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 best music industry news stories from the past few weeks, including the winners of the SA Music Awards, how young Australians are embracing TikTok and more.
Laneway, Porch Sessions + more win at SA Music Awards
Laneway Adelaide and Porch Sessions were among industry winners at the November 3 South Australian Music Awards , both snagging awards in the major and small festival categories respectively.
Other winners were Ghostnote Recording Studios (best studio), Mario Spate (studio engineer/producer), Luke Hancock (live technician), Lion Arts Factory (venue), Matthew Khabbaz (manager) and Todd Fischer, Lost Woods (cover art).
Of artist wins, producer Motez and punk bubblegum band Wing Defence had the most wins with three apiece, while other notable winners include Siberian Tiger, Towns, Naomi Keyte and Ollie English. Head to the SA Music Awards website to check out the full list of winners today.
The latest Roy Morgan data shows nearly 2.5 million Australians were using TikTok in an average four weeks – equivalent to 10.5% of the population aged 6 years and older. This was an extra take-up of over 850,000 (+52.4%) during first half of 2020.
Women and girls comprise over 60% (1.5 million) of local TikTok users, with 380,000 (+34.3%) since the second half of 2019. In comparison 985,000 men and boys now use TikTok, up over 470,000 (+91.6%), and with male use of the service now growing faster.
TikTok is also far more popular among younger Australians. Over a quarter (28%) in the youngest Generation Alpha (those born from 2006 until today) are now using TikTok – a total of 746,000 Young Australians.
There is also a significant TikTok user base among Generation Z (born 1991-2005) with over 1,040,000 Australians (20%) in this age group now using the new short video service.
Freda’s is closing up shop
Beloved live music venue Fredas’s, in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale, is shutting down on November 21 after nine years of operation.
The main reasons given were the effects of the global pandemic and real estate pressure on their 100-year old warehouse.
Owner David Abram posted, “After surviving 5 years of lock outs, red tape, rising rents and an exodus of youth from the city centre, Freda’s had finally been flourishing after receiving one of Sydney’s first 4am licences (outside the casino) since the heady days of the Olympics.
“We had been looking forward to by far our most successful and stable year ever. Boy were we wrong.”
Rock names nominated for Screen Music Awards
Missy Higgins, The Mess Hall’s Jed Kurzel, Sally Seltmann & Darren Seltmann, Amanda Brown of The Go-Betweens and Roger Mason of The Models are among the 46 nominees for the Screen Music Awards.
These premiere on Tuesday December 1 from 7 pm AEDT on YouTube Premiere.
Higgins, and co-writers Antony Partos – whose name popped up in four categories – and Matteo Zingales are up for Best Original Song Composed For The Screen for Edge Of Something from ABC TV political drama series Total Control.
Creative recovery in fire-affected communities
The Victorian Government announced the first 19 projects to share more than $90,000 in grants to support creative recovery in the Alpine region, East Gippsland, Indigo, Mansfield, Towong and Wangaratta.
These include murals, replacing destroyed tools, mentoring programs, a documentary about an artist saving her home and author writing a book which will explore the idea of loss.
Legendary Sydney music site for sale
One of the most legendary pieces of Sydney rock music real estate is on the market for $5 million. For decades, 387 King Street in Newtown (built in the 1870s) was home for 30 years to the Sandringham Hotel aka The Sando, one of the great live music venues. It went into receivership in 2012 with debts of $3.6 million
It then became the Newtown Social Club under new owners who closed it in 2017 because of the lock-outs, and is now leased to a mini-golf business Holey Moley.
Mentorship programs for artist managers
The Association of Artist Managers Australia launched the inaugural GROW mentor program with support from the Victorian government.
Grow is a three month virtual pilot program designed to support and empower womxn of all ages who are artist managers in Victoria. The AAM’s study of its members found that most females tend to bow out of their career after they turn 35.
The program consists of peer-to-peer mentoring with leaders in the fields of law, business and mental health and wellness, and group webinars on business acumen.
Participants will be supported to build new business plans, become more financially literate and build confidence in their leadership skills while receiving a bursary to support their work.
Running in tandem is the Victorian edition of the national Co-Pilot program for all artist managers.
Spotify helps Northern Territory musicians
Spotify Australia and Northern Territory’s peak music association MusicNT have given 10 NT musicians $2,000 grants in recording, promoting, distributing new music, shooting videos and employing designers for artwork. Each gave $10,000.
TAG partners with Cargolive
Two of the biggest names in touring have joined forces to bring their Australian services under one roof. TAG, a travel and event specialist with a focus on live entertainment, and Cargolive Australia, which part of the largest touring freight operator in the world, the Rock It Cargo Group of Companies, will be working under the same roof.
Its executives say it will remove an unnecessary level of administration and planning, create more synergies and make things simple for clients.
Kick Push PR expands
Michael Gill’s five year old company Kick Push PR launched Ruckus PR, to “enable more opportunities to support more bands while allowing KPPR to grow its own unique roster of artists and bands.
“Ultimately, this is about repositioning myself in the music industry to not only appeal to more artists and bands but to more booking agencies, labels and international acts.”
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