NZ Music Month began back in 2001 when, despite the good music that was out there, Kiwi tunes were woefully under-represented on our airwaves, TV screens, and charts - barely reaching a double-digit percentage of content on air. Aiming to correct this reliance on imported music, NZ Music Month gave our media a chance to showcase homegrown talent that may not normally have reached the public. In the process a bunch of stars were uncovered, and New Zealanders' taste for their own musical heroes confirmed.Over the past couple of years the focus has moved to include the public as much as possible in what has become a truly national celebration of our favourite artists. NZ Music Month has changed quite dramatically since it was first established, and a promotion that was needed to expose local talent to NZers back then is now something that is wanted and anticipated by vast swathes of the public. NZ Music Month has become a month-long celebration of homegrown music that represents as much diversity in our musical landscape as possible, be they rock or hip hop, mainstream or underground genres.
NZ Music Month is a partnership between the NZ Music Commission and a number of other organisations including songwriters' association APRA, Independent Music NZ, NZ On Air, the Radio Broadcasters Association and the Recording Industry Association of NZ. Whether they are hearing Kiwi music on the radio, seeing it on TV, or - better still - live in person, New Zealanders across the country experience more of our very own homegrown talent on our airwaves and stages throughout the month, showing their support for local music by coming to one of the official events, buying a Kiwi CD, attending one of the hundreds of other gigs that take place, or pulling on a NZ Music Month t-shirt.
So this May check out our gig guide (thanks to Mukuna) to see what's going on all around the country, hit up your local record store for new releases or shop online, start soaking up the massive amount of local tuneage that'll be all over TV and radio in coming weeks!
Key events this year include a formal launch at midday in Wellington on May 1st, a VIP Launch in Auckland that evening, and the annual Industry Party with ten of NZ's best bands playing two rooms to radio, retail, media, musos etc. We are also running the Little Town, Big Gig competition with Telecom which will see a small town win the official closing gig of NZMM with opshop at the end of the month.
Aside from these projects, NZMM is about getting the word out about as many other exciting gigs, releases, and events around the country as possible. This is a crucial part of NZMM - as the hub of the promotion through May the NZ Music Commission actively encourages media to cover NZ music stories, assists in connecting TV radio and print with suitable artists, and receives many media requests that result in much greater coverage for NZ artists, releases, and events all around the country.
Results from 2007
We look to airplay, retail, and merchandise sales as measurements of our efforts each year. Sales of albums by NZ artists almost doubled in May 2007 - compared to the month before, retail sales of albums by local artists at music stores (both physical and digital) were up 96.15% on April.
Hayley Westenra's Treasure album was the biggest seller of May 2007 and every fifth album sold in NZ that month was one produced by a local artist.
On the charts we saw Adi Dick, 48May, 8 Foot Sativa, Hollie Smith and Lucid 3 all make Top 40 debuts, with Hollie of course jumping straight into the top spot.
Similarly in the Singles market, combined physical and digital sales of songs by Kiwi artists very nearly doubled (up 95.01%) on the month before. Maybe by opshop was the biggest selling NZ single of the month.
On the nation's airwaves more NZ music was being played too. Local content on radio was up over 20% during the whole of NZMM peaking at 21.07% in the third week of May. Here again opshop well and truly ruled the roost as maybe became the longest-running #1 on the RadioScope 100 Airplay Charts in the last four years - their 10-week #1 beating a record previously held by Brooke Fraser.
NZ Music Month is a partnership between the NZ Music Commission and a number of other organisations including songwriters' association APRA, Independent Music NZ, NZ On Air, the Radio Broadcasters Association and the Recording Industry Association of NZ.
01/05/08