Newcastle music week

Newcastle Music Week (NMW) began as a one day Music Expo held in Newcastle, New South Wales in 2002. The Expo was organised and run by Music Business Students at TAFE NSW – Hunter Institute. It attracted over 1,000 participants, including schools, music businesses, national industry professionals and musicians.

In 2003 Newcastle Music Week attracted over 4,000 participants who enjoyed a weeklong music festival, a Music Expo, a VIP function and Finale Gig. Some of our national music industry personnel that were involved included Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil), Paula Jones (jones PR – The Waifs, Cold Chisel, John Butler Trio), Michael Smith (Drum Media), Tony Mott (photographer), Katie Underwood (artist, formerly from Bardot) and Sue Ostler (editor Rolling Stone).

Newcastle Music Week 2004 saw over 5,000 enthusiasts enjoy musical festivities, seminars and workshops throughout the city. National music industry guests included Grant Walmsley (Screaming Jets), Tyrone Noonan (national artist), Heath Johns (Universal Publishing), Sue Ostler (editor Rolling Stone) and Craig Hawker (EMI Records).

In 2005 participant numbers grew to 6,000 and our guests included Renee Geyer (internationally renowned singer), Tony Mott (International Rock Photographer), Craig Spencer (Shock Records), Jake Denny (Virgin/EMI), Bob Spencer (The Angels) and Ben Gillies (Silverchair).

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Newcastle Music Week 2006

Newcastle Music Week (NMW) was held from October 27 to November 2 2006 and attracted over 7,500 participants. Our goal has always been to create an annual event in Newcastle that could be shared by musicians and music lovers alike, on a scale comparable to the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Our aim is to promote the live music scene and the music industry to the local community and beyond.

NMW 2006 saw over 185 eager and enthusiastic TAFE students gain invaluable experience and take advantage of numerous networking opportunities within the music industry. The local, national and international music industry professionals that participated in NMW 2006 were again astounded that the event was so successful. Many have already committed to participating again in 2007 and have provided us with invaluable feedback. NMW 2006 was a great chance for Newcastle businesses to network and exchange ideas and products. It also provided a platform to raise the Newcastle Music Industry to a national level. Since NMW 2004, we have been in constant communications with national and local music industry representatives and professionals.

National Music Industry Professionals that participated in NMW 2006 included Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil), Travis Demsey (ex Living End), Shauna Jensen (International artist), Bruce Mathiske (guitar virtuoso), Afro Moses (international artist) and Chit Chat (MGF manager/presenter Music Max).

NMW 2006 has created opportunities for businesses and for showcasing Newcastle as the “New music capital” of Australia. It has also created employment for musicians and students in the national music arena.

NMW 2006 increased the community’s awareness of the local live music industry and allowed the community to experience the vibe of a music festival. The opening gig at Beamuont Street was attended by families with young children, musicians, youth and adults, who came along to enjoy what live music has to offer.

NMW 2006 focused on the live music scene. Opportunity was afforded to original live acts to perform to audiences that they otherwise would not have had access to.

We would like to see the event continue to grow and evolve into a yearly event similar to the Tamworth Country Music Festival. In doing this we not only want to build the reputation of Newcastle as a ‘live music capital’, but we aim to lift Newcastle’s profile and help the tourist industry, encouraging economic growth and opportunities for our youth. We wish to create employment opportunities in the event management and live music industries, particularly in our region.

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Newcastle Music Week 2006 Attendances

Over 7,500 people attended events associated with Newcastle Music Week 2006. The following is a breakdown of the numbers of visitors to each event.

These numbers do not include the students involved:

• 75 Music Business Students
• 80 Technology students
• 45 TVET students
• over 100 musicians

Newcastle Music Week 2006 involved 30 venues, 47 solo artists, and over 70 bands.

These attendance numbers were collated using counters at all unticketed events, ticket sales and complimentary tickets from the Newcastle City Theatre, ticket sales to the Newcastle Permanent A Major Music Expo at Newcastle City Hall and estimates from the cafes and restaurants involved. They do not include estimates from venues holding gigs in association with Newcastle Music Week.

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Newcastle Music Week 2007

In 2007 Newcastle Music Week will be held from October 27 – November 2. The key elements of the event are:
• Boogie On Beaumont - Families are targeted and those that don't bring the "Funk" are terminated on the spot.
• Newcastle Music Week and Coca Cola present Resonate – The Music Industry Showcase - Bands were invited from the Hunter Region and the Central Coast to enter the showcase. Heats and semi finals were held at The Brewery and various schools. The final 4 bands from each competition played off at the Civic Theatre Newcastle, featuring the amazing Veto plus others such as Vaudeville, The Salvatores (yeah they were really sick!) and Grandvue (A big hi to Jerome and the boys!). Judges for the final are national Industry Professionals from Sydney and Melbourne, and include Heath Johns (Daniel Johns fat brother no shit! ask him about army of prawns), Dorry Kartabani (Harbour Agency), Scott Bradbury (Shock Records), Marc Bolton (MGM), Don Juan (Evita) and Fat Malone (Music Oz) and Jake Denny (Virgin/EMI).
• A Major Music Expo - This is a series of workshops and seminars held at Newcastle City Hall. Workshops are presented by national and local industry professionals. Schools, TAFE, Universities, musicians and music lovers throughout the Hunter Region are invited to attend.
• Punk and Grind - Held in Wheeler Place, this gig includes skateboard demos, crappy bands, giveaways and draws its audience from the Hunter region and Central Coast.
• Beaumont Street – cafés and restaurants will host even more wankers then usual for a night.
• Metal Night - Held at the Cambridge Hotel and features local and national Metal acts.
• The Boardwalk Sessions – Original Acoustic Songwriters event in association with Six String Shotgun and set against the stunning background of Newcastle Harbour
• Full Strength Rock Night – Held at the Cambridge Hotel
• Breaks N Beats – A Hip Hop/Electro extravaganza
• GeneR8R – The GenR8R has been doing all ages gigs since opening in February 2005 and quickly became one of the great all ages venues that we have in Newcastle.

External links

* www.newcastlemusicweek.com.au [http://www.newcastlemusicweek.com.au]

References

* Christina Sykiotis [Christina Sykiotis] - e-mail: [e-mail]