If you’ve been paying attention, then you already know that Australians are killing it overseas at the moment. If you’ve been paying even closer attention, you’ll know that we’ve been saying this for a while now. Hell, even the US, the land we’ve been regularly bombarding with talented young artists for the past year or so, knows it, with USA Today publishing an article about the encroaching tide of A-Pop (like K-Pop, but Australian) back in August.
But now it’s become official, with The Herald Sun hailing our fair land as the next big thing globally, finally falling in line with industry commentators, among them, industry bible Billboard and yours truly, who are predicting the Australasian invasion of new music will be dominating worldwide charts in the next 12 months, citing the success of Gotye, Lorde, 5 Seconds of Summer, Iggy Azalea, and Vance Joy.
And if tastemakers are to be believed, those guys are old-hat when it comes to the new wave of talented young Aussies. We’ve already got the likes of Troye Sivan, the 19-year-old singer-songwriter and YouTube star, who was recently featured on Time magazine’s list of the world’s most influential teenagers, poised to be the next big thing. He’s already singed a deal with Capitol Records and his debut EP, TRXYE, peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes charts of 51 countries when it was released in August.
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Although, according to EMI boss and esteemed talent scout John O’Donnell, nothing has changed in order to birth this tremendous wave of exciting artists. O’Donnell says our acts have always made music which could travel, but now it can do so faster. O’Donnell is so confident that he warned his US peers that Sivan’s EP would blow up on the charts on the day of release even though most of the US industry hadn’t heard of him yet.
“You look at someone like Troye, you have to release his music in all markets on the same day because his audience is built on a truly global platform,” O’Donnell told News Limited. “But it still blew everyone’s minds when it lit up iTunes around the world, knocking 5 SOS off No. 1.” Sivan’s chart success was propelled by his devoted YouTube following, which comprises almost three million subscribers who’ve clocked up 130 million views.
It’s the combination of YouTube, Skype, SoundCloud, Hype Machine, and cheaper airfares that has been instrumental in bringing Aussie music to the rest of the world. However, what’s been even more important is our artists’ willingness to get onstage in front of audiences. “We have always been renowned for producing artists that have substance in their music and a toughness and tenacity in their performance and work ethic,” said O’Donnell.
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Just ask Universal Music Australia co-managing director Michael Taylor, who’s been on something of a signing spree in recent months, recently nabbing new folk duo Winterbourne, who developed a following by busking to hundreds in busy malls and promenades in Melbourne and Sydney. “I discovered them busking in front of this huge crowd of kids and while I was watching, they sold 150 CDs at $10 each; I can’t do that on a good day with some of the bigger acts,” he said.
It also helps that Australian pop music fans are so passionate and have sway with influential blogs. Aussies are viewed as tastemakers by global outlets, who then promote our favourite artists to the rest of the world. “The Australian audience is a lot more adventurous and if you look at the top 10 here in any given week, you will see a lot of artists breaking through with their first single,” said Project U.tv editor Nic Kelly.
And don’t think that the success of our Aussies will be limited to just the US, coveted though that market is. During a recent European tour, ‘Geronimo’ hit-makers Sheppard saw their star rise across the continent. During just four short weeks on the road, ‘Geronimo’ hit the top 10 in Ireland, Italy, and Poland, and became the third most-played music video in Spain.
