Festival organisers, musicians and lovers of live music can access up to date information on 200 music festivals across Australia in 2006 in this new guide. Festivals range from blues, jazz, folk, bush, world, country, Indigenous and bluegrass to classical, rock, Celtic and many more. The guide’s state by state listings include contact details, venues,

Sydneys FBi RADIO, home to new Australian music and culture, has finally caught up with the 21st century has begun online broadcasting with a simulcast web stream. FBi launched in August 2003 with a remit to capture the best emerging talent from across the full spectrum of Australian culture. Music is FBis main passion ­

Held this September in Berlin, Popkomm presents over 400 hours of live music, more than 1200 artists from 23 countries, plus a vibrant trade fair and conference. The festival is now calling for applications from artists who wish to showcase at the event, with entries closing on May 23rd. See the Popkomm website www.popkomm.de/ for

Pete Wells of Rose Tattoo sadly passed last week after a long battle with cancer. MusicNSW would like to offer our condolences to Pete’s family and friends.

Freedom Writers is a competition run by Amnesty International Australia, NSW Human Rights and Security Network and is designed to give amateur, unpublished, and recreational writers an outlet to express their individual concepts in a creative context whilst drawing attention to human rights abuses and humanitarian polemics. The competition is open to all ages: Writers

Congrats to all APRA PDA winners especially Sarah Kelly from NSW, who receieved the Big Day Out Contemporary Music Endowment. With the endowment Sarah plans to write more material for theredsunband and expand her skills through cowriting with other Australian songwriters. – Good luck with the writing Sarah.

January 1, 2006 represented a new dawn for the Australian media and arts industries. Learning about the effects and consequences of changes to defamation laws is of vital importance. Will the new Defamation Act 2005 make any difference? What are the day to day implications for journalists, writers, film-makers and bloggers? The Arts Law Centre

For those who have recently joined us, MusicNSW is working with AON trying to get cheaper insurance premiums for NSW bands and artists. To do this we need to group a HUGE collection of people together to apply at the same time. We are calling this The MusicNSW Blanket Public Liability Program. To get started

As celebrations get underway for National Youth Week, Indent – The Hub for All-ages Entertainment in NSW is pleased to announce the winners of the Indent Awards, acknowledging young event organisers positive contributions to their community. The Indent Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of young event promoters who engage in creating drug and alcohol-free

Our Claire Portek is currently on the road conducting music workshops across regional NSW . The workshops cover diverse subjects from songwriting, hip hop, how to start a radio station to basic music industry introduction sessions. facilitators that have joined Claire on her adventures have included Hip Hop producer Les Beckett, singer song writers Tonchi