Silly Talks Music

Having been in the music business since the 80s, artist manager and former publicist Chryss Carr has probably seen it all. But even she thinks PR has become a much more complex game these days. She also shares her views on women's place in the industry and gives me solid advice on why the music industry is now a labyrinth and how to know “who's who in the zoo”. 

Check out AUM (Chryss's company):

⁠https://www.aum.net.au/⁠

Get to know J-MILLA:

https://www.instagram.com/jmillaofficial/

Learn about the "Beneath The Glass Ceiling" movement:

https://linktr.ee/beneaththeglassceiling

Check out Andrew Watt's book "Welcome To The Jungle: Navigating the Music Business in Australia":

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20840836-welcome-to-the-jungle

Find more content like this on my page:

⁠⁠https://sillymcwiggles.blog/⁠⁠

She worked with the most commercially successful Aboriginal Australian musician, Gurrumul. Thanks to her, Australia (and the world) heard about Indigenous rapper Baker Boy. She also secured the first global TikTok live-streaming event from a remote territory for another one of her hip-hop artists, J-MILLA. Artist manager and former publicist who can’t help but still dabble with the media, Chryss Carr, speaks to me about her rock'n'roll career in the Australian music industry, falling in love with Darwin and the Northern Territory, and what it takes to break First Nations acts.

Check out AUM (Chryss's company):

https://www.aum.net.au/

Learn more about Gurrumul:

http://www.gurrumul.com/about/

Watch the documentary about Gurrumul:

https://youtu.be/TXa3gw3g4C4

Find out what's on at the Darwin Festival:

https://www.darwinfestival.org.au/

Fall in love with the Northern Territory:

https://northernterritory.com/

Get to know Skinnyfish Records:

https://www.skinnyfishmusic.com.au/

Learn more about the First Nations' "Voice" to Parliament:

https://voice.gov.au/

Find more content like this on my page:

https://sillymcwiggles.blog/

Many people dream of working in the music space. But being a part of the business also comes with some downsides. Ask any artists touring for extended periods of the year. Ash King is the in-house psychologist for Support Act, the Australian music industry's mental health charity. She walks me through the impact of well-being on the lives of the people working in the music business (and everyone else's, for that matter).

Visit Support Act's page:

https://supportact.org.au/

Support Act's Wellbeing Hotline:

1800 959 500 (24 hours a day, 365 days per year, within Australia only)

Find out why you should support 'Support Act':

http://sillymcwiggles.blog/2021/11/17/why-you-should-support-support-act/

Learn more about 'Sound Minds':

https://supportact.org.au/mental-health/sound-minds-meet-ups-for-the-music-community/

Participate in the Aus Music T-shirt Day:

https://www.ausmusictshirtday.org.au/

Read my article about #ausmusictshirtday:

http://sillymcwiggles.blog/2019/11/13/need-another-reason-to-wear-your-favourite-bands-merchandise-join-ausmusictshirtday/

Watch the interview with Lucas Sutton:

https://youtu.be/axXNMI7N2NI

Find me online as @SillyMcWiggles

Apart from haka, rugby and Lorde, what else do you know about New Zealand? And how about the Māori culture? Meet Matariki Cultural Foundation's Director, Hinu(rewa) Te Hau, who shares her invaluable insights on the importance of Māori arts and music in New Zealand's society.

Browse some Maori vocabulary here:

https://tereomaori.tki.org.nz/Teacher-tools/Te-Whakaipurangi-Rauemi/High-frequency-word-lists

Get to know some Maori artists:

https://www.last.fm/tag/maori/artists

Learn about Taonga pūoro - Māori musical instruments:

https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/maori/maori-musical-instruments

Find out more about the traditional dance, kapa haka:

https://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/kapa-haka-maori-performance/

Learn about The Treaty of Waitangi:

⁠https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/the-treaty-in-brief⁠

More resources about Mātauranga Māori – Māori knowledge:

⁠https://www.takai.nz/find-resources/articles/matauranga-maori/⁠

Visit Matariki Cultural Foundation:

https://www.puoronz.com/

See what Creative New Zealand has to offer:

https://www.creativenz.govt.nz/

Check out Māori Language Commission:

https://en.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/

Visit NZ Music Commission:

https://nzmusic.org.nz/

and its division, Outward Sound:

https://nzmusic.org.nz/international/

Listen to Iwi Radio Stations:

http://www.irirangi.net/iwi-stations.aspx

And finally, connect with me on my channels:

Silly McWiggles

The chat about diversity, inclusion and access with Morwenna Collett - a disability consultant in the arts industry in Australia - inspired me to make my online channels more suitable for different audiences. So I thought providing transcripts on the platforms where my podcast is available would be a good way to start. But I ran into some unexpected obstacles...

Find the subtitled version of this special episode here:

https://youtu.be/q8_isYfp_Dc

Check out Otter for your transcripts:

https://otter.ai/home

Find Morwenna's page here:

https://www.morwennacollett.com/

DM me on socials @SillyMcWiggles with your thoughts

Wheelchair-accessible venues, quiet spaces for neurodiverse people at festivals or sign language interpreting at concerts are no longer just nice-to-haves. Yet, there's still much room for improvement to make the music business more diverse, accessible and inclusive. How's Australia doing on that front? Morwenna Collett, an accomplished facilitator passionate about increasing accessibility within the music industry, is talking me through some of her findings and her own lived experience as a musician with a disability.

Find the subtitled chat here on YT:

https://youtu.be/txTx0LqW45U

Visit Morwenna's website:

https://www.morwennacollett.com/

The article about Beyoncé's and Lizzo's ableist lyrics is here:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/01/when-beyonce-dropped-the-same-ableist-slur-as-lizzo-on-her-new-album-my-heart-sank

Watch this video of Auslan interpreters rocking out at a gig:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2369978963293765

Amber Galloway (American sign languages interpreter)'s website:

https://www.ambergproductions.com/

Check out Ability Fest:

https://www.abilityfest.com.au/

and my blog post about it:

http://sillymcwiggles.blog/2021/11/24/is-ability-fest-the-most-accessible-music-festival-in-australia/

Learn about Arts Access Australia's mission:

https://artsaccessaustralia.org/

Meet Morwenna's peer and disability advocate, Eliza Hull:

https://www.elizahull.com/

Find out more about Hack Sounds:

https://hacksounds.com/

Dino Lupelli is an entrepreneur who creates opportunities for innovation in the music sector, especially the live side of it. He's based in Milan, Italy, but the projects he spearheads, like Linecheck and the Music Innovation Hub, have had a global impact. A big part of his work is related to the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) aspects of culture. So I picked his brain about the "green" side of concerts and festivals, including ideas to become more sustainable, the cost of the transition and how the topic is perceived by different parties within the music business, in general.

Learn more about Dino on his website:

http://www.dinolupelli.com/

Visit the Music Innovation Hub:

https://musicinnovationhub.org/home-en/

Browse useful resources provided by these sustainability-focused music organisations:

Julie's Bicycle -> https://juliesbicycle.com/

Music Declares Emergency -> https://musicdeclares.net/

Green Music Australia -> https://www.greenmusic.org.au/

Find me on socials as @SillyMcWiggles, and check out my sillymcwiggles.blog for more music-related topics.

Feel free to drop me an email at: [email protected] as well.

Who’s keen for more “Silly Talks” with Saba from the Silly McWiggles project?

This season, we’re going international. And the chats are centred around topics like sustainability, working with First Nations artists, accessibility and mental health.

Stoked to be back! Speak soon!

Collab proposals are welcome.

Find me online: sillymcwiggles.blog or

Drop me an email at [email protected] or

DM me @SillyMcWiggles on socials.

Podcast credits:

Concept, recording, production & artwork design - Saba from the Silly McWiggles project

Music Theme from iMovie

In my humble view, some jobs in the music business are totally underestimated. Sound engineering is one of them. The truth is, you only notice the sound techs when something goes wrong at a gig. So I asked Dan Nash, an Aussie professional with over 20 years of experience in the field, to explain what goes into this challenging, yet fascinating profession. 

You can find Dan on IG: https://www.instagram.com/dannashthings/

Learn some audio terminology from this online glossary:

https://www.musicianonamission.com/audio-terms-by-subject/

Check out two audio technology companies Dan mentions in the chat:

DiGiCo: https://digico.biz/

Avid: https://www.avid.com/

Find me on socials as @SillyMcWiggles, and check out my sillymcwiggles.blog for more Aussie music-related topics.

Feel free to drop me an email at: [email protected] as well.

Have you heard of Big Sand yet? It's a virtual science fiction band, "Australia's Answer to Gorillaz", that debuted in April 2022. Sally Coleman, the project's creator and "manager" talks me through how she came up with the idea, the tech that made it possible, and her adventures in the world of animation and motion capture - totally new to her. 

Check out the Big Sand's website: https://www.bigsand.band/

I also wrote about it on my blog: https://sillymcwiggles.blog/2022/05/04/theres-a-virtual-science-fiction-band-in-australia-and-it-dropped-its-first-single-last-week/

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-coleman-777801134/?originalSubdomain=au

And here are some companies and initiatives that helped Sally make the project happen:

CDW Animation - https://cdwanimation.com/

Artbreeder - https://www.artbreeder.com/

Unreal Engine - https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US

Digital Futures Initiative - https://australiacouncil.gov.au/investment-and-development/partnerships-and-co-investing-with-us/apra-amcos-digital-futures/