Former Silverchair singer Daniel Johns has gone public with his reasons for having the Australian Story Silverchair episode taking down from ABC TV’s streaming service iView.
The Australian Story Silverchair two-parter is a promotional piece for Silverchair members Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou ahead of the publication of their tell-all book ‘Love & Pain’ due out this week (September 27).
Daniel Johns did not contribute to the book and has not seen the book, despite a request to read it ahead of its publication as it is also about him. He was denied access to a preview copy of the book and as a result did not contribute to the Australian Story episodes as he has no idea what the book will be saying about him.
Johns had given approval for the use of Silverchair music in the television show on the basis he was given an advance copy of the book. The ABC went ahead with the use of Johns’ music with the agreement being adhered to, so Johns’ had the ABC take down the iView stream.
Read what Daniel has to say from his Instagram post:
Australian Story reached out to me via my team ‘as a courtesy’ on Aug 11 to let me know that they were doing a story on @bengillies888 and @chris_joannou_
I was and remain incredibly supportive of them telling their story.
I was asked at the end of filming to be interviewed about their contribution to the band and although I wished them all the best, I respectfully declined for one reason.
I haven’t been involved in the book nor am I aware of the contents. I’ve asked on many occasions to read the book but haven’t been sent a copy, consequently I was uncomfortable being interviewed to help promote it.
I was later asked by @abctv via Silverchair’s label @sonymusicaustralia to clear 7 songs for iView, (most of which were composed solely by me) to soundtrack a 2 Episode series. One particular use related to Ana’s Song being featured as they discussed my battle with anorexia.
I said to Sony and ABC that I would be open to approving all songs provided I received a copy of the book to ensure I wasn’t having my songs used to promote something I had no visibility on.
I was told again that Ben & Chris would not give me a copy to read. That’s why the iView use was denied.
@leigh_sales posted on Sept 12 that the Australian Story would not be available on iView due to ‘rights issues’, she later deleted this post and ABC proceeded to feature the story on iView without a license in place.
Sony reached out to have them take it down, it took ABC 3 days to remove it at which point most people had already viewed the story.
I’ve also been affected by Silverchair rights not being approved, I re-recorded my own compositions for many applications including my podcast because the recordings were denied by another band member.
As always, I wish Ben & Chris nothing but success and happiness. I have never sought to block their book, I merely asked to receive a copy in advance to fact check it. I was concerned about my personal health records being discussed, I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
Everyone is tagged, if I’ve got it wrong please provide the evidence or kindly please stop the unhelpful speculation.
Part two of the Australian Story promo of the Gilles and Joannou Silverchair tell-all will air tonight on ABC TV but will not be available for streaming on iView or any other streaming service.
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