Michael Gudinski of Mushroom sounds off with Lars Brandle of Billboard at his BIGSOUND keynote address.
This year is the 30th anniversary of Frontier and, Brandle suggested, Gudinski's 50th anniversary of entrepreneurship.At 8 he was parking cars in his backyard near Caulfield racecourse. Gudinski attributed his success to being in "the right spot, passion, and the music industry when I started was a backyard industry."
He insisted that now music gets to people younger, "I hate to say it, I can't believe it's coming out of my mouth, but Australian Idol and those shows have done something for the music industry because it has put music in young people's faces early."
He noted, "Mushroom wasn't started because I had some genius idea, it was purely out of necessity," and chastised major labels for not keeping up with technology.
Unlike many in the industry, he was never a musician, "I've never been a frustrated star. Let the people who know what they're doing do it."
Brandle noted that he has been described as the Cruella DeVille of the Australian Industry. "I'm a screamer, mate," he said, "You've gotta have passion in this industry."
He said he learnt from the abortive Mushroom UK venture that "It's fucking expensive in the UK." Mushroom UK didn't need to be in the boutique area. And he regrets not trying to crack America, suggesting Split Enz could've been as big as Pink Floyd if he lived there.
When asked about his career highlights, Gudinski focused on his producing role, proud that he produced the Ben Cousins documentary: "It was something far more than a football story." He considered it part of bringing issues into the national discussion.
Having operated 360-degree label-management-touring company, Gudinksi said he doesn't think that modern companies who do 360-degree deals have the facility to enact them properly. But he said he never forced acts to sign with all the companies in the past.
He also spoke about how proud he was that his son Matt's Illusive Records got Bliss N Eso's latest album to knock Eminem off the top of the charts.
He also had a swipe at mainstream radio networks, saying, "Radio, excepting triplej, is so unsupportive of new and upcoming music that it makes me sick."
Following Chuggy's memoir, he said he will never write a book, "I could never tell a true story anyway."
And finally, he's happy about Julia Gillard heading a minority Labor government, "Contrary to what some might think, I'm a big Labor man" but took the Federal government to task on not supporting the music industry enough, and thinks that Australian support acts should be mandatory for international visiting tours.
