director of nz - APRA

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Family influence is at the heart of Michael Carr’s songwriting impetus. His father, Warren Carr, was an established figure in country and rock and roll (he played piano on the TV show Six O’Clock Rock) as well as being musical director at Sydney’s St George Leagues Club for 32 years before his death in 1993. His son, Michael, was “thrashing around” on the piano from an early age. “When I was growing up in the ‘70s country music was pop music so I was singing and playing whatever I liked. I don’t think I was ever particularly into one performer or one songwriter. I just think the biggest influence on my music was my father. He got me interested in all sorts of music and basically taught me everything.” Michael Carr Carr started putting his own songs together from the age of seven and the notion of a career as a songwriter came quite early. “I saw Simon Gallaher on the Mike Walsh Show. He had a song called ‘Australia Be Proud.’ I really got into songs after I saw that. Because I found out that he was a songwriter and he’d written songs for other people, too. And I was always really into Burt Bacharach songs. I had more respect for the guys writing the songs than those actually performing them.” Like his early songwriting partner, Melinda Schneider, Carr has a preference for big lush ballads. He also has two strong themes working through his writing, which are not mutually exclusive – Australian national pride and unabashed sentiment, often linked to his family. His self-titled debut album is laden with such songs, but his two most successful works so far were in fact recorded by Adam Brand last year. One, “The Anzac,” won Best Heritage Song at the Golden Guitar Awards in January. “All of my relatives live in Newcastle and the Cessnock area, and I spent a lot of time growing up there and they’re all mad footy supporters, mad pie eaters, mad Australians. And my Dad was a real down to earth Aussie bloke. I’ve spent a lot of time in RSL clubs in my life and I’ve spoken to many diggers. Just being in the entertainment industry you get to meet all these guys. And I’ve played twoup with the best of them on Anzac Day. Dawn service, we used to go into Martin Place as kids. I think it’s important to keep that alive, keep it going through the generations.” Carr laboured over the song for around six months. Brand then augmented it before recording it, as he did with another Carr composition, “New England Highway,” a song about going to Tamworth for the Country Music Festival. “I had the melody and the song and the song was [originally] about something else,” says Carr. “It was called ‘It Ain’t Over ‘Til We’re Done’ or something. It was really corny.” On the drive up to Tamworth in 2001 the lyrics suddenly came to him and by the time he played his shows up there – an unknown playing to “two men and a dog,” he says – that song and “The Anzac” were good enough to attract the attention of Brand’s manager Graham Thompson. Carr is more than happy for his two biggest songs so far to have been recorded by an artist of Brand’s prominence. “Most of the time I get more pleasure out of hearing other people singing my songs than me doing them. There are some songs which there’d be no way I’d let anyone else have them because they’re too personal.” Those that he keeps are often about his family. Usually they are so close to his heart that they write themselves. “When I wrote ‘The Greatest Man’ about my father, that was it. I wrote that very quickly. It’s like ‘Wearing White’ – I wrote that very fast, too. I didn’t even pick up the guitar or sit at the piano to write those.” Yet sometimes the most personal songs need an outsider’s contribution. Finishing “Up On His Shoulders,” about his grandfather, was proving too difficult, so reliable collaborator Colin Buchanan was called in. While he partakes in the co-writing experience regularly, here and in Nashville, he finds it an often difficult process. “You can get two really good songwriters together that are really talented in their own right but it doesn’t work together for all different reasons. I’ve written with lots of people over the last 12 months but there are only a handful of those people that we jelled and got something good. I could write every day with Melinda, because she’s a brilliant songwriter, she’s got so much talent.” He writes so much he can’t even keep track of his work. He certainly doesn’t remember the first song he wrote. “I suppose most people do but I don’t remember some songs I wrote last week.” In Nashville he has met some of his heroes – Jeffrey Steele, Craig Wiseman, Bill Luther – and hopes to write with them in the future. Carr also hopes for a career that extends to the United States and beyond. He is ambitious and optimistic. But one of his greatest wishes is to be as revered as one of Australia’s greatest country songwriters. Ask him if he’d like to be Australia’s Burt Bacharach and he replies “I’d rather be Australia’s next Graeme Connors.” APRA held five workshops again this year on Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 January at The Quality Hotel Powerhouse. These workshops were open to all songwriters, members and nonmembers, allowing songwriters the opportunity to meet with well known Australian artists Tamara Stewart, Adam Brand, Melinda Schneider and Nash Chambers. Fred Eaglesmith In conjunction with CCMC (Contemporary Country Music Coalition), APRA was given the opportunity to present Steve Wilkinson, Jason McCoy and Fred Eaglesmith from Canada for two of these workshops. Melinda Schneider joined the workshop with Fred Eaglesmith and this is what she had to say about the experience: “When Milly Petriella approached me to speak at the APRA workshops in Tamworth, I jumped at the chance. It was a real pleasure to be able to share my songwriting and music business experiences with other writers. I was enlightened, too; sharing the stage with Fred Eaglesmith and hearing his take on everything was just awesome. If this great new initiative introduced L-R: Lyn Connors, Graeme Connors, Meryl Gross by APRA can help to make any songwriter’s journey in this business a little easier, I'm all for it.” As an added bonus for the group attending Fred and Melinda’s workshop, Publisher Adam Lang (Warner Chappell) joined the workshop and gave some great advice and general publishing information. Everyone agreed that the workshops were fantastic and here is some of the feedback we received from attendees: Just a note to thank you and your team for the Cocktail Party and the seminars you arranged at the Powerhouse. Once again you brought together the movers and shakers of the industry and the unknowns and up and comers. All benefited from the networking and the social interaction. I look forward to being with you again next year. – John Couzens Garth Porter and Bruce Rowland Thanks so much for facilitating the workshops at Tamworth. I really enjoyed being there and gained some valuable insights. – Zia Moreauic Thank you for those workshops you held in Tamworth. Fantastic and so informative! – Janine Le Clair The APRA-CCMC cocktail party held on January 23 was also a great success, with a full house of songwriters and music industry players. Tamara Stewart L-R: Rob Potts-Allied Artists, Sally Howland - APRA, Ray Stark - Canadian Country Music Association Sandra Nori - Minister for Small Buisness, Tourism and Women and Melinda Schneider We had a great time and we look forward to doing it all again. We will return in 2004 with more workshops and with new and exciting songwriters. Please put these dates in your diaries: Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 January. If you would like to register your interest in participating in these sessions please email Milly Petriella milly@apra.com.au Congratulations to Troy Cassar-Daley for winning APRA Song of the Year at this year’s Golden Guitar Awards with his song “Born to Survive”. For a list of all the winners head over to the CMAA website at www.country.com.au. Milly Petriella, Manager Writer Services General, APRA 14
INTERNATIONAL NOTES Scot Morris, Director International Relations, APRA Cooperation in the Asia Pacific Region. The international body coordinating the activities of authors and composers societies, CISAC, has a number of regional committees, including one in the Asia Pacific. APRA is an active member and we assist in many of its developmental activities. In 1980 there were only six authors' societies throughout the region. At the end of 2000 this number has reached twenty. More significantly, the gross revenues of societies grew from some US$500 million in 1990 to reach more than US$900 million in 2000. Traditionally, the lion's share of collections is contributed by Japan. However, the growth of gross revenues of the other Asian societies was significantly higher. Excluding Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, the income of the other Asian authors' societies rose from approximately US$9 million to almost US$40 million, a percentage increase of over 340% over the last decade. Copyright law in many of these territories has been slow to develop. China's recent accession to WTO is now a primary focus of the Committee. Many Asian countries, for example Pakistan, Bangladesh and Brunei, do not yet have a society. In a number of other countries authors' societies do exist, but it is a huge battle to change the mindset of music users to get them to pay! APRA is the oldest society in the region and we put our experience to good use in hosting many regional training workshops and visits. In particular our CMS documentation and distribution system is a world leader. In March we will be training two officers from the Music Copyright Society of China. JASRAC in Japan also is very active in supporting developing societies in the region and is sharing some of its IT and on-line licensing initiatives through the DAWN-ACT project. The committee has facilitated many useful cooperation projects, including the development of MIS@Asia by COMPASS in Singapore for the societies in Singapore, Malaysia (MACP), India (IPRS), Thailand (MCT), Philippines (FILSCAP), Indonesia (KCI) and the new society created by CISAC in Taiwan MÜST. There is also a cooperative project between CASH in Hong Kong and MCSC in China to create a Chinese musical works database, known as “DIVA”. The Committee is also assisting KOMCA in Korea in updating its distribution systems. The AP Committee also organises exchange of information on important issues such as regional satellite broadcasting, ringtone licensing, harmonising tariff parameters in general licensing (there was a meeting this month in Bali) and documentation and distribution issues. It also assists societies in its negotiations or litigation with large users, such as television broadcasters in the Philippines. The work of the Committee is driven by our Regional Director, Mr K T Ang, based in Singapore, who has unflagging energy and boundless regional knowledge. Much of the work involves meetings with trade and IP government officials in the countries as well as dealings with the societies. We also work closely with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO – part of the UN) in its developmental activities. The current Chair of the AP Committee is Mr Edmund Lam of COMPASS, with Mr Mamoru Kato the MD of JASRAC and myself as Vice Chairs. It is certainly a dynamic cooperation, aimed at strengthening the protection of creators in this part of the world in the “Pacific Century”. Get the High Score 3MBS Readings National Composer Award 3MBS FM offers you a chance to receive $6000 and the chance to have your music heard. Melbourne’s premier classical music radio station invites composers from around the country to send in orchestral scores for the 3MBS Readings National Composer Award. The unique award has been developed by 3MBS in association with Orchestra Victoria and Readings Books to promote and develop Australian composers and showcase their orchestral works. Starting as a Victorian-based competition in 2000, the Award is now a national event, and has so far received over 150 composition entries during its first three years. Entries are now being accepted for the 2003 Award, and event organiser Adrian Basso is anticipating an enthusiastic response from APRA members. “3MBS is dedicated to supporting emerging artists, and we are delighted to offer our talented composers the opportunity to have their music performed by a large professional CISAC Asia-Pacific Committee meet up for the first time in Mumbai last year orchestra in a large concert venue to an appreciative audience. What could be better?” Entry is open to Australian residents of all ages and the judges are looking for scores not previously performed in public. 3MBS FM calls upon the talents of accomplished industry professionals to judge the entries. Previous judges have included conductor Richard Divall, and composer Richard Mills. The winning piece is performed in a spectacular concert presentation by Orchestra Victoria on Thursday 25 September 2003 at the Melbourne Concert Hall. The concert is recorded by 3MBS FM and later broadcast. Closing date for entries in the 2003 3MBS Readings National Composer Award is Friday July 25. For further information contact Adrian Basso at 3MBS FM on 03 9816 9355 or email business@3mbs.org.au. Entry forms and competition conditions are at www.3mbs.org.au MUSIC AUSTRALIA Marie-Louise Ayres Project Manager, MusicAustralia MusicAustralia is a new service being jointly developed by the National Library and ScreenSound Australia, National Screen and Sound Archive, and a number of content partners including state and university libraries and specialist music archives. MusicAustralia aims to provide users with a rich online experience of Australia’s music heritage – wherever and in whatever format it is held. MusicAustralia will first develop a federated resource discovery service, based on the very successful PictureAustralia model. The free resource discovery service will allow users to locate and use contemporary and heritage digital music and music related resources in a variety of formats and from a range of institutions and sectors, via a single web interface. While users will enjoy viewing and listening to music resources through the central MusicAustralia interface, these resources will continue to be collected, described, stored, managed and delivered by the contributing organisations. Each organisation will also have responsibility for the selection, rights management and permission clearances for content. For example, digitised audio recordings may be delivered for online listening: for works without copyright restrictions; where rights owners have declared their works available for free use (eg. Open Audio Licence); or where rights owners have granted specific permission for a particular form of dissemination of their works by custodial organisations. This might include delivery of “samples” backed up by audio e-business services, or delivery involving collecting agencies such as APRA. A pilot service is now available, with the production service due to commence in the second half of 2003. The pilot content base is small – just 170 items from four institutions– and was carefully selected to test requirements for delivering music related items in a wide range of formats and to explore and demonstrate the rich relationships between printed and performed music materials held by different institutions. The MusicAustralia pilot allows users to discover digitised printed music, digitised audio recordings, “born digital” scores and pdf derivatives, text, pictures and manuscript items. Users can: • simultaneously view a piece of digitised sheet music being delivered from the National Library’s web server, while listening to one or more digitised sound recordings of the same work being delivered from the ScreenSound web server, or from the National Library’s website. For example, users can compare the original manuscript version of “Waltzing Matilda” with four different print editions, two folklore recordings, and three audio recordings (a formal version featuring baritone Peter Dawson and full orchestra in 1938, the first known jazz recording featuring Don Burrows in 1945, and a recording of the Franklin B. Paverty Bush Band at the official opening of the new Parliament House in 1988); • navigate between related music materials, including multiple printed editions and versions of musical works. For example, users can experience various interpretations by different performers of the same musical score. Other historical relationships are also exposed, such as the relationship between a 1970 folklore recording in which Alex Hood interviews and records elderly bushman Tim McMahon singing “Farewell to Greta” (attributed to Ned Kelly), and Alex Hood’s own recording of this song in April 2002; • use and manipulate contemporary “born digital” scores, which are produced by composers using the music notation softwares Finale and Sibelius. Users can simultaneously view the digital score and listen to the integrated MIDI file of Ann Carr-Boyd’s “Moonbeams kiss the sea” or simultaneously view the digital score and listen to a performance recording, or interact with a score by changing the tempo or the key signature for practice and performance purposes; • print high quality copies of out of copyright or copyright cleared sheet music for research or personal use; • enjoy a small sample of music multimedia presentations, where digital print music and related digitised audio recordings are ‘synchronised’ to allow even non music-literate users to “follow” the sheet music and audio. Information on system requirements – including the need for an audio player to play sound recordings and special plug-ins to experience born digital scores – is available through the MusicAustralia help page. Alongside work on the resource discovery service, the MusicAustralia team is also modelling directory and interactive services for future development. MusicAustralia users will ultimately be able to access and navigate a rich store of information on Australian music, musicians, organisations and services from a single access point. More information at: www.musicaustralia.org www.pictureaustralia.org Email: musaust@nla.gov.au 16
Page 1 and 2: APRA is an association of composers
Page 3 and 4: PROTOCOLS FOR PRODUCING INDIGENOUS
Page 5 and 6: MEMBER NEWS Sally Howland, Director
Page 7: The Country Music Festival in Tamwo
Page 11 and 12: Compiled by Milly Petriella and Ala

director of nz - APRA

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