Native Tongue is an independent music publisher, with offices in Australia and New Zealand.
Besides acquiring rights to local writers, we also administer the works of overseas writers and catalogues for Australia and New Zealand.
Established in 2003, Native Tongue has built a respected catalogue of local writers. We set out to provide writers with a publishing company dedicated to assisting with the development of their skills as songwriters and composers throughout their careers.

Although we are a small company, we see this is one of our major advantages. It enables us to be far more proactive than our competitors and react quickly to the needs of our clients, whether they be film and television companies, commercial advertisers or the bands of which our writers are members.

We see our role as getting out there and getting things done, working with the band, the management, the record label and the distributor to make things happen.
Our job is to work with you to help you achieve your goals, as a songwriter and in many cases; an artist. We have a broad network of contacts we can utilise in all areas of the business – record companies, distributors, booking agents, promoters, publicists, radio, etc.

We will work with you, your management and record distributor to maximise sales of your record. You probably have most bases covered but there will always be something we can do to help squeeze those extra sales. It may be that we help a band get on a festival bill, provide advice on obtaining touring grants or come up with that song opportunity in a film that breaks through at the box office – who knows – it's an ephemeral business and its not always easy pinning down where things will come from.

If you are looking to place songs with other artists we have a worldwide network of contacts who work songs on that basis. If you want to co-write we will work with you to develop connections with writers you want to work with. If you want to compose film or television scores we are ideally placed to help you realise these ambitions.
We get out there and do the hard yards wherever it is required.
We have over the years developed publishing relationships internationally and through our music supervision business have come to know those companies who work particularly hard gaining sync licenses and pursuing the ancillary income that is available around the world. We have also established a network of international sub-publishers to administer our works around the world. In each case our sub-publishers are established independents with a long term track record of working within their own territory.

Native Tongue also enjoys strong relationships with all the major US, UK, Canadian and European music supervisors and can submit clients works for use in a wide range of projects around the world.

We are also the only publisher with offices and staff on the ground in Australia and New Zealand enabling us to fully represent your copyrights in the key markets in our home territory.
Native Tongue is closely associated with Mana Music, which is the major music supervisor for feature films, television series, and documentaries in Australia and New Zealand. As a result Native Tongue is in a strong position to place its writer's songs in the wide range of projects.

A similar situation applies in respect to television commercials where once again Mana Music is the major provider of licensing services to the advertising agencies.

image

AUSTRALIA

NATIVE TONGUE MUSIC PUBLISHING
PO Box 1570
Collingwood, VIC 3066
Australia

Ph +61 3 9445 0500
Fax +61 3 9445 0502

Chris Gough - Managing Director
chris@nativetongue.com.au

Jaime Gough - Creative Manager
jaime@nativetongue.com.au

Daniel Younger - Copyright & Royalties Manager
daniel@nativetongue.com.au

NEW ZEALAND

NATIVE TONGUE MUSIC PUBLISHING
PO Box 8926
Symonds Street, Auckland 1150
New Zealand

Ph +64 9 378 9667
Fax +64 9 376 7198

Savina Kim - Creative Manager
savina@nativetongue.co.nz

Miriam Smith - Administration Manager
miriam@nativetongue.co.nz

Contact Form


Steve Abel BIOGRAPHY

Steve Abel's songs are elemental, beautiful and haunting. His debut album Little Death was described as "a hidden treasure in the New Zealand music scene," and Abel was labelled "an extraordinarily good songwriter" by the Alternatui Awards when Little Death was awarded Album of the Year in 2006.

"Richly poetic lyrics create a mood that is dark, mystical and bordering on the avant-garde. Listening to these songs is like viewing pictures in a gallery." - NZ Musician Magazine

 

His follow up FLAX HAPPY, which features Texan chanteuse Jolie Holland, was equally well received with Radio New Zealand's Nick Bollinger labelling Abel as "In a community of poet troubadours.", "Abel is a refined writer whose lyrics have a bone-bare quality - the sound of someone writing and singing from a place where there is no guile, just hard truth and clear eyes." - Graham Reid, elsewhere.co.nz

 

His band The Chrysalids - described by the NZ Herald as a "kiwi supergroup," - comprises Geoff Maddock, (Goldenhorse, Bressa Creeting Cake) electric guitar; Milan Borich (Pluto, Bic Runga band) drums; Mike Hall (Pluto, Brunettes, Dimmer) double bass; Gareth Thomas (Goodshirt) accordion. Steve Abel solo, and with the band, has performed over 100 gigs in the last three years and shared the stage with Kristen Hirsch, Jolie Holland, The Haints of Dean Hall, Micah P Hinson, Richard Buckner, Hayden, Goldenhorse, Age Pryor and Paul McLaney, among many others. His song Hospice for Destitute Lovers features in the gothic fairytale feature film Woodenhead by Florian Habicht. Abel is currently based in Europe.


DISCOGRAPHY & CREDITS

  • Flax Happy (2008, Kin'sland Records)
    Flax Happy (2008, Kin'sland Records)

    Fomenting the first album collaboration with the same band of musicians - newly named The Chrysalids - Abel's universally acclaimed sophomore release is "A fine collection of dark, otherworldly tunes - Sparse, spellbinding and special" (Marty Duda, Real Groove Magazine). FLAX HAPPY also features Texan alt-folk chanteuse Jolie Holland and New Zealand's Anika Moa.

     

    "Wonderful. Actually, beyond wonderful."
    - Andrew Tidball, www.cheeseontoast.co.nz

     

    "Sublime"
    - Dominion Post

     

    "A Rarity"
    - NZ Herald

    Buy Physical CD
  • Little Death (2006, Kin'sland Records)
    Little Death (2006, Kin'sland Records)

    Little Death was named 2006 Alternatui Album of the Year and listed in the NZ Herald's Best Sounds of 2006. The album features the seminal Duet (Lonely I Be) with Kirsten Morrell, and the rollicking Sweetheart among many other heart-rending tracks.

    "Arrant musical hypnosis...a treasure"
    - William Dart, Radio NZ Concert FM

     

    "A melancholic masterpiece"
    - Pavement Magazine

     

    "Beautifully crafted"
    - Southland Express

    Buy Physical CD