The Briefing

Are artists making music just for the algorithm?

Alex Burnett is the Australian songwriter behind music with 1.4 billion streams on platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. He has worked on no less than 30 songs that have made it into Triple J’s Hottest 100, collaborating with artists like Thelma Plum, Hockey Dad, Alison Wonderland, Dan Sultan, Hayden James, Bliss n Eso and Flight Facilities.

On this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert speaks to Alex about what it takes to make a song into a viral hit, and how streaming algorithms change the kind of music that gets made in the first place - and what that means for the “authenticity” of songs that make it onto the playlists on our phones.

Listen to The Algorithm, Part 1: How to stop Spotify killing your music taste here.

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Headlines: Australia’s road toll hits 12-year high, Aussies pay more for dental care than most OECD countries, Donald Trump to sign order banning trans people from US Military and New York gets in on the stinky flower trend.

Listen to our September 2024 deep dive 'The Case for putting dental in Medicare' with Jordan Steele-John on Apple or Spotify here.

Deep Dive: Most of us have been listening to music for years through streaming apps – like the one you’re reading this on right now. But these platforms are not neutral. They are massive businesses with a vested interest in keeping you listening.

In Part 1 of a two-part The Briefing special, Bension Siebert interviews the man who invented many of Spotify’s algorithms. Glenn McDonald reveals what these algorithms are doing to our taste in music, what we can do about it as individuals, and what happens behind closed doors to make songs viral.

In Part 2, you’ll hear from an Australian songwriter who has reached 1.4 billion streams, on how the incentives of streaming are changing the kind of music that gets made in the first place. Listen to The Algorithm, Part 2: How Spotify changed music forever in the Briefing feed this afternoon from 3pm.

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Did you have a dream last night? Do you remember it?

Dreams hold a lot of significance throughout history – but how much should we be reading into them, and is there any science to back up the theories we have for what we experience in our dreams?

Dr Manuela Kirberg is a researcher and a lecturer in philosophy at Monash University and part of the Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, which looks at our sleep wake cycle. She joins Helen Smith on this episode of The Briefing to unpack the complex question of why we dream. 

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Headlines: Italian Jannik Sinner wins the Australian Open, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks on Holocaust Remembrance Day and high temperatures predicted across the country today.

Deep Dive: As we mark the Australia Day public holiday, whether you’re working, spending it at the beach or at a BBQ, attending a rally or getting through some chores – we can’t ignore the contentious nature of our national day.

So, while many argue about what today should be used for – celebration or mourning – many others will be granted their long-held wish of becoming an Australian citizen. How do they feel about the debate, given the difficult journey they’ve been on to attain citizenship? And what does it mean to them now they’ve achieved that goal, many years and tens of thousands of dollars later?

On this Australia Day, we’re bringing you the story of what it takes to become an Aussie citizen. Sami Shah is a writer, comedian and educator who came to Australia from Pakistan, after his life was threatened while working as a journalist there. On this episode of The Briefing, he tells Sacha Barbour Gatt why he wanted to become an Australian citizen, and what citizenship means to him.

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Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, is a proud Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul woman who’s a survivor of out-of-home care and now a practising lawyer fighting for the freedom of others.

She’s the first ACT Commissioner for First Nations children, won Marie Claire’s change maker of the year and is author of Long Yarn Short Long Yarn Short: We are still here.

Speaking to The Weekend Briefing for a second time, Vanessa joins Antoinette Lattouf to unpack Peter Dutton’s controversial comments about refusing to stand in front of the Aboriginal flag, the push by a prominent barrister to scrap Acknowledgements of Country, and the harm done in the policing of First Nations young people.

Weekend List

• TO EAT: Fattoush Salad With Fried Pita Chips
• TO WATCH: Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action documentary on Netflix
• TO DO: TooGoodToGo App
• TO READ: Long Yarn Short: We are still here by Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts

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Sometimes sorry is the hardest, and in this case, most expensive word.

This week, Prince Harry achieved something many thought impossible – receiving a “full apology” from Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers.

The apology was part of a settlement over intrusions into the Duke of Sussex's private life, the use of private investigators, and "phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information". 

On this episode of the Briefing, Bension Siebert speaks with veteran journalist and former host of the ABC’s Media Watch program, Paul Barry, to find out how the royal got a Murdoch paper to say sorry.

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Headlines: Albo to promise $10,000 cash bonus for apprentices, Southport attacker jailed for 52 years over murder of three girls, Splendour in the Grass cancelled for a second straight year and Aryna Sabalenka one step closer to AO three-peat.

Deep Dive: What the hell is going on with petrol prices?

Right now in Australia, you can pay $2.26 a litre at one servo, but then drive past another, selling the same unleaded for $1.64, on the same road. Why?

On this episode of the Briefing, Bension Siebert speaks with Peter Khoury, a spokesperson for the National Roads and Motorists' Association, to unravel what’s behind the wildly different pricing, who exactly we should blame when petrol prices skyrocket, and how to find the best deal, easily. 

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Long gone are the glory days of television when we’d be handed 20+ episode seasons of our favourite shows, enough to keep us going and satiated for the year before a new run of episodes dropped.

Now, good tv shows are sometimes rolling out just six episode seasons with gaps as long as two years between them. We know COVID and the 2023 writers’ strike had an impact - but what we’re really seeing is the ‘streamification’ of tv, with Netflix, Prime and Stan originals dominating the space with big names and big budgets.

So, are the days of side quests, character development and filler eps gone? Legendary Aussie tv writer and creator Michael Lucas joins Sacha Barbour Gatt on this episode of The Briefing to discuss. 

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Headlines: Dutton gains ‘significant lead’ over Albanese as preferred PM, Trump threatens Putin with tariffs and demands apology from 'nasty’ bishop, cost of a Melbourne to Sydney flight has jumped since competition collapse and no Aussies left in the singles at the Australian Open. 

Deep Dive: How would you rate Labor on its environmental record?

After sweeping to power in 2022 promising to be a point of difference to the Liberals, its failed to come through on a number of key pledges. As we head into the 2025 federal election the focus and priority of both the major political parties and the public has changed. Cost of living, housing, healthcare and the economy are ranking as the biggest issues according to the Ipsos Issues Monitor.

So, can we expect much of either party when it comes to the environment this year?

The Australian Conservation Foundation is hoping so, and in today’s episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by the ACF’s National Biodiversity Policy Adviser, Brendan Sydes to find out more.

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Donald Trump says US astronauts will be planting an American flag on Mars within the next four years. But how about an Australian flag?

In 2019 the then-PM Scott Morrison committed 150 million taxpayer dollars to get Australia a seat at the table for Project Artemis. Australia may not have anything of the scale of NASA, but we do have a national space agency. So could we see an Australian flag planted right next to the American one on the red planet in the next few years? 

Dr Rebecca Allen is Co-Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University of Technology. She joins Bension Siebert to explain what is, and isn’t, possible. 

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