News:
· Puff 'n' Stuff
Everything that's happening in Adelaide this fortnight.
· Industry
The latest from the music industry.
· Puffio
Theatre news.
· Dance
Dance and electronica news.
· Metal
Updates from the wide world of metal.
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Industry.
Mushroom Music Buys Festival Publishing
Mushroom Music has bought Festival Music Publishing. The acquisition is backdated to Oct 31. "Without a doubt, we now have the the largest and most important catalogue of Australian and New Zealand music," says Ian James, managing director of Mushroom Music. James declined to reveal a purchase price. Festival had four full time staffers, of whom creative manager Gary Seeger and copyright and royalties administrator Linda Zupan are retained.
Sia, Wolf, Invited To SXSW
Adelaide acts Sia and Wolf & Cub are among the first 16 Aus
and NZ artists invited to showcase at South by Southwest (March
15-19) in Austin Texas. Others included Sarah Blasko, former
Adelaide band The Gear, The Living End, The Morning After Girls
and The Saints.
Warner Pays To Settle "Payola" Probe
Warner Music Group will pay $5 million to settle an investigation into pay for radio airplay by NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. In July, Sony BMG paid $10 million and promised to stop bribing radio execs with airfares, gifts and tickets to sport events. The money goes to fund music programs in NY. Spitzer says pay for play is "pervasive" in the US biz and getting rid of it will allow more indie acts on radio.
U2's Biggest Thing?
The announcement that U2 will play Australia as part of a Mexico,
South America, New Zealand and Japan run has expanded the amount
of dates on U2's 'Vertigo' world tour to 116. That would make
it the biggest grossing tour of all time in the world, making
more than the Rolling Stones' 'Voodoo Lounge' tour of 1994-95,
which grossed US$319.5 million. But it's believed that the Stones
current 'On Stage' world tour will most likely shatter all previous
gross records.
Adelaide Radio Changes
Roger Delaney has been appointed as Austereo director of sales, Adelaide. He joined Austereo in Adelaide eight years ago and has most recently worked as sales director of Austereo's Sydney direct sales team. He replaces Dee Quick, who was appointed national sales development manager earlier this year. Alison Crew joins the newsroom at FiveAA from NSW. After two and a half years in the Murraylands, Adelaide Hills and the Fleurieu, Jo Neil, General Manager at Power FM and 1125 5MU heads for the Blue Mountains to manage 2LT and 107.9 FM in Lithgow.
Robbie Rumour
Robbie Williams announced his world dates for 2006 although
Australia seemingly fell off the map. But promoter Michael Chugg
says "I spoke to Robbie at the world premiere of (his) album
in Berlin several weeks ago and he said, 'Chugg, I'll see you
late next year' so I'm sitting tight". Williams last week made
it into the Guinness Book Of Records, beating N'Sync by selling
1.6 million tickets in one day.
Meantime, columnist Peter Holmes in the 'Sunday Telegraph' reported
of speculation that Williams had slipped into Australia and
made his way to Wollongong in a stretch limo to perform with
two dancers at a celebrity wedding reception for $40,000. Turned
out it was Robbie impersonator Robee Williams aka Trent Bowater,
who reported in his website that he was mobbed by media and
fans.
Strokes In May
The Strokes, here for a one-off club gig at Sydney's Gaelic Club, have assured us that they will be back to tour in May. Initially the plan was to be here in January. The fans were kept happy, but not so the photographers who were kept three hours for a shoot.
Majorbox Changes
Dave Powell, director of MajorBox, is leaving "to continue other
projects". Danial Caneva will be continue as sole director looking
after management of Dallas Crane, Tim Rogers & The Temperance
Union, The Pictures, The Casanovas and Cannon. Caneva is contacted
at box@majorbox.com.au and MajorBox's new address is 12/ 22-28
Fitzroy Street St, St Kilda 3182.
Along Came Jones
Nicole Jones is taking over as promotions and publicity at Shiny Records. Her contacts are email nicole@shinyrecords.com.au and (03) 9489 5083. She previously worked in those roles in Brisbane.
Jet For U2?
The Who love 'em, Oasis compliment them at all times, and now
the whisper is that fellow fans U2 want Jet to open for them
in Oz.
Radio Adelaide Wins Awards
Radio Adelaide was announced as Radio Station of the Year at the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) held in Fremantle in mid-November. It also won Contribution to Indigenous Broadcasting for the Nunga Wangga team's "Radio Naidoc". The award was part of CBAA's three day conference. For the full list of winners go to www.cbaa.org.au
Feast Breaks Record
This year's lesbian and gay fest Feast drew its biggest crowd
in its nine years, says artistic director Fanny Jacobson. The
opening party at the Lion Arts Centre on Nov 4 drew 4,000 while
the ensuing 23 days brought in 5,000 payees and "thousands more"
for its free events.
Wormald Gets Award
Northern Mallee based singer songwriter Jeanette Wormald won an SA Great Regional Arts Award for the Riverland and Murraylands region. She was recognised for building an international career from her farm at Caliph, the success of her single If This Isn't Country and for promoting the Mallee through her DVD 'Horizons & Heartlands'.
Song Choice Of The Week
Natalie Cole sang Unforgettable at an Alzhemier's fundraiser
in New York.
Cop Of The Pops
New Zealand police are looking into the continued employment of one of their rank, one Rigel Walshe. Walshe is also singer and guitarist of thrash metal band Dawn Of Azazel, which calls for the eradication of the "weak and inferior". On their website, he talks about NZ's strict gun control laws ("Thankfully as a member of the armed forces I do not have to endure the red tape to use weapons of the type mentioned").
Lifelines
Married: Grinspoon's Phil Jamieson and model Julie Fitzgerald
in a winery at the Hunters Valley in a ceremony performed by
his minister father Will. Phil serenaded her with Remind
Me To Smile which he wrote for the occasion. They have a
child, Lyla.
Split: after three years of a reality TV marriage and countless
denials, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey parted.
Expecting: Triple J's Mel Bampton is on half year maternity
leave.
Injured: Poison's Bret Michels ended with cuts in his face from
broken glass after a drive-by shooting at the band's bus window.
Died: Texas singer songwriter and guitarist Chris Whitley, 45,
cancer. He was best known for 'Dirt Floor', his 11th album 'Soft
Dangerous Shore' was released a few months ago.
Died: Guitar master of the powerchord, Link Wray, 76. The three
quarter Native American inspired Townshend, Springsteen and
Bowie among others to play, and created a blueprint for metal
and punk.
Died: Alvie Johns, singer with Melbourne's Grand Wazoo, after
a 14-year battle with leukemia.
Died: Daniel Harrison, 57, tour manager for Billy Joel and Paul
Simon, stabbed at his new York apartment by his girlfriend,
Kathleen Connors, 37.
Leaving It To Imagination
Adelaide interactive games company Imagination Entertainment signed a distribution deal with Universal Pictures in Britain. This will add "several million dollars" to gross earnings this financial year, tipped to be between $9.5 million to $12 million, according to its chief executive Shane Yeend. Six of its 30 titles will be released this month through Universal. Imagination has a distribution deal through marketer Hasbro which covers 46 European territories, and a US distributor.
Viva Mag In Adelaide
Latino entertainment and lifestyle bimonthly magazine 'Viva'
has entered the Adelaide market. Its SA rep is Natalie Stansfield
on 0413 697 451 or email natalie@labomba.com.au
Nu Country Arrives
Long time Melbourne community show 'Nu Country TV' arrives in Adelaide this week. It screens in C 31 this Thursday Dec 1 at 8.30 pm. They are also negotiating to screen in Sydney and New Zealand.
APRA Surpasses $100m
The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) posted
a 13th year of revenue growth in the 2004/05 financial year.
APRA chief executive Brett Cottle announced at the association's
AGM in Sydney last week (Nov 17) its net distributable revenue
had climbed 10% to $107 million. It was the first time it passed
the $100 million mark. In the 2003/04 year, the figure had risen
by 6.5% to $97.88m. APRA also manages the reproduction rights
business of its sister collecting society, Australasian Mechanical
Copyright Owners Society. AMCOS's revenue for the year grew
by 12% to $37m. Costs grew by 7.65% to $5.0m. AMCOS net distributable
revenue for the year was $32.7m, compared to $28.8 in the last
financial year.
French MPs Blame Riots On Rappers
So it wasn't French racism or lack of opportunity that caused
immigrants to riot for three weeks: 200 French politicians blame
hip hop music. MP Francois Grosdidier has begun a petition calling
on legal action against predominantly African black or Arab
rappers in their 20s, Monsieur R (in particular for his song
FranSSe), Smala, Fabe, Salif, Sniper (acquitted on separate
charges their songs caused fans to attack cops), Ministere Amer,
113 and Lunatic.
If anything, the pollies should have been warned by rap. In
1995, Joey Starr of the NTM sang in They Don't Understand,
"What is it, what is it you're waiting for to start the fire?
/ The years go by, but everything is still the same / Which
makes me ask, how much longer can it last?." 113's In Front
Of The Police warned "There had better not be a police blunder,
or the town will go up / The city's a time-bomb / From the police
chief to the guy on the street - they're all hated."
Kazaa: Both Sides Claim Victory
Federal Court judge Murray Wilcox has told Sharman Networks
to filter copyrighted music from its Kazaa system by 5 Dec,
or else cease operation. But, to the dismay of record companies,
Judge Wilcox said that it could survive until February if it
does meet its 5 Dec deadline. The new filter involves 3000 keyword
to be selected.
What's Selling At Ninemsn?
New data from music website Ninemsn shows that since April 2004, classic acts like AC/DC and Skyhooks are leading the online album sales. Said Tracey Hannelly, executive producer of music and TV at ninemsn, "There's an interesting demographic shift in album sales which we expect is a result of older rockers digitising their music collections. We've recently run promotions offering the music catalogues of INXS and AC/DC and it's great to see their popularity was reflected in the top 10 selling bands list, at third and tenth respectively."
EMI/Warner Merger?
No one's commenting, but EMI's shares went up after speculation
of a Warner/EMI merger reignited last week overseas.
Madonna Makes Chart Herstory
Madonna's Hung Up puts her in the US chart books - she
now has 36 Top 10 hits, tying with Elvis Presley with most hits.
In Australia, 'Confessions On A Dance Floor' was her sixth album
to debut at #1. She now has nine #1 singles and eight #1 albums
in this country. It debuted in 25 countries and sold 3.5 million
units in its first week.
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