After Jack River's call-out, 7-Eleven commits to national airplay initiative

When Jack River called out Channel 7 for not sharing Australia’s Olympics glory with local musicians, the response was swift and viral.

Now, an Australian start-up has taken up the baton for a nationwide airplay initiative.

Qsic, a streaming music specialist from Melbourne, is pumping 100%-homegrown playlist into hundreds of shopfronts for the month of August, with 7-Eleven among the first retail chains to put its hand up.

According to a statement, the “local, hyper-curated” playlist is spun on high-rotation across many of Qsic’s 70-plus brands, covering upwards of 2,000 locations.

Qsic launched in 2012 to create customer engagement with music, and is led by CEO and co-founder Matt Esley.

Investors include UNIFIED Music Group (Jack River’s management), and its curation team includes former The Temper Trap guitarist Lorenzo Sillitto.

Mushroom Group is supporting the airplay project, which is open all record labels keen to expose their artists to more consumers.

“We’re in a unique position of influence to actively help Australia’s most prominent retail and hospitality businesses play a bigger part in assisting the industry recover,” comments Esley.

Qsic was already drafting up an airplay-plan before Jack River’s callout, he explains. “We’re now deep in rallying mode to bring our business partners onboard and are already receiving great support.”

As Australia’s medals rush lifted spirits in these parts, River (real name Holly Rankin) urged Channel 7, the official Games broadcaster, to lift its game.

With most of the country locked-down, and many of us glued to the coverage from Tokyo, River’s plea couldn’t have come at a better time.

Channel 7 responded. And its coverage and promos are currently synced with a range of Aussie tunes, including the appropriate ‘Solid Gold’ by Pnau.

Jack River

In her open-letter, River’s also urged other big businesses to step up.

“And while we’re here, how good would it be to hear Aussie music in Coles, Woolies, Aldi, in banks, on hold, in stores and on ads being shown to Australians for the next few months," she wrote.

"We need you more than ever. We wanna be your soundtrack.”

7-Eleven and its network of more than 700 stores, came on board last Saturday (Aug. 1).

“Jack River’s call out to use Aussie music in stores to provide much needed income to Australian artists is a fantastic initiative. We’re proud to support it,” comments Julie Laycock, General Manager – Customer.

“We’ve made some immediate changes to include a higher volume of Australian music in our in-store radio playlists, and will be looking at what’s possible for our playlists ongoing."

Qsic counts over 26 million unique listeners every month across its partners in retail, quick service restaurants and hospitality, grocery, and petrol and convenience.

“To see the community rallying behind Jack River and the industry is deeply encouraging,” comments Jaddan Comerford, CEO and Founder of UNIFIED Music Group.

“Now is the time to stop, think and make the changes that will help this industry get back on its feet in the long term. We’ve worked closely with Qsic for a while and know they’re genuinely intent on helping however they can. This initiative is a wonderful start that’s warmly received by all of us here at UNIFIED.”

The latest airplay push comes as the music industry launches Our Soundtrack Our Stories, a campaign that invites corporations, media and “anyone willing to listen” to soundtrack Australian lives with homegrown music.