Musicadium Blog

Deadline Approaching Soon: October 7, 2009

The 2009 International Songwriting Competition (ISC) is well underway, with 55 celebrity and industry professional judges, 21 categories to enter your songs into, and over $150,000 in cash and prizes including a Grand Prize of $25,000 cash and $20,000 in musical equipment and services! This is the largest cash Grand Prize of any major songwriting competition in the world.

Easiest of all, if you have a MySpace page with your songs on it - simply email a link to your songs (along with the entry form info at http://www.songwritingcompetition.com), and they will be listened to on your MySpace page! It’s very easy and is the most cost effective way to enter - no songs to upload online, no post office to deal with, no postage fees!

ISC accepts original songs from musicians, artists, groups, and songwriters at every level from amateur to professional. Click here to go to the entry form on the ISC MySpace page - http://www.myspace.com/isc or simply go to the ISC website at http://www.songwritingcompetition.com for more information about entering through the mail or online.

Each year ISC is privileged to assemble an outstanding judging panel, and the 2009 competition is no exception. ISC’S panel of judges consists of highly respected recording artists and some of the most influential executives in the music industry including Presidents of record labels such as Epic, Universal Republic, Sire, and Nettwerk Music Group!
Please go to www.songwritingcompetition.com for an entry form or more details.

Although not everyone in the music industry is a fan of the behemoth machine that is Australian Idol - no one can deny that it has uncovered some incredible talent (and yes, some atrocious attempts at what can only be described as noise pollution) over the past few years. It has provided entertainment for millions, sparked massive social debates and launched the career of international stars Lisa Mitchell, Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll.

This year we are incredibly proud of Musicadium artist Casey Barnes for making it to the top 12. Apart from being a hard-working, talented musician who has put in the hard yards before having a crack at the show, he’s just a really lovely, down-to-earth Aussie guy who loves his music.

We’ve been getting out our phones to vote, watching his clips at work (it’s work-related!) and at home, and generally allowing ourselves the luxury of watching reality television and bitching about the other contestants.

Show your support for Casey - who has not only proven his musical chops before joining the show, but would undoubtedly put out the best single if chosen as the winner.  You know it’s true.

Check out his music on

Check out his website

Check out his MySpace

Check out his Australian Idol Profile

The annual Big Sound music conference, to be held September 9-11 in Brisbane’s live music and entertainment precinct will see the unveiling of new research conducted by Griffith University lecturer Dr. David Carter, in collaboration with Digital Music Aggregator Musicadium, relating to the sales and marketing of recorded music online.

In a marketplace where digital sales are on the increase and physical CD sales are decreasing, the purpose of the research was to examine the relationship between the use of online promotional tools available to artists and revenues generated through online sales.

Australia’s premier digital distributor/aggregator, Musicadium, have been at the forefront of Digital Innovation since their inception in 2007 and are currently expanding their operations to include promotion and industry connection services to artists.

Now working with over 1000 artists and distributing their music to online outlets such as iTunes, eMusic and AmazonMP3, Musicadium was perfectly positioned to partner with Dr. Carter on this exciting research.

Musicadium hopes that the research provides artists and industry a better understanding of how to use the online space most effectively to promote and profit from their work.

The findings of the report will be revealed in a panel discussion on Thursday the 10th of September at 10:30 in Brisbane’s Judith Wright Centre to the sold out, 300-strong audience of delegates and the full report made available to delegates on the day via Musicadium’s website.

Download your copy of the report here

Musicadium artist Finabah has been announced as a finalist in the New Artists 2 Radio initiative, which offers aspiring and independent artists both support and an opportunity to have their music played on commercial radio.

The boys will be participating in an exclusive workshop with other finalists and industry professionals on September 25th in Sydney, where the winners will also be officially announced.

Earlier this week, the band scored the final spot on the Sounds of Spring lineup, a major festival sporting acts such as The Living End, Josh Pyke and The Butterfly Effect.

Their latest release Sugarcoat is available on  now, with a special all-ages launch of the limited edition physical CD to be held on September 19 at The Hive.

Check them out at their MySpace now!

Musicadium artists DEEP SEA ARCADE’s reverberated pop recalls The Beatles at their psychedelic peak, yet with a character and charm that is undeniably unique.  Ethereal guitars and lyrical quirks will transport the listener to a dark, watery world of mystery and enchantment, and leave their heads swimming with unforgettable melodies.

The group began as a song writing and home recording project for founding members and school mates Nic McKenzie and Nick Weaver when they were in their mid teens. Using 4-track tape recorders, broadcast microphones and unconventional computer programs they created a sinister backdrop to contrast with their penchant for pop song structure and melody.  Sarah from Musicadium caught up with the boys for a quirky and hilarious interview just before they hit Brisbane’s X and Y Bar 5th September on their run of dates up the East Coast of Australia.

You guys have just toured with Bluejuice – so exciting! How did that come about?

We’ve been offering to write songs for Bluejuice for years. We’ve sent them countless ideas that we thought fit their sound. Finally we must have made an impact. Not only are they using one of our songs as their next single (watch it here), they wanted to take us on the road. Maybe they want to touch us in the darkness.

You’ve got a very distinctive sound which has meant that you’ve had some hilarious and strange descriptions of it including, ‘it’s like the underwater dream John Lennon had about his ex-girlfriend’s haunted house while he was on acid, directed by David Lynch…’, and ‘it’s so goddamn lovely I want to vomit’. What is the strangest thing someone has written or said about your sound?

A Russian politician once likened one of our songs to being “shirtless inside a wheat silo”.

Ok, so there are the ridiculous descriptions of your sound – how would you describe it to someone who hadn’t heard it before?

Dreamy psyche-wave pop songs for scuba folk.

Richard Kingsmill is a fan of your work and you’ve now been added to high rotation on triple j. How did it feel to find out that Australia’s premier tastemaker was into it?

We’ve always loved triple j so of course we were very happy. We were also lucky enough to meet “The ‘Smill” and he was a sterling gentleman.

If you could collaborate with any musicians (living or dead) who would they be?

Lee Hazlewood, Ennio Morricone, Bluejuice and this guy.

Finally, what’s next for Deep Sea Arcade?

We were hoping Musicadium might consider hiring some of our band members in upper management positions. And we have an album on the way.

Deep Sea Arcade’s Don’t Be Sorry is available now on and they can be found at MySpace!