Mullet Wines is backing NITH 2026, and the top three artists each get studio time to record and produce a single.
The mullet has been doing some fairly heavy lifting in Australian music culture for decades, so it feels strangely appropriate that a wine brand named after one is now helping fund the next wave of local artists.
Mullet Wines is officially backing Happy’s 2026 Needle in the Hay competition, throwing some proper studio prizes behind this year’s emerging talent.
Courtesy of Mullet Wines, the top three NITH artists will each get full studio time at Happy’s Noise Machines Studio to record and produce a single. That means recording, mixing, mastering – the works – rather than being handed a few free hours and told to make it count.
The studio sessions form part of this year’s $50,000-plus prize pool, which also includes stacks of gear, and 250 vinyl pressings from Zenith Records.
Not a bad return for sending in a song.
Needle in the Hay has been digging through Australia’s independent music scene since 2017, spotting artists early and giving them a fairly useful push along the way.
Past winners and alumni include Joan and the Giants, Spacey Jane, Tones and I, Maple Glider and Kardajala Kirridarra, all of whom have gone on to make noise nationally and internationally.
And now, Mullet Wines is getting involved.
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Launched in 2024 by Fourth Wave Wine, the Australian wine label has built itself around big flavours, loud packaging and the eternal mullet philosophy of “business at the front, party at the back.”
Which, to be fair, makes it a pretty natural fit for a competition based around finding raw Australian talent before the rest of the country catches up.
Mullet Wines is all about wines with a bit of personality and very little interest in taking themselves too seriously. Now, that same attitude is helping three emerging artists get into a proper studio and walk out with a finished track.
Needle in the Hay 2026 is open now.
Check out Mullet Wines here.
Think your tune has a shot? Submit your track to Needle in the Hay 2026 here.
