This week in the State Of Affairs: the highest ticket selling promoters are revealed, the deadline to the road to discovery has been found, Tim Rogers signs to a new imprint label plus workshops ahoy!

TICKET SALES CHUGG ALONG

Pollstar Magazine recently released a report based on 2012 mid-year worldwide ticket sales. As with many magazines, they felt the need to incorporate this into a ‘Top 100 Promoters’ list. Of the worldwide companies listed Australian touring promoter Chugg Entertainment ranked #23 on the list. Chugg HQ have mentioned that this was an indication of their ‘trail-blazing activity’, and they sure have been busy

Over the last 6 months Chugg Entertainment have nearly sold 400,000 tickets to various tours such as The Kooks, John Fogerty, Florence & The Machine and Prince, plus the Cesar Milan in Europe tour. Chugg’s involvement in festivals proved to be quite a winner too, as they were involved in St Jerome's Laneway Festival, CMC Rocks The Hunter and the West Coast Blues N Roots Festival among others.

TELSTRA ROAD TO DISCOVERY DEADLINE APPROACHING

Independent musicians who are into the twangy stuff (eg. country, folk, bluegrass) from Melbourne have until Thursday 26 July to enter the Telstra Road to Discovery, one of Australia’s most recognised talent development programs. Up to six musicians will be selected to perform at the Melbourne heat and lock guitar necks against each other for a chance to win a 12-month music mentorship package, including the ultimate experience of performing at the Americana Festival in Nashville USA.

For those who do want to go and watch the emerging talent, the heat will be held at Melbourne University, corner of Elgin and Swanston St, Parkville (via Gate 1, North Court off Tin Alley, next to Union House) from 12.30pm on Thursday 16 August and hosted by Ella Hooper. For more information, punters and musicians can go to www.telstra.com/trtd

NEW INKINGS

A new music imprint for ABC Music called FOUR|FOUR have signed Tim Rogers. His brilliantly named forthcoming release Rogers Sings Rogerstein will be released on the label, which will have a tour following it, supported by Catherine Britt. FOUR|FOUR also have local acts Boy In A Box and The Rumjackson on the imprint.

Other signings also include Sydney’s Panama signing with groovy record label (yeah, I’m really hip, aren’t I?) Future Classic. Panama is the new project for Jarrah McCleary from The Dirty Secrets who has a new single called ‘Magic’ out at the moment.

ARIA CHART WRAP UP

This week’s ARIA chart has seen P!nk debut at number one with her new track ‘Blow Me (One Last Kiss)’. While the tracks title may catch you off-guard, last week’s number one debut - ‘Shout It Out’ by Recce Martin – has plummeted to number twelve. These teenyboppers don’t last very long, do they? Other significant movements for Australian artists include a large jump to the number five position from number 24 for Justice Crew’s ‘Boom Boom’. Missy Higgins also makes a modest debut at number 31 with her track ‘ Everybody’s Waiting’.

Karise Eden run at number one on the album chart continues at with her third week there with My Journey. Only one Australian artist has debuted on the chart - Van She has at number 28 with their latest album Idea Of Happiness. With a title like that, you could mistake it for one of those pan-flute albums. Cold Chisel re-enter the chart at number 50 with their Best Of compilation.

FREE MUSIC WORKSHOPS EVERYEWHERE

If you’re a young’un residing in Armidale, the Australian Youth Music Council (AYMC) will be holding a music industry careers day. There’ll be a workshop that will include industry speakers ranging from record labels to academics, plus, most importantly free food! In addition to all that, you could get your geek on with an interactive game that exposes people to a wide range of music industry scenarios. The day is designed to engage personal & professional knowledge for anyone who is keen to develop a career in the music industry.

The free event will take place at the Old Teachers College in Armidale, NSW, on the 25^th August running from 12pm to 5pm. For more info head to http://www.aymc.org.au/

Even more educational experiences are happening sooner than that. AIM Together Now 2012 is an all-day forum & workshop hosted by the Australian Institute of Music (AIM). Now in its second year, the forum will be held on Saturday, 11^th of August on the AIM campus in Surry Hills, Sydney. Speakers include CEO of Peer Group Adam Zammit, Megan Washington, music journalists Kathy McCabe and Sarah Whyte. After the talk, there will be an after party held at the Oxford Arts Factory showcasing an array of bands chosen by the organising peeps at AIM Together. Tickets are available at http://www.eventbrite.com.au.

DEPARTED SOUNDS HAVE DEPARTED

Independent record label based in Melbourne Departed Sounds have decided to call it a day. They had been running as a business for around three and a half years and was started up by Ashley Sambrooks of Melbourne publicity outlet Show Off Services and Andrew Keese of Melbourne band Andrew Keese & The Associates. The label represented local artists like Amaya Laucirica, East Brunswick All Girls Choir and Gaslight Radio.

NIMA FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

MusicNT has announced the finalists for the National Indigenous Music Awards. Troy Cassar-Daley and folk/roots act Busby Marou have both received nominations for Artist of the Year andAlbum of the Year. Gurrumul Yunupingu, Jessica Mauboy and acclaimed ensemble The Black Arm Band are also finalists in Artist of the Year. The winners will be announced on the 11^th August. The Medics, The Yabu Band, East Journey and Casser-Daley will both be performing at the event.

MUSICNSW ARE HIRING

The folks who represent contemporary music in New South Wales are hiring. A new position has been created by the music employment gods and have allowed MusicNSW to generate it from the hallways of their base in Darlinghurst. The Project Coordinator is to ensure support for the Music NSW Project Manager, and major support for the Indent project as well as other initiatives. For more info head off to www.musicnsw.com.

THE AU REVIEW IN PRINT

Us here at The AU Review love our words, and while they may be coming to you via a computer screen, words in printed form can be lovely to touch, feel and appreciate physically as well. The 2011 edition of Australia’s Year In Music (including writings from this here website) is now available for public sale at cost price through Blurb. There are also less than 30 copies remaining of a bunch of limited editions, which feature covers of some great talent from here like The Jezabels and Matt Corby. There are more cool things which you can find out about either through this here little website or via http://www.australiasyearinmusic.com/.