawyer explaining he had not appreciated “the legal issues involved”.
The legal maze includes a number of women have a legitimate claim to the inheritance.
They include his wife, a de facto partner, and the possibility of a third wife/de facto partner. The issue returns to court on August 26.
Gurrumul was inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs) Hall of Fame on Saturday August 6 at Darwin Amphitheater.
Past inductees were Warumpi Band, Archie Roach, Roger Knox, Kev Carmody and Gurrumul’s former band Yothu Yindi.
To coincide, a Gurrumul-themed exhibition began at the Australian Music Vault in Melbourne, with an essay penned by award-winning journalist Tracee Hutchison.
Audoo Inks song detection deal with APRA AMCOS
British public performance royalty technology startup Audoo inked a song detection deal with APRA AMCOS in Australia and New Zealand.
It helps ensure more accurate royalty payments from public performances in bars, cafes, dance schools, gyms, and retail stores.
Audoo’s revolutionary Audio Meters rolls out first across six major cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Auckland.
Ten artists win sound recording grants
Ten artists won 15 thousand dollars each to assist with new sound recordings. This was the ninth round by the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) and the Australia Council for the Arts, totalling 807 thousand dollars through the years.
The 10 are Nina Wilson for debut album; Matthew Keegan for multi-cultural band The Three Seas to record in Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in the UK; and Angela (Angie) Hart to record her third solo album touching on mental health, intergenerational trauma, domestic abuse, infertility, and grief.
Lucas Abela will fuse his textural glass noise with the thunderous drumming of Zach Hill from Death Grips. Australian-Japanese artist Taka Perry releases a dual-language EP in English and Japanese using acts from both countries.
Melbourne pianist and composer Natalie Bartsch will reinterpret her 2021 album Hope in a jazz/post-rock vein. Tiana Naug records an album honouring her Samoan and Indian culture and to dance music.
Ryan Hutcheson and Barkindji Song Woman make an album “of cultural and humanitarian importance” and Frenzal Rhomb will finish off a record which started in 2018.
Tania Frazer records five new works to showcase the didgeridoo.
Class action against NSW cops
Redfern Legal Centre and Slater & Gordon launched a class action against NSW Police for those who have been “unlawfully searched” at festivals.
Over 100 women are said to have undergone what they described as “humiliating” searches over three years which some in the legal community called illegal.
Upskilling course for artist managers
The Association of Artist Managers is looking for six mid to established business-owner artist managers for its new professional development program Revive, funded by Australia Council.
It will be delivered virtually by Compton School founder David Court via short lectures, exercises, feedback and discussion, and participants developing a personal business plan including a ‘to do’ list of tasks on self-management, professional development, and business planning.
Full details at here, application deadline is August 18.
Golden Robot launches female-only label
Sydney/LA Golden Robot founder Mark Alexander-Erber’s long time plan to set up a female-only label has seen sunlight.
Archangel Records is run by Golden Robot execs Jasmine Robins and Kay McRae.
Its launch acts include Meeanjin/Brisbane based singer-songwriter Ella Fence, Indonesia’s SCALLER, and Texas alt-rock Tough On Fridays.
More moolah for creators from Facebook, Snapchat
Creators are in line to generate more funds thanks to initiatives from Facebook and Snapchat.
At Facebook, Music Revenue Sharing is available to select individuals whose videos (excluding live and short-form uploads) use licensed tracks from Facebook’s song library.
Snapchat will pay DistroKid creators “driving trends and defining cultural moments” monthly grants up to 100 thousand dollars via the ‘Sounds’ creator fund. Videos created with music from Sounds on Snapchat have collectively resulted in over 2.7 billion videos created and over 183 billion views.
Grant McLennan Fellowship opens
Now in its fourteenth year, applications have opened for the 2022 Grant McLennan Fellowship, which offers 15 thousand dollars for live in New York, London, or Berlin to be immersed in a foreign and vibrant musical culture to develop their artistic skills.
The current recipient, Brisbane guitarist, songwriter, and singer Jack Bratt is living in New York, writing his second album.
The Fellowship is funded by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and presented by QMusic. Deadline is at 11.59pm (AEST) on Monday August 29.
Head here for more.
