Independents
Genesis Owusu Wins Big at 2022 AIR Awards
With a hattrick, Genesis Owusu was the big winner Thursday night (Aug. 4) at the 2022 AIR Awards in Adelaide, the annual ceremony that recognizes the best in Australia’s independent music community. Owusu took out a perfect three-from-three, winning for best independent hip-hop album or EP and independent album of the year for his breakthrough Smiling With No Teeth, plus independent song of the year for its title track. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The AIR Awards cap a remarkable run of wins for Owusu, whose trophy cabinet includes ARIA and APRA Awards, the J Award for Australian Album of the year, the Australian Music Prize, and first ranking in the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition, all collected in the past year. In a video...
Genesis Owusu, Amyl and The Sniffers, Courtney Barnett Lead AIR Awards Nominations
With three nominations, Genesis Owusu is the artist to beat heading into the 2022 AIR Awards, while Amyl and The Sniffers and Courtney Barnett are close behind with two noms each. Owusu, the Ghana-born, Canberra-raised funk artist, has been on an unbeatable run during the awards season, winning triple j’s J Award for Australian album of the year, the Australian Music Prize, several ARIA Awards, first ranking in the 2021 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition and, more recently, breakthrough songwriter of the year at the 2022 APRA Music Awards. His impressive run could continue this August. Owusu’s acclaimed debut album Smiling with No Teeth is up for AIR’s coveted independent album of the year honor, and he’s a chance for independent song of the year best independent hip-hop albu...
Twitch Reaches Deal With Merlin for Independent Labels
Live streaming platform Twitch has entered into an agreement with digital music licensing service Merlin to create revenue-earning opportunities for independent artists. Merlin represents more than 20,000 labels and hundreds of thousands of artists from every country in the world, who can now interact with fans, generate earnings and build community on Twitch. Similar to the recent agreements formed between Twitch and Universal Music and Warner Music’s recorded music divisions, the Merlin partnership is not a licensing deal. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Twitch for this groundbreaking deal,” said Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota in a release. “We’ve been engaged in conversations with Twitch since the day I started at Merlin, and I’m pleased that our team found a path for Merlin members and t...
Algeria’s FLN remains biggest party after election
Algeria’s FLN, long the country’s biggest political party, won the most seats in Saturday’s parliamentary election, the head of the electoral authority said on Tuesday. Fewer than a third of registered voters took part in the election, which the long dominant establishment had seen as part of its strategy to move beyond two years of mass protests and political turmoil. The protests that erupted in 2019 demanded the ousting of the ruling elite, an end to corruption and the army’s withdrawal from politics. While authorities praised the demonstrations as a moment of national renewal, they also cracked down with arrests. “The dynamic of peaceful change that was launched (with the protests) is being strengthened,” electoral authority head Mohamed Chorfi said, referring to the election. The FLN’...
