Page Text: Round 1 - Andrew Fuller of Clearview Legal Counsel
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In April 2019, a range of Victorian music businesses met with commercial lawyer Andrew Fuller of Clearview Legal Counsel across two sessions.
Clearview Legal Counsel has a large music focus and Andrew has broad expertise in commercial, entertainment, fashion and media law. He advises start-ups and businesses looking to create, protect and commercialise their rights. Andrew has previously held senior positions at Shock Entertainment and Roadshow Films and is regularly invited to speak on arts and entertainment law topics.
For more information on Andrew’s services, please contact Clearview Legal Counsel or email info@vmdo.com.au
Round 2 - New to Human Resources Training
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In April 2019, a group of 15 Victorian music business professionals undertook a half day HR training session. Presented by Sally Christou from the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, this session was centred around HR essentials, including attracking high quality staff, increasing output and efficiency and creating a strong and positive workplace culture.
For more information on this specific training session, head to the Victorian Chamber website .
The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the peak body for business in Victoria. Membership packages available provide online resources and information, tools and templates, discounts on training, events, consulting and more.
The Victorian Chamber offers a range of services across: Workplace Relations Health, Safety and Wellbeing Training Policy and Advocacy International Trade Apprenticeship Support Australia (ASA)
VMDO are offering a 50% discount on all Victorian Chamber Membership Packages. For more information, email info@vmdo.com.au
Round 3 - Paul Luczak and Mark Rice of The Gild Group
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In May 2019, the VMDO paired Victorian music businesses up with Paul Luczak and Mark Rice from The Gild Group, in individual finance meetings.
Paul and Mark covered various topics in their sessions, such as Accounting and tax, Bookkeeping and business management, Personal finance planning (e.g budgeting, good vs bad debt, superannuation, SMSF, investing, retirement planning, personal/general insurance), Cash flow forecasting, Financial controller queries (accounts payable systems, job coding and reporting, accounts receivable strategies for faster cash turn around etc) and more.
For more information about The Gild Groups services, please contact them directly or email info@vmdo.com.au
Round 4 - Paige X. Cho of Bolster
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In May 2019, a group of 40 Victorian music business professionals undertook a Digital Advertising Masterclass with Paige X. Cho, Senior Music Strategist at Bolster .
Paige has in-depth experience developing advertising and content strategies for music & entertainment industry clients, helping clients build audiences, sell more tickets and boost record sales. The masterclass was specifically centred around digital advertising, including paid social media across various channels. Bolster clients that Paige has worked with include Splendour In The Grass, Falls Festival, Bluesfest, Elton John, Sia, Queens of the Stone Age, London Grammar, The xx and more.
Round 5 - Cameo Carlson of mtheory
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In July 2019, Cameo Carlson, President of mtheory in Nashville spoke at our 6th Networking Breakfast event at the White Sky Hub. Cameo shared her tips for international artist development and what happens when an artist manager teams up with mtheory. Cameo also spoke at the CHANGES 2019 summit at Abbotsford convent.
Cameo went on to meet with 12 x export-ready Victorian artist managers. mtheory provides a modern set of capabilities to managers and their artists, allowing them to to take more control over their careers. mtheory believes in a holistic approach to artist development that prioritises streaming to build a large, engaged fanbase and optimises campaigns to maximise revenue in artists' largest earnings areas (typically live music). Their services include marketing, digital and social strategy, sales, tour marketing, creative services, live production, deal advisory, distribution, production and project financing.
For more information on Cameo Carlson and mtheory services, head to their website or contact info@vmdo.com.au .
Round 6 - Mason Lieberman of Tencent and Sebastian Wolff of Materia Collective
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Mason Lieberman is a senior game audio coordinator for Tencent, the largest video game company in the world. He has the honor of working with many of the best audio professionals in the industry on a daily basis in this position. Having come up in the industry as a full-time freelancer, he is most known for his work composing on series like Rooster Teeth’s RWBY and Beyblade Burst Evolution, amongst many others. As a cellist, guitarist, and vocalist, Mason has had the great pleasure of working with a wide variety of film and gaming franchises, with personal favorites including The Rising of the Shield Hero, Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. franchise, Riot Games’ League of Legends, AMC’s The Walking Dead, Warhammer: Vermintide, Hell's Kitchen, and God Eater.
Sebastian Wolff is the CEO and founder of Materia Collective, a leading game music publisher and rights administrator. He specializes in game music rights management, modern practices of rights management and royalty collection, and assessment of music publishing opportunities for game developers, publishers, and composers. Sebastian co-founded the US mechanical rights company Loudr, recently acquired by Spotify. He speaks on music- and game-industry panels and enriches the legacy of game music by creating value and opportunity for the next generation.
Round 7 - China Music Now: Industry Meetings
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As part of Melbourne Music Week, the VMDO hosted the second annual China Music Now program, bringing international music industry representatives from key Chinese music companies together with local industry.
The VMDO gave the Melbourne Music industry a unique opportunity to book in Experts in Residence sessions with three panellists:
• A.J, Showstart & Rye Music Festival • Ran Zhang, Modern Sky • Zoe Huang, Mega Stage
A.J and Ran all specialise in touring and festivals while Zoe specialises in copyright licensing and music distribution. For more information, head here .
We encouraged participants to attend the China Music Now panel, which took place on Friday 15th November at Arts Centre Melbourne. The panel was moderated by Chinese/Australian musician, Mindy Meng Wang. Full details here .
Round 8 - Viv Fantin of Next Act Coaching
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With over 25 years in the Australian music industry as a tour, festival and awards publicist and communications coach – working for industry heavyweights such as the Big Day Out, Livid, Homebake, Splendour in the Grass, ARIA, APRA Music and the Screen Music Awards – Viv Fantin ( Next Act Coaching ) is an accredited personal coach and recovering perfectionist who specialises in helping people in the music world set boundaries and manage self-doubt, self-care, perfectionism, procrastination and impostor syndrome. She helps people uncover their strengths, skills and values, while setting aligned goals for life and work.
While our music industry is full of opportunities there are also plenty of obstacles, challenges and frustrations that come with pursuing a sustainable career. The most successful people in this business keep their eyes focused on the goals they want to achieve and the strengths, skills and inner resources they need in order to enact those goals.
Viv worked with 10 successful applicants within the VMDOs Experts in Residence program. Over the course of three one-on-one coaching sessions Viv worked with participants to facilitate goal setting (short and long term) while also helping them identify and unravel road blocks. These coaching sessions helped participants identify their values and support them in aligning to their work within the music industry. Over the course of three private sessions with Viv participants tapped into their strengths and created a crystal-clear vision of exactly where they wanted to end up in their career.
Round 9 - Bookkeeping with Line Paras
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Line Paras started Counting Clouds in 2014 working exclusively with artists, musicians and design based businesses in Melbourne and beyond. Today, she and her team service more than 100 small creative operators, as bookkeepers, providing business management, support and advice. With a background in jewellery making, hospitality and inner Melbourne indie music, Line has been on the front line as well as the back end of creative and small businesses throughout her working life. Line discussed a range of topics related to bookkeeping with participants. Each session was tailored to the business/professionals needs. Line spoke at our very first VMDO Virtual Networking Breakfast. She presented a workshop with tools where attendees could determine their current financial position, understand what they need to earn to cover their regular expenses and how to plan to get ahead to a better position. To read a full recap, please head here .
Round 10 - Paul Luczak of The Gild Group
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Paul Luczak is the Managing Director of The Gild Group, an accounting, taxation and business advisory firm with a passion for wealth creation and servicing the music industry. The Gild Group shared their client updates relating to the federal government stimulus packages with us, to better inform the broader Victorian music community. Within the Experts in Residence sessions, Paul discussed a range of topics related to finance with the participants. Each session was tailored to the businesses needs and topics that were covered include: Federal Government and Victorian State Government COVID-19 stimulus packages, Accounting and tax, Bookkeeping and business management, Cash flow forecasting, Financial controller queries (accounts payable systems, job coding and reporting, accounts receivable strategies for faster cash turn around etc).
Round 11 - Yasmin Naghavi and Marcus Walkom of Media Arts Lawyers
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Yasmin Naghavi is a senior lawyer at Media Arts Lawyers and heads the creative industries and employment practices at the firm. Yasmin's practice covers all matters relating to agreements, employment, contracting, copyright, collecting societies, and related issues. Yasmin focuses on delivering the best strategic and commercial outcomes for her clients whether they are individuals, partnerships, micro businesses, companies, or multinationals. Yasmin provided participants with advice in relation to the impact of COVID-19 particularly about employment, contracting, and force majeure matters. Marcus Walkom is a senior lawyer at Media Arts Lawyers and his practice focuses on assisting clients across all facets of the music industry. Marcus acts for high profile and emerging artists, managers, producers, labels, publishers, festivals, events and start-ups throughout Australia and internationally. Marcus understands the business of music - he also runs an independent label and management company We Are Golden. Marcus provided participants with advice in relation to the impact of COVID-19 particularly about contracting, force majeure matters and the resulting and future impacts on music industry agreements.
Round 12 - VMDO First Peoples - Strategic Planning with Jirra Lulla
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The global pandemic had a dramatic effect for First Peoples artists, including loss of income and live connection with audiences. New ways of performing have emerged and for some the slower pace has inspired creative shifts. Jirra Lulla is a Koorie woman, business owner and adventurer. She has run her business Kalinya for 8 years, working across communications, brand development and entrepreneurship. As a communications consultant, she seeks to connect with people through language and the power of storytelling.
Jirra conducted one-on-one sessions for First Peoples musicians and music professionals. These sessions were a time for participants to consider brand, story and creative identity. Participants also had an opportunity to talk through any changes that may have come up during this time and create actionable steps for the direction they wanted to take.
Round 13 - Strategic Planning with Craig Spann
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Craig Spann has worked in and around the music sector for more than two decades and, as is the nature of the beast, has done just about everything. A journalist and music writer for many years, he moved into the world of corporate communications, Government relations and music publicity before focussing on working with major industry organisations including Q Music and the Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN). Craig then shifted focus to continue developing his label and music services company SUGARRUSH Music alongside.
2020 has delivered unprecedented challenges to the music industry with the COVID-19 crisis expected to see long term impacts on the sector. As part of the VMDO Experts In Residence program, Craig worked with 10 Victorian music business owners through 1 x group and 2 x 1-on-1 sessions to develop a new strategic plan for their businesses. Participants were guided through a process that involved an assessment of the climate and how it impacted their business, and using that to lay out a clear roadmap for business growth with an emphasis on innovation and challenging the ‘business as usual’ models. The result was a clear set of principles and aims that could be used to further develop detailed business and operational plans.
Round 14 - Grant Writing with Adam Simmons and Brie Jorgensen
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Since the COVID-19 crises, various Government bodies and private entities have announced a range of grant opportunities to assist impacted artists and creative businesses. As part of the VMDO’s Experts in Residence program, the VMDO connected Victorians to grant writing experts Brie Jorgensen (Look Out Kid Management) and Adam Simmons (The Usefulness of Art). Through these 1-on-1 sessions, experts advised participants on how to best approach the grant writing process, what funders are looking for during this period and how they could get the most out of their application.
Brie Jorgensen has worked in artist management for the past 6 years – after joining Look Out Kid management in 2019, she has had the privilege to work across artists including Courtney Barnett, Sarah Blasko, Faye Webster, Seeker Lover Keeper, Middle Kids, Briggs, Eilish Gilligan and Beverly Glenn-Copeland. Previously, she has worked at Ground Control Music (Emma Louise, Kardajala Kirridarra) and artist-run management and label company Spirit Level (Braille Face, Anatole). Alongside management, Brie is also a frequent grant writer to the broader Australian artist community.
Adam Simmons is one of Australia's most prolific and varied artists, performing internationally with a myriad of ensembles, including his jazz trio Origami and the acclaimed Adam Simmons Creative Music Ensemble. Adam has curated events including Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues, Festival of Slow Music and Artlands Bandstand. As well Adam teaches shakuhachi at University of Melbourne and offers mentoring and grant-writing services via his arts consultancy initiative, The Usefulness of Art.
Round 15 - Royalties with Matt Bird
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The music industry is in a constant state of flux and keeping up with artist royalty streams can be daunting, with new opportunities popping up all the time. We wanted to make sure music professionals getting all the income that they're entitled to. Matt Bird is a partner and Senior Royalty Analyst at White Sky Royalty Accounting (WSRA). WSRA look after a wide range of royalty related activities, from artist royalty statement reviews, creating royalty statements on behalf of independent artists and labels, and royalty data analytics and advice. Within the Experts in Residence sessions, Matt adviseed participants on a range of topics related to royalties. Each session was tailored to the needs of the participant.
Round 16 - Get Skilled Access Sessions
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Get Skilled Access is a specialist disability, accessibility and inclusion consulting organisation, founded by wheelchair tennis grand slam champ & Paralympian gold medallist Dylan Alcott OAM. The GSA mission is to help people understand disability and drive organisations to be more inclusive by improving accessibility.
As part of the Experts in Residence program, the VMDO connected Victorian businesses to GSA experts, lead by Zack Alcott (National Partnerships Manager). GSA experts covered a range of topics within the private session (60 minutes, conducted over Zoom) and each session was tailored to the needs of the participant. Topics that were covered include: Accessibility strategies for festivals, events and live music venues, creating an accessible digital experience, budgets, and insights into future accessibility and inclusion training.
Round 17 - School of Deep Cuts
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The Victorian Music Development Office and Association of Artist Managers teamed up with music strategist Amber Horsburgh, offering 20 Victorian artist managers/self-managed artists the opportunity to participate in the School of Deep Cuts online marketing course.
The School of Deep Cuts is an online course and community teaching the ins and outs of record marketing for day-to-day managers. It’s the label playbook for artist managers. Now, during COVID, more than ever the internet is the primary connection point with artists. There's a real opportunity to maximise your online audience, however, most get stuck in the minutia and miss the tactics that make a real impact. During the course you'll build a blueprint for your releases that grows your audience, increases streams and makes most efficient use of marketing dollars.
The course was developed by Downtown Records’ former SVP Strategy, Amber Horsburgh, based on 10+ years’ experience working with labels, brands and artists. In addition to her work with artists, Amber Horsburgh started Deep Cuts - a newsletter that breaks down marketing strategies and insights used by over 7,000 music industry professionals.
In the course you’ll learn: • Planning: develop a solid release strategy • Social media & content strategy: create insatiable content unique to artists’ personality • Digital advertising: reach the right audience with ads • Data: Create KPIs for artists at every stage of their career • Budgeting: build a functional & actional marketing budget
This program is best suited to day-to-day artist managers or self-managed artists who are responsible for release strategies and audience development. As a participant, you’ll be joining a cohort of music industry professionals from around the globe to learn about what marketing strategies translate when it comes to finding worldwide fans, wherever they are.
Round 18 - Grant Consultancy Program
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Presented in partnership by Music Victoria & the Victorian Music Development Office, the Grant Consultancy Program will provide tailored assistance for musicians and music industry practitioners based in Victoria applying for upcoming music grants.
Music Victoria & the VMDO acknowledge and understand the complexity of the grant application process and the importance of grant funding at this difficult time. This program will connect applicants with an experienced grant-writing specialist for up to one hour of free advice and feedback on an upcoming grant application such as for Creative Victoria’s Music Works. The program will run until 14 February 2021.
Applicants will find this program most beneficial once they have chosen a grant and begun to work on the application or have a specific project for which they are seeking a grant. A list of open grant rounds is available here and it is recommended that you consult the criteria of your chosen grant before engaging with the program. This is not a grant writing service but consultants will be able to provide support in the application process. This could include but is not limited to; reviewing your application, recommending support material, assessing your budget or understanding grant criteria.
Round 19 - School of Deep Cuts
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As part of our Experts in Residence program, we have teamed up with music strategist Amber Horsburgh to offer 10x Victorian emerging artist managers/self-managed artists the opportunity to participate in the School of Deep Cuts online marketing course.
This program is best suited to emerging managers or self managed artists who are responsible for release strategies and audience development. As a participant, you’ll be joining a cohort of music industry professionals from around the globe to learn about what marketing strategies translate when it comes to finding worldwide fans, wherever they are. Please note these funded spots (valued at $USD 997 per person) are for participants who are planning an upcoming release, within the next 12 months.