COUNTRY, TAMWORTH STYLE - APRA

CROSSING GENRES 

with Dorothy Porter 

and Paul Kelly 

Newsletter of the Australasian Performing Right Association >> March 2006 

INVOKING THE MUSE 

Judy Bailey > Liza Lim > 

Richard Mills > Sven Libaek > 

Mia Dyson > Jade McCrae > 

Decoder Ring > Hilltop Hoods > 

Sandy Evans > Mark Rivett > 

Leone Carey 

COUNTRY, 

TAMWORTH 

STYLE 

Cover photo by >> Robert Kyllo

Editor’s Wrap 

To The Point 

Country Music has been all the news ever since the close 

of 2005 and the early days of this year. For almost 10 days 

in January from the 20th to the 29th, Tamworth played 

host to over 50,000 visitors keen on country music. After 

an exhausting 2,000 events in over 130 venues, the Festival 

culminated with the annual Golden Guitar Awards presented 

on the 27th. APRA warmly congratulates all the winners and 

nominees – for a full list check out our story on page 3. 

The APRA Songwriting Workshops and International Reception 

and Cocktail Party were well-attended and raised issues 

of their own: such as what’s in a name and would 

“country” by any other name sound as sweet? Joan Warner’s 

(CEO, Commercial Radio Australia) keynote speech at the 

International Reception earned comment in major newspapers 

and inspired many post-festival discussions – you’ll see why 

when you read the speech on page 4. 

All of which got us at APRA 

wondering about inspiration 

– where it comes from, what 

keeps it coming. We decided to 

ask members to comment – their 

insights (refreshing, humorous and 

inspiring in themselves) may give 

you food for thought (see Invoking 

the Muse, page 7). 

We also focus on two writers 

who’ve crossed genres with ease: 

Paul Kelly, lyricist turned poet, 

whose works will now be scrutinised 

by Victorian High School students; and Dorothy Porter, poet 

turned lyricist, who has most recently written librettos set to 

music by Jonathan Mills (The Ghost Wife, The Eternity Man) 

and Paul Grabowsky (Before Time Could Change Us). Waiting 

for you on page 11. 

Kirti Jacobs 

WHAT’S MY SCENE? BRUCE ROWLAND 

COUNTRY MUSIC THE BIG WINNER 

AT TAMWORTH 

TUNING INTO COUNTRY 

>> Photo: Bridget Elliot 

GOING GLOBAL: VASSY 

APRA IN TAMWORTH 2006 

INVOKING THE MUSE 

PUBLISHER NEWS 

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 

Contents>> 

CROSSING GENRES 

HAVE TECHNOLOGY, NEED MUSIC 

Greetings and happy new year to all of our members. We 

begin the year with a number of important and long-standing 

issues having been resolved towards the end of 2005, but 

with a similar number of major challenges ahead. 

Following lengthy negotiations we have 

reached agreement on the terms of new 

licence schemes with the hospitality, fitness 

and restaurant industries (in relation to the 

use of recorded music) and with the cinema 

sector and the pay television industry. More 

than 20,000 of our licensees are affected by 

the new schemes, which are in the process of 

being implemented over a 12-month period 

beginning January 06, and which reflect a 

more realistic and equitable value for music. 

As we go to press we are preparing 

for a hearing in the Copyright Tribunal 

– set down for early February – on our application for 

approval of a new licence scheme for retail premises which 

play music. We are also awaiting notification from the 

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission of its final 

determination of our application for a renewed authorisation 

under the Trade Practices Act. 

Finally, we are likely this year to face proposals from 

both the Australian and NZ Governments dealing with the 

troublesome issue of private copying of copyright works 

by consumers. As I have said many times in these columns, 

as an organisation we favour a liberal access regime for 

consumers to copy music and films for their private use 

– but accompanied by a system of fair compensation for 

authors and other copyright owners. In other words the kind 

of system that applies in 43 other countries. We will continue 

to forcefully argue in favour of that position and against the 

position taken by other industry stakeholders which relies on 

the ability to “lock” content through dubious technological 

“protection” devices. 

Brett Cottle, CEO APRA 

NTERNATIONAL NOTES 

MEMBER NEWS 

SCREENRAP 

APRA SONG OF THE YEAR 

BACKGROUND MUSIC 

KAYE HAWLEY RETIRES FROM APRA 

MIDEM, PDA UPDATE 

“PRISONER” SONGWRITER SHARES SONG SECRETS 

WHAT’S HAPPENING 

APRA NZ 

ON THE ROAD WITH ROBYN ARCHERI 


Screen Composer >> Bruce Rowland >> Phar Lap >> The Man From Snowy River > Photo by Martin Philbey 

What is your most marked characteristic as a composer? 

I write melodies, emotional melodies that can make you laugh & cry. 

Who would you most like to collaborate with and why? 

Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson. They’re both dead – but I love 

putting their poems to music. I’ve done a few of them already with a 

two-handed play called Banjo and Henry. The work’s been recorded 

by Colin Slater in Canberra – he’s a baritone and he originally 

commissioned them. 

What’s your favourite piece (that you’ve written)? 

A cue called Choices for the movie Backstage – probably the 

worst movie ever made, but I liked that cue. I also like The Old Sea 

Captain, or Tom’s Theme, from All the Rivers Run. It’s a melodic, 

romantic, orchestral sea shanty. Also By the Fireside from Man From 

Snowy River 2. 

What piece written by another writer do you wish you had written, 

and why? 

A Whiter Shade of Pale, Good Vibrations, I Still Call Australia Home 

... pieces that, for lots of different reasons, I wish I’d written. 

What is the quality you most admire in a composer? 

Talent – and the ability to write a theme that can be performed in 

different ways, that people can remember, that sets a mood. And to 

do all this without relying on an orchestrator to do it for you. 

What is the best career advice you were ever given? 

When I was 15, “Keep practicing”. Later: “We need it by tomorrow”. 

The only way to get better is to keep delivering. 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 0 2

Tuning into 

This is an edited version of the keynote 

speech delivered by Joan Warner, CEO 

Commercial Radio Australia, at the CCMC/ 

APRA international reception and cocktail 

party held in Tamworth on 26 January 2006. 

The 34th CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia were presented in the Tamworth Regional 

Entertainment Centre on Saturday, 28 January, 2006. Congratulations to all APRA members 

who were nominated for and won awards on the night. 

Authority), the radio industry regulator decided that country music format 

was not viable as a commercial format, and, as a result country music became 

more the focus of community radio stations and narrowcast stations. 

The upshot of all of this is that in the past, listener interest and subsequent 

ratings results have not made the format financially viable for commercial 

radio broadcasters. 

Troy Cassar-Daley’s Lonesome But Free was judged APRA Song of the Year. 

It also won him the award for Male Vocalist of the Year. Troy is one of 

Australia’s most successful singer-songwriters and this award is recognition 

yet again of his pairing with Paul Kelly. Troy also wins a Golden Guitar for 

Vocal Collaboration of the Year for his duet with Oz Rock legend Jimmy 

Barnes, Bird on a Wire, and Instrumental of the Year for Yellow Belly taking 

his career tally of Golden Guitars to 14. 

Likewise, Sara Storer’s mantelpiece will be groaning under the weight of yet 

another Golden Guitar with the news that she has taken out this year’s award 

for Female Vocalist of the Year. Sara’s staggering success at the 2004 Country 

Music Awards of Australia is firmly etched in country music history when she 

won an unprecedented seven Golden Guitars in one night. 

Kasey Chambers takes her Golden Guitar tally to eight with the award for 

Single of the Year, earned for Pony, the opening track of her third album, the 

bestselling Wayward Angel. 

And Paul Kelly, regarded as a national treasure among songwriters (and his 

legion of fans) earns his third Golden Guitar for Heritage Song of the Year 

with the stirring Rally Round the Drum and his fourth for APRA Song of the 

Year Lonesome But Free with Troy Cassar-Daley. 

John Williamson has returned to the national consciousness with his album 

Chandelier of Stars. Lyrically direct, melodically gorgeous and passionately 

concerned with the land, it’s a thoroughly deserving winner of this year’s 

Golden Guitar for Album of the Year and Top Selling Album of the Year. 

He also takes home a Golden Guitar for Bush Ballad of the Year Bells in a 

Bushman’s Ear, taking his career tally to a staggering 23. 

The Flood, scored their first ever Vocal Group or Duo of the Year Golden 

Guitar win with Hello Blue Sky, from their third studio album The Late Late 

Show. This win sets a new high-water mark for the band for 2006. 

The New Talent of the Year award this year goes to Grafton songbird Samantha 

McClymont. Her new single, Heart Of A Man, written when she was 16 (at 

the CMAA Australian College of Country Music), is receiving airplay across 

the country. 

For further details, go to www.country.com.au 

>> Kirsty Lee Akers 

At the Grand Final of Telstra Road to Tamworth, 

KIRSTY LEE AKERS was announced the winner of 

the inaugural TRTT “Pub With No Beer” Songwriter 

Encouragement Award. The competition took place 

Australia-wide and over 35 heats, with the final 

broadcast via live webcast. Judged by a panel of 

three Australian and three USA key music industry 

executives, Kirtsy was considered a standout winner. 

Her prize sees her travel to Nashville, with airfares, 

accommodation and living expenses covered, to 

spend five days of songwriting appointments with 

Universal Music Publishing Nashville’s top stable 

of songwriters. Congratulations to Kirsty, who is 

also currently enjoying success with her popular 

new radio single “Bashed Up, Beaten, Battered, 

Broken Heart”. www.kirstyleeakers.com 

>> Photos (L-R). 

Troy Cassar-Daley 

Paul Kelly performing with Sara Storer 

John Williamson 

Samantha McClymont 

I’d like to start by noting that I believe country music is an 

important part of the music and radio industry in this country 

and around the world. 

The introduction of commercial radio in 1923 in Australia had, 

and still has, a profound influence on the dissemination and 

popularity of all genres of music in Australia with 80% of 

Australians listening to commercial radio stations, and, young 

people aged 17-25 listening more than they did five years ago. 

Stars like Slim Dusty and Smoky Dawson, initially through 

the magic of radio and live performance, captured the 

public imagination and ensured country music gained an 

early foothold in the music scene in Australia. 

Of course, sadly our country music scene is not in 

same league as the US, where country music is actually 

considered a wide appeal format and is in the top five 

formats for US commercial radio stations. 

Over the years, country music on commercial radio in 

Australia has played to more specialist markets – outback 

Queensland for example and of course Tamworth’s own 

2TM where Nick Erby, a longtime stalwart of the industry, 

continues to do the overnight weekend show. 

What you may not know, is that a number of commercial 

metropolitan stations have tried a country format but with 

mixed success. 

Sydney’s 2SM tried a country format twice, around 1993 and 

1996. In 1993 2SM broadcast “Sydney’s Hottest Country”. It 

only reached, at its peak, a four percent share. Not really a 

long-term commercially viable number. Not to be daunted, 

2SM tried again in 1996 as “Kick AM” and rated around a 

three percent share. 

Others who have tried include 2KY (“KY Country” in 1974/75) 

and 4KQ in Brisbane during the 70s and 80s. 

With its high powered AM transmitter, 4KQ achieved very high 

ratings (over 15% a few times) with a country music format 

which was widely known and listened to in Brisbane and 

in much of country Queensland. However, as FM music 

stations emerged with a better quality signal for 

broadcasting music AM music station ratings fell 

and so did the interest in the format. 

Interestingly, about the same time as 

2SM was running it’s KICK AM format 

in 1996, the ABA (Aust Broadcasting 

>> Joan Warner 

The three key factors in commercial broadcasters picking up or continuing a 

format, or, adding music to a playlist are: 

• listener interest 

• resultant ratings success 

• subsequent advertiser interest and revenue. 

These three pillars of commercial radio success have not all been present in the 

past for country music here in Australia. 

The good news is: I think things are changing – albeit slowly. 

With the advent of stars like Kasey Chambers, Troy Casser Daley, Keith Urban, 

Lee Kernaghan, Gina Jeffreys, Catherine Britt, Adam Harvey and Beccy Cole, 

country music seems to be broadening its appeal and is starting to attract wider 

airplay on networked metropolitan and regional radio stations. 

The future potential is great. Although as an aside ..... perhaps the label of 

“country” is doing a disservice to the uptake of some Australian artists who in 

fact are a mix of styles - but that is probably the subject for a longer discussion 

than we have time for here? 

With the growth and consolidation of the commercial radio industry, growth in 

population and radio revenue, it might be that some larger networks would be 

prepared to look at – at least the crossover country genre – again in the future. 

So over time, we could see a much larger component of “country” music - if we 

continue to use that label; included on play lists in metropolitan markets. 

There are also a couple of other developments that may assist in raising the 

profile of country artists with, and on, commercial radio: 

Firstly – commercial radio’s New Artist to Radio Showcase 

The 2005 NA2R included two country stars of a total of eight finalists from 

over 50 submissions. The finalists were chosen by commercial radio music and 

program directors and the two country stars were Jake Nickolai and Tamworth’s 

own Aleyce Simmonds. 

The second exciting development is that of digital radio 

Digital radio was given the green light by the Federal Government in October 

2005. 

Digital broadcasting technology is a quantum leap from AM and FM....stations 

will be able to split their signals and offer two audio programs simultaneously. 

This means there is going to be enormous potential for radio to create innovative 

niche and specialist programming as part of the commercial offering in a very 

competitive media market. 

It also means that digital could offer great opportunities for country music on 

commercial radio. 

In closing ... 

You know better than me what has or hasn’t worked in the past – but maybe it’s 

time to let old music/radio industry relationship paradigms go and develop new 

or different ways of interacting with or relating to commercial radio networks 

and their all powerful music and program directors? 

Remember - the three pillars of commercial success – listeners, ratings and 

advertisers – are all intertwined. Any viable ideas on how what/who you are 

promoting will improve ratings and therefore revenue will not be dismissed 

by commercial radio! 

With those few thoughts - I’d like to thank you for listening and I look forward 

to working with you all to ensure a very bright future for country music on 

Australian commercial radio. 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 0 4

vassy 

Darwin born Vasilliki Karagiorgos 

grew up in a household steeped in Greek 

music and Mediterranean influence. 

In her teens she discovered jazz, soul 

and hip hop and found inspiration for 

her work in the lush tranquillity of Darwin’s 

nature reserves and beautiful beaches. 

But the desire to gather and blend different 

styles of music from around the world 

soon had her venturing far beyond 

the Top End. 

APRA in Tamworth 

All photos by John Elliott 

06 

US songwriter David Lee 

Murphy, APRA’s special guest 

at the APRA CCMC International 

Reception and cocktail party, 

with APRA’s Deputy Director of 

Member Services, Milly Petriella. 

David Lee Murphy congratulates Adam Harvey 

and Angela Bishop for their achievements and for their 

awards presented at the International Reception and 

Cocktail Party. 

CCMC Board members congratulate the winners on 

the night. (L-R) Gill Robert, Angela Bishop, Joan Warner, 

Jim White, Adam Harvey, Tim Daley, Meryl Gross, 

Rob Potts. 

APRA COCKTAIL PARTY 

Kathy Grant, Manager Performance Verification – APRA 

With the advantage of speaking fluent 

Greek and French, Vassy spent time in 

Europe, developing her passion for Latin 

jazz and French soul. A stint at the Sydney 

Conservatorium of Music provided further 

development including work with the 

saxophone, keyboards and eastern music. 

Equipped with this exotic mix of influences 

Vassy returned home to Darwin, teaming 

up with producer/turntablist, Jacob Cook. 

Together they began to create hip hop tunes 

with a jazzy vibe. One such tune was “Cover 

You in Kisses”, which catapulted Vassy into the 

spotlight, winning the 2003 Triple J “Unearthed” 

competition for the Northern Territory. 

This led to a recording deal with ABC’s Fly 

Music and the release of her first EP. Ministry 

of Sound grabbed this single, and another 

Vassy number, Loverman, for “Chillout 

Sessions Volume 5” and a very cool French 

version “Je te Couvre de Baisers” appeared 

on a “Sounds Like Café” compilation. 

Australia Day 2004 saw Vassy take the stage 

in front of a live audience of 30,000 as part 

of Channel 10’s “Celebrate Australia Day” 

concert, which was also broadcast to over 

a million TV viewers. The recognition kept 

coming and in March 2004 Vassy won an 

APRA Professional Development Award. 

An intense period of globe-trotting followed 

as she collaborated with writers, producers 

and fellow artists in Sydney, London, Paris 

and New York, developing and recording 

tracks for her debut album. Her travels 

included showcase performances where she 

won over packed houses and picked up an 

international management deal. 

September 2005 saw the release of her 

debut album “My Affection”. The first single, 

Wanna Fly, a warm and optimistic number 

about freeing yourself from frustration 

and making the most of life, has proved 

popular with advertisers and film makers. 

The track was first snapped up by Pepsi, to 

bring their Diet Sprite campaign to life in 

radio advertisements across the US (“You’re 

chilling with the sounds of Vassy”). 

Next, Hilton Hotels used the track in their 2006 

international TV campaign, along with music 

by other hot young artists such as James 

Blunt and Ben Folds. The campaign began 

early in the year on network and cable TV 

stations in the US and received good exposure 

throughout coverage of the Hilton sponsored 

Grammy Awards and Winter Olympics. 

Wanna Fly also added emotional pull to the 

latest Queen Latifah film “Last Holiday”, a 

remake of the Alec Guinness classic about a 

woman who, on hearing dire medical news, 

goes all out to live life as if each day is her 

last. It also became the main song for the 

ads for Grey’s Anatomy – the No 1 hit TV 

show in the US. Opportunities for exposure 

via the broadcast media look even better 

now that Vassy is on the books of Zync 

Music Corporation, who specialise in music 

placement for television and film. 

Time Know Music also included Wanna Fly on 

a CD sampler distributed with Time Magazine 

in the USA. The track can be streamed in its 

entirety through their website, which also 

provides a link back to Vassy’s official site, 

encouraging listeners to come down under and 

discover more about the artist and her music. 

“Kick My Arse”, the second single from the 

album, was released in December and, complete 

with sultry video clip, has been kicking arse 

both locally and overseas. Now in New York, 

Vassy is working towards the worldwide launch 

of her album. Managed by Alan Wolmark from 

CEC Management New York (manages Ben 

Fold) and Joe Berman from Sumo Music in LA, 

she hopes to return to OZ in March this year 

to tour with Kanye West. Wanna fly? Seems 

Vassy’s found a great way to travel! 

Angela Bishop winner of 

the CCMC Award for Media 

Excellence, with Adam Harvey, 

winner of the CCMC Artist 

Award for Excellence. 

Herm Kovak (L) with Golden Guitar winner for best new 

talent, Samantha McClymont, and Allan Caswell. 

International guests, David Lee Murphy and his manager 

Doug Casmus (second from right) with Catherine Britt’s 

US manager Stan Moress (right) and Milly Petriella 

and Rob Potts (left) at the International Reception and 

Cocktail Party. 

More than 170 people attended the traditional APRA cocktail party held at the start of this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival. 

Special guests included US songwriter David Lee Murphy and Australian Catherine Britt. 

The APRA Country Music Songwriter Sessions held later during the festival also proved popular. Beccy Cole, Mike Carr, Catherine 

Britt and David Lee Murphy shared their songwriting processes and personal experiences about the industry. The sessions have 

become an important event on the Tamworth calendar for songwriters and singers as they provide opportunities to talk to fellow 

writers, set up co-writing sessions, discuss the industry and explore new avenues for reaching audiences. 

APRA COUNTRY MUSIC SONGWRITER SESSIONS 

Beccy Cole Mike Carr David Lee Murphy Catherine Britt 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 0 6

CONTRIBUTORS 

Photo by: 

James Rogers 

Photo by: Daryl Buckley 

DJ DEBRIS 

DJ, Hilltop Hoods (hip hop) 

Photo by: Steve Keogh 

Compiled by Kirti Jacobs 

LIZA LIM 

Classical composer 

RICHARD MILLS 

Composer, orchestral 

and operatic works 

Invoking the 

Photo by: Marty Whitsitt 

JADE MACRAE 

Singer/songwriter (dance, soul, rnb) 

JUDY BAILEY, OAM 

Jazz composer, pianist, teacher 

Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Jazz Unit 

MIA DYSON 

Singer/songwriter (blues and roots) 

SVEN LIBAEK 

Screen composer 

SANDY EVANS 

Jazz composer, tenor and soprano saxophonist 

MATTHEW FITZGERALD 

Decoder Ring 

(electronic music, film scores) 

LEONE CAREY 

Scriptwriter, lyricist 

Children’s music 

(Hi-5, Playhouse Disney, Bambaloo) 

MARK RIVETT 

Creative director, composer/arranger 

Song Zu Productions (television, 

film, advertising) 

In Greek mythology 

the muses are the 

nine daughters of 

Zeus (King of Gods) 

and Mnemosyne 

(Goddess of 

Memory). They 

are the spark that 

ignites creativity. 

While none of 

the writers we 

spoke to for this 

piece admitted 

that they’d been 

visited by Greek 

Goddesses bearing 

inspiration, they 

would probably 

all agree that their 

inspiration is born 

of some combination 

of divinity and 

memory. 

While few had the 

time for long walks 

in the forest, most 

stressed the need 

to stay reflective, 

receptive, present 

and open to life’s 

experiences. All 

vouched for the 

power of a deadline 

to break through 

writer’s block and 

several mentioned 

the importance of 

being willing to let 

go and giving a 

piece its head. 

WHO’S YOUR MUSE? 

WHAT INSPIRES 

YOU? 

Judy: None of us has any idea 

where the inspiration comes from 

– it’s a very mysterious process 

that you trust implicitly. 

Richard: I do believe music 

comes from outside ourselves 

in some mysterious way. But 

the muse needs to learn to be 

on time – I start work at 10 am 

and she needs to learn to be 

there then! 

WHAT GETS YOUR 

CREATIVE JUICES 

FLOWING? 

Jade: A strong coffee seems to 

do the trick most of the time, and 

I like to make sure I’m set up in 

a comfortable space, preferably 

with food, and perhaps a good 

pub nearby – I like to be able to 

take a few minutes out to clear 

my head, refocus and relax. 

DJ Debris: I listen to old records 

for inspiration. I usually find a 

good sample to work with in 

the first 10 - 15 minutes which 

gets the ball rolling. Once I’ve 

got the groove/vibe of the beat 

in basic form the rest usually 

comes naturally. If it doesn’t 

come naturally and I find myself 

forging it then I usually scrap it 

and start again. 

Judy: It works much better if you 

devise your own boundaries or 

limitations so that you can have 

parameters within which to work. 

The rest involves a measure of 

trust and becoming more aware 

of life so that your inner being 

or spiritual self is given the 

chance to live without being 

swamped by all the busyness 

that is around us. Being quiet 

and reflective can often allow 

you the space to be creative. 

But I often say, “A good piece 

of music doesn’t care who wrote 

it.” – it puts things in a lovely 

perspective! 

Leone: Children are a great 

source for inspiration. I have 

an extensive reference library 

of children’s books – craft, 

story, activity, picture, atlas, 

encyclopedia – fiction and non 

fiction. If I have a set theme 

to work to I gleam these books 

for inspiration. A picture, a 

game, a rhyme, an image might 

stimulate an idea. 

Liza: ‘Doing nothing’ is actually 

an important component of 

creative work – this is harder to 

achieve than it sounds. There’s 

a ‘daydream’ zone when you’re 

not rushing around in your mind 

when ideas come to you. When 

I was first starting out (25 years 

ago), I worked excruciatingly 

slowly. I’d write a couple of 

bars of music and then chuck 

them out the next day and 

start again. Now, I sit down 

to compose and everything 

flows out. I think putting in the 

‘spade work’ early on in terms 

of developing technical skills 

and really analyzing things is 

paying off now. 

Mark: Having a routine is good 

– by 10 every morning I’m at 

my desk writing music. Ninety 

percent of it won’t be good – 

but sooner or later you’ll hit the 

bullseye. Just keep taking shots. 

Matthew: We tend to create 

collaboratively, so we get 

together and just start playing 

with no restriction and wander 

off on long improvised jams. 

Sooner or later the playing 

becomes automatic and that’s 

when new and unexpected 

creations are born. 

Mia: I sometimes sit down with 

my guitar and noodle around for 

a while till something interesting 

comes along, or I listen to some 

of my favourite records and 

remember what music makes 

me feel. I go walking and try to 

come up with melodies in my 

head. Sometimes lyrics or ideas 

will just come to me suddenly. 

Richard: I find I have to 

give myself over to creative 

time completely – no social 

appointments, no distracting 

outside tasks. I work all day – 

at the moment I’m working on a 

new opera, all day, every day. 

I often sort things out on walks. 

I find breaks, walks, coffee very 

helpful. So is sitting down after 

a long shower and thinking. 

Sandy: The joy associated with 

the creative process, and the 

chance to contribute to society 

through music, are in themselves 

things that inspire me. [Also] 

nature; the ocean; going for 

walks; silent contemplation; 

listening to music – sometimes 

in the genre that I’m working 

in, sometimes in a completely 

different genre. I couldn’t write 

anything without the stimulus of 

my many extraordinary friends 

and colleagues. This is perhaps 

the most important thing of all 

for me. 

Sven: As a film composer, 90% 

of my work is commissioned 

with strict deadlines. I try to 

come up with key words that 

will trigger a sense or feeling 

for the music. So for instance, 

with music for an underwater 

film I came up with the words 

wet, water, bubbles, mysterious, 

danger, slow-motion, cathedral 

– words that capture the 

beauty of that world. These 

words guide my choice of 

instruments to write for. Then I 

basically sit down at the piano 

and improvise – eventually a 

phrase or harmonic structure 

will come and I get going. 

CURES FOR WRITER’S 

BLOCK? 

Jade: Take a short break. I’ll 

listen to music or read a book, or 

go for a stroll, or have a drink. 

I try to think about something 

other than what I’m stuck on. 

Judy: Composing is in many 

ways about problem solving. I 

find a stint in the garden – doing 

something that is totally different 

and has nothing to do with music 

(although I find most things have 

something to do with music!). 

Quite often if you’re wrestling 

with something, the answer 

arrives after a good sleep. 

Leone: The quantity and tight 

turn-around for lyrics on a 

television show can be very 

intense. Writer’s block is 

frequent and fear of covering 

the same ground, themes, topics 

is always foremost in your mind. 

I find that going to a park, beach 

or watching children play can 

give me a gem of an idea. If I’m 

stuck for an idea and a deadline 

is looming I panic momentarily 

then go to my reference books 

– this is usually a foolproof way 

to find something to start with. 

continued next page 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 0 8

Invoking the 

Liza: It can be quite useful to 

have a fallow period when it 

seems not much is happening 

on the surface. I had such a time 

in 2002/03 when I had my baby 

(Raphael) – my creative energy 

was directed to nurturing a 

child. To make up for this, in 

the last 18 months I’ve worked 

harder than ever before and 

written six new pieces (about 

three hours of music). 

Mark: In our line of work, you 

can’t afford to be blocked over 

something for a long time. Our 

cure is to get someone else to 

have a look at it. The other cure 

is just persistence. 

Matthew: When doing film 

composing, writer’s block is 

not an option – timeframes 

are tight and you’re part of a 

bigger collaborative project, 

so you push through. Most 

times in exploring ideas you 

springboard into your next 

creative burst. Some songs 

pop out, others songs have a 

protracted and painful labour. 

The reality is that the block is 

part of the process – you can 

always write – the block is just 

when you refuse to accept the 

option that’s obvious to you. 

Mia: I’m not a prolific writer 

so it feels like I always have 

writer’s block. I don’t have 

a cure, I just keep trying and 

invariably something eventually 

comes along. 

Sandy: If I’m really stuck, I find 

the best thing to do is to take 

a break. That’s where the walks 

come in! Often my subconscious 

will solve the problem if I stop 

interfering with it. Sometimes 

though, it’s just sheer hard work. 

WHAT GETS IN 

THE WAY OF YOUR 

CREATIVITY? 

Judy: Just the day-to-day 

demands of living can get in the 

way of your writing time. But 

...it’s great to have a variety of 

activities – that in itself helps 

the creative process. Just living 

is part of the creative process. 

Leone: With children’s song 

lyrics the restriction of language 

and image at times gets in the 

way. You always have to be 

aware of what is accessible to 

your target audience. You have 

to write about age appropriate 

topics. This can limit your 

creativity at times. 

Liza: Anxiety about external 

things including other people’s 

expectations. I try to write for 

myself and as if I had all the time 

in the world (even if in reality 

I am working to a commission 

and have a looming deadline). 

This frees up my creativity. 

Mark: I’m pretty easily 

distracted, but I don’t mind that. 

I see distractions as fuel for the 

fire. I’m always thinking about 

the work, churning away in the 

back of my mind. I have a fairly 

full life, I still do gigs, design 

surfboards – somewhere along 

the line it comes out. Locking 

myself up doesn’t work. I like 

bouncing ideas off other people. 

Mia: Needing the songs to be 

perfect before I’ve even started 

them can put me off trying to 

write altogether. I want each 

new song to be a complete 

masterpiece, which is absurd. My 

creativity doesn’t always give me 

what I expected or wanted yet 

I’ve found it’s essential to listen 

to what’s there. 

Richard: The whole of our 

society is geared to stop people 

being reflective and creative– 

we’re driven to consume and 

die. As a composer you have 

to choose differently, you 

choose to be reflective and 

communicate something of 

your own making to people and 

so cause them to think, find and 

meet themselves. 

Sandy: Worrying about money! 

Also judging ideas too harshly. 

This is hard, because a writer 

does need to be self critical. 

You also need to have complete 

confidence in yourself and 

be relaxed enough to open 

that magical door to your 

imagination. 

HOW DO YOU KNOW 

YOU’VE GOT A PIECE 

RIGHT? 

Judy: Your gut tells you. I tell 

my students to trust their ears 

and their inner time clock. Those 

things will never let you down. 

Often the writer has one idea of 

how they want the piece to run 

and the piece has a mind of its 

own. You have to trust that and 

go where the piece wants to go. 

Leone: Ironically, I don’t often 

know. I can think something 

I’ve created is wonderful and 

the composer may find it naff 

and trite, or the producer may 

think the lyrics are too literal or 

not literal enough. In television 

you can’t be too precious. Be 

willing to happily create but be 

strong enough not to be totally 

deflated if others don’t think 

you’ve created a masterpiece. 

Matthew: We’re more interested 

in expressing a moment that 

captures the emotion than overanalysing 

something to death 

and turning it into a cold and 

technical exercise. Our albums 

always have a lot of parts that 

are impro or first-takes – they 

have an energy and emotion 

that the 16th take never would. 

Ultimately everything we have 

done and continue to do is ‘the 

piece’ – the songs are the traces 

we leave along the way that 

show the path we have taken 

and hopefully in the end it all 

adds up to mean something to 

somebody. 

Mia: Music only lives in the 

performance/playing of it 

and it’s essential for me that 

I don’t only have one go at it. 

Recording a piece is supposed 

to be the definitive version, but 

it’s really just one version, and 

a song is always changing. 

Richard: If you listen to it, the 

piece will tell you. 

>> Pics courtesy of ABC Music Publishing 

ABC Music Publishing 

Compiled by Mark Eades 

and Kirti Jacobs 

Contributions are welcome and should be emailed to kjacobs@apra.com.au. 

Deadline for the July 2006 issue of Aprap is Friday, 26 May 2006. 

Country songwriters represented by ABC Music Publishing shone through among the finalists at the recent 

CMAA Country Music Awards held in Tamworth – songwriter Sara Storer won Female Vocalist of the Year 

with her song – ‘Firefly’ (which was also nominated for APRA Song of the Year). Sara and her brother Greg 

Storer also co-wrote ‘Chillers Bend’ which they perform as a duet on the ‘Firefly’ album. The duet was a 

finalist for Vocal Collaboration of the Year while the album itself was up for both Album of the Year and 

Top-Selling Album of the Year. 

Adam Harvey co-wrote the song ‘Missing Heroes’ which earnt him a nomination for Male Vocalist of the 

Year. Adam’s album ‘Can’t Settle For Less’ was also a contender for Album of the Year as well as Top-Selling 

Album of the Year while his rendition of ‘God Made Beer’ was nominated for Single of the Year and Video 

Clip of the Year. 

Beccy Cole’s song, ‘Rainbows, Dreams and Butterflies’, a co-write with Rod McCormack, was up for Single 

of The Year while Beccy’s version of ‘Just because She Always Has’, made her a contender for Female 

Vocalist of the Year. The 2006 Country Music Awards were held on Saturday January 28th, 2006. 

>> Beccy Cole 

>> Sara Storer >> Adam Harvey 

CONGRATULATIONS 

TO ALL APRA MUSIC PUBLISHER MEMBERS 

WHOSE ARTISTS WERE NOMINATED FOR 

OR WON AWARDS AT THE 

2006 CMAA COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS. 

Mushroom Music Purchases Festival Music 

Publishing 

Mushroom Music Publishing has purchased Festival Music Publishing, making Mushroom Australia 

and New Zealand’s largest independent publisher. 

Since the 1960s Festival Music have signed and supported some of the finest songwriters in Australia 

and New Zealand. Its status as a major player in the Australian industry led to it being a keen competitor 

of Mushroom Music. Mushroom Music now represents several decades of great Australian songs. 

Festival Music writers include 

Powderfinger, George, Tim 

Rogers, Amiel, Gerling, 

Tex Perkins, producer 

Barry Palmer, the legendary 

Richard Clapton 

and several new young 

artists. These writers join 

the catalogue under the 

Mushroom name, which 

represents Hunters & 

Collectors, Neil Finn, Tim 

Finn, Eskimo Joe, Ross 

Wilson and Kylie Minogue. 

Mushroom Group Chairman 

Michael Gudinski said of 

the purchase; “Festival 

was responsible for 

getting Mushroom started 

in 1972 when their support 

enabled me to make the 

first recordings on the 

Mushroom label. I started 

Mushroom Music at that 

time and I have watched 

the two publishing companies 

grow over the 

years.” 

“It is an historic moment.... 

I am very proud to acquire 

a piece of the history that 

we shared and to continue 

the heritage. Our support 

for Australian music has 

never wavered and we 

now look forward to a 

very strong future.” 

>> Michael Gudinski, Mushroom Group 

Chairman 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 1 0

Crossing 

Genres 

In ancient times, poets 

and lyricists had their 

own muses. Lyricists 

had Euterpe – the 

muse of lyric song, and 

poets had a choice of 

Thalia for comedy and 

bucolic poetry, or Erato 

for erotic poetry. Fast 

forward to today and 

word artists – poets, 

lyricists and songwriters 

- are swapping muses 

and crossing genres 

with their creations, 

inspiring new audiences 

through new mediums. 

I hope they fall in love 

with the sound of the 

words… 

This year, the lyrics of songwriter 

Paul Kelly will be studied by Year 12 

English students in Victoria. Kelly’s 

collection of lyrics “Don’t start me 

talking: Lyrics 1984-2004” has made 

the official reading list alongside 

the poems of Sylvia Plath. 

“I hope they fall in love with the 

sound of words the way I did 

at school with Shakespeare and 

Gerard Manley Hopkins…That they 

feel the playfulness and danger of 

words, how they can thrill you and 

stab you, and make you laugh all at 

the same time. I hope if they enjoy 

the words, they get the chance to 

listen to the tunes that brought 

them forth.” [Interview with Shane Kelly, 

The Age, 14 November 2005] 

Kelly started writing poems in 

his early teens and wrote his first 

song at nineteen. Renowned for 

bittersweet, storytelling style, as a 

songwriter, he places equal weight 

on the lyrics and the music in his 

compositions. 

snapshot dorothy porter 

Dorothy Porter has published twelve 

books including six collections of 

poetry, two novels for Young Adults 

and four verse novels. Her crime 

thriller in verse THE MONKEY’S MASK 

was adapted for the stage and radio 

and was released internationally as 

a film in 2001 starring Kelly McGillis 

and Susie Porter. Her most recent 

verse novel WILD SURMISE was 

awarded the Adelaide Festival 2004 

John Bray Award for Poetry as well 

as the overall Premier’s Award – the 

first time this award has been given 

to a book of poetry. 

Dorothy Porter is an exciting and 

experienced performer of her poetry. 

>> Paul Kelly 

>> Dorothy Porter and her cat, Wystan 

Photo by: Andrea Goldsmith 

She has read at festivals in Australia 

and all over the world, from London 

to Medellin. 

“Focus on the lyrics is fine, because 

I think lyrics are important, but 

often it’s at the expense of people 

focusing on the music which I think 

is just as important.” [p.487, Songwriters 

Speak, Debbie Kruger, Limelight Press, 2005] 

Words are the skeleton, 

music the body and 

singing the soul… 

In 2003 poet Dorothy Porter was 

approached by renowned jazz 

musician and composer Paul 

Grabowsky to write a song cycle. 

Drawing inspiration from life, love 

and the poetry of Sappho and 

Cavafy, Porter crafted 16 songs 

tracing the course of an intimate 

relationship. 

“I have always written my poetry to 

music, and always greatly enjoyed 

song lyrics. When Paul approached 

me about the project, I was more 

than happy to join in.” 

“As when I am writing poetry, I 

worked in a notebook in long hand 

and I started with a hook and an 

image. However, I was always aware 

that the song lyrics had to be sung 

– they didn’t exist on their own. So 

they couldn’t be too complicated 

and fancy - they needed to be 

interesting and pungent.” 

“Rather than jumping into a welter 

of emotion and romantic bingeing, I 

Dorothy Porter has also written 

two opera libretti with composer 

Jonathan Mills. Their most recent 

chamber opera, THE ETERNITY 

MAN, was a joint winner of the 

inaugural Genesis Foundation opera 

award In London 2004 and had its 

international premiere at the Almeida 

Theatre. Its Australian premiere was 

at the Sydney Opera House for the 

2005 Sydney Festival. 

… on collaboration 

“My experiences of collaboration 

have been enormously happy 

ones. If you get the opportunity to 

work with talented musicians and 

By Anthea Sarris, 

APRA Communications 

tried to capture the feelings about 

love: the rapture tinged with doubt 

and anxiety and that hallucinatory 

state of excitement.” 

Porter then handed over her 

words to Paul Grabowsy to create 

the music and for Katie Noonan 

(george) to perform. “Before Time 

Could Change Us” had its world 

premiere at the 2003 Queensland 

Biennial Festival of Music. In 2005 a 

studio recording was released as a 

double CD set and accompanied by 

a national tour. “Before Time Could 

Change Us” won the 2005 ARIA 

award for Best Jazz Album. 

Of the final creation Porter says, 

“words are the skeleton, the music 

the body and the singing is the 

soul. Paul’s music is complex and 

sophisticated. The complexity of 

the music is amazingly in harmony 

with the words. Katie really inhabits 

the songs and delivers them with a 

great deal of confidence.” 

The live performance of the song 

cycle had a profound impact on 

Porter. “It was a very emotional 

experience for me. Quite a number of 

times I forgot that I wrote the lyrics. 

It’s not like one of my poems on the 

page, it’s a living thing. A writer 

has a narrow scope …witnessing 

the performance of something I’d 

written was a tremendous thrill.” 

performers, grab the opportunity 

with two hands. Writers can have 

an ‘every word is sacred’ attitude, 

however, what you’re after is the 

best song possible, not the lyrics 

ruling at all costs.” 

…on writing 

“Read as much poetry as you can. 

Listen to as much music as you can. If 

you hear a song that’s terrific, take a 

cold eye to it. Figure out how it works 

- be open to it, exposed to it.” 

have technology… 

need music! 

Online, 3G, 

mobile ringtones 

– technology 

everywhere seems 

to be playing a 

song. But can it be 

your song, and will 

it pay? RICHARD 

MALLETT, APRA’s 

Director Mechanical 

Licensing, reports on 

APRA’s New Media 

Licensing initiatives. 

The way of the world seems 

to be that matters move on a 

cyclical basis – and new media, 

even considering its youth, is 

no different. The hype that 

surrounded the internet in 

the late 1990s is resurgent, 

particularly with respect to the 

growth of online advertising 

and 3G mobile services. 

It is this latter area in particular 

that drives most of the inquiries 

we receive from companies 

(well, that and someone else 

asking for a ringtone licence!). 

Mobile phones offer content 

providers virtually continuous 

potential access to consumers – 

unlike PCs, radio and television, 

the mobile handset is always 

on and always handy. Billing 

is simple – straight to the 

phone account – eliminating 

one of the prime barriers to the 

take-up of new services. And, 

lastly, new handsets combined 

with the big bandwidth of 3G 

deliver a fast and user friendly 

product. 

Of course all this is nothing 

without content – and that’s 

where we (you) come in. 

Drivers for 3G content tend to 

be music based and include 

audio and video downloads, 

music video streaming and 

television content. APRA and 

AMCOS have entered into a 

number of experimental short 

term licences for these services 

– with a view to striking 

longer-term agreements if those 

services take off. 

What we do not know – but 

will be keeping a close eye 

on – is whether these new 

3G services will cannibalise 

from existing mobile ringtone 

expenditure. As has been 

mentioned in other articles, 

like them or loathe them, 

ringtones have been the new 

media financial success story; 

and are now worth $4.5M in 

combined annual revenue for 

APRA and AMCOS. The ringtone 

business model has itself gone 

through a number of stages 

and we are now dealing with 

mobile-subscription services 

that have tended to push the 

average price paid per ringtone 

down. APRA/AMCOS has also 

had some success with taking 

over the licensing of a number 

of UK-owned ringtone services 

that sell ringtones into Australia. 

The changeover will occur from 

early this year, which should 

mean we will get one quarter’s 

worth of invoicing into this 

financial year. 

As most APRA members 

would be aware, the Apple 

iTunes music download 

service launched in Australia 

on 25 October last year. The 

volumes of data we expect 

to process will dwarf existing 

licence schemes and APRA 

has developed new licensing 

systems to deal with iTunes 

and other download services. 

As yet we are still to receive 

our first sales report from 

iTunes and they have made 

little comment on sales trends. 

So we are still to see whether 

their service has been as 

successful in Australia as in 

other territories – or whether 

the combination of high iPod 

penetration prior to a muchdelayed 

launch has worked 

against us. A sobering fact 

– Neilsen Music reports that 

as of the end of July last year, 

iTunes sold more than 184 

million downloads, but that 

just 2,600 tracks accounted 

for around 50% of the volume 

of sales; with 1.1 million 

tracks attracting less than 100 

downloads each (about $12 each 

in royalties!). 

We are also launching our new 

podcasting policy following 

AMCOS’ review of its licensing 

policy. Podcasts are generally 

audio productions designed 

to be consumed on the 

fly. While podcasts are 

downloaded, they are much 

closer in resemblance to a 

radio programme than a 

music album. Podcasts 

are generally free at the 

moment but the RSSsoftware 

that governs 

podcast subscriptions 

was designed in such 

a way to make a 

smooth transition to 

a commercial product. Over 

the course of this year we 

expect to see the development 

of sponsored programmes, 

advertising-funded productions 

and paid-for subscriptions. Our 

licensing policy will therefore 

need 

to accommodate 

both the hobbyist and the 

entrepreneur. 

Stay tuned for future updates. 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 1 2 

>> photo by Lise Gagne

Photo: Bridget Elliot 

Scot Morris, Director International Relations, APRA 

APRA plays an important role in assisting the development of copyright infrastructure in the Asia Pacific 

Region through the regional committees of CISAC and BIEM which are based in Singapore. The copyright 

regimes in these territories have come into focus recently with the commencement of negotiations for 

Australian Free Trade Agreements with China and with ASEAN (together with New Zealand). You can find 

further information on these at www.dfat.gov.au 

Some Asian territories, such as Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have high levels of copyright enforcement 

and well developed performing right societies. Other countries have been slower to enact and implement 

copyright regimes and face high levels of piracy. There are a few territories without copyright law or without 

copyright societies. Developing copyright societies face a difficult task with limited resources to change 

attitudes to copyright and the copyright industries. 

The size of the Chinese market and its rate of development feature heavily in the news. While China enacted 

modern copyright law recently, as required to join the WTO, copyright has not been part of Chinese culture 

and history and therefore its implementation has been very slow. The Music Copyright Society of China 

(MCSC) has existed for over 10 years, and under the auspices of the national Copyright Administration of 

China, results are slowly improving. However, there are still no tariffs or licensing in place for broadcasters in 

China, and MCSC faces large practical hurdles in licensing concerts, karaoke and background music. China’s 

enthusiastic use of the internet and mobile phones for consumption of music is a significant challenge in 

rights administration. 

The most recent AP meeting was held at the end of 2005 in Hanoi, Vietnam. This was significant as cooperation 

agreements between the Vietnam Centre for the Protection of Music Copyright (VCPMC) and CISAC/BIEM were 

finalised there. VCPMC also entered into reciprocal representation agreements which will be administered 

through the Singaporean society COMPASS. 

Cooperation in the region is founded on exchange of ideas and practices in rights administration, sharing 

IT resources and working with regional publishers in confronting new challenges and opportunities in the 

digital environment. 

In March, the regional director of CISAC, Mr Ang Kwee Tiang, will present a detailed update on copyright 

developments in China and ASEAN at a Copyright Society of Australia function in Sydney. (Visit www. 

copyright.asn.au) 

Sally Howland, Director – Member Services, APRA 

2006 SURVEY OF MEMBERS 

APRA will be surveying members this year to gain your views on our customer service, member education, 

information management, efficiency, transparency and accountability. This will be the fourth survey of 

members undertaken in 10 years. The results are critical to ensuring that APRA continues to be relevant and 

responsive to your needs. Your opinions are also vital in helping us with APRA’s planning needs. 

I encourage you to take the time to complete the survey and to have input into creating opportunities for the 

future direction of the organisation. 

More details will be announced closer to the time on the APRA website. 


ONLINE ROYALTY STATEMENTS + ELECTRONIC BANKING 

APRA members responded enthusiastically to our latest campaign to acquire EFT and email information that 

would enable us to provide wholly electronic royalty distributions. Thank you for your support and thanks 

also to our dedicated team of Writer Services staff around the country who manned the phones. The results 

have been fantastic. Since the introduction of online statements in our D42A we have seen a 130% increase in 

members taking up the electronic option. 

If you have not yet moved over to the new payment process, you can register for direct banking and online 

statements by contacting your APRA State office: 

NSW apra@apra.com.au 02 9935 7900 

VIC/TAS victas@apra.com.au 03 9426 5200 

QLD qld@apra.com.au 07 3257 1007 

SA/NT sant@apra.com.au 08 8239 2222 

WA wa@apra.com.au 08 9382 8299 

SONG OF THE YEAR – VOTING NOW OPEN 

APRA IN THE PACIFIC 

In addition to Australia and New Zealand, APRA, under its international agreements, is responsible for the 

following territories: 

Ashmore Island, Australian Antarctic Territory, Cartier Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) 

Islands, Fiji Islands, Heard Island, Kiribati, Macquarie Island, McDonald Island, Nauru, New Guinea, 

Niue Island, Norfolk Island, Papua, Ross Dependency, Solomon Islands, Tokelau (Union) Islands, 

Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Western Samoa. 

Many of these countries have recently enacted copyright law. APRA has been active in Fiji since the 1980s, 

establishing a local society, the Fiji Performing Right Association, in 1994. Due to the size of the market 

and the developing economy, the society has very limited resources and small income. APRA performs 

documentation and distribution functions for FPRA, which is connected to our CMS system. Copyright law in 

PNG came into force a year or so ago and we have been speaking with local rightsowners, the relevant PNG 

government departments and major music users about establishing performing right administration there. We 

have also been in discussions and hosted training for government officials from Western Samoa. 

Most of the other territories have such small markets that establishing a society is not viable. We are working 

with CISAC and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to explore regional structures to redress 

this issue. Composers and other music rightsowners from these territories can (and most do) join APRA for 

the administration of their rights world wide. 

In the French Pacific, the French society SACEM/SDRM has established a music collecting society in Tahiti 

(SPACEM), and in Noumea (SACENC). 

The winner of the nation’s highest songwriting honour is determined by you. Have your say by voting for 

the song you think most worthy. Log on to www.apra.com.au or phone APRA on 02 9935 7900 to get a ballot 

paper. Voting closes Thursday, 13 April. 

APRA is thrilled to welcome Gibson Guitars as sponsors of the 2006 Song of the Year. Each registered eligible 

member that casts a vote for Song of the Year, will be in the running to win a Les Paul Classic guitar from 

Gibson Guitars, worth around US$3,000. Made out of ebony, with nickel hardware, the Classic features the 

slim-taper neck of a ’60s Les Paul and the supercharged power of ceramic magnet humbuckers. 

17TH ANNUAL EAST COAST BLUES 

AND ROOTS FESTIVAL 

13TH – 17TH APRIL 2006, BYRON BAY 

APRA will be hosting songwriting workshops as part of this event. We are currently in discussions with 

Southern Cross University and are looking to present workshops over three days of the Festival which will 

be an accredited course as part of the University’s Contemporary Music Program. To register your interest in 

attending the workshops please email Milly Petriella – milly@apra.com.au 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 1 4

Michelle O’Donnell, Manager, Film and TV Writers, APRA 

Vote for APRA 

Song of the year 


NIGEL WESTLAKE is finishing the score for a 

new tele-movie, Stepfather of the Bride, due 

to air on ABC next month. The movie enjoys 

an excellent script by Geoffrey Atherton and 

the cast includes Noni Hazlehurst, William 

McInnes, Garry McDonald and Georgie 

Parker. Nigel is also composing a percussion 

concerto commissioned by the SSO and 

is overseeing Slava Gregorian’s recording 

project of his guitar music. 

BIDDY CONNOR, recent graduate of 

AFTRS has finished three Community 

Service Announcements for the Australian 

Conservation Foundation. These were 

thirty second environmentally themed ads, 

directed by Frank Woodley and written 

and performed by Kate Kantor. Biddy also 

composed the scores for two films accepted 

into the Park City Film Music Festival in the 

USA: Danya, directed by Beth Armstrong 

and The First Thing I Remember, directed 

by Tammy Meem. 

YANTRA DE VILDER composed the score 

to Blowin in the Wind, the controversial 

documentary by David Bradbury, seen at the 

Sydney Festival and now playing in cinemas 

nationally. She has been working on three, 

ten part series’ for the BBC World Service, 

for a drama project based in Burma. She is 

also composing the music for Rainforest, a 

wilderness documentary for the ABC, and 

producing an album for Natalie Marsland, 

one of the performers from the Mel Brooks 

musical production, The Producers. Yantra is 

also a finalist in the Musicoz awards in the 

instrumental category. 

Sydney composer GUY GROSS composed 

Christmas in Australia, with lyrics by John 

Palmer, as the theme for the new Blinky 

Bill Christmas Special, Blinky Bill’s White 

Christmas. The special went to air on the 

Seven Network at 6:30pm on Christmas 

Eve 2005. Guy and John co-wrote and Guy 

produced, directed and composed the score. 

Christmas in Australia was performed by 

Christine Anu at the ‘Carols in the Domain’ 

on the 17th December. The song was 

included on the 2005 (12th edition) The Spirit 

of Christmas album produced by Lindsay 

Field and also features on CHRISTINE ANU’S 

upcoming children’s album, which is due for 

release in early 2006. 

News from KAREL SEGERS (who transferred 

from SABAM this month) and his production 

company Ozzywood:- James Middleton’s 

documentary Return to Port Davey, received 

its second broadcast last month on ABC 

TV. The latest OZZYWOOD co-production, 

Puppy (the debut feature by writer/director 

Kieran Galvin), will be released in Australian 

cinemas in the first half of this year. Keep 

an eye on www.puppythemovie.com for 

details. Wojciech Wawrzyniak’s Aerosol 

was screened again on the US East Coast. 

It concludes a successful international run 

which brought the film to three continents 

and over a dozen film festivals: 

See www.ozzywood.com. 

Australian feature film Thursday’s Fictions, a 

dance noir fantasy, has won a Gold Medal 

for Excellence and the Director’s Choice for 

Artistic Excellence in a Feature Film at The 

Park City Film Music Festival in Park City, 

Utah. Park City is the world’s only festival 

that celebrates music in independent film. 

Director/choreographer Richard James Allen 

and producer/editor Karen Pearlman were on 

hand at Park City for the world premiere of 

the film. Composer MICHAEL YEZERSKI, in 

Sydney, said, “It’s a fantastic honour. After 

working on a score like this one for so long 

you are never quite sure how it’s going to 

be received. It’s a wonderful validation of all 

our efforts.” 

This is the second time that the festival has 

honoured the creative team of The Physical 

TV Company and composer Michael Yezerski. 

Their previous collaboration, the short film 

No Surrender won the Audience Award at 

the festival in 2003. 

>> Michael Yezerski 

It’s time for APRA members to review the past year’s output of 

Australian songs and vote for the one song they believe deserves 

the nation’s highest songwriting honour at this year’s APRA Music 

Awards: APRA Song of the Year. 

You can vote on-line at www.apra.com.au where you will find a list 

of eligible Australian songs compiled from the pop, dance, urban 

and country charts of 2005. This list is not exhaustive and is a guide 

only. You are encouraged to vote for any song that you think is 

worthy, even if it is not listed in the guide. The only provisos are 

that the song must be composed by an Australian who is an APRA 

member, and it must have been released in the relevant period and 

performed in the past year. 

If you do not have Internet access and wish to vote, you can obtain 

a ballot paper by contacting Carolyn Barnes on 02 9935 7986. 

Voting ends at close of business on Thursday, 13 April 2006. The APRA 

Song of the Year winner will be announced at the APRA Music Awards 

held on Monday, 5 June in Sydney at the Four Seasons Hotel. 

Each registered eligible member that 

casts a vote for Song of the Year, will be 

in the running to win a Les Paul Classic 

guitar from Gibson Guitars, worth around 

US$3,000. Made out of ebony, with nickel 

hardware, the Classic features the slim-taper neck of a ’60s Les Paul 

and the supercharged power of ceramic magnet humbuckers. 

Background 

music relicensing on track 

By Jenny Gome, Director 

General Licensing, APRA 

The General Licensing Department is six 

months into the relicensing of 49,000 

licensees who use CD players, radios, 

televisions and jukeboxes in their 

businesses. We’re pleased to report that 

we’ve had an 80% take-up rate to date 

– the response from the fitness industry, 

and more recently the hospitality industry 

made up of hotels, motels, taverns and 

restaurants, has been extremely positive. 

The results are pleasing evidence that 

APRA’s licensing team has been using 

the right approach over the last six 

years: emphasizing the benefits of an 

APRA licence for music users, rather than 

imposing a stricter policing approach. 

The negotiations with the industry 

associations that represent these business 

sectors took place over the previous 18 

months and were extremely important 

in determining the outcome. Both the 

associations and APRA were keen to 

negotiate a commercial resolution while 

acknowledging that APRA’s rate increase 

in this area was the first in 30 years. 

PAST WINNERS OF THE APRA SONG OF THE YEAR AWARD 

2005 – Scar – Missy Higgins/Kevin Griffin* (*Warner/Chappell) 

2004 – Zebra – John Butler 

2003 – Not Pretty Enough – Kasey Chambers 

(Gibbon Music/Sony) 

2002 – Amazing – Alex Lloyd (Universal Music) 

2001 – My Happiness – Powderfinger (Festival) 

2000 – Passenger – Powderfinger (Universal) 

1999 – Buses and Trains – James Roche (Sony) 

1998 – Even When I’m Sleeping – Dean Manning (Mushroom) 

1996 – Wasn’t It Good – Tina Arena, Robert Parde, Heather Field* 

(Standard/EMI*) 

1995 – My Island Home – Neil Murray (Mushroom) 

1994 – Distant Sun – Neil Finn (Mushroom) 

1993 – Four Seasons In One Day – Neil Finn, Tim Finn 

(Mushroom) 

1992 – Heaven Knows – Rick Price, Heather Field (Sony/EMI) 

1991 – Treaty – Yothu Yindi, Paul Kelly (Mushroom) 

>> Jenny Gome 

The background music tariff review will 

result in a 100% increase in all sectors, as 

well as simplify paperwork for music users. 

Negotiations with the Australian retail 

sector have proven more difficult, given 

its diverse nature. The draft of the retail 

scheme is with the Australian Copyright 

Tribunal for determination in March 2006. 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 1 6

KAYE HAWLEY 

RETIRES FROM APRA 

By Mark Eades*, Manager Publisher Services – APRA 

December 2005 saw the retirement and departure from APRA of Publisher Services Manager, Kaye Hawley. A widely known and 

highly regarded figure in the Australian music publishing industry, Kaye will be missed by the many publisher and writer members 

she worked with over the years. 

Kaye had been a valued and integral part of the APRA management team for six years, and served a total of fourteen years with 

APRA. During her time at APRA, she streamlined and improved many procedures including international documentation control, 

registration of copyright ownership, dramatic context licensing, publisher membership, and disputes. She also brought twenty 

years’ worth of experience in the music publishing industry to her role, having previously worked for publishers such as Castle 

Music (now EMI Music Publishing) and ATV Northern Songs (now part of Sony/ATV Music Publishing). 

Kaye’s achievements and experience, along with her kind and considered management style and keenness to provide best service 

to the APRA membership, earned her the friendship and respect of staff and members alike. This was demonstrated at a farewell 

party held for Kaye at our Sydney office in December where moving tributes from Brett Cottle and Sally Howland and an emotional 

farewell speech from Kaye which left few attendees dry-eyed. 

Kaye will be sorely missed, but leaves APRA with our warmest wishes for a happy and healthy retirement. 

*Mark Eades is APRA’s new Publisher Services Manager. He has worked with APRA since 1998 and held the position of Senior Officer 

Agreements Section since June 2003. 

MIDEM 

–THE WORLD’S MUSIC MARKET 

By Sally Howland, Director Member Services, APRA 

If you were wondering where the Australian music industry was in the last week of January, MIDEM in Cannes, would be a pretty 

safe answer. 

The world’s largest music market, MIDEM 2006 attracted 9,800 participants with 2,300 companies exhibiting at the trade fair. Now in its 

40th year, MIDEM is considered by the world’s publishers, record companies, management reps and promoters to be an essential pit stop 

in their global campaigns to buy, sell and market music. 

Of course, underlying this global trade are the principles of copyright and the management of creators’ rights. Creators and collecting 

societies are familiar with the challenges of ensuring appropriate protection, licensing and remuneration in an advancing digital environment. 

Not surprising, then, that this year’s conference program centred on content distribution opportunities offered by new technologies and 

the consequent continued erosion of geographical barriers; the emerging digital markets of China and India and the issue of fair and 

equitable licence schemes for both music users and creators alike. 

To say that there is a lot of optimism in the Australian music industry would be a gross underestimation of the reality. Driven by quality 

music, impassioned decision makers, and a young and energetic new guard of music industry professionals, the industry is looking 

to maximise export opportunities in both emerging and traditional markets. Australia’s presence at MIDEM this year was led by AIR 

(Association of Independent Record labels - who did a terrific job), with the assistance of Austrade and APRA (for the first time) but 

there is much work to be done. In 2007 we will be looking to capitalise on gains already made by encouraging a unified industry and 

government approach. 


PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

AWARDS UPDATE 

The winners of the 2006 APRA Professional Development Awards (PDA) will be announced on Monday, 27 March 2006. 

Six Professional Development awards will be presented on the night in the categories of Country, Jazz, Film & TV, Popular Contemporary (x2) 

and Classical Music. The Jessica Michalik Contemporary Music Endowment will also be announced in conjunction with the producers of the 

Big Day Out. 

Almost 500 applications were received for this year’s awards, via 22 partner organisations. The short-listed entries are currently being judged 

by 25 music industry professionals grouped into panels for each category of music. 

For the first time, applicants were given the option to submit their nomination online. Over a quarter of the applications received came through 

Sonicbids - a site that allows applicants to create and submit Electronic Press Kits. 

For further information about the 2006 APRA PDAs, please contact Carolyn Barnes on (02) 9935 7986 or cbarnes@apra.com.au 

“PRISONER”SONGWRITER 

SHARES SONG SECRETS 

ALLAN CASWELL, one of Australia’s most recorded songwriters, best known for writing 

the hugely successful theme from the TV series “Prisoner”, has written a book sharing his 

songwriting secrets. APRA members can buy the book at a 30% discounted price of $16.95 

(includes postage). 

Writing Great Song Lyrics, is a concise journey through the techniques and “tricks of the 

trade” that Allan developed during his successful 30-year career as an award-winning 

songwriter in Australia. The winner of five Golden Guitars, Allan has been nominated 27 

times and has produced or written tracks which have helped several other artists to win 

Golden Guitars. 

The book uses examples of Allan’s lyrics to explain the hook, rhyme schemes, imagery and 

the thought processes that went into creating them. Many of the songwriting techniques 

Allan uses in the book were developed as part of his work with The Australian Children’s 

Music Foundation where he works with kids in juvenile detention and special schools as a 

means of focusing their creativity. 

He later found that these techniques worked as an effective, all purpose approach for 

anyone who wanted to create original, well crafted songs. 

Media21 Publishing are offering APRA members a 30% discount on the book. It normally 

retails for $19.95 plus $5.00 post. APRA members can purchase the book for $13.95 plus 

$3.00 post – a total price $16.95. 

To secure your copy visit www.media21publishing.com, phone (02) 9362 1800, or write to 

Media21 Publishing, PO box 575, Double Bay, NSW 1360. 

The book’s release coincides with the release of Allan’s latest album: Al’s Bar and Grill (on 

the ORiGiN label through distributor MGM) described as “a full-on country album...the kind 

that made us love country music in the first place.” 

More on www.allancaswell.com 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 1 8

Alexandra Uitdenbogerd 

ALEXANDRA UITDENBOGERD has 

published a book of her rounds 

and catches. Catches are rounds 

with hidden messages -usually 

of a scandalous nature - that are 

revealed when all parts are sung 

together. Most of the catches 

are for “mature audiences”, 

however, a couple have been 

written specifically for children. 

The book includes an appendix 

that describes how to write 

catches. For sale Billy Hyde Fine 

Music in Melbourne, or through 

w w w. a d h o c . c o m . a u / o p u s / 

sandrabogerd/roundbook.php 

Perth blues band DIAMOND 

DAVE AND THE DOODADDIES 

have released The Lonely Part of 

Town, featuring the sensational 

harmonica playing of ‘Diamond’ 

Dave Billing and the red hot guitar 

chops of Dave Brewer. Visit 

www.doodaddies.com.au 

>> Rezzalp 

REZZALP’ are the four Plazzer 

Sisters from Melbourne. Their debut 

EP The Preview features Animosity, 

a finalist in the ABC’s 2005 Fresh Air 

competition. Distributed through 

MGM and all good music stores. 

www.rezzalp.com 

KIM SANDERS has steamed up 

the coast of Sumatra in a tramp 

steamer full of rubber, survived 

border crossings with Georgian 

gun runners and been arrested 

for spying in Macedonia. His 

new CD Trance’n’Dancin explores 

trance music, from the ethereal 

flights of the ney flute used by 

Turkey’s Mevlevi Dervishes to the 

intricate dance-rhythms of the 

Balkans. Featuring the world’s 

first composition for Bulgarian 

bagpipe and Hammond organ. 

www.netspace.com.au/~kimsanders 

>> Jen Cloher 

Melbourne’s JEN CLOHER AND 

THE ENDLESS SEA has released 

Dead Wood Falls through Shiny/ 

Shock. Cloher’s 2005 single Rain 

received high rotation airplay on 

Triple J and earned itself a place 

on the 2005 Home and Hosed 

compilation. Three national tours 

in 2005 with the likes of Mia 

Dyson and Ben Lee established 

JEN CLOHER AND THE ENDLESS 

SEA as one of the most exciting 

bands on the live scene currently. 

National tour planned for June: 

www.jencloher.com 

>> Kolliope 

Byron Bay’s KOLLIOPE is the new 

project for ex-MASSAPPEAL front 

man Randolf Reimann and singer 

guitarist Michelle Taylor. Their 

debut album Oracles and Glands 

was produced by GENEVIEVE 

MAYNARD and released in late 

2005. This year the pair will tour 

locally and in the US. Thanks to 

some ardent US fans the album 

has been made available as an 

import in all Virgin stores across 

the country. www.kolliope.com 

MEGAN BOWMAN’s debut album 

Wonderlust will be released this 

April. Recorded in New York City 

with musicians associated with ANI 

DIFRANCO and NORAH JONES, 

the release is the culmination of 

a busy year of live performances 

for Megan including the Frankston 

International Guitar Festival, Valley 

Fiesta, the National Folk Convention, 

the Music Managers Forum/ 

Sonicbids Melbourne showcase, 

the PBS FM Festival of Song and, 

most recently, a Jeff Buckley tribute 

night to a capacity crowd at The 

Forum theatre in Melbourne. 

www.meganbowman.com 

E’ NATA UNA STELLA (A Star 

Is Born) is an annual, original 

song contest, organised and 

presented by CLAP RECORDS & 

PROMOTIONS. Designed to give 

young Italo-Australian and other 

artists the opportunity to establish 

themselves in the music industry 

at a professional level, it also 

aims to keep the Italian language 

and heritage alive in our younger 

generations. Festival Organiser/ 

Director, CLAUDIO PARENTE, 

(winner of the 1985 Italian Song 

Festival), says songs may be 

submitted in English and, with the 

songwriter’s consent, be translated 

and adapted into Italian. Visit 

www.claprecords.com or contact 

Claudio Parente on 0419 501 271 or 

(03) 5278 4554 

Darwin-based band WORLDFLY 

have released Beautiful Place. In 

June 2005 WORLDFLY songwriter 

Michael Maher won the prestigious 

Australian Songwriters Association 

‘Songwriter of the Year’ Award. 

The band will perform at the 

2006 Fuse Showcase, and are 

on the 2006 AIR compilation CD, 

launched in January at Midem, 

in Cannes, France. 

www.worldfly.com.au 

Pianist/vocalist TRACEY CAMPBELL 

has released Sunshine Embrace 

on Al Fresco Records. A feel-good 

record with tones of latin, jazz 

and pop, the recording features 

the bass playing of Sydney funk 

master JACKIE ORSZACZKY, 

among other special guests. 

www.traceycampbell.com 

Melbourne-based blues performer, 

FIONA BOYES has signed an 

international recording contract 

with Memphis label Yellow Dog 

Records. Fiona recorded her latest 

album at Wire Sound Studios 

in Austin, Texas. Produced by 

Grammy award winner Mark ‘Kaz’ 

Kazanoff and sound engineer 

Stuart Sullivan, the album features 

the TEXAS HORNS. The album 

consists of 85% original material 

from Fiona, covering a wide range 

of blues sub-genres including 

acoustic finger-picking and delta 

blues, Texas blues, New Orleans 

blues, and classic early Chicago 

blues. www.fionaboyes.com 

>> Worldfly >> Katie Michaelson 

Melbourne singer / songwriter 

KATIE MICHAELSON has been 

>> Fiona Boyes 

named “Best New Launched 

Artist” on the Star Radio Music 

Awards for the second year in a 

row. Star Radio’s listeners from all 

around the globe voted for these 

awards over the two month period 

from December 2005 to end of 

January 2006. Katie has written 

three pop/dance tracks that were 

produced in the USA and Europe, 

and feature the talents of some 

fantastic new Australian artists. 

www.katiemichaelson.com or 

www.myspace.com/katiemichaelson 

Perth three-piece OZONE have 

released Beautiful In The Other. 

Recorded at Kingdom Studios 

and produced by former BABY 

ANIMALS bass player Eddie 

Parise, this latest release displays 

the range and depth of the band’s 

sound. Distributed by MGM. Visit 

www.o3arts.com 

>> Ozone 

Having released their debut album 

Six Second Dream, independent, 

funky band of four, RESONANCE, 

is giving away their music for free 

to build their fan base and get 

people to their gigs. Says singer 

Rusty, “We made this album so 

people could hear our music. 

Hopefully, providing it free on our 

website will give it the exposure 

we think it deserves!”. Visit 

www.resonancelive.com 

It’s official - MANDY KANE’s new 

EP Murder in the Daylight will 

be available in stores (Australia 

only) and online (through iTunes, 

KarmaDownload, Mazar, etc.) 

in April. The CD features six 

original MK tracks, including 

two hot remixes (by MK and Van 

She). Visit MK at myspace.com/ 

mkmusik for a preview of some of 

the tracks. 

Blending country, blues, folk, 

reggae, hip-hop and rock, ISAAC 

PADDON AND THE TIDES have 

released A Stone’s Throw From 

Home. Recorded mostly live in 

Isaac’s Coolangatta lounge room, 

the album is out through the 

band’s own label Tidal Records 

through MGM. 

www.isaacpaddonandthetides.com 

Melbourne bluesman P.D. HALE’s 

latest album, Wanted Man 

showcases his unpretentious, high 

energy approach to original music, 

rooted in traditional blues. Special 

guests include Chris Wilson 

(harmonica), Steve Williams 

(saxophone), and Chris “Darkie” 

Wilson (keyboards). Now available 

at gigs, through Hookline Music 

and at www.pdhale.com 

>> James Blundell 

JAMES BLUNDELL returned in 2005 

with his first independent album 

Deluge featuring the country hits 

Deluge and Postcards From Saigon. 

James was nominated for four 

awards at the 34th CMAA Golden 

Guitars – Male Vocalist, Single, 

Video and APRA Song of the Year. 

He has just finished shooting 

the clip for Greylands, a simple 

yet powerful track dealing with 

depression and mental illness, 

directed by Ross Wood 

and written 

>> Isaac Paddon and The Tides 

with Terry McArthur (co-writer, 

Postcards From Saigon). James 

is touring in March and April, 

showcasing material from the new 

album and favourites from his 

extensive back catalogue. 

www.jamesblundell.com.au 

Queensland’s WOMEN IN DOCS 

set off for America and Canada in 

February, to showcase their stuff 

to music industry heavyweights at 

Canadian Music Week in Toronto 

and the Nth American Folk Alliance 

Conference in Austin. They’re back 

on the road in April, launching 

their new album, produced by 

POWDERFINGER’s Darren Middleton. 

www.womenindocs.com 

The first release for 2006 on the 

Aztec Music reissues label is 

CYBOTRON’s Implosion. Formed in 

1975 by Australian synth pioneer 

Steve Braund with fellow musician 

Geoff Green, CYBOTRON paved a 

new musical path for Australian 

electronic music. 

CYBOTRON 

>> Women in Docs 

also features Gil Matthews from 

BILLY THORPE & THE AZTECS, 

whose More Arse Than Class album 

has also been released on Aztec 

Music. This digitally remastered 

version features previously 

unreleased material, eight bonus 

tracks, singles, demos and a song 

the band recorded for a Kawaskai 

motorbike advertisement. 

www.aztecmusic.net 

Adelaide’s BIG ROOM announce 

the release of their new EP A 

Hand of Four Aces. Recorded at 

Adelaide’s Broadcast Studios by 

Craig Lewis of KALEIDOSCOPE, 

the EP represents a strengthening 

of the band, with new members 

adding cohesion and some harder 

edged tracks. The five track EP 

covers ecological, desert and 

experiential themes, and blends 

them together with the thick paste 

of guitar, bass and drums. 

www.bigroom.com.au 

>> Big Room 

Contributions should be emailed 

to bcampbell@apra.com.au. 

Deadline for the July 2006 issue 

is 26 May 2006. 

2 0 

Compiled by Bowden Campbell and Milly Petriella, APRA Member Services.

Evermore 

APRA 

By Catherine Langabeer, 

Communications and Events 

Coordinator, APRA New Zealand 

NZNZ writers in OZ 

Catherine Langabeer profiles NZ 

writers whose music has been 

filling airwaves and venues across 

Australia... 

Jon Hume >> lead singer of 

Evermore www.evermoreband.com 

>> Shapeshifter 

Where are you currently based? 

We are in New York right now, 

working hard on the next record 

and attempting to adjust to the 

winter temperatures! 

Recent performances in Australia? 

We had a lot of fun at Homebake 

and Falls Festivals. 

Next up? We are planning a theatre 

tour in May, and will be playing 

some of the new songs. 

When is your next single/album 

coming out? The new record, with a 

tentative title of Real Life, is coming 

out in June. 

How do Australian audiences differ 

from NZ? I would say the Australian 

audience is a little more rock 

orientated. 

What’s good about working in 

Australia? The people and the 

beaches! 

>> Savage 

Fast Crew www.fastcrew.co.nz 

Fast Crew have released their 

third single Suburbia Streets from 

their debut album Set The Record 

Straight. In Australia they’ve just 

finished the Big Day Out circuit 

through the East Coast and are 

now planning a national tour. We 

asked band member Dane Rumble, 

aka Kid Deft, how audiences in 

the two countries compare: “The 

Australian audience is a lot more 

receptive in some ways than the 

NZ audience. This is because here 

in NZ (especially in Auckland) we 

are spoiled for choice to see good 

live local music. There is so much 

of it around, we take it for granted 

and sometimes adopt an “ah yeah 

whatever” attitude. Australia is a 

lot more spread out and has a lot 

more people; so when an artist rolls 

through town they make a bigger 

deal out of it.” 

Savage www.dawnraid.com.au 

Savage’s NZ #1 single Moonshine 

debuted at #9 on the Aria Charts, 

spent 10 weeks in the Top 40, and 

recently achieved gold status. The 

“Moonshine” Tour took him from 

Auckland to eight venues around 

Australia, and he’s back again in 

February and March for the “Street 

Dreams” tour with DJ Peter Gunz 

and DJ Tikelz. Savage’s next single 

is “They Don’t Know” featuring 

Aaradhna. When asked who in 

Australia he’d like to work with, 

Savage named Daniel Merriweather, 

who performed at last year’s APRA 

Music Awards. 

Sam Trevethick >> plays 

keyboards, guitar and 

percussion in Shapeshifter 

www.shapeshifter.co.nz 

Where are you currently based? 

Kaikoura, NZ 

Recent performances in Australia? 

We played some great shows in 

Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. 

Highlights from last year were 

playing the Forum and Palace in 

Melbourne & Luna Park in Sydney. 

>> Fast Crew 

Next up? We’re taking some time 

off to write our next album. 

When is your next single/album 

coming out? Single in June and 

album in September. 

How do Australian audiences differ 

from NZ? Australian audiences 

seem to be more up for anything 

at all, sometimes more openminded. 

NZ audiences have a more 

widespread appreciation for roots 

music and drum’n’bass so they 

understand a little more of what we 

do live. 

What’s good about working in 

Australia? The weather, a different 

environment overall. More openmindedness 

in some situations. 

NZ APRA members 

receive international 

accolades: 

Congratulations to Fat Freddy’s 

Drop, whose album Based On 

A True Story scored Worldwide 

Album Of The Year at the Radio 1 

Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music 

Awards 2005 held at Koko, Camden, 

London. London-based Mark de 

Clive Lowe was also nominated in 

this category for Tides Arising. 

International Songwriting 

Competition 2005 

Congratulations also to the 

following NZ writers, finalists 

in the International Songwriting 

Competition: 

Sense Got Out >> Wayne Mason 

– Paekakariki, New Zealand 

Til Now >> Damien Binder, Robert 

Shepheard – Sydney, NSW, Australia 

Made Up My Mind >> Roger 

Angove, Aaron Healy, Michael 

Page, Duncan Pankhurst (Zebulun) 

– Auckland, New Zealand 

Do You Feel The Cold? >> Peter Rudd 

(Tourist) – Auckland, New Zealand 

Maybe Tomorrow >> Geoff Maddock 

(Goldenhorse) – Auckland, New 

Zealand 

My career in artistic direction of 

international arts festivals began a 

decade ago with my appointment to 

the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Prior 

to that I was a singer from the age 

of four, a songwriter from my early 

twenties (when I joined APRA) and 

a theatre writer and maker just a 

few years after that. 

On the Road with Robyn Archer 

Travels of a genuine gypsy 

My singing in concert, classic cabaret 

and music theatre had taken me from 

Australia to the UK where I eventually 

lived for more than ten years working 

there and in Europe. In fact I’ve been a 

genuine gypsy for at least twenty-five 

years now and in that time have rarely 

rested my head in any one place for 

more than ten days at a time. But 

curating programs for festivals meant a 

much wider exploration of the world of 

the arts and a lot more traveling. Now 

I was seeing shows in Tokyo, Kyoto, 

Reykjavik, Maui, Tehran, Manila, 

Taipei, Beijing, Chengdu, Wellington, 

Prague, Ljubliana, Buenos Aires, Rio 

de Janeiro, Bogota (and singing there 

too), Grahamstown (South Africa), 

Antananarivo (Madagascar), Madrid, 

Barcelona and so many more. 

This itinerant life gives me untold riches 

in terms of the work I’m able to see 

and the artists whose work I’ve had the 

pleasure of discovering and learning 

about. But over the last 18 months 

I’ve started spending more and more 

time in Liverpool in the UK as Artistic 

Director of its year as European Capital 

of Culture in 2008. 

Focus on Liverpool 

Liverpool has had more Number One 

hits than anywhere else in the UK and 

still has a great local band and club 

scene. The summer overflows with 

music and I recently went to Creamfields 

(40,000 people in the old airfield, 

14 tents pumping dance music and 

associated visuals) and to the Mathew 

Street Festival which began as a Beatles’ 

cover band event near the Cavern and 

its environment of laneways and clubs. 

Now Mathew Street packs 400,000 

people into the city over three days 

and claims to be the biggest free music 

event in Europe – there are stages all 

over the city and new Liverpool bands 

are given plenty of space. It’s in August 

if you want to visit. 

A Beatles Legacy 

Of course the phenomenon of the 

Beatles is unlikely ever to fade from 

Liverpool. The new airport is called 

John Lennon Airport and as you drive 

in the sign says ‘Above us only Sky’. I 

love it, and it’s one of those airports 

that can have you very quickly in 

Rome, Paris, Lisbon, Brussels or Madrid 

and 60 other European cities on very 

cheap airfares. There are plans to build 

a George Harrison memorial garden 

there (George was a great gardener and 

loved exotic species) and last year Yoko 

Ono was commissioned to do a large 

project for the Liverpool Biennial which 

is the only one of its kind in the UK. 

Sir Paul McCartney maintains by 

far the most consistent involvement 

with Liverpool. He has put a lot of 

energy and resources into LIPA (the 

Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts) 

which has fantastic studio resources 

and is training new generations of 

performers (in all disciplines – theatre 

and dance as well as music) writers, 

directors and technicians. The complex 

is a renovation of the original school 

which Paul and George attended. 

I went there for the LIPA graduation 

ceremony which included welcoming 

new ‘companions of LIPA’ Robin Gibb 

and Guy Masters (songwriter for 

Robbie Williams). I met Sir Paul for 

the first time there and just recently 

again at the LIPA 10th anniversary 

celebrations. 

Capital of Culture Project 

The European Capital of Culture 2008 

project in Liverpool continues to let 

me collaborate with all kinds of artists 

from all over the world – many of 

them are musicians and composers. 

Rufus Wainwright has been mentioned 

recently in a theatrical context and I 

am determined to get Anthony and 

the Johnsons there come what may: I 

heard his music for the first time in a 

small very strange solo dance piece in 

Avignon. Another will be a fascinating 

exploration of the connections between 

Liverpool, Naples, Marseille and 

Istanbul – all Cities on the Edge – and 

to that end I am currently researching 

hip-hop in Marseille, the new melodics 

in Naples, and both the traditional and 

contemporary music of Turkey. 

The Australian Connection 

But of course I won’t be forgetting 

Australia. Not only do we have real 

connections with Liverpool in terms of 

emigration and the subsequent naming 

of streets and suburbs, but Australia is 

rich in musicians and composers who 

consistently make fantastic contributions 

to international festivals and events. 

There have already been preliminary 

discussions with a number of my 

colleagues here about projects towards 

2008. It is one of the great joys of artistic 

direction that you can offer opportunities 

to fellow-artists and in that way make 

your contribution back to the profession 

which has given you so much. 

At the time of writing, the ABC 

broadcast of Jonathan Mills’ Sandakan 

Threnody won the Prix Italia – I was 

truly proud to have helped bring that 

piece into the world though an initial 

commission for South Australia’s 

Federation Sunday. In the same week 

Paul Grabowsky received an ARIA 

nomination for his great collaboration 

with Dorothy Porter and Katie Noonan: 

I am happy to be talking to him about 

Liverpool, and recall being able to 

help make and present Into the Fire 

in Adelaide, Melbourne and Hanover 

and co-commission the Theft of Sita 

and Love in the Age of Therapy. Last 

November in Paris I attended the world 

premieres of Liza Lim’s new works, and 

remembered with such pleasure the 

commissioning of her opera Yue Ling Jie. 

Her Machine for Contacting the Dead 

will be played in Liverpool in October 

2006 in a concert by Brisbane’s Elision 

and Liverpool’s 10:10 ensemble. 

How fortunate to be in a position to 

help enable the creation of the new 

works of respected colleagues. 

Robyn Archer AO 

www.robynarcher.com.au 

www.liverpool08.com 

>> Robyn Archer 

A P R A P M A R C H 2 0 0 6 > > 2 2

APRA is an association of composers, authors and publishers of music in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific having affiliations with similarly constituted organisations around the world. WRITER DIRECTORS: 

Arthur Baysting [New Zealand], Eric McCusker, Richard Meale LLD AM MBE, Jenny Morris, Chris Neal, Michael Perjanik [Chairman] PUBLISHER DIRECTORS: Robert Aird Universal Music Publishing Pty Ltd, John Anderson 

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OF NZ OPERATIONS: Anthony Healey REGISTERED OFFICE: 6-12 Atchison Street St Leonards NSW 2065 Telephone: (02) 9935 7900 Facsimile: (02) 9935 7999 Email: apra@apra.com.au Internet: www.apra.com.au BRANCHES: 

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Facsimile (08) 9382 8224 NEW ZEALAND HEAD OFFICE Unit 113, Zone 23, 21-23 Edwin Street Mt Eden, New Zealand Telephone: 64 9 623 2173 Facsimile 64 9 623 2174 PO Box 6315, Auckland, New Zeland. The opinions 

expressed in articles in Aprap are not necessarily those of the Australasian Performing Right Association. EDITOR: Kirti Jacobs kjacobs@apra.com.au DESIGN: Elastik PRINTING: Peninsula Colour © 2006 Australasian Performing Right Association 

Ltd, Sydney, Australia. Print Post No: 55003/02262 ISSN: 1441-4910 

Have you got a photograph that captures a moment in music? 

Send your submission with 250 words on why it’s special to kjacobs@apra.com.au 

and it could appear on the back of the next Aprap. 

Slim Dusty: My Final Tribute 

Photo and words by 

June Underwood, Tamworth 

SLIM’S name was called out three 

times during the 2001 Golden Guitar 

awards at the Tamworth Regional 

Entertainment Centre - it was his 

year. 

The male vocalist of the year was 

Adam Brand who remarked the award 

he won should have been Slim’s. As 

I snapped this photo, Slim paused to 

salute the crowd. Pride and emotion 

filled the eyes of his daughter and 

many of us that night. (The lady on 

the right in the photograph is his 

beloved daughter, Anne). I wonder 

if Slim knew this was the last big 

moment of glory that he would share 

with us all? 

I know that the goose bumps that I 

felt at that moment, and the photo 

I captured would be my farewell 

tribute to the man who ‘called 

Australia home’ to the world! Slim’s 

music is not my type of music, 

personally, but two songs that stand 

out to me would be his first award, 

Lights on the Hill and Camooweal. His 

achievement of 60 years of recording 

with 106 albums is a marvellous 

record. 

But to me, Slim’s greatest asset and 

achievement was his true Australian 

Spirit. It was more that determined, 

restless and energetic example to 

“keep going mates, no matter what” 

that I admired so much. 

Slim Dusty aka David Gordon 

Kirkpatrick, an Australian country 

music legend who performed for 

nearly seven decades, died on 

September 12, 2003 from cancer at 

age 76. 

June Underwood has been 

photographing Australian Country 

Music since 1976. 

Visit www.ccimage.com.au to find out 

more about her work.

COUNTRY, TAMWORTH STYLE - APRA

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