This morning 2 mysterious pink packages arrived in our reception… Further investigation revealed they were a special delivery from the one & only Keith Urban as a thanks for helping make his latest album Defying Gravity go platinum!

And what brings a music family together more than large quantities of CUPCAKES!?

Fortunately EMI’s COO David Kassler is in Sydney this week from London, just to ensure our afternoon post-sugar-crash doesn’t affect productivity… (PS, yep this is just another day in the Sydney HQ: sunny weather, lunchtime screenings of The U.S. vs John Lennon, and sweet treats from the Urbanator).

CHEERS KEITH!

Ahhh, International Record Store Day… this time last year I was hunching over the racks in Reckless Records in Chicago’s Wicker Park, tirelessly flicking through vinyl searching for My Morning Jacket’s special Record Store Day edition of Celebración De La Ciudad Natal.

Alas, whilst Australia doesn’t have our own Reckless Records or town halls full of vinyl enthusiasts (see below), we are blessed with Red Eye Records, Landspeed, Egg, Fish, and Title. Long may they prosper.

We’re also blessed to have incredible Australian artists who give two hoots about the tangible experience of purchasing an album. Here’s what some of our guys had to say:

	John Williamson “When I release a CD it’s not just about the music. We spend a lot of time dreaming up a package that will be enjoyed for years to come as an item of history; something to hold and flick through to give the listeners a contact with me and my thoughts. So when I go into a music store I know what has gone into all the CDs on display. You can learn a lot about the artists. So go down to your local store and buy a real one!” Note – John Williamson will be participating in a Record Store Day signing this Saturday April 17 from 10.30-11.30AM: JB HI FI TOOWOOMBA Market Place 255-257 Maragret St
	Adam Weston, Birds of Tokyo “There’s something intriguing and almost romantic about purchasing a brand new CD or record. Whether you’ve been waiting for your favourite band’s release to hit stores or you decided to make a choice out of curiosity, once you unwrap the little audio bundle of joy, a relationship has begun! The majority of artists in one form or another have this in mind and as such go to great artistic lengths to present their work to you in a fashion they ultimately want you to embrace and enjoy. Illegal downloading has robbed us of these pleasures and has pathetically sacrificed the audio quality of great albums past and present. If you care to keep important elements of the recording industry alive then you too will celebrate record store day!”
	Jumps, The Cat Empire “I have been collecting records since i was 15 and have always loved my local record store. Whether you are into vinyl or cd’s a record store is a place to meet new people, talk about music and exchange opinions about albums and tunes. More importantly it gives you insight and knowledge about new and old releases, to me there is nothing better than finding a new album or song which you have never heard before that just rocks. Support your local record store”.
	Keith Urban “There’s nothing like being physically immersed in and surrounded by so much passionate art. The real beauty of a great record store is being reminded that music isn’t just an acquisition, it’s an experience.”

So who procrastinated for half of Monday watching the entire Grammy’s pre-telecast online?

If you had the stamina for the full broadcast, you would have found out in real-time that our lovely local chap Keith Urban swooped up the Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for Sweet Thing from his 2009 album Defying Gravity. Keith however, discovered his win over the phone while he was charming reporters on the red carpet! As a result , we just have a very pleased Keith and his Grammy chatting backstage – acceptance speech, schmacceptace speech!

David ‘King of the Clubs’ Guetta however OWNED the award ceremony – taking out Best Remixed Recording (Non-Classical) for his Kelly Rowland anthem When Loves Takes Over.

Check out his acceptance speech and his uber-excited leaping onto the stage and all over  award presenters LMFAO here (skip to 20:50) – I’m David Guetta, bitch!

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve watched Keith Urban’s musical career from almost the start. From the early Tamworth Star Maker win in 1990 to his first album, his release as part of The Ranch and then the solo albums that followed. I’ve been lucky enough to see his career go from strength to strength in the live arena as well. In Brisbane Keith was the guitarist in a pub band called Rusty and the Ayres Rockettes which you couldn’t escape in the eighties. I saw The Ranch perform in venues holding about 200 punters and then his arena debut as support to LeAnn Rimes in early 2002. Fast forward to the present and last night at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, in front of a capacity 11,000 fans, I witnessed Keith’s full US show and I’m here to say, this is one hell of a show.

The 13 semi’s waiting out front held one of the biggest stages to be fitted into an Australian venue. The reason it’s so big is because of the ramps that come into the crowd ensuring Keith and his band are right amongst the audience. So much so, there were no security barriers around the stage, if audience members wanted to walk up on stage that easily could, although I’m sure the security who are waiting in the wings would have something to say about that. The other major part of the set was the 5 massive video screens that form the back of the stage. State of the art, up close and personal vision that not only featured the band and amazing visual images but also crowd shots with camera placed all over the arena.

Read the rest of this entry »

Riding off the back of the biggest ARIA Awards since Ben Hur (please don’t mention that ARIAs didn’t necessarily operate during the time of Christ), it’s difficult to let the party die down. After all, it’s only 3 weeks til Christmas!

So indeed the good times continue with the news that we (that’s EMI worldwide, not my band) have FIFTY SIX Grammy Award nominations in the whopping one hundred and nine categories – far too many to list, but here are our EMI highlights!

Multiple nominees include our favourite shaggy-haired, bikini-babe-surrounded Frenchman David Guetta (who also produced The Black Eyed Peas’ Grammy nominated album and record of the year), Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Keith Urban and American Classic legend Willie Nelson.

Katy Perry announced the Best Rock Album nominees and discussed the Black Eyed Peas nominations – watch the videos.

And yes, the reason why the Grammy artwork is so cool this year is no other than Shepard Fairey – the man behind THAT Obama / Hope and Obey / Giant artwork – is responsible. OBEY (great music)

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
	Hot N Cold – Katy Perry
Best Dance Recording
	When Love Takes Over – David Guetta & Kelly Rowland
Best Electronic/Dance Album
	One Love – David Guetta
	Yes – Pet Shop Boys Read the rest of this entry »

So the ARIA Awards, huh… Where to start!?

“An evening of epic proportions” just doesn’t do it justice… November 26, 2009 certainly was the Day of The Empire, but did someone say ROBBIE WILLIAMS, and Keith Urban too!?

So I can’t deny the red carpet was fun (PS keep an eye out for our own Jukebox from Hell’s Darryl B escorting Robbie Williams down the red rug), the performances were breathtaking (check out the on-stage pyrotechnics during Walking On A Dream), and the afterparty went past dawn… but the real highlights of the evening were Empire of the Sun cleaning up every major award of the night. That makes a total of seven ARIA awards, including Artisans, for Emperor Steele and Lord Littlemore.

Emperor Steele represented Empire of the Sun to accept all four awards on the evening, thanking Lord Littlemore, Donnie Sloan, Pete Lusty, Luke’s stunning wife Snappy Dolphin, his parents, all us at EMI (high fives all around!), and the incredible creative team behind Empire, including Mathematics and Debaser. Check out all of Emperor Steele’s awards speeches below:

Robbie Williams‘ performance of Bodies blew the roof off, as did his brown leather brogues and self-confessed dad robot dance moves. Young ladies screamed appropriately:

And don’t forget you can, for the first time, purchase and download the 2009 ARIA Awards live performances from Robbie, Keith, the Temper Trap, Lisa Mitchell, Kate Miller-Heidke, Sarah Blasko, Ladyhawke, the Hilltop Hoods, and Jess Mauboy’s  fromthe Australian iTunes Store. All the proceeds from the sale of the live digital tracks will be donated Youth Beyond Blue, the youth arm of beyond blue: the national depression initiative.

Congratulations to all the winners and our nominees Paul Dempsey, Bob Evans, JET, The Cat Empire, Bindi Irwin, and Rodney Rude.

LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!

Tomorrow we’ll be welcoming Keith Urban back home to Australia to perform Kiss A Girl at the ARIA Awards on Thursday night… but before he took off Keith was busy taking home one of the top honours at the American Music Awards – favourite male country artist.

Also picking up awards were Taylor Swift who supported Keith earlier this year taking home 5 awards, Michael Jackson 4 and Jay-Z and The Black Eyed Peas 2 each.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN
JET
KEITH URBAN

…are all nominated for GQ Men Of The Year 2009 Awards in the ‘Music Act Of The Year’ category!

Vote for our guys at http://moty.gq.com.au/categories/

In what is shaping up to be a battle royale of critically-acclaimed and widely-adored singer-songwriters, we have Mr. Paul Dempsey and Mr. Bob Evans facing off for the ARIA for both BEST MALE and BEST ADULT CONTEMPORARY ALBUM at the 2009 ARIA’s.

They shall wield their guitars, thoughtful and intelligent lyrics, wit and charm to determine just who is the best in the land.

OK, in reality, they are likely both congratulating each other profusely right now on their respective albums: Paul Dempsey’s Everything Is True and Bob Evans’ Goodnight, Bull Creek!.

Huge shout outs to our other BEST music noms:

• JET – Best Rock Album
• The Cat Empire – Best Music DVD
• You Am I – Greg Wales for Engineer of the Year
• Keith Urban – Best Country Album

Keith Urban has posted on his site keithurban.net a glimpse into the creation of his new animated, yet to be released, music video for Kiss A Girl.

Shot in his now hometown of Nashville in the U. S. of A, “Kiss A Girl: Take #1” shows The Urbs and his band perform it up and tease the fans for whats still to come with the finished goods.

Count down is on to rid the green…