This week we welcome Ben Dennis (Myriad Management) who shares his learnings he's picked up along the way managing acts such as Peking Duk, Hands Like Houses, and Benson.

Time Stamps:

• 0:00 Intro to Ben
• 0:45 His musical Journey
• 1:21 Getting the first gig
• 2:25 Starting to manage artists
• 4:37 Advice for early-stage managers
• 6:03 Early Peking Duk
• 12:17 Creating Demand
• 14:00 Festival shows: marketing exercise for people that have never seen your act
• 15:21 Transformation: DJ set to live show
• 16:58 Importance of collaborating with brands
• 23:19 Coping during COVID
• 24:11 Single release vs. album release
• 27:11 Different platforms (TikTok)
• 28:13 Collaborations DO's or Don’ts
• 29:31 Following advice for bands vs stay true to yourself
• 31:31 Treating yourself as a business and the importance of budgeting
• 32:40 Pinch yourself moment

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Nikki began working for APRA more than a decade ago, starting out in the General Licensing Department before moving into her current, much more enjoyable role in Writer Services.

Her first contact with APRA goes back much earlier than that though, to her time as a teenage, fledgling singer-songwriter and hearing a presentation from an APRA Representative. Little did she know then it was this type of APRA Representative she was destined to become! Nikki’s interest in music copyright and the role that APRA AMCOS performs was compounded further while studying music performance at JMC Academy.

It was a friend from JMC who worked at APRA AMCOS, that encouraged Nikki to apply for a role herself. Having accepted the fact that she was not going to be the Lorde of her time, it seemed a great fit to instead be working to support those who might be (or actually are!).

An average day for Nikki could include everything from responding to writer member queries (which will vary from how to join APRA AMCOS, to obtaining payments from both here and overseas, to demystifying copyright). Nikki can be found visiting students at Universities, TAFEs, specialist music courses; or helping manage estates of deceased writer’s such as Michael Hutchence or Chrissy Amphlett; performing checks and balances so the APRA royalties can be paid out, creating new memberships, and interviewing artists like Alex Lahey during an in-house performance. No two days are exactly alike but there are always opportunities to help musicians and that’s what makes Nikki’s day – every day.

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Mike Christidis and Fil Palermo, two co founders from the UNTITLED Group, have flexed some major live music feats in their young but large careers. They’ve brought us the likes of  Beyond The Valley (BTV), Pitch Music & Arts Festival, Grapevine Gathering, Wildlands, and Ability fest, plus hundreds of landmark dance music events over the past seven years with still forever to go. You might remember them from their Anyway Nights series at the Palace Theatre, or not realised these guys were responsible if you were vibing to Solomon at The Wool Store, thinking “am I seriously doing this in a warehouse in Footscray right now?!”

Last episode we relived the whirlwind journey which took them from their first ever DJ and promo gigs (charmingly attained with fake I.Ds) to owning a club, turning to major festivals after the success of BTV, and then starting UNTITLED Group. We got a glimpse into their entrepreneurial style, how they met challenges along the way, and best of all, how they saw an opportunity to bring house music to Australia in a big way. 

This episode we get a little deeper into the do’s and don’ts of running a festival, including all the learning curves which came with BTV. We get into why Pitch festival has such a perfect lineup (spoiler alert; it’s the date), and how the boys brought a European style dance festival - from it’s unique, left of field brand and programming, to life. The merging of underground artists like Maceo Plex, Sven Vath and Kiasmos amongst the likes of Floating Points and Mount Kimbie. We hear some stories about touring with the Wu-Tang Clan, and being dubbed honorary Wu members, the infamous Solomon ironing board set at the after party that would never end, and Ability Fest, a collaborative passion project with the Dylan Alcott Foundation.

The only way to end a never ending Solomon afterparty is to turn the power off. The pure joy of pulling off a festival regardless of the economic value, and getting to dance in a crowd to your favourite artists, once it’s all come together. For musicians, take the pressure off attempting to impress your peers around you. Do your best and do it uniquely, and the right promoters, peers, labels, etc. will notice, because they’re all on the lookout. The Benefits of embracing extra costs and complications, like pursuing big ideas and festival excellence by bringing stage design to the next level. Anything is possible, if you create a road for it, you’re guaranteed to find a way, like delving into your touring dreams by bringing hip hop legacy like the Wu-Tang Clan to Australian shores.

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For Episode 5 of the Muso Podcast, we bring you part 1 of a tale of two lads and an Australian empire they’ve built on this thing we call house music! Mike Christidis and Fil Palermo, two of the co founders of UNTITLED Group, have been responsible for Ability Festival, Beyond The Valley (BTV), Pitch Music & Arts Festival, Grapevine Gathering, plus hundreds of landmark dance music events over the past seven years. You might remember them from their Anyway Nights series at the Palace Theatre, or not realised these guys were responsible if you were vibing to Solomon at The Wool Store, thinking am I seriously doing this in a warehouse in Footscray listening to deep house right now?!

It’s been 7 years, and they’ve achieved a lot, from charming stories of fake IDs so they could DJ and promote at a club, to teaming up with said club owner Nick Greco and then coming clean when he asked if they’d like to go into business with him, a match was made in club heaven. Together, they embarked on an adventure which started with a successful and disastrous pool party night which ended in slashed inflatable pools on a club rooftop to become the inspiration for UNTITLED group inflatable stage designs. 

This bestfriend/business partner duo were made for this life, where some find it daunting to get numbers through the door, fill floors and build a legacy from nothing, these guys thrived on the fast-paced competition. 

After killing it in the promotions game and pioneering analytics way before Facebook could do it for us, they turned their sights to pastures worthy of festival stadiums. Unbeknownst to them, they would become leaders in the Australian electronic house movement, bridging the gap between commercially successful Australian acts like Rüfüs Du Sol, and The Presets, to underground legends like Nina Kraviz and Green Velvet. 

A genius revelation at Falls Festival had them thinking, what about house music though? And just like that they were off, the festival circuit was theirs for the conquering, real underground electronic music fans rejoiced, and a community of DJs and producers will forever be thankful for the privilege of finding festivals to aspire to which rival those we admire across the large pond, in Europe. 

Join us for part 1 of a 2 episode journey, to see how these two lads invented a signature entrepreneurial style out of true passion and hardwork and built a solid team around them in an ‘all in together’ business model. 

We see the humble beginnings of BTV, all the learning curves along the way, to the surreal moment their festival sold out its second year in 1 minute and they realised they could do this forever!

Mike and Fil give artists some advice on how to get noticed, by working on your craft and being the very best that you can be. They liken it to their equivalent of knocking on doors, handing out flyers, studying their analytics and individually following up hundreds of complaints to figure out how they could make their event the best it could be.

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For episode 4 of the Muso Podcast series, we chatted to Pixie Weyand, owner and prime booker of the beloved 25 year old Brisbane live music institution, the Zoo.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of stepping into The Lost Boys or Tree House cubby for a vegan meal or a cheeky and delightful beverage you’ll know that Pixie’s whimsy, one of a kind and larger than life visions set her apart. Whether that’s bringing Peter Pan's treehouse to Fortitude Valley, or founding the Music Feed initiative, to aid touring musicians by offering them a free feed as they tour from city to city.

As the past recipient Queensland's Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, and Commonwealth Bank Australian of the Day as well as past nominee for Brisbane Young Entrepreneur, she’s got a knack for venue management and her vast accumulation of knowledge in promotions and booking management has her sights set on a bright future in A&R which we have no doubt she will exceed in! 

Pixie took us through her journey from acquiring an iconic venue, revamping it while maintaining it’s rich music legacy, and trying to earn her place in the live music industry.

In a time of massive uncertainty and no past structure to follow in a pandemic, we got her firsthand account of how the COVID live music crash literally rocked her venue. The daunting task of navigating the Zoo through lockdowns and how she put her best foot forward in the daunting post-covid live entertainment structure with the highly successful Anti-Social Series, which really showed the nation how we can get back out there and open our doors if we just shake up our music model a bit. 

“Live music is a commodity and a privilege, COVID made us reevaluate life and what’s important and made us appreciate music again. - Pixie Weyand. 

The mentality you need to lead your venue into the new phase of live music by being vigilant, innovative, having flexibility and adapting your business model to fit the situation, instead of waiting for things to return to normal.

The importance of having a community of venues to lean on during this pandemic, and appreciating your network because we are all going through the same thing.

Truly appreciating past owner Joc Curren’s words that ‘in hard times I’ve leaned on local artists’ who have saved the Zoo venue, when touring artists couldn’t travel due to border restrictions. Venues will have a newfound appreciation for local talent, and provide a spotlight for them, instead of a supporting role for international artists. 

Proving yourself in the industry as a venue is just as hard as it is for aspiring musicians trying to get a gig, and even with the name of The Zoo behind her, Pixie still did the hard yards, going door to door, in Sydney and Melbourne, when no one would get back to her.

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Lauren Mikkor: Chaos Management

For episode 2 of the Muso Podcast series we were keen to welcome Lauren Mikkor, the founder of Post-Modern Collective Mgmt to chat about her whirlwind journey through the industry, and get her tips on artist management. 

From the cheeky 15 year old who snuck into Creamfields festival to becoming the boss woman behind the scenes. Lauren knew she was onto a good thing when Running Touch walked into Lucky Ent. with his demo, and she knew she had to make a name for him. The day they received an email to be featured on Triple J’s ‘Unearthed,’ she had a vision for the future, from then as two 19 year old kids figuring it out, till arenas. They’ve been together ever since. 

She’s a true story of running towards what you love, and grabbing every opportunity along the way. Sending out 100 resumes via linkedin till she landed her first gig joyfully counting posters for Stereosonic, then fulfilling her dream of living in Ibiza while working with NERVO, jumping from Lucky Ent. to starting her own artist management project, and pinch yourself moments, like sold out headline tours, ULTRA and Tomorrowland festivals, gold records, and millions of streams. She’s gone in with no rulebook, no 12 steps, and thought: yes - this is addictive, this is chaos, let’s see what happens! 

Summary of episode

In the fast paced music world, that seems to make complete sense to Lauren, we experience her ability to thrive and hit the ground running, while figuring it out along the way. From being burnt out by trying to juggle artists in two time zones, to learning about 5am ‘me time’ because of a pandemic, she’s candid about being a work in progress, amidst her success.  

Lauren, tells us about how her worldview continued to expand, like figuring out that there’s more to life than selling out Melbourne shows, and encouraging listeners to dream big and do exciting things.

She shares what it means as a manager to be your artist’s number one fan, the ground level skills that artists need to self manage, plus knowing yourself as a musician and investing time in your craft, and letting the right people find you. 

Most importantly, Lauren opens up about her hopes for the systematic change in the work culture of the industry, to have more emphasis on being sustainably healthy, and not the constant hustle and grind culture that takes such a toll on mental health.  

She predicts that Australia will replace America as one of the major music hubs, giving Australian artists the opportunity to burst into the bubble over here.

Key takeaways 

The importance of networking and how it will make your career, focusing on your artist vision before you jump to bringing in a manager, important artist traits and self-management skills, including broadening your perspective to creating your own opportunities, other than just gigs.

Don’t be afraid to go and get what you want, including sliding into someone’s DMs, if you want to get intouch, follow all means necessary, even their parents. (True Lauren Mikkor, ‘go and get it’ story.)

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Jaddan Comerford: Why all musicians are actually entrepreneurs.

Founder and CEO of UNIFIED Music Group

We weren’t messing around for Muso’s debut episode, so we snatched up the opportunity to zoom date with industry badass and ultimate music entrepreneur, Jaddan Comerford while we could. In the solitude of his Fitzroy spare bedroom, he joined us for a reflective and insightful chat about opportunity, expansion and his full circle moment of meeting Brett Gurewitz for a Moonjuice in LA. 

To most young punks, Boomtown Records needs no introduction, because when we found the label on the back of a CD we’d purchased as kids, and we knew we’d hit gold. But the story of the guy behind it is a fairly iconic tale of music entrepreneurship and the creation of whatever the hell you want because you perceive a clear vision for it. 

Jaddan’s humble beginnings as a young dude with a dream, remained blissfully untouched by doubt, logic and obstacles, like the impending Napster induced crash looming just as he was getting started. After casually pressing Wishful Thinking’s first record at the age of 17, modelling Boomtown Records from his hero Cali label Epitaph, Jaddan has since continued to accumulate an umbrella empire under the global UNIFIED Group. Now managing artists like Violent Soho, Vance Joy, Tash Sultana and Amity Affliction, he reckons there’s still more to go. 

Summary of Episode

Jaddan talks us through the development of the UNIFIED Group and how it merged all his ventures from artist management, touring, the 2100 merch company born after selling surplus stock left from an Amity Affliction tour, into one big family, supporting many visions. We reminisce on the moment he felt international success when Vance Joy took the stage at Glastonbury and he spotted an aussie flag waving through the driving rain, and he imparts some tried and true wisdom that all which glitters is not gold. 

We cover the bad press on streaming, the importance of a routine, and the fact that artists are business owners by default. 

Key takeaways 

Jaddan compares artists to the modern entrepreneur, offering perspective on how artists should view income streams, plan for the future by investing in careers which evolve past just music and performance sales, and working with what you’ve got. 

He gives us a genius example of how to use social media analytical tools to predict your trajectory and plan ahead. 

As artists set their sights on global domination, Jaddan emphasizes that Australian artists need not look further than their own shores, and local success is how they’ll catch the eye of International markets because of the major global playing field. 

With predictions set for a major Aussie music comeback, launching new artists into the spotlight, he tells us what he looks for in a potential artist to sign and notes that while it all comes back to making good music, he focuses on the person behind the product, their goals and their work ethic before making a decision to represent them.  

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Welcome to the Muso podcast! Muso is the easiest way to book gigs. We use technology to make booking gigs as simple as it should be. In that theme we decided to produce this podcast to simplify the often elusive music industry. We’re bringing you the best-of-the-best in the Australian Music industry to tell their stories and give you the hacks, tools and tricks of the trade.

This season we’ll be interviewing:

Jaddan Comerford - founder and CEO of Unified music group

Pat Donovan - Outgoing CEO of Music Victoria

Lauren Mikkor - Post Modern Collective

Fil Palermo and Mike Christidis from Untitled Group

And Pixie Weyland - owner of The Zoo in Brisbane

It’s all kicking off Monday 12th of October. Make sure you stay tuned to The Muso Podcast.

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