Shouse shuffles the APRA AMCOS Billionaire Award for his “coming out of lockdown” anthem “Love Tonight”.
The Melbourne dance music duo are hailed for notching a billion streams of their song which became an overnight sensation that was, in fact, five years in the making.
“Love Tonight” is the composition of Jack Maddin and Ed Service, one an elementary school teacher, the other an arts community manager, who were spotted performing the moody number in 2016 by OneLove head of A&R Ant Celestino. He documented the performance on video; In the cold light of day, Celestino knew it was a total blast.
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Soon after, the track was recorded with a choir of local Melbourne friends and released in 2017 on Vanlove imprint Hell’s Beach.
The story took another turn when, in early 2017, OneLove entered into a partnership deal with Ingrooves Music Group for global digital distribution and label services, an arrangement that paved the way for “Love Tonight”.
“It was like an unhealthy obsession,” Celestino told this reporter on stage at the 2022 Indie-Con. “We never stopped. I thought the record was great.
After the eight-minute original cut was transformed into a string of new remixes and edits, the track was serviced to radio, DJs and tastemakers in 2021, an underground swell bubbled up in European clubs, and when The Doors closed after the pandemic Opened Up – a global hit.
The single went within the top 10 in over 20 countries, including Germany, France, Greece, the Netherlands and Belgium. “Love Tonight” peaked at number 18 on the Official UK Singles Chart, and number 8 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.
According to APRA AMCOS, “Love Tonight” is certified diamond in France, triple platinum in Australia, double platinum in Belgium and Portugal, platinum in Germany, Italy, New Zealand and Greece, and gold in Denmark, Spain, the UK and the US.
Maddin and Service commented on receiving their circular trophy, “Hearing the sounds of our improvised Melbourne choir echoing in crowds around the world will never grow old.” “We are thrilled and humbled that our little moment of collective joy in our home has made an impact on so many people. They always sing along. We hope this song will inspire people to sing and make music with friends, family and their community. Music is magic!”
The 1,000,000,000 list takes into account streaming numbers from major services Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, and is given to APRA AMCOS songwriter members and their publishers in recognition of a song surpassing one billion streams.
The award is said to be the first of its kind to recognize the achievement of a lyricist. Other recipients include Tones & I (for “Dance Monkey”), 5 Seconds of Summer (“Youngblood”), Vance Joy (“Riptide”), Gotye (“Somebody That I Used to Know”), Vesey (“Somebody That I Used to Know”). Bad”), Harry Michael and Tyrone Hapi to Masked Wolf’s “Astronaut in the Ocean”.
Read more on the “Love Tonight” story here.
