A week after the London-based Worldwide Independent Network (WIN) released a study which showed that the indie sector’s global recorded music market share was 38.4% and worth £4.56 billion, its CEO Alison Wenham is asking indie labels to go through independent distribution, rather than through major labels or major-owned distribution companies.
She told Music Week that, “It’s very difficult, when there’s no real transparency, for a [major] distributed label to release anything like the value that they should be seeing from their catalogues and their market share,” Wenham told Music Week. “We have lots of evidence that companies who take that decision are seeing very, very healthy increases in revenue.” WIN’s study had such a high market share for indies because it based indie figures on ownership and not distribution.
Queenscliff Music Festival sold out for the second year in a row. It goes down from Friday November 24 until Sunday November 26.
Melbourne rapper 360 this week took out his third top-five ARIA album, with Vintage Modern coming in at #3.
After two years, Clare Bowditch quits her radio role presenting Afternoons at ABC Radio Melbourne on Wednesday November 29. Next she wants to focus on her “first book and my eighth album, both projects that have been waiting in the wings.”
Domini Forster who released debut album Raven, has won the Darebin Music Feast Songwriters’ Award. She gets $2000 from APRA/AMCOS, recording time at HeadGap, a $500 Implant Media voucher, and access to the Face the Music summit. An Encouragement award was presented to folk singer/songwriter John Flanagan who will receive $500 prize money sponsored by radio 3KND.
Maroon 5 are having a spin-out, after their new album Red Pill Blues, which they named referencing The Matrix (do you take the blue pill or the red pill to cope with what a shitty year 2017 has been) turned out to be associated with the US men’s rights movement and a moment of “re-awakening” surrounding anti-feminist ideas. Guitarist James Valentine says, “Hopefully, everyone knows from all of our pasts, that from our statements on the issue and our actions in the past, that we are all hardcore feminists in the band.”
Mushroom Music Publishing’s annual recording grant this year goes to Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. They get $10,000 towards recording heir debut album.
New Melbourne signings: Electric Mary are now with Melbourne label Dinner For Wolves who release their fourth album tentatively titled Better Days Are Coming in March…Dew Process inked duo Syde, releasing new single ‘Above The Clouds’ featuring New York vocalist Olivia Reid…deathcore merchants Hollow World inked a record deal with Truth Inc., heading off to tour overseas after an Australian run with Once Human.
Fans of jingle-jangle guitar will want to check out a double headliner by one of Australia’s first power pop bands Young Modern celebrating their 40th anniversary and Ash Naylor & The Triad paying tribute to The Byrds on Saturday December 9 at The Flying Saucer Club.
