Fuse are proud to announce that The Touch have been offered a slot at the Great Escape Festival in the UK. The opportunity includes compensation toward travel expenses for the winning artist and is offered by Fuse and The Great Escape annually to a South Australian act.
The Touch showcased at Jive on Wednesday 16th at the Ed Castle alongside Cosmo Black and East End Villains.
Check ‘em out here.
Fuse Festival 2011 ended with a splash on Friday 18th, with a strong crowd persisting against the wet weather to watch the talented line-up put together for the Fuse @ Fringe stage of Adelaide Fringe Opening night.
Events kicked off on the Wednesday with both the Management and Songwriting Masterclasses taking place at Carclew. Ariel Hyatt ran attendees through her extensive knowledge on how best to use new media to grow your fan base.
Key points were:
-Know your numbers
-Know your market
-Know your fans
-Use this to build a strong emotional connection with your fans
The afternoon featured three of Australia’s most prominent managers, Gregg Donnavan, Catherine Haridy, and Bill Cullen. They were quizzed by attendees for advice on how to work with artists to build a successful and rewarding career.
Fuse West on Wednesday night kept concert goers on their feet as they navigated venues to catch the many band showcases. The Fuse Team heard buzz about:
-Sincerely, Grizzly, who opened the upstairs stage at Tuxedo Cat (taking to the stage just moments after it was finished being drilled together!!)
-The Blackchords playing Jive
-An energetic set by the Paper Scissors at Rocket Bar
-The thumping blues of The Widow Birds at The Promethean
-Sietta (winners of the Sonicbids/Music NT slot) at Casablabla
-Smells Like September, who packed out The Grace Emily
The Fuse Music Industry Conference began on Thursday, with an opening Keynote interview with Michael Chugg and Iain Shedden. Chuggi has long championed the Australian music scene, but criticised commercial Australian radio for not playing near enough Australian music.
John Watson followed with a Keynote speech, and the six principles that he has found repeatedly guide his day-to-day work. These were:
1. Define what success means to you
2. Don’t be boring
3. Listen to the audience
4. It’s all about momentum
5. It’s all about people and relationships
6. It’s all about songs
Roundtables were a great chance for bands to meet speakers face-to-face for tips and advice under the “shade” of the freshly constructed Fringe Club. Unfortunately, on a 35 degree day shade only goes so far, water and sunscreen were a welcome guest at the party!
Fuse East took hold of the city on Thursday night.
-Carclew hosted a night at the Adelaide Unibar with previous Off the Couch participants including Pimpin’ Horus who attracted many of the speakers attention with their innovative marketing techniques
-The Fringe club opened it’s doors to the public for the first time attracting the likes of Luke Bevans and even Chuggi himself to watch out-of-towners Sam Buckingham and Matt Walters
-Arcade Lane returned for another year with a smashing line-up and a pink theme to boot!
The drop in conference attendance on Friday was testament to the success of Fuse East, but there was still a strong turn out for the morning’s keynote sessions. The Music Network’s Christie Eliezer led an essential panel running through the decisions of a hypothetical band’s journey.
The second keynote of the day was a recorded Skype interview (a first for Fuse) between Iain Shedden and Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk based in Canada. You can watch the interview here:
Vince Bannon from Getty Images then ran the final keynote of the morning, energetically (and explicitly!) explaining how his company had revolutionized online image distribution and no longer fear piracy. There parallels with the music industry were clear, and Vince’s presentation was a talking point for the rest of the conference.
The afternoon’s panels closed with the Music Listening Panel, a chance for bands to have their music critiqued by a variety of industry representatives. Despite a small hitch that led to the first track sounding like a chipmunks remix, the session went smoothly, and was a valuable experience for all.
Our final event for 2011, Fuse @ Fringe, was threatened by rain all afternoon, but thanks to a wonderful backstage crew managed to be an exciting climax to the three days preceding. Triple j Unearthed winners The Cairos kicked the show off (quite a challenge through the steady rain!). Everyone fell in love with Microwave Jenny who do a slamming cover of Hanson’s ‘M-Bop’. Youngins San Cisco rocked our soggy socks off. Locals The Honey Pies, 20th Century Graduates, The Salvadors, and City Riots did what they do best (complete with bubbles and audience participation). Triple j darlings The John Steel Singers finished the night with a bang to a crowd of an estimated 2000 (thanks to all who braved the rain and mud!).
Check out pictures below:
Courtesy of Michael Selge, Craftypics 2011.
Thanks to all who attended, we look forward to seeing you all again in 2012!
Share your Fuse experience below by leaving a comment:
We are excited to finally announce the winner of our Triple J Unearthed slot at Fuse @ Fringe, Brisbane’s The Cairos.
Playing 8:20pm they will open the Adelaide Fringe Festival alongside Microwave Jenny (NSW), The Honey Pies (SA), San Cisco (WA), 20th Century Graduates (SA), The Salvadors (SA), City Riots (SA), and the John Steel Singers (QLD).
To listen to tracks from all our Fuse @ Fringe artists, and check out the Fringe stage lineup head here.
Please note that page 5 of the Adelaide Fringe Guide lists the wrong dates for Fuse East & Fuse West.
Correct dates are:
Fuse West – Wednesday 16th of February, 2011
Fuse East – Thursday 17th of February, 2011
Fuse Festival continues to roll out the big guns with the addition of music industry heavy weight, music promoter Michael Chugg to the list of impressive key note speakers for 2011.
With over 40 years in the business, Chuggi’s resume is that of a true Australian music industry pioneer, his career as a promoter started early in his hometown of Launceston, Tasmania, running dances and managing local bands. From Tasmania to Melbourne, then later to Sydney where Michael co-founded The Frontier Touring Company in the mid 1970s, in 2000 he went out on his own and has since gone on to garner a reputation both internationally and on home soil as one of Australia’s most prominent rock promoters.
From club shows to stadiums, and everything in between, Chugg has worked with some of the world’s biggest acts from Elton John, Coldplay, Keith Urban and Robbie Williams to Pearl Jam, AC/DC and Bette Midler. Chugg Entertainment has also co-promoted some of the biggest charity events the country has seen including Wave Aid (2005), Live Earth (2007) and Sound Relief (2009). Many of these accolades have been recognized with the plethora of awards Michael Chugg has received over the years including Pollstar’s International Promoter Of The Year (2009), CMA International Talent Buyer/Promoter Award (2006), ILMC Lifetime Achievement Award (2008) and many more. In October 2010 he released his tell all book ‘Hey, You in the Black T-Shirt’, sharing every shocking detail about what goes on behind closed doors of the Australian music industry.
With the above in mind, it’s an honor to have Michael Chugg joining the talented group of Major Keynote Speakers already confirmed including Ariel Hyatt, who founded Ariel Publicity, a social media PR firm, Vince Bannon, from Getty Images, Entertainment Partnerships and Development and John Watson, one of Australia’s leading artist managers and President of the label, Eleven: a music company.
Credit: Chrissie Vincient
… cos Bon Jovi and Guns and Roses are in town, OBVIOUSLY. #daggymusicfriday and #fusefest @fuse_festival on Twitter!
The first round of speakers for the 2011 Fuse Music Industry Conference have been announced!
John Watson (Eleven: a music company) and Vince Bannon (Getty Images) will be keynote speakers. Joining them at the conference will be a range of industry delegates including Ariel Hyatt (Cyber PR and Ariel Publicity) from New York, and Jon McIldowie (UK MAMA Group). For the full list click here.
The 2011 conference will take place over two days, Thursday 17 February and Friday 18 February. Register to attend now by clicking here. The 2011 Fuse Festival also features Fuse West and Fuse East showcase over two nights (16-17 Feb), and the Fuse @ Fringe stage for the opening night of the Adelaide Fringe Festival (18 Feb).
More speakers and panel topics will be announced in the coming weeks. Fuse West and Fuse East lineups to be announced early next year, stay tuned for updates!
