Hello and welcome back to our weekly wrap of music industry shenanigans that have happened around Australia (and the world). It’s been a few sleepy weeks with Santa bringing all kinds of things for everyone. Everyone seems to now be busily making tunes or wheeling’ deals again, so let’s get into the thick of things.

This week: ARIA action for 2012 and in the last week, more Australian acts announced for SXSW, and a new crowd-funding site specifically for musicians to fund albums, projects and videos.

This time last year we divulged our top twelve Australian artists and top five international artists to watch over the following twelve months. So we figured now was as good a time as any to have a look back and see how they all fared...

The final day of the Falls Festival arrives and despite everyone being weary and dirty, the energy is still there. The Falls Fiesta parade at sunset is a highlight. The New Year is heralded in by Two Door Cinema Club on the Valley Stage and the fantastic Parachute Youth in the Grand Theatre. The party carried on till dawn, showing that the 20th anniversary of the Falls Festival was one to remember. Our photographer John Goodridge brings you these photos.

Welcome back for another week of exciting news and releases!

We have got a bunch of releases to get through in this edition for you, including artists like Harper Simon, David Guetta, Birds of Tokyo, Depeche Mode and much more!

In the column this week, it's all about ARIA's and opportunities. You can get yourself to another award show over in the states, with a chance to perform at the Grammy's, AMRAP also fights to survive so that it can continue to distribute music to community radio, and Allens Billy Hyde are saved.

The inaugural Cockatoo Island Film Festival will be serving up two unique stages in hosting a great array of artists from Australia and beyond. Two pop-up venues will turn the island into Sydney's 'ultimate entertainment destination' across October's final weekend.

It’s been a huge year for Matt Corby. With ‘Brother’ taking over airwaves everywhere, sold out shows and secret garden gigs, Corby proved if you have the raw talent and dedication it is possible to shake off the Australian Idol tag and pave your own way. Made of Stone is a melancholy but brilliant 3 song EP that showcases a more mellow side of Corby – where in this case, less is definitely more.

While they're in the country for a national tour, Mumford & Sons have been announced to curate a one-day event, Gentlemen of the Road (A Camping Stopover), in NSW. Presented in conjunction with the teams behind the Laneway Festival and Splendour in the Grass, the event will be held in Dungog on the 20th of October.

Adding to what is already an impressive line up, the crew behind the next edition of the Falls Festival have revealed the next round of artists to perform at both Marion Bay and Lorne over New Years! Plenty more acts are still to be announced, with tickets going on sale from 9am Wednesday.

Check out the recently revealed bands below:

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB (IRE)
THE HIVES (SWE)
DJANGO DJANGO (UK)
SHARON VAN ETTEN (USA)

A new revolution was spawned when reality television paved the way for relatively unknown musicians to catapult themselves onto the main stage and become what seemed an almost overnight success.