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Opportunities: funding, mentoring, creating

JamarzOnMarz at Express Yourself - photo courtesy Mardi Gras

Art Music Fund

  • $50,000 granted to 10 composers from Australia and New Zealand

Women in Music Mentorships

MadeBy

  • A chance for Australian composers to create a new piece of music for the world-first composition-to-choreography competition MadeBy, an initiative of OneMusic Australia and the Australian arm of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD)
  • Winning composer Emma Greenhill will work over the next year with the winning choreographer

Express Yourself – Queer Discovery Showcase

  • Our joint initiative with Mardi Gras to showcase emerging LGBTQI+ artists will see one up-and-coming artist selected to perform at an upcoming Mardi Gras event
  • Showcases have featured: Aya Yves, JamarzOnMarz, BVT, Clara Fable and No Frills Twins

New Zealand’s small studio space, Studio 11, is available for members to hire for free for the purpose of co-writing and collaborative projects.

Aotearoa celebrated waiata reo Māori/Māori music with the first ever Waiata Anthems Week, an industry-wide initiative to celebrate and support a bilingual music industry. An outstanding number of bilingual releases lead to te reo Māori dominating the charts. The fully te reo Māori album Kono 003 featuring Anna Coddington, Troy Kingi, Katchafire, and Ria Hall debuted at #8 on the Aotearoa Music Charts, while Ka Hao’s debut single ‘35’ ft Rob Ruha quickly became a TikTok anthem, landing them #1 on the Hot NZ Singles Chart.

International Virtual Sessions connected overseas songwriters:

  • LA curators: Tushar Apte, Katie Hupp (Future Classic)
  • UK/EU curators: Communion, Mute Song, Bob Matthews, Merryn Jean, Marty Hailey, Warp Publishing, Just Isn’t Music
  • Nashville curators: Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI)

The Live Music Office expanded the reach of the Live and Local program to 21 local government areas across Australia. The program provides best practice strategies to local councils and their communities with the aim of reviving grassroots live music and implementing long term sustainable activities for live music.

Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition 2020

  • Thelma Plum won the $50,000 first place for ‘Better In Blak’ (co-written with Alex Burnett and Oli Horton; Thelma is published by Sony Music Publishing)
  • 4,061 entries (the most ever) raised $203,000 for NORO

SongMakers Murrumbidgee Regional High School with Taka Perry - Photo Vince Bucello

SongMakers

  • In 2020 we launched a virtual workshop version and, to help keep young people motivated through lockdowns, a virtual Q&A series. Mentors zoomed in from their homes and studios each week to answer students' questions and give creative tips.
  • Online or in-person our team of 10 mentors worked with 600+ students from Hobart to Gosford, Adelaide to Murrumbidgee.
  • Many alums are now forging music careers. Some, like Tia Gostelow and Taka Perry, are even returning to the classroom as SongMakers mentors.
  • We welcomed new partners in Create NSW, Office of Regional NSW and NSW Department of Education.

RESONATE at Studios 301 Sydney

Back row L – R: Mindy Kwanten, Blake Rhodes, Vince Goodyer, Jacob Ridgeway, Athol Munro, Brendon Boney, Luke Briscoe, Jarulah Slabb, François Tétaz (curator); Middle Row L – R: Antonia Gauci (production facilitator), Gill Dunn (APRA AMCOS) Donna Woods (NATSIMO), Tamara Williams; Front Row L – R: Becca Hatch, Mi-kaisha Masella, Tessa Nuku, Leah Flanagan (NATSIMO), Tasman Keith, Tamara Williams

Photo Jess Gleeson

L-R: Tasman Keith, Brendan Boney, Athol Munro at RESONATE

Photo Jess Gleeson

NATSIMO Launches

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander members

1,781

In October 2020, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO) unveiled its strategic plan outlining its mission and goals as an Indigenous-led initiative of APRA AMCOS and peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music creators.

NATSIMO has created new programs and opportunities to support the growth and development of songwriters and composer members:

  • VIRTUAL First Nations Suite & 3-2-1 Sessions
    From February to June the NATSIMO held monthly online masterclasses with a focus on production, composition and co-writing. Guests included Magoo, Naretha Williams, Amara Primero, Pip Norman, Dale Cornelius, Candice Lorrae, Becki Whitton, Mo’Ju, Milan Ring, Bobby Alu, Sarah Belkner, Deline Briscoe, Joel Quartermain and River Boy.
  • RESONATE
    Across three days in April the NATSIMO held a songwriter and producer intensive for NSW-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music creators called RESONATE. Held at the prestigious Studios 301, the program was funded by Create NSW and was curated by Grammy Award-winning producer and writer François Tétaz and facilitated by producer, engineer and mixer Antonia Gauci.

Reo Māori SongHubs 2020

Diaz Grimm at Reo Māori SongHubs Hawkes Bay

SongHubs

SongHubs brought together songwriters and producers to create new works.

  • SongHubs Gold Coast October 2020 - curated by Grammy-nominated songwriter Jennifer Decilveo, supported by Kobalt Music Publishing, City of Gold Coast and Bignote Productions
  • Reo Māori SongHubs - November 2020 at Waimārama Marae in Hawke’s Bay. The program was curated by producer Joel Little, and mātanga reo language specialist and songwriter Sir Tīmoti Kāretu. Two songs have already been released: Theia and Vayne’s pop/hip-hop song ‘Creep’ produced by Rory Noble (Universal Music Publishing), co-written with Jeremy Tātere MacLeod; and Diaz Grimm’s waiata ‘Te Kore’ featuring Dame Hinewehi Mohi, co-written with Te Kuru Dewes and produced by Sam Hāmi Taylor
  • SongHubs December 2020 Hawkes Bay - curated by acclaimed producer Devin Abrams
  • SongHubs Victoria February 2021 – the first Australian all-women and non-binary songwriters session, curated by Gretta Ray, supported by Creative Victoria, and held at Fall Back Studios
  • SongHubs Gold Coast March 2021, curated by Thomas Busby with support from City of Gold Coast, held at Bignote Productions
  • SongHubs Ōtautahi Christchurch March 2021, curated by Delaney Davidson
  • SongHubs The Tower April 2021 - special expat edition, curated by Peter Harding, with thanks to principal partners Studios 301 and Marsh McLennan

L-R: Eilish Gilligan, G Flip and Odette (via Zoom) at SongHubs Victoria

Photo Jacinta Keefe

Jem Cassar-Daley and Beckah Amani at SongHubs Gold Coast 2021

Photo Markus Ravik

SongHubs Christchurch New Zealand 2021

30 songs from SongHubs were released – the most of any year yet

Songs that began at sessions over the last few years were finished and commercially released – an indication of the calibre of work that is being done. Highlights include:

SongHubs Auckland 2019
Foley - Anything Before You
Writers: Wallace A/Everett G/Lyon C/Campany N/Newman W
Publishers: Universal/MCA Music Publishing/Kobalt Music Publishing/Warner Chappell Music

SongHubs Auckland 2019
Shayna - Alchemy feat Rei
Writers: King S/Gray S/McDougal C/Davey A
Publisher: Downtown Music

SongHubs The Tower 2019
Taka Perry - Only U feat. Gia Vorne (live for triple j Like a Version)
Writers: Perry T/Denton G/Brown S
Downtown Music

SongHubs: First Nations, Melbourne 2019
Benny Walker - We're Home
Writers: Walker B/Carne R/Mase D
Unpublished

SongHubs Victoria 2019
Telenova - Tranquilize
Writers: Quinn E/Heptinstall J/Armstong A
Publishers: Mushroom Music/BMG Rights Management

Gold Coast SongHubs BIGSOUND 2019
Kate Miller-Heidke - Deluded
Writers: Miller-Heidke K/Collier H/Niedermeyer S
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing Australia/Kobalt Music Publishing

Gold Coast SongHubs BIGSOUND 2019
Overdrive feat. Kings - Louis Baker
Writers: Baker L/Chapple-Wilson K/Andress I/Steele J
Unpublished

K-Pop SongHubs Seoul 2019
BerryGood – Time for Me
Writers: Apte T/Williams T/Wright A/Simister W
Unpublished

SongHubs Auckland 2020
CHAII – Wow (Look at Me)
Writers: Chapple-Wilson K/Henderson W/Sanei M/Milne J
Publishers: BMG Rights Management/Mushroom Music

SongHubs Auckland 2020
Kings - Floating
Writers: Chapple-Wilson K/Noble R
Publishers: BMG Rights Management on behalf of Big Pop Music Publishing/Universal Music Publishing

SongHubs: The Virtual Tower 2020
Guy Sebastian - Only Thing Missing
Writers: Sebastian G/Brown T/Koalo Z/Kearney-Nurse I
Publishers: Universal Music Publishing/Sony Music Publishing

“I was literally ready to throw in the towel, but SongHubs turned all that around by allowing me to meet like-minded creatives that I never would've had the opportunity to meet.”

– Angeline Armstong, Telenova

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