The Mushroom Free for All was a free gig to thank the music loving public for supporting live music - and in particular the music of Mushroom! Featured were Adalita, Bleeding Knees Club, DZ Deathrays, Stonefield, Sures and World's End Press. Carl Dziunka brings us photos from the night.

Plenty of news from the industry circles this week, mainly in the opportunity area, with a chance to get grants galores care of The Hilltop Hoods or The Australia Council for the Arts. Push Songs also are giving a chance to get songwriting tips and advice for aspiring musicians. Also, CMJ applications have opened and Simon Crean appoints a new director of Sounds Australia. All this, and a historic event in the ARIA charts on The State Of Affairs this week.

Pictured: Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam).

Triple J’s celebration of ‘Oz Music Month’ sees the station highlighting and showcasing the cream of Australia’s music crop, as well as fresh artists just breaking out, proving that local talent is still going strong, even against the commercially popular American material holding top chart positions here.

The Australian Music Prize (The Amp) has today announced its shortlist of nine albums its judges consider to be the best of 2011. Akin to the Polaris Prize in Canada or the UK's Mercury Prize, the nine albums are in the running for a $30,000 cash prize thanks to PPCA and they are:

ABBE MAY - Design Desire
ADALITA - Adalita
BOY & BEAR - Moonfire
GOTYE - Making Mirrors
GURRUMUL - Rrakala
JACK LADDER & THE DREAMLANDERS - Hurtsville
THE JEZABELS - Prisoner
KIMBRA - Vows
THE MIDDLE EAST - I Want That You Are Always Happy

So last night held many firsts for me. My first time working the ARIAs (or attending at all for that matter), my first time doing red carpet interviews and my first time meeting Kylie Minogue (assuming asking a question in the press centre is "meeting"). But more on all that later...

Many of you will probably have heard of this project by now, and it is certainly a remarkable proposition; Rewiggled: A Tribute to the Wiggles gathers together twenty of Australia’s most popular artists from the last ten years and has each of them tackle a song from the catalogue of the world’s most popular children’s group.

In just a few weeks Straight To You: triple j's Tribute to Nick Cave heads out on the road with some of Australia's leading vocalists in tow.

The 2011 Jagermeister Independent Music Awards was hosted in Melbourne this week at the Revolt warehouse in Kensington. The building was originally built in the 1800s and has kept its industrial interior design. Strung from the ceiling were hundreds of exposed light bulbs which made for a homely, fairylit backyard party on Wednesday night. Dylan Lewis - who hosted the awards - described the building as something you would usually find hidden in Berlin.

The 2011 JAGERMEISTER INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS have wrapped up their sixth year delivering a superbly entertaining evening and bestowing 12 Awards on some of Australia’s finest talent, with The Jezabels the only multiple award winners, taking out 2 major honours.

Nominations for the sixth Annual JAGERMEISTER INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS have officially been announced, and they include a stunning array of the country's brightest emerging artists, alongside established and respected performers, acknowledging yet another extraordinary year for Independent music.