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Month: April 2020

Rofi James Share Latest Single

Not letting the pandemic of current times hinder the release of new music, Rofi James are kicking off 2020 with the release of their latest single ‘Every Time I Make You Hate Me’!

Having recently finished headlining the Galway 2020 capital of culture Fire Festival Tour, spanning 7 nights across the county of Galway, with outdoor shows in Clifden, Spiddal, Tuam, Balliansloe, Portumna and Athenry, performing to approximately 15,000 people over the tour. Rofi James were due to wrap up the week of shows at the grand opening ceremony in front of a 50,000 strong crowd, with the event falling foul to the unpredictable weather of Galway.

Since releasing their debut single, the Galway based band have opened for established acts including Picture This, Wild Youth and The Riptide Movement. Other notable appearances include performances at Electric Picnic, Fever Pitch and Riverfest, which Rofi James co-headlined alongside LE GALAXIE and Hermitage Green.

‘Every Time I Make You Hate Me’ Available across all digital platforms now!

Protecting creativity during crisis: Law Society of Ireland and IMRO highlight the value of legal protection of intellectual property ahead of World IP Day 2020

World Intellectual Property Day 2020 will be marked on Sunday 26 April in Ireland and globally. IMRO Adjunct Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the Law Society of Ireland Dr Mark Hyland highlights the importance of legally protecting creativity and innovation at all times, but particularly now during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Hyland noted that, “In Ireland and across the globe, the music and arts sectors are providing a vital ray of hope in the crisis. A good example of this is last weekend’s One World: Together at Home concert organised by the Global Citizen movement and the World Health Organization (WHO). The show focused on entertainment and messages of solidarity during these challenging times. The concert applauded frontline healthcare workers around the world and proceeds generated by the event went to the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the WHO.” 

“Despite this heart-warming event, there is no doubt but that the music and creative industries are being badly hit by the lockdown.”

Dr Hyland explains, “Without the ability to perform in public, record in studios, take part in music and arts festivals, or hold exhibitions, musicians and artists generally have suffered a major financial blow.  It is vital that the IP in their works be recognised and protected, now more than ever.”

He added, “The current precarious situation for musicians and artists also makes the speedy implementation of the new Copyright Directive by our government all the more important. This Directive addresses the “value gap”, whereby rightsholders are receiving less remuneration despite increased usage of their works, particularly online, in recent years.”

Importance of IP rights

The term “intellectual property” (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols, names and images used in commerce. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are the legal rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. The main IPRs are patents, trademarks, copyright and designs. These important rights protect such things as music, literary works, software, inventions, distinctive words or symbols and, the visual design of objects. IPRs usually give the creator exclusive rights over the use of their creations for a certain period of time.

“World IP Day provides us with an opportunity to recognise and highlight the importance of IPRs and the key role they play in encouraging innovation and creativity throughout the world in the twenty-first century,” Dr Hyland said.

Contribution to the economy

IMRO-commissioned research shows that the music industry alone contributes more than €700 million annually to the Irish economy and employs approximately 13,000 people nationwide. 

“More generally, according to a 2019 joint report by the EU Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office, IP-intensive industries contribute a very significant 65% to Ireland’s GDP.  This is the largest contribution among the 27 EU Member States.”

“For a small, open, knowledge-based economy like Ireland, IP and the protection of IP are key elements of our economic success,” according to Dr Hyland.

EU funds must reach media and creative sector, say MEPs

Additional EU action is needed to make sure EU help reaches the ravaged media and culture sectors, say EP Culture committee members.

The culture and creative sector in the EU – especially individual creators and SMEs – and the media sector are being decimated by the crisis.

The European Union must therefore do more to help those struggling sectors to get back on their feet, stress the members of the European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee, in a letter to Commissioners Thierry Breton and Mariya Gabriel, sent on Monday.

Emergency support fund for media

The media and press sectors currently play a crucial role in providing accurate information and thorough reporting. They are a critical antidote to fake news and disinformation, MEPs say. Yet the sector is currently being hit very hard, with a drop of as much as 80% of advertising revenue in some member states and uncertainty being the only certainty for the future..

MEPs are asking the Commission to explore the potential for an emergency fund to support the media and press sector, drawing on funds that cannot be spent under other programmes because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Culture and creative sector: help individual creators

They point out that the cultural and creative sector is made up of many individual creators and SMEs, as well as charities. Their status often makes it harder for them to qualify for national or EU support schemes.

To make sure EU funds reach the sector, MEPs are asking the Commission to consider increasing the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (Creative Europe programme) by topping it up from the 2021 budget, or transferring funds from the European Fund for Strategic Investments.

Creating an ad hoc financial instrument under the European Investment Fund to channel funds to the sector should also be considered.

EU response to COVID-19 response is a good start, but more needs to be done

“The changes to the Structural Funds rules agreed by the European Parliament on Friday can help unlock additional financing. Projects dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic now qualify for 100% financing and thematic concentration rules have been loosened, so funds can be more easily channelled to where they are needed most,” said EP Culture Committee chair Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE) on Monday.

“This money must reach the cultural and creative and media sectors quickly by responding to the specific business models and their particular needs. We call on the Commission and the member states to ensure that support schemes reach all those who need them. But we also need to do more at EU level to provide tailored support to the sectors as well as to provide credit and access to finance the cultural and creative sector”, she added.

Debut Single ‘Wicker Blanket’ from Honas

Having spent 2019 piecing together his debut album, Irish singer-songwriter Honas sets his sights on an eventful 2020, with a steady pour of releases planned.

The first offering will appear on May 1st, ‘Wicker Blanket’, a mid-tempo song that explores the idea of comfort. Comfort is a good thing, but can too much of a good thing become a bad thing?

The sonic palette of ‘Wicker Blanket’ has elements reminiscent of Bon Iver, The 1975 and Tycho. The combination of Honas’ organic singer-songwriter style with these lush Alt-Pop sonic landscapes makes for a fresh sound that will be pleasing to fans of more traditional songwriting as much as fans of a more modern-electronic disposition. This is an important part of Honas’ makeup. Let the endless possibilities of modern music inspire, while never neglecting the most important part – the song.

To hear ‘Wicker Blanket’ as soon as it’s released, Pre-Save it on Spotify at this link: https://show.co/QlAqfJf

HONAS-MUSIC.COM

WOB! Announces Debut Album ‘NOSTOS’

‘NOSTOS’, the debut album by Serbian/Irish producer ‘WOB!’, is a 10 track multi-genre project inspired by Homer’s epic poem Odyssey. It explores the virtues and moral values that eventually led to Odysseus’s successful return home, in a way that reflects what it means to get lost in today’s world.

With a passion for discovering and working with exceptional independent artists, on this release WOB! includes collabs with Irish singer Eoin Martin, poet Sarah O’Connor, visual artist Hazel Coonagh and Bristol musician Gins.

The two singles from WOB!’s debut album received a warm welcome: ‘Run (ft. Eoin Martin)’ has been premiered by legendary Irish magazine Hotpress and ‘Stay Together’ has been aired on national Irish radio RTE 2FM.

‘NOSTOS’ will be available on all major digital platforms from 11.05.2020
Pre-order available on Bandcamp: https://wobdublin.bandcamp.com/album/nostos

https://wobdublin.com

Online “Concert of Hope” in Aid of Pieta to Take Place Saturday

This Saturday April 25th, suicide and self-harm prevention charity Pieta will be going live online with 12 top-class Irish musicians and bands performing a ‘Concert of Hope’ to raise much needed funds for the charity. The concert will be live streamed on Pieta’s Facebook channel as well as on each of the acts individual Facebook pages as they perform.

The live stream will kick off at 5pm this Saturday and will run right through until 10pm. Confirmed acts include Walking on Cars, Hermitage Green, Brian Kennedy, The Saw Doctors, Riptide Movement, Paddy Casey, Ryan Sheridan, The Stunning & The Walls, Don Mescall, Ross Breen, The 4 of Us, as well as Aslan’s Christy Dignam and his daughter, Kiera.

Pieta are asking the public to tune in this Saturday while at home, enjoy some amazing Irish talent and if you are in a position to do so, click the Facebook donate button to support their ongoing fundraising efforts to continue their lifesaving work.

The ‘Concert of Hope’ fundraiser is part of Pieta’s wider Darkness into Light “Sunrise” appeal, proudly supported by Electric Ireland. Taking place at 5.30am on May 9th, the appeal asks people to share a sunrise moment using #DIL2020 and donating at darknessintolight.ie

If you are unable to watch the live stream but would like to donate, please visit www.pieta.ie/donate

Facebook: @pietahouse https://www.facebook.com/pietahouse
Instagram: @pieta.house https://www.instagram.com/pieta.house/
Twitter: @PietaHouse https://twitter.com/PietaHouse
Website: https://www.pieta.ie/

Pieta has three core services: prevention, intervention, and post-vention.
Prevention is awareness and resilience building, primarily delivered through the provision of tailored training. The Intervention service delivers one to one therapy sessions to clients who attend having attempted suicide, who are thinking about suicide or who are engaging in self harm. The postvention services involves supporting people and families that have been bereaved by suicide. This service provides physiological, emotional and practical help to people who are bereaved. All services are supported by the 24/7 crisis helpline.

Pieta is a Triple Locked member of the Charities Institute Ireland (CII), the body formed from the merger of ICTR and Fundraising Ireland in 2016. This means that their board formally adopts and monitors compliance with the Guidelines for Organisations on Fundraising from the Public, the Governance Code for the Community and Voluntary sector.

Pieta employs over 270 therapists and administrative staff across 15 centres nationwide to provide free 24/7 counselling services and support for those who are at the risk of suicide, engaging in self-harm and those bereaved by suicide.

For further information about Pieta and its services, visit www.pieta.ie

How to contact Pieta:
To avail of Pieta services, which are free of charge, please visit www.pieta.ie for all centre contact details. Pieta provides 24/7 support – if you are suicidal, self-harming or bereaved you can contact Pieta 24/7 via the Freephone helpline on 1800 247 247, you can also text HELP to 51444 (standard message rates apply).

Gavin Murphy Debut Album Out Friday

Gavin Murphy is the lead guitarist and band manager of the successful Smiths tribute band These Charming Men, which he formed in 1995. Working as a session guitarist, both live and in the recording studio, led to Gavin writing songs of his own.

His debut album ’45 RPM (Replay Past Memories)’, released 24th April, is trailed by two singles. which have both received a successful run of airplay. The first single ‘My Regret’ was played by Fiachna O”Braonain on RTE Radio 1. The second single ‘Shipwreck Gold’ was playlisted on Galway Bay FM and KCLR 96FM. Both singles were made “Song Of The Week” on Ocean FM.

Living on Ireland’s north west coast, Gavin Murphy hails from Dublin’s North Side. The album was recorded and produced by Gavin in his home studio in Sligo. His eldest son, Daragh, lives in Oslo and is an accomplished guitarist and music producer also features on the album, co.produced three tracks and playing on a number of the songs.

Gavin would like to thank and acknowledge friends and co-writers : Tony Kavanagh, John McGeer, with particular thanks to Rob Malone (David Gray, Hot House Flowers), for co-production on ‘My Regret’ and bass playing across the album.

W: https://www.gavinmurphysongs.com/
F: https://www.facebook.com/gavinmurphysongs/
I: https://www.instagram.com/gavinmurphysongs/?hl=en
T: https://twitter.com/GavinSongs
Y: https://www.youtube.com/user/gav1murphy/videos

The Sei’s Debut EP Out Friday

Following on from their debut singles ‘Metroma’ (soon to be featured on BBC/Hulu TV Series: Normal People), and ‘Sentient’, electronica/space folk project The Sei, made up of Irish / Swedish duo Stace Gill and Maria Nilsson Waller with Ross Dowling (Talos, James Vincent McMorrow) are delighted to announce their next release: an EP of six tracks entitled ‘Lumen’.

Gill says of the EP, “Maria and I are building entire worlds together through sound and movement and finding ways to invite people in with us.  We do this with our production house: Flora Fauna Project. Here, The Sei’s sonic electronic explorations found a new home and purpose, and the creative homecoming we both experienced have converted into, among other things, two contemporary dance theatre pieces: a multi-media duet we began in Stockholm called ‘LUMEN’, and most recently ‘The River’; a piece performed by 17 women from Dublin’s North East Inner City after a 6 month process of training with us”. ‘Lumen’ the EP is the music and songs from these two projects.

Following the success of previous singles, which received widespread support on all of the main streaming platforms across Europe and Asia, in addition to numerous tastemaker outlets internationally and national radio support in Ireland, this EP is a natural progression for The Sei.  This extraordinary soundtrack will be accompanied by a series films made by Gill. The EP opens with a meditation track: ‘Asteroid’ that Gill made. This inspired the final soundtrack for ‘The River’ and is the first single to be released on 17.04.20.

Gill concludes ,“This collaboration rooted in music and dance has been a space of healing for us and everyone who has danced with us so far.  The EP is the cocoon that held us all together, sharing it now feels like the right thing to do during this time of international isolation and social distancing.  I don’t want to distract, our attention is precious, focus is powerful, and claiming it has never been so urgent in this age of distraction. ‘LUMEN’ is an invite for listeners to turn themselves in with us and leaves room for the listener to access their own imagination, we hope a valuable contribution and sharing during this online content boom.”                                                        

The release of the ‘LUMEN’ EP is preceded by a single titled ‘Asteroid’ on 17th April.

Web: www.thesei.ie      Socials: @storyofthesei

Sorcha Richardson Unveils ‘Honey’ Video

Irish singer-songwriter Sorcha Richardson has been cultivating a cult fanbase for several years. Songs such as ‘Ruin Your Night’, ‘Petrol Station’ and ‘Can’t We Pretend’ are evocative vignettes of a moment in time which find the poetry in introspection, with a tangible nod to key influences such as Sharon Van Etten, Arcade Fire, Phoebe Bridgers and Julia Jacklin.

Exuding passion and tender beauty in equal measure, her narrative songwriting connects with people who have shared similar tangled emotions – as evidenced by 22 million streams at Spotify alone.

Richardson released the biggest artistic statement of her career with her debut album, ‘First Prize Bravery’ late last year. It’s a collection of lyrical snapshots of life as a twentysomething, accompanied by the desires, doubts and developments that the decade delivers.

It’s the hidden meaning in mundane moments,” she summarises. “Days that look like any other day and yet somehow you have this feeling that it’s one you’ll remember forever.”

Its opening track ‘Honey’ encapsulates that feeling, with love emerging from out of nowhere without making any promises for the future. 

The video for ‘Honey’ was released today and Sorcha had this to say about the process: “The video for ‘Honey’ was shot and directed by my friend Ross Andrew Stewart. We made it, kind of on a whim, on one of Ross’s last days in Dublin before he was going back to New York, some time before the current crisis kicked off, when you could still buy a piano on adverts for €50 and drag it through a field with your friends. That piano now lives at my rehearsal space, and is far more out of tune than when we picked it up that morning, with a couple souvenir blades of grass still stuck in the wheels.

ADT Announces Debut Single

ADT  (Alan Daniel Tobin) is a member of Irish band Low Mountain . His debut solo album  – Volume I – is produced by multi-instrumentalist, Justin Grounds. It was recorded in a little room overlooking the beautiful town of Clonakilty, West Cork, and is due for release at the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival next September. The first single ‘Even The Sun Don’t Shine On Lonely Hearts In Shadow’ will be released on May 1st.

This track was selected by Brendan Canty (Director of Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church’) to be part of his workshop for the First Cut Youth Film Festival this year. The track was partnered with writer/director Richard Harvey. 

The second single ‘Love Lost on the Streets of New York’ will be released on July 24th. The album ‘Volume I’ will be released on September 18th.

ADT  writes stories of the heart wrapped in atmospheric soundscapes. Hugely influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, the West Cork landscape and his family, he has a minor obsession with lighthouses.

Facebook: @ADTrecordings      Twitter: @AlanDanielTobin       Instagram: ADT

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