What Have Our Indie Artists Been Up To?

The winners of the massive APRA Professional Development Awards (PDA) were announced on Monday morning with eight winners receiving $30,000 worth of prizes each in six different categories, including Husky Gawenda frontman of Husky, Perth singer-songwriter Georgi Kay and Trouble With Templeton leader Thomas Calder picking up the much coveted prizes in the Popular Contemporary category. Check out all the winners!

Just after the launch of Songl, Independent music rights agency Merlin slammed the new music streaming service for not communicating with independent artists and labels, indicating that they tried to discuss icensing their music but no communication had been made. Merlin CEO Charles Caldas said, “As a result Australian consumers are seeing the launch today of an inherently inferior product to the subscription services in the market that have worked with us to make sure their subscribers have a properly comprehensive music offering; including Rdio, Spotify, JB Now and Deezer.” Have a look at the Songl reply.

Despite being on the spectrum for a while now, Jinja Safari are set to release their debut record in May and last week they announced a handful of shows to celebrate. There's also a little travel-themed teaser on here of what fans can expect and also, to make you a little bit jealous.

The Triple Threat Tour is back again, seeing three bands from three different states head out on the road together to play a small number of shows. This time, Melbourne's Bored Nothing, Sydney's Step-Panther and Brisbane's Gung Ho will venture out to their three respective cities, as well as Adelaide for a special three-headline show.

The Chemist will embark on a 10-date tour in celebration of their long-awaited debut record Ballet in the Badland next Friday – and they'll be playing some of their new tunes for fans at the gigs.

Melbourne duo Super Wild Horses will also be playing a couple of gigs in order to give fans a taste of their second record Crosswords, set to hit shelves early April, throughout May. They have also unleashed a new track Alligator just to get everyone excited for their release and live shows.

Taking some time from his busy schedule touring the world, Melbourne musician David Bridie will return home to Australian shores to play a number of dates I June to celebrate his new record and the free download of the release's debut single, Shortest Day Of The Year.

Sydney-based rockers The Art will be supporting Buckcherry and Ramones drummer and living-legend Richie Ramone for one night only at Melbourne's Espy in April, adding two more acts to the list of impressive outfits they've shared the stage with.

Songstress Owl Eyes has announced two sweet indie acts as the support slots for her seven-date tour across the country, with Collarbones and Sydney outfit Mammals getting the opportunity to warm the crowd up before they hear the her new material.

Finally, Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls unleashed the four awesome bands who will open the band's Bluesfest sideshows, with D At Sea, Isaac Graham, Grim Fandango and Kill Teen Angst playing their respective gigs.

Cloud Control and Gurrumul are two of the indie acts featuring at this year's Vivid LIVE festival, the latter bringing fans an exciting new multimedia adaption of his new book, combining music, photographs, art and symphonic accompaniment called The Gurrumul Project. Here's the lineup announcement.

Additionally, Illy, Bliss n Eso, Bob Evans and more were announced on Mackay's River Sessions lineup, set to rock the Queensland town in late-June. Tickets go on sale this Thursday!

The young guys with an old-school sound The Frowning Clouds have been added to the Hoodoo Gurus' Dig It Up! festival list, while Perth post-punk rockers The Scientists were included on the ATP' Release The Bats, alongside many other indie acts from all over the world.

Through the week, we also provided you with an update on crowdfunding with a few key examples on how the dream can be realised through this new method of finding the cash to produce a record. Check out the stories, including MC Wheels and TV-to be film Veronica Mars.

Want to work for an indie label? Spunk Records are looking for a Label and Publicity Manager. Have a look at what's required and a bit of a job description.

If you thought you'd missed out on tickets to The Rubens after they sold out their Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney shows, fear not, because the NSW band have announced one more show for each city.

Only one original member is left in hardcore band I Killed The Prom Queen, after JJ Peters announced his departure. The drummer looks set to focus on his own project, Deez Nuts.

Bluegrass band The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys have unfortunately had to withdraw from Queensland festival The Gympie Muster, after it was announced that their mother had fallen pregnant with another child.

What better way to welcome Kirin J Callinan back home from the US than going to see him perform? Callinan will be showing off tracks from his upcoming album. Performances include two unique shows in Sydney in one night on April 12, followed by shows in Melbourne on the 13 and 14th.

Melbourne singer Courtney Barnett has unfortunately had a close brush with death, but don't worry, she's alright now, and has found inspiration for future lyrics from the experience!