news articles 12 april 2005

[Inside Australian Idol]

Special for Missy
April 12, 2005

There's nothing but success for Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins this week, as her new single debuts at number two in the Aria chart.

The Special Two enters the chart behind US teenager Jesse McCartney's Beautiful Soul just as Higgins begins her first national headlining tour.

Fellow Australian songstress Delta Goodrem remains at number three in the chart with her duet with lover Brian McFadden, Almost Here.

Anthony Callea's Rain falls two places to number seven, while US all-rounder Will Smith's Switch rises two spots to be at number eight.

Missy Higgins's success isn't confined to the singles chart, with The Sound Of White jumping two spots to be at number three on the albums chart.

It sits beneath last week's top albums, Anthony Callea's self titled release at one and Jack Johnson's In Between Dreams at two.

The biggest mover is Gwen Stefani's Love, Angel, Music, Baby, which jumped three spots to number eight.

Jesse McCartney's album, which shares the name of his number one single Beautiful Soul, enters the chart at number 10.

Australian singles chart

1(1) Beautiful Soul - Jesse McCartney
2(-) The Special Two Ep - Missy Higgins
3(2) Almost Here - Delta Goodrem and Brian McFadden
4(6) 1, 2 Step - Ciara
5(3) Candy Shop - 50 Cent
6(4) Let Me Love You - Mario
7(5) Rain / Bridge Over Troubled Water - Anthony Callea
8(10) Switch - Will Smith
9(7) Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani
10(8) Lonely No More - Rob Thomas

Australian albums chart

1(1) Anthony Callea - Anthony Callea
2(2) In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson
3(5) The Sound Of White - Missy Higgins
4(3) Together In Concert - John Farnham & Tom Jones - John Farnham & Tom Jones
5(4) Il Divo - Il Divo
6(7) American Idiot - Green Day
7(6) It's Time - Michael Buble
8(11) Love, Angel, Music, Baby - Gwen Stefani
9(8) Lullabies To Paralyze - Queens Of The Stone Age
10(-) Beautiful Soul - Jesse McCartney

AAP


www.smh.com.au/news/Music/Special-for-Missy/2005/04/11/1113071906315.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Lack of legal music spawns pirates
Simon Hayes
APRIL 12, 2005

AUSTRALIANS are driven to pirated music because just 65 per cent of the country's top music tracks are available from the three legitimate online music sites, according to a study on the digital downloads industry.

Research by Alex Malik, of the University of Technology, Sydney, has found less than half the Australian Recording Industry Association's Top 20 singles chart was available from all of the nation's major legal download sites, ninemsn Music, Destra and BigPond Music.

The study comes as the music industry waits for judgment on its copyright case against the Australian operators of the Kazaa filesharing network.

The recording industry blames the growth of broadband for a 6 per cent drop in the value of record sales in 2004. Figures from the International Federation of Phonographic Industries show record sales have fallen 25 per cent since 1999, with filesharing playing a major part.

But Mr Malik blames the lack of availability of legitimate downloads. "The Australian intellectual property rights holders have been more efficient in enforcing their rights than anywhere else," he said. "Despite that environment of certainty, they haven't made these tracks available."

Mr Malik said even some popular local artists were not available from the legal download sites. "There's no excuse as to why (Australian Idol) Anthony Callea is unavailable," he said.

Mr Malik's study found the situation with new release music was even worse, with up to 67 per cent of new releases unavailable from all the legitimate providers. "If you want to listen to a track on an iPod, there are two choices," he said. "Download it illegally, or buy the CD and rip it illegally."

Mr Malik's study found legitimate MP3s were also more expensive in Australia than overseas, with prices averaging $1.89 a track in Australia, compared with $1.14 at Wal Mart's popular US music site.

"ARIA is inviting consumers to purchase content supplied by authorised MP3 providers, as an alternative to illegal downloads," he said. "But critics can question the validity of the message if key titles such as Australia's number one song are unavailable in an MP3 format."

While ARIA chief executive Steven Peach declined to comment on the study, the head of the music industry lobby group's anti-piracy arm, Michael Speck, has rejected the findings, labelling them "flawed and tendentious".

He said the legitimate sites faced unprecedented competition from a variety of online sources. "If and when there is a legitimate online market it will be easier for online services to provide a product," Mr Speck said.

"People prefer the option of taking the music for nothing, and that's the reason we need to enforce our rights to give legitimate businesses a fair go. Enforcing our rights is necessary for legitimate services to flourish."

The legitimate download sites have rejected claims they are "picking and choosing" which tracks will be made available.

A Telstra spokesman said BigPond made available all the music to which it had rights. "We're flat out encoding thousands of songs and adding them to BigPond Music every week," he said. "We have hundreds of thousands of tracks available, more than most record shops and every song the rights holders make available, especially hits, is added. I reject any suggestion we pick and choose."

The Australian

australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,12821663%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

12 April 2005
ARTS: Casey Donovan retraces her Indigenous roots
It has been a big year for IDOL champion Casey Donovan, after winning the hit Channel Ten talent show and launching her career straight onto the charts at number one. Now Casey is up for another challenge.



Casey Donovan with her Deadly Award

The 16-year-old star is set to join a group of adventurers to take part in The Fred Hollows Foundation’s See Australia Challenge. During the nine day adventure the group will spend time with Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, hike through Kakadu National Park and kayak on the Katherine River.

Casey said she was looking forward to meeting the Jawoyn communities from the region and seeing the health programs that The Foundation and its local partners are carrying out.

“I’m sure the ‘See Australia’ trip will be a real challenge and will help both myself and everyone on the trip to better understand the issues that Indigenous Australians are facing,” she said.

See Australia is a unique adventure travel concept, which aims to raise funds and awareness about the amazing work of The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia and internationally. Launched in 1999, it was the first of its kind in Australia.

Participants on the Challenge raise money for The Foundation and in return get rewarded with the adventure trip of a lifetime to one of the countries where The Foundation works with local partners. Here they get to see first hand how the money they raised is being used to make a real difference to people’s lives. As well as Australia there are also trips to Nepal, Vietnam and India.

Fundraising targets are $6,000 for the India trip, $5,500 for Nepal, $5,000 for Vietnam and $4,000 for the Northern Territory. Approximately half of the money raised goes directly to The Foundation to use in its programs.

Source: Fred Hollows Foundation


More Information
See the Fred Hollows Foundation

For more details see her website at Casey Donovan's Official Website


www.abc.net.au/message/news/stories/s1343612.htm