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.

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AUSTRALIA

Ph +61 3 9445 0500

PO Box 1570
Collingwood, VIC 3066
Australia

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

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

Matt Tanner - A&R / Creative Manager
matt@nativetongue.com.au

David Nash - Copyright & Royalties Manager
david@nativetongue.com.au

Kate Mills - Licensing & Admin Assistant
kate@nativetongue.com.au

NEW ZEALAND

Ph +64 9 378 9667

PO Box 8926
Symonds Street, Auckland 1150
New Zealand

Jan Hellriegel - General Manager
jan@nativetongue.co.nz

Contact Form

Native Tongue does not give feedback on unsolicited demos or unsolicited material.



Bevan Smith BIOGRAPHY

Bevan Smith is from New Plymouth, but has been based in Wellington for the majority of his music-making career. He first gained some attention making electronic music in the 90s as part of the live techno outfit Oblique before starting to release solo material as Aspen. He worked with Oblique members on a small imprint called Elephant, first releasing jazz (Matthew Mitchell's Extrapolation, featuring Warren Maxwell among others) and then the first Aspen release, Album.

 

After Oblique ended Bevan started the record label Involve Records. This has been running since 1999 and outside Bevan's own projects has released artists as varied as Wellington rock band Marineville, Canadian ambient artist Loscil and experimental electronic producer Andrew Thomas.

 

Bevan has made a career making music for soundtracks and advertising, notably working on the British feature film Touching The Void.

 

Bevan's projects include:
* Aspen - Described by Bevan as "influenced by electro pop from the 80's and early Warp and Rephlex records material, say early 90's".
* Over The Atlantic - 00s indie pop act involving Nik Brinkman.
* Signer - During the 90s this was Bevan's techno alias, now used for more song-based material.
* Skallander - Song-writing duo involving Matthew Mitchell, which has moved from more electronic to clearly folk material.

DISCOGRAPHY & CREDITS

  • Over The Atlantic – Dimensions (2008, Involve Records)
    Over The Atlantic – Dimensions (2008, Involve Records)
    "The New Plymouth-born producer Bevan Smith teams up with singer and songwriter Nik Brinkman to conjure up pop music that sounds like the best thing to come out of the mid 80s, 20 years on." Scott Kara, NZ Herald
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  • Skallander – Skallander (2007, Type Records)
    Skallander – Skallander (2007, Type Records)
    Taking cues from the golden age of rock music, when song writing was just as important as musicianship - Skallander is an album which should appeal to those of us desperate to hear great, memorable songs.
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  • Over The Atlantic – Junica (2006, Involve Records)
    Over The Atlantic – Junica (2006, Involve Records)
    A sugary indie-pop treat, 'Junica' smoothes its indie sound on pop structures. Romantic and wry by turns, layered vocals are set against tart and clipped drum beats which snap like frost-laden branches against the window of a warm room. With sneakily fun basslines and immaculately timed pop-breaks, Smith and Brinkman show off their influences worn lightly but boldly.
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  • Skallander – The Camels (2005, LOOP Recordings)
    Skallander – The Camels (2005, LOOP Recordings)
    Recorded and produced across a series of P2P systems 'The Camels' appears; burnished like old copper, buffed like sea swept glass, sandpapered vocals, beats, smooth 80's style production - 'The Camels' sounds open, light and crisp.
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  • Signer – The New Face Of Smiling (2004, Involve Records)
    Signer – The New Face Of Smiling (2004, Involve Records)
    "On The New Face of Smiling, Smith grafts the spatial possibilities and minimal tonal electronica of early Signer work with some of his favourite indie influences (Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine, Laughing Stock period Talk Talk, etc)" Amplifier NZ
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  • Signer – Low Light Dreams (2002, Involve Records)
    Signer – Low Light Dreams (2002, Involve Records)
    "This 2002 release under the Signer moniker, is a reflective and expansive piece of minimal electronica, with a heady nod towards pioneering ambient artists such as Eno, and later Warp acts such as B12, while maintaining the idenity that has established Bevan Smith as one of this country's top exponents of contemporary electronic music" Amplifier NZ
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  • Aspen – Sugar & Spice EP (2001, Involve Records)
    Aspen – Sugar & Spice EP (2001, Involve Records)
    "The Aspen project at present centres around work with live musicians, primarily drummers and guitarists, an exploration of the fusion between indie guitar music and electronica." Discogs
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  • Signer – Giving It Up To Feel Affected (2000, Involve Records)
    Signer – Giving It Up To Feel Affected (2000, Involve Records)
    Harder rhythms map out a more defined space, but the classic freedom of Smith's ambisonic textures means that the space is never confining. The listener glides effortlessly within the rhythms, without limitation.
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  • Aspen – Music From Passing Cars (2000, Involve Records)
    Aspen – Music From Passing Cars (2000, Involve Records)

    "Where some ambient artists aim for dark intensity and others verge on techno rhythms, Smith combines perfectly paced beats and rhythms to create an uplifting and relaxing mix of electronic and contemporary music.

     

    "A warm, welcoming and soothing sonic treat." Igloo Magazine

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  • Aspen – Are You That Retail Snob? (2000, Involve Records)
    Aspen – Are You That Retail Snob? (2000, Involve Records)
    The album is held together by warm organic textures of analogue synths, layers of effects and top flight production. Layers of unassuming, yet soul touching, melodies over crisp, syncopated rhythms. Recorded over one weekend, 'retail snob' is a concentrated exploration of a consumer created self and culture.
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