Music publishing and song writing: the business of being creative

Music publishing is one of the less visible yet lucrative aspects of the music business. In 1969 Festival established the independent music publishing company Festival Music. It published such talented local songwriters as Richard Clapton and gained the Australian rights to many overseas publishers. Today Festival Music represents many top Australian songwriters including Powderfinger, Tim Rogers (You Am I) and Josh Abrahams, as well as having an enviable international song catalogue. This section examined the role of music publishers and explores the creative process of song writing. It features a unique collection of song lyrics handwritten by their composers.

Images left to right: APRA Award; Sheet music, Festival Mushroom Records collection; page from You Am I music score, Festival Mushroom Records collection; Sheet music, Festival Mushroom Records collection

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