This is it ladies and gents, the last newsletter for 2004 and what a year it’s been in the music industry! To wrap up the year we’ve put together some cracking programs for December that’ll take you through to 2005.... ENJOY!
	2004 has definitely been a top year for Maroon5! They’ve just completed a sell-out Australian tour to rave reviews from both audiences and critics alike. Their album, Songs About Jane has barely left my CD player in the last year and even now, after over 40 weeks, is still sitting in the Top 10 of the ARIA album charts. Following the radio/pop rilliance of Harder To Breathe, This Love and She Will Be Loved comes their next smash hit Sunday Morning. Adam Levine is one of the best front guys around at the moment and his vocals once again soar on this piano driven, R&B/rock fused groove. Do yourself a favour and add this one to your playlists from CR105.
	One of the hottest tracks arriving in time for summer comes from rap legend Nas. Bridging The Gap is a Muddy Waters lifted, blues-meetsrap, rhythmic swagger that sees him waxing nostalgic with his dad, jazz trumpeting great Olu Dara. The track is a soulful tribute to the blues taken from Street’s Disciple, a double disc and his seventh album and is out now on CR105.
	Add this name to your “artists to watch” list - Figgkidd. He is a 21 year old MC/rapper from Bankstown and is here to rock the Oz hip-hop scene to its foundations. His debut single I Gotta Know is already shooting up the charts and the album What Is Figgkidd is sure to explode off the radar. Already being dubbed as our answer to Eminem, Figgkidd says the song is inspired by his love of women and strip clubs. Featuring the talents of US rapper Tech N9ne, the track also boasts an awesome video directed by Spencer Susser (No Doubt, The Offspring) and pretty much sums up Figgkidd’s insane methodology to his life and art. Check it out on CX105.
	It’s Christmas time and we thought, as you’ve all been good this year (or most of you anyway), we’d give you a little gift. Included with your updates this month is a bonus Christmas program for all HDMS™ users featuring a who’s who of pop such as Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Paul Kelly, Macy Gray and a stack more. It also includes the new (to Australia) video, Xmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) from UK glam rockers The Darkness.
	But wait there’s more! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the huge Live Aid hit Do They Know It’s Christmas, Bob Geldof has assembled another cast to cover the track under the name Band Aid 20. The name check goes something like this - Chris Martin (Coldplay), Dido, Robbie Williams, Sugababes, Fran Healy (Travis), Justin Hawkins (The Darkness), Bono, Will Young, Jamelia, Ms Dynamite, Beverly Knight, Dizzee Rascal, Busted, Joss Stone and Tom Chaplin. It also features some stars whose voices you don’t actually hear - Paul McCartney playing bass, Danny Goffey from Supergrass on drums, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on piano and Blur’s Damon Albarn who served tea.

	Well that’s it from your friendly music department for 2004. Hope your Christmas is relaxing and your New Year goes off!!! See ya in ‘05! Author - Ben Preece
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Top 5 from NMV

What happens when you give 43 musicheads the opportunity to come up with their favourite song for the year? You get a lot of debating, some very diverse opinions, the odd heated argument, but most importantly an interesting and fun result. The corridors of Nightlife were abuzz this week as each department was asked to come up with their Top 5 for 2004. To protect the innocent, some of the choices below really should have a disclaimer as to exactly WHO chose them, but hey – as we said, it’s all in the name of fun…

Technically Speaking - Billboards Advertising
The inbuilt electronic Billboards advertising program on your HDMS™ is a powerful and flexible advertising tool. It keeps your patrons informed of upcoming events and specials in between playing music video clips. You can get the word out quickly and effectively via your screens by displaying professionally
created JPEGS or HTMLs or your own easy-to-create inhouse advertisements.

You can even dedicate video output 2 of your HDMS to billboards only so that a particular projector, plasma screen or bank of TVs shows your in-house events permanently. For Audio Only songs, you also have the ability to display the Album Cover on your TVs whilst the song is playing.

JPEGs or HTMLs can be imported onto the program either via a floppy disk or CD-ROM. These Billboards must be created to the following specifications:

JPEG Billboards
1. File Size: 640 x 480 pixels
2. File Name:xxxxxxxx.jpg (max 16 characters.jpg)
3. No more than 24 Bit colour
4. RGB Colour Scale

HTML Billboards
1. The HTML control file should have extension .html or .htm
2. Flash movies, GIFs and all other associated files must be embedded in the HTML file
3. All the files should then be contained within a separate folder and the folder saved to CD-ROM or floppy disk
4. Every file associated with the HTML must be kept in the same folder as the HTML file
5. The file name description should not be greater than 16 characters
6. The HTML screen should be no bigger than 640 x 480 pixels in size
7. The screen should be display only ie. not interactive

You can set the length of time that Billboards advertising appears at the end or beginning of each video clip by using the Billboard Display Time option in the Utilities menu. For back to back video clips set the Billboard Display Time option in the Utilities menu to 0 (zero) - do not set every individual billboards' display time to 0 (zero).

Don't forget to activate the NEW YEAR’S COUNTDOWN BILLBOARD and start the countdown to the party of the year. (Check your system's date and time are correct.)

For more information or training to enable you to get the most from your Billboards advertising program, call the Support Team toll free on 1800 773 468.

News from NZ

Over Christmas and New Year rest assured our emergency Tech Support will be available as normal. Remember to check your back up music systems are functioning and, if for any reason faults can’t be fixed over the telephone and replacement hardware is required, please bear in mind that the statutory holidays will disrupt overnight courier services.

We hear that some DJs had fun at midnight on 9th December when patrons had to stub out their ciggies because our caring NZ Government is concerned about everybody’s health. Most popular songs played up until midnight were 'Boys Light Up', 'Lose My Breath' and ‘Smoke’. After midnight ‘Breathe’ was the big feature song. Hope you all had a good night and are now looking forward to living longer!

Best wishes from all of us for the festive season

Regards, The NZ Team

Nightlife New Zealand Ph: Whangarei 09 430 3035

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