GMA-ANZ HOSTS 2ND ANNUAL CHRISTIAN MUSIC CONFERENCE

GMA AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND HOSTS 2ND ANNUAL CHRISTIAN MUSIC CONFERENCE

Sees 38% increase in registrations



The Gospel Music Association Australia-New Zealand (GMA-ANZ), an affiliate of the US-based Gospel Music Association, held it’s second annual conference May 28-29, 2009 in Brisbane, Australia.  The Gold Coast event saw a 38% increase in attendees this year - up from 102 registrations last year to 141 this year.    



“The standard of artistry on display during the various showcase opportunities was impressive”, says Anton Bekker, GMA-ANZ Board Member, “Our registrants were also very positive about the various workshops they attended.”



The event enjoyed top quality messages from industry leaders Mark de Jong (The Power Of A Song), Jeff  Crabtree (The Twenty First Century Christian Musician) and Roma Waterman (The God Artist - The Power Of Sound). The event also featured a special message from Dorry Kartabani, Senior Agent from the Harbour Booking Agency in Sydney, as as a last minute keynote speaker on Passion, Persistence and Perception.  The event featured showcases from the following area Christian artists: Rapture Ruckus, Trigger Theory, Lydia Cole, Magnify, Candice Long, The Smart, Chris Billing, Mark Lowndes and Nathan Eshman.



Anyone who could not attend had an opportunity to view a special 2009 GMA-ANZ Conference webcast.  Some of the content from the event will soon be will be put onto the GMA-ANZ website for members to access.



GMA-ANZ was formed on Easter Monday, 2006 when 150 people gathered in Toowoomba Queensland to express their enthusiastic support to the vision and idea of a Gospel Music Association in Australia-New Zealand.  The organization offers significant benefits to its Australia and New Zealand members including opportunities to connect, training and education, representation to local and national governments and financial discounts on music equipment, insurance and international attendance at the annual GMA Music Week in the USA.  To learn more about GMA-ANZ, visit www.gma-anz.org.  

Performance Digital Royalties Top Mechanicals in the UK

By Susan Butler, N.Y.

The collecting arm for U.K. mechanical and performance rights societies MCPS and PRS today (May 22)reports that combined revenue from broadcasting and digital uses for the first time have out-performed revenue from recorded physical product.

In announcing record-breaking collections of more than over £562 million ($1.1 billion) in 2007, the MCPS-PRS Alliance noted that online royalties of £10 million ($20 million), which grew by 54% since the prior year, are still a small portion of overall revenue.

A 20% increase in royalties from live pop concerts and improved licensing activity among leisure and industrial premises drove the increase in overall public performance revenue.

The 11% decrease in royalties from the worldwide downturn in physical unit sales to £151.8 million ($303.9 million) was mitigated in the United Kingdom, in part, by improvements in licensing other new formats such as pre-loaded USB sticks and musical novelties.

"Much is written about the state of the music industry, but these results show a healthy story about the increased use of music in almost all areas of our business," says Alliance chief executive Steve Porter.

While the number of transasctions processed by the Alliance increased by 40% since the prior year, the cost of collecting and distributing royalties was just over 10% of total revenues.

Overseas territories that generated the highest revenues in the U.K. were the United States, Germany and France.

The Alliance collects performance and mechanical royalties from broadcasters, online service providers, record companies and other businesses that perform music.

To Read The Full Article, go to Billboard.biz - Global