New Zealand Music Month was off to a flying start courtesy of Opshop's epic 'One Day...10 Gigs' tour, which touched down in front of excited audiences the length and breadth of New Zealand on Saturday May 1. 

www.nzmusicmonth.co.nz has plenty of gig goodness to tempt you with if you too fancy getting amongst it this month.

New Zealand Music Month was off to a flying start courtesy of Opshop's epic 'One Day...10 Gigs' tour, which touched down in front of excited audiences the length and breadth of New Zealand on Saturday May 1. 

www.nzmusicmonth.co.nz has plenty of gig goodness to tempt you with if you too fancy getting amongst it this month.

International and Industry Action

Ladi 6, Darren Watson, Eden Mulholland (Motocade) and Ariana Smith are amongst the category winners of the US-based 2009 International Songwriting Competition (ISC). Honourable mentions went to Geoff Maddock (Goldenhorse), Miriam Clancy, Hannah Curwood and Aonua. The winners were chosen by a panel of celebrity and industry judges including Tom Waits, Jeff Beck, Kings of Leon, Timbaland, Loretta Lynn, Robbie Williams, Black Francis (The Pixies), Robert Smith (The Cure), James Mercer (The Shins),  Jerry Lee Lewis, Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC), John Mayall, Chris Hillman (The Byrds), Youssou N'Dour and many others. 

The finalists for the RIANZ Best Country Music Album 2010 have been announced and they include IMNZ artists The Bads for So Alive'and and The Topp Twins for 'Honky Tonk Angel', plus Tami Neilson for 'The Kitchen Table Sessions'. Also announced are the finalists for APRA Best Country Song for 2010 - Dianne Swann (The Bads) for 'So Alive, Matt Langley for '7:13'and Jools Topp of The Topp Twins for 'Honky Tonk Angel'. Both awards are to be presented on June 4 at the New Zealand Country Music Awards in Gore. www.goldguitars.co.nz

New Release Fanfare

The Jordan Luck Band are releasing their new song   Johnnie's Coin', and at the same time they're creating NZ Music Month history with 31 performances, one on every single day, for the 31 days of May. 

The new Jealous Itch single No Second Base is out now too.

On the live front

A charity event celebrating NZ music will be held this Saturday May 8 with all proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House. Smash the Jukebox will pull together some influential industry characters in what will be a night of 100% NZ tunes - past, present, originals and covers.

The event will be held at the Juice Bar in Parnell Auckland from 7pm and the line-up includes live performances by Bannerman, Flip Grater and Josephine Costain and DJ sets from Troy Ferguson, Andrew Manning, Peter McLennan, Murray Cammick, Simon Woods, Richie Setford, Trevor Reekie, Wammo, Dan Wrightson, Matthew Bosher and IMNZ's own Ben Howe and Damian Vaughan. www.amplifier.co.nz

The explosive ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival returns this May to move and shake us with a diverse and exciting selection of arts and entertainment from May 6 to 16. Performers include Karen Hunter and Scrapyard Cabaret, the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, People in Your Neighbourhood, The Mamaku Project and Whirimako Black.

And due to popular demand Fat Freddys Drop is announcing extra shows for Wellington and Auckland as part of The Freddys Show At a Theatre Near You tour. Fat Freddys Drop will be raising the curtain for a second Wellington show at The Opera House on Saturday 22 May and Auckland show at the Bruce Mason Centre on Saturday 29 May.

Round the World

At 9am this morning 30,000 Splendour in the Grass tickets went on sale, sending the Moshtix site into severe server stress as thousands of punters rushed to secure tickets. Many reported getting a 'server too busy'error for hours on end, while others luckily enough to get into the online queue then mysteriously dropped out as servers failed to cope. However enough people must have been successful as all tickets were gone by 2.30 pm AEST. The newly expanded three-day festival takes place at Woodford Queensland from July 30th - August 1st and features Pixies, The Strokes, Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem and many more. www.themusicnetwork.com.au