Enz, Mi-sex help Aust.

Press, 17 July 1980, Page 12

Enz, Mi-sex help Aust.

By

NEVIN TOPP

The New Zealand Split Enz and. Mi-Sex eroups hav.e been credited with helping revive/the Australian record industry, but in their country of origin business is still grim. A two-page feature in the prestigious Australian “Financial- Review” credits these bands and several Australian groups with helping the record industry go. against the world-wide trend of falling demand.. . ’ Record production m Australia in the first nine months of 1979-80 was 25.4 million units, compared -with 23.4 million units in the corresponding period for 1978-79. According to Mr F. W. Smith, the executive director of the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, record production in. New Zealand in the first six months to June 30 was down 19.8 per cent and singles sales 21 per cent down.

In. dollar terms, sales at the wholesale level were about 1 per cent ahead in the four months to April 30, but record prices were up 11 per cent compared with the same period last year, and that meant a fall in production "to balance the equation,” Mr Smith said.

The record industry in New Zealand was in a tight squeeze and this would be helped by some tax relief on records. This would help in developing artists with an export potential if agreements were entered into • finance recordings for bands in New Zealand. ' The royalties coming back to New Zealand could, quickly go into millions of dollars, he said. Based on the Australian album sales for “True Colours” by Split Enz and Mi-Sex’s “Space Race,” Mr Smith estimated that New Zealand had lost royalties going into six figures, because both bands had contracts across the Tasman.

The signing of the Australian group, the Little River Band, to the Capitol label in the United States was worth $4 million, which was money returned to Australia. Mr Smith said that the strings were cut on New Zealand artists at the time that they needed the most support. New Zealand had provided them with an education and the experience in music, but at the critical moment when the artists needed encoura agement they went overseas to record: when a little extra investment would pay a dividend. ‘This is the whole basis

of the argument by R.I.A.N.Z. to., the Government" ; .

The . Writer of the “Financial Review” article, Peter Robinson, said that while record sales in the United - States and' Britain had suffered a horrific slump, - Australia — the world’s second highest per capita buyer of records — had gone against all trends in boosting record production. (Australia is the second biggest per capita buyer of records after Sweden, and on a volume basis, is the sixth biggest. According to Peter Robinson, it is the growth of Australia's . own homegrown music scene — often reinforced by the New Zealand groups who make Australia their target that has helped sustain the growth in the market across the Tasman.

The growth in the pub circuit and concerts from local acts have led to the public demanding recordings from these artists, he said.

This trend is also followed closely in New Zealand where, in the last year, the recording of singles by local groups is beginning to become commonplace. . Split Enz is at the head of the trend in record sales in Australia. The New Zealand band, has been in and out of the

Australian pub and concert circuit for the last five years, and ‘True Colours.” has been selling like hot cakes. ■ “True Colours” has been in the Australian top 10 albums chart for more than 21 weeks, including nine weeks at No. 1. At present it is at No. 5, and more than 150,000 copies have been sold in Australia.

Another New Zealand group, -Mi-Sex, was No. 10 in- the Australian albums chart last week with “Space Race,” and. the Australian bands, Cold Chisel and The Angels, were No. 2 and No. 6 respectively. “Space Race” has sold 40,000 copies in Australia so far, and in New Zealand the figure is said to be more than 15,000 units that is past the platinium mark. “True Colours” has sold 150,000 units in Australia, and in New Zealand it is. understood to .be almost double platinum, (30,000). “True Colours” is expected to be released in the United States next week.

. The manager of Split Enz, Nathan Brenner, has been reported as saying he is afraid that the tapes might be pirated. Whether tltis is a genuine fear or; pre-release “hype” is difficult to say, now that Enz have scored a hit.