Ben Green

Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza Substantial and well-documented evidence indicates a catastrophic public health emergency in Gaza (appendix pp 1–5), marked by severe food insecurity and alarming levels of malnutrition-related deaths...

"The genocide in Gaza is a defining ethical test for the global public health community, social scientists, and academic associations."

- Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza, @thelancet.com

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

When @bengreenfuz.bsky.social‬ and I wrote our chapter for this great collection on Pub Rock, Amyl and The Sniffers were an up and coming band just about to release their second record... academic publishing eh!
Unlikely to see them play in a pub these days...
www.routledge.com/Pub-Rock-in-...

The ARIA charts are about to undergo a big change. It could be a boost for local artists Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album has been in the Top 50 albums chart for more than 400 weeks – but it won’t be there for much longer.

Discussing changes to how the ARIA Charts are compiled, with @hellharpy.bsky.social

theconversation.com/the-aria-cha...

Grateful for this important work. Such analyses are great resources for teaching in media and communication.

Further evidence the plummeting public trust in media and government, while tragic, is (1) rational and (2) cause for hope.

The International Sociological Association (ISA) has been concerned for some time and condemned the acts of violence that have occurred in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Music Data & Insights Summit The summit will bring together local and international industry representatives and researchers to unpack recent trends, studies and best practice.

The VMDO Music Data & Insights Summit is next week, with support from RMIT's Music Industry Research Collective.

I'll present an 'Australian live music research roundup' - sharing highlights from a wealth of recent studies and reports.

www.vmdo.com.au/events/music...

On this day 8 April 1972, workers constructing the Sydney Opera House ejected management from the site and began running it themselves. With no bosses in the way, workers' job satisfaction soared, and the workers won huge wage increases, reduced working hours, and improved conditions.

Critic Swallows Book | Sydney Review of Books To call into question the literary value of Dalton’s fiction is not to disqualify the pleasure and imaginative release that hundreds of thousands of readers have found in his novels, especially Boy Sw...

Revisited this review – still mad 😅 and see the title was adopted for SRB's anthology.

Are working-class characters allowed to be exceptional, or bound to exemplify grim statistics?

Are middle-class stories judged as sociology texts?

Love, an autodidact

sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...

(2/2) Compare:
- orchestral & theatre musicians
- screen actors - largely freelance, but unionised, & stopped their industry in 2023.

What happened in live music?
How do the factors resonate today?
How have musicians' unions adapted? (Keen to pursue this part, incl good news, more in future)

Musicians’ Unions and Live Music: Historical and Contemporary Challenges in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States This article explores factors in the historical decline of musicians’ unionism in live popular music in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and links these factors to contemporary...

New article (open access) on the history of unionism among live musicians, in US, UK, Australia.

With live music in the spotlight, there's an underrepresentation of the specific, collective interests of musicians as workers.

Not always. How did it happen? (1/2)

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Art doesn't "bring us together" by reducing the scope of discourse to what's agreed by all. Art is where both difference and solidarity are expressed and explored, an endlessly prolonged debate that is crucial for democracy and humanity. That's how art brings us together.

And sponsors? I can't find a list right now, CA'S Venice 2026 page is down.

The official justification - avoiding debate (indeed), and "bringing Australians together" - is horrifying in ways I hope you or someone can articulate, as I'm struggling so far.

Saturday Breakfast - ABC listen Saturday Breakfast offers a mix of news, current affairs and weather.

I spoke with @spencerhowson.bsky.social on ABC Brisbane about the rise of "day clubbing" as people look to extend and expand music's place in their lives, and industry responds. (Last 10 mins)

We ended on earlier live gigs. I prefer late, post-parent duties - but this seems unpopular...?

Amyl and the Sniffers respond as fans complain of harassment at Brisbane show Twenty-year-old fan Ameya was abused, despite the band warning the audience to keep their hands to themselves. Others saw women preyed upon. Music industry insiders lament that it happens all the time...

I spoke with Courtney Kruk at @brisbanetimes.bsky.social about men assaulting and harassing women at an Amyl & the Sniffers show, of all places. Excellent investigation and important voices here.

www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/que...

Book cover of "Streaming Sounds: Musical Listening in the Digital Age". The cover image is a number of brightly coloured silhouettes of people's heads, each wearing headphones

New book review - Streaming Sounds: Musical Listening in the Digital Age by Michael James Walsh

👍👍

In the Journal of Sociology @sociologyaustralia.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Civilian employers:

BBC is routinely called the UK's largest employer of musicians, with 400+ (which is less than the Royal Corps? Employed?)

Would any hotel/cruise/casino/theme park chains have comparable numbers? Is their employment more seasonal/short-term?

Curious for any thoughts on this.

Musicians in other militaries:

Indian Army boasts hundreds of pipe and brass bands. (This should add up to more than the US total, if separately employed personnel?)

UK Royal Corps 753, China 400+, Australia 160

(2/3)

US Army job listing for "Musician 42R". A highlighted passage says "largest employer of musicians in the world".

Who employs the most musicians?🧵

TIL the US Army is the world's largest employer of musicians- some 6,500.

For context, they're nearly largest employer full stop (after Indian MoD). But I expect other occupations (cleaning, catering) might be outsourced (?) while musicians are enlisted.

(1/3)

Just picturing Žižek going gaga for this scene in the new Squid Game (and for good reason)

"we received, almost immediately, an apology from the organisers. The directive, they explained, had not originated from the staff, but had been circulated without their knowledge by someone in management. We should ignore the ban, they said."

Brisbane live music venue the Triffid seeks its day in court as Powderfinger star takes on developer Legal battle could shape future of live music as nightlife tsar John Collins fights for protection from noise complaints

A deeper dive into this test of live music planning laws, and the broader issues, with a range of voices. I'm happy to be included.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

River city streaming: Brisbane really is a big country (music) town When it comes to Spotify, the music heard in Brisbane is notably different to that played in other Australian cities.

Brisbane's Spotify Wrapped results are distinguished by a taste for country music. I spoke to @brisbanetimes.bsky.social about this, and the sadly low showing of Australian artists in our national results

www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/que...

& any excuse, Whitlam: "all the objectives of a Labor Government... have as their goal the creation of a society in which the arts and the appreciation of spiritual and intellectual values can flourish. Our other objectives are all a means to an end; the enjoyment of the arts is an end in itself."

The guts of it is: "Most Australian leaders were not as interested as I was because they’ve never had an emotional event with the arts. ... if you’re talking to somebody who only takes the cabinet papers home at night [and] gets up with the newspapers, you’re wasting your breath."

The Australian PM shared his Spotify Wrapped, and News Corp headlines gloat that he's been 'slammed' (that bellicose cliché) on X for such frivolity.

I'm reminded of something former PM Paul Keating said, which I wrote about a few years ago. peakmusicexperiences.wordpress.com/2019/12/07/p...

😆😓 Well I was going to leave it out, but there's a coldness to the "no haters" rictus

Thanks Gina, there's a warmth to your criticism

Brisbane music venue co-owned by former Powderfinger bassist appeals tower development approval The operators of a Brisbane music venue are appealing the approval of a residential development, citing concerns about an uptick in noise complaints.

I spoke with @nedhammond.bsky.social at ABC about a music venue's appeal against a new development. The Triffid is protected by all Brisbane has - a Special Entertainment Precinct and an Amplified Music Venue Permit - so this is a case of putting them to the test.

www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...

Important to remember that national youth media infrastructure, and the lack of an equivalent today, when considering: declining youth participation in festivals and live music; absence of Australian artists from charts; the difficulty of programming a winning festival lineup. 3/3

Poster for Homebake festival 1998, Gold Coast Parklands. A treated photograph of a young woman raised above a crowd as if on someone’s shoulders, eyes closed, mouth wide open and one hand pointing skyward. Listed artists include Silverchair, Grinspoon, Custard. $45.

The new youth media of the 90s - Triple J radio, ABC TV (Recovery, rage), magazines and cable channels - both reflected and drove the emergence of a trans-local, all-ages, cosmopolitan but proudly ‘homegrown’, alternative music scene, showcased in the new wave of festivals. 2/3