The Point - In Focus

Fair pay for artists: Second Press, an indie music streaming app paying 85%, built by a working musician, launches on iOS across Australia and New Zealand.

After five years as a working musician, Nic Munnelly built the alternative she couldn’t find. Second Press launches 19 June with 60 founding artists, no ads, no AI music, and 5–9× the per-stream rate of the major platforms.

Magandjin (Brisbane), Queensland - BIGSOUND has debuted their expertly programmed showcase via the BIGSOUND 100: a  thoughtful  curation of the best export-ready talent shaping the sound of Australia.

From September 1-4 2026, Fortitude Valley will play host to incredible talent from Australia and beyond, with the entire precinct becoming a playground for local and visiting music industry professionals looking to amplify and unearth music’s next wave of stars, curated and programmed in an exciting, choose-your-own-adventure style festival.

Flipping the script on a regular live music show, Cavaleri explains, “Reliving these experiences on stage is like nothing else. It’s a scary thing putting your heart out there and revisiting some of life’s most sensitive moments in front of a crowd, but when we’re all crying, laughing and blissing out together, it reminds me that beneath it all, we have so much in common. That’s what makes this show feel so profound and cathartic for all.”

Deadshowws, one of Australia's most compelling new voices in alternative emo, have just released their debut album, ‘You in colour.’, alongside a 5-date headline tour. Raw, intimate and honest, ‘You in colour.’ is a portrait of feeling too much and not knowing what to do with it, rendered in noise, melody and quiet devastation.

In 2026, the Oddworld returns to home soil, with OCEAN GROVE today announcing their Oddworld Underground Australian Tour this August, joined by special guests CANE HILL (USA), who will return to Australia for the first time in a decade this year, as well as DEFICIT and BLINDER.

Sydney’s Maia Toakley has delivered a poetic ode to gaining power through perspective on latest single ‘Space Song’ - providing a vast world to dissolve into, tenderly embracing vulnerability and emotion.

Sydney’s POLYBIUS return with more hook-laden indie pop-rock on their evocative new single, ‘Sun Song’ - a track, that, on its surface is a bright feel-good song driven by uplifting melodies, but underneath lies a bittersweet story of losing yourself in love.

Australia’s largest touring country festival Strummingbird returns with another crackin’ lineup for 2026, and Grammy-nominated, genre-defying megastar Post Malone is leading the charge. Rolling into Victoria Park Ballarat, Newcastle Foreshore and Sunshine Coast's Kawana Sports Precinct this October, the stacked lineup spans international heavyweights, alt-country stars, country legends and homegrown favourites worth road-tripping for.

Sydney and Wollongong’s Sarah Jane & The Noise deliver a grunge-y gut punch with their debut EP, ‘happiness in review’. Heavy on the late 90s alt rock nostalgia, the release shows off a band that speaks for the over-thinkers and the outsiders who feel too much.