She left New Zealand for London 20 years ago, and fought her way into the edges of the music industry the hard way. But a chance encounter with country music a decade ago saw Milly Olykan rapidly become a key figure in unlocking this famously regional music for international audiences. Now she’s VP of international relations for the famed Country Music Association trade group, and she tells Duncan Greive how country music came to sell out Spark Arena – and the lessons for other media forms it contains.

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