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Melbourne singer-songwriter and recording artist, PETER FREEBAIRN has signed with POP PRESERVATION SOCIETY in a worldwide music publishing and record label deal, says the label's founder and owner, Victor Stranges.
Freebairn’s first big break came in the early 2000s with his band THE WISH. After recording demos of several new self-penned songs, he pitched them to music publishers across the country, and soon landed a publishing deal with BMG. These demos also caught the ear of former Savage Garden co-founder and guitarist Daniel Jones who promptly agreed to record and produce the material at his Queensland based home studio. The sessions were engineered by former Southern Sons guitarist, Peter ‘Reggie’ Bowman who also contributed bass and Powderfinger guitarist, Darren Middelton contributed lead guitar.
The partnership with Jones resulted in the national radio hits, ‘Love Is Alive’, ‘Gotta Let You Know’ and ‘Don’t Change’. Following the 9/11 attack on American soil in September 2001, Freebairn was moved to write the heartfelt song, ‘Faith Alive’. The song's lyrical theme encouraged people to be strong during times of grief, loss and tragedy.
In 2006, ‘Faith Alive’ was selected by the producers of a new US NBC TV comedy drama series, 'Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip' which co-starred the late Matthew Perry, who was best known for his role as Chandler Bing in the mega hit popular long-running television comedy series, ‘Friends'. 'Faith Alive' understandably had a huge impact on US viewers when a promotional clip of the episode which the song featured in was aired during the 2006 Golden Globe Awards.
In the subsequent years, Freebairn achieved success in the group, RADIO VERTIGO, playing the Melbourne live circuit and releasing two critically acclaimed EPs; ‘Town Of Deceivers’ and ‘Evolution’.
The former included the track 'Free’ which received national radio airplay including Triple M Melbourne and Zinc 96.1 FM on the Sunshine Coast (Queensland).
In 2019, Freebairn released his first solo recording, a 6-track self-titled EP. This work proved to be extremely popular across the vast community radio network with many of the tracks receiving generous airtime.
In 2021, Pop Preservation Society was promoting a series of shows at the legendary and now defunct music venue, Jimmy Hornet (in Richmond, Melbourne).
Stranges explains, “Peter had me when he just sang solo with an acoustic guitar and the clincher was a Tom Waits song that he performed. I just knew where Peter was coming from musically and it resonated with me. His talent is immense as a songwriter, guitarist and performer. His songwriting mastery as well as his musical and lyrical sincerity are what captured my imagination.”
In the following months Stranges had heard some unreleased recordings for an upcoming album Freebairn was intending to release, and some mutual conversations led to a working relationship resulting in their worldwide music publishing and record label deal and the release of his debut album, ‘Silhouettes & Cigarettes’ on 17th May this year.
The timing couldn’t be more perfect for Stranges’ label who recently added music publishing to its list of artist services which in addition to publishing, includes artist development, recording, production, design, photography, web and social media, radio promotion, publicity and distribution.
Pop Preservation Society had successes in 2022 and 2023 with Australian post-punk revival group, LIPSTEREO, who started appearing in the US College Radio Charts and then achieving a Top 10 place in the US Commercial Radio Sub-Modern Album Airplay charts for their debut EP, ‘Modern Mythology’. It was produced by legendary Australian record producer, Mark Opitz (INXS, Cold Chisel, Divinyls). Another project for the label was a group called SATURDAY’S CHILD who had some success in Europe with their ground breaking music video and radio airplay for their a slow-burning, soulful, melancholy version of the Arlo Park’s song, ‘Cola’ (featuring Melbourne R&B singer, Ema Jay).
“We are thrilled to be working with Peter’s amazing catalogue and we look forward to supporting him with his future songwriting endeavours,” says Stranges. He added, “We feel the time is right to launch into music publishing as we have a vast array of contacts in the business for film and TV sync opportunities.
We also feel that we can provide a good old fashioned song pitching service which is hardly a focus these days in the music business. I can’t see why someone like Bruno Mars wouldn’t cover ‘Crazy Love’, just like I can’t see why a major US TV studio network would not pick up ‘I Got Lucky (I Got You)’. Someone has to make that call and it may as well be us.”
It was only two weeks ago that Pop Preservation Society released the debut solo album from Peter Freebairn, called ’Silhouettes & Cigarettes’. The label has already picked up around 100 commercial, community and college radio stations in Australia, the US and UK, capturing vital airplay within only a few short weeks.
“Right now the world really needs a song transplant. We believe Peter Freebairn can go a long way in making that happen. Early indications are that we are onto something.” (Victor Stranges)
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