One emerging Australian Hip Hop/Soul artist will have the opportunity to fast track their career with the 2013 Hilltop Hoods Initiative. Valued at $10,000, the grant is open to all up and coming hip hop artists or groups who have not released an album professionally.

The grant is aimed at funding costs associated with the manufacture and release of an album. In addition, the winner will receive legal advice courtesy of David Vodicka and Media Arts Lawyers, which can be used for general or specific career advice plus a Shure Microphone prize pack.

The grant is for costs associated with manufacturing, marketing and distributing a CD of at least five original songs.

To be eligible for the HTH initiative you must be:

• An emerging Australian based Hip Hop/Soul artist or group who has not released an album professionally.
• An Australian citizen or you must have been a legal resident of Australia for the past two (consecutive) years.
• Applicants must be an APRA member or have at least made application to join APRA. For more information on joining APRA go to www.apra-amcos.com.au 

Applicants of any age can apply but it is expected that you will be in the early stages of your career.

The judging panel features some of Australia’s most influential Hip Hop figures. 

Applications are open now! Get your entry in before 26^th February 2013.

For more information on eligibility, details and entry form, please visit the APRA website.

The $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Music 2013, $30,000 Outstanding Musicians Award 2013 and $13,000 Development Award 2013 will be offered next year.

The Melbourne Prize for Music recognises and rewards excellence and talent in music across all genres and career stages. 

The Melbourne Prize Trust, established in 2004, provides financial and professional development opportunities to artist by running the annual Melbourne Prize, which operates in a three-year cycle. 2013 will be only the third time that the Melbourne Prize has been offered for Music.

The competition is run in the first half of the year and the finalist exhibition is run in November at Federation Square.

For more information and to register your interest, please visit www.melbourneprize.org or call the Melbourne Prize Trust on (03) 9696 4410.



The Davidson Brothers have established the Australian Youth Bluegrass Scholarship to encourage and nurture singers and musicians who demonstrate exceptional talent and dedication in the field of Bluegrass Music. There are many young people in Australia who possess rare musical gifts, where a small nudge in the right direction may help pave the way toward their musical dreams.

The recipient of the 2013 Australian Youth Bluegrass Scholarship will win a cash prize of $1,500 which they may wish to put toward a regional tour, a recording project, a new instrument, enrolment fees at the CMAA Academy of Country Music, or a flight to Raleigh, North Carolina so they can attend the IBMA World of Bluegrass convention.

The recipient will also receive a recording package generously donated by the folks at Pacific International Music – one professionally recorded song of the winner’s choice, recorded and mixed to international broadcast standard, featuring the winner along with Australian and Nashville session players.

The winner will also be presented with a trophy for themselves to keep and a perpetual trophy (which will remain the property of the Davidson Brothers), which will be passed on to the recipient of the following year’s scholarship.

Applicants must be Australian Citizens or residents, aged 25 or under on the cut-off date (ie. born after 14th December 1986). Applicants must either sing, or play a bluegrass instrument - Mandolin, Acoustic Guitar, Fiddle, 5-String Banjo, Dobro or Bass.

Download an application form online at davidsonbrothersband.com



If you wander the streets of Darebin over the next two weeks during the Darebin Music Feast, you might spot something unfamiliar…

'This does not belong to you!' is a musical and social experiment. Search the streets and laneways of Darebin for random ukuleles placed for your pleasure. Pick them up, hold them, play them, love them and leave them for others to enjoy. How many will remain by the end of the Feast? Who knows.

Wanna win an Epiphone Les Paul ukulele? If you’re a Music Victoria member, email us at members@musicvictoria.com.au by 5pm Friday 21st September and tell us what song you would bust out on your brand new uke. Best answers go into the hat (or fruit bowl) to choose the winner! The winner will be contacted via email.



AWME is pleased to announce that applications are open for a new national scholarship which will enable artists, artist managers and arts workers to attend the fifth Australasian Worldwide Music Expo in Melbourne, 15 - 18 November 2012.

The scholarship is available for a total of twenty-four artists and industry workers from across the country, of which twelve scholarships will be offered to Indigenous artists.

How to apply:
Applications will be called for through an Expressions of Interest process. The national scholarship covers delegate registration fees. Through a partnership with Arts Victoria, Victorian applicants may also be eligible for further travel and accommodation / attendance support. Successful applicants outside of Victoria will be responsible for arranging their own flights, accommodation and meals.

More information on AWME 2012 and application forms are available from www.awme.com.au.

Applications must be received by 12pm Thursday 20th September 2012.