SONGHUBS: A Story On Collaboration

APRA AMCOS’ flagship collaborative songwriting program, SongHubs, has unveiled a brand-new documentary, SongHubs: A Story on Collaboration, celebrating the stories and experiences of leading songwriters and producers across Aotearoa and Australia.

Filmed as part of the program’s 100th SongHubs celebrations, the documentary provides a rare glimpse inside some of its most pivotal songwriting pairings of the past eleven years, featuring songwriters and producers from Auckland, London, Melbourne and Sydney including Bic Runga, Chris Tamwoy, Jordan Rakei, Josh Fountain, Alice Ivy, AR/CO, and Telenova.

Ivor Novello nominated singer/songwriter and producer, Jordan Rakei, was inspired to write acclaimed album The Loop after attending a 2022 SongHubs event in London and curating their own SongHubs in Tāmaki Makaurau in 2023.

“The Loop was a massive collaboration album,” Tokoroa-born Rakei explains. "That was actually inspired by my time with the cross-collaboration with APRA AMCOS and SongHubs. I can’t really do a solo album anymore, I just love collaborating.”

Since its inception in 2013, SongHubs has provided opportunities for over 2,000 emerging and established songwriters across over 30 locations worldwide, pairing them with local, national and global creatives in a collaborative, professional studio setting and cementing its position as one of the region’s most exciting and innovative programs for music creators.

SongHubs has evolved from a straight-forward writing camp to a highly sought-after collaborative writing program, providing participants with new skills and connections to help build their career and produce commercially successful music, with over 200 songs released and approx. NZD$7 million in royalties earned.

To date, more than 6,000 tracks have been co-written in languages including te reo Māori, Indian, Korean, Portuguese and First Nations languages from collaborators including CHAII, Courtney Barnett, Stan Walker, JessB, and Troye Sivan.

Bic Runga, award-winning singer/songwriter/producer and APRA Writer Board Representative, explains:

“I wasn't a natural co-writer. I always wrote by myself. And so SongHubs got me out of my really insular sort of songwriting style. And if you're lucky enough to have any SongHubs away from your home base, you really connect with people and the relationships just go on and it's really, really something."

"From a Māori worldview perspective, you know, music has nothing to do with 'industry' - it's pure magic. And that's the essence of what I think we need to keep remembering. It's sort of spiritual, you know? And I think, sometimes, when you get too 'industried out', it's good to remember what the purpose of music actually is. It's a really human experience."

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