I Manage My Music is a series of workshops to be held in Melbourne in early March where self managed artists and independent publishers and industry types help out up and coming musicians learn the necessary art of self-management.
The concept came from Melbourne based singer/songwriter Jen Cloher, who saw a need to help out aspiring musicians.
“I’m self managed and I have been for eight years,” Cloher told Undercover. “I’ve made lots of mistakes and learned a lot from them and I’ve also made some good decisions and learned from those, but essentially I just saw that there’s so many musicians out there that are going to have to manage their careers at the beginning because there just isn’t enough... [she pauses] it’s called the ‘management hole’ in the industry.
“There’s just not enough managers because it’s a fairly low income job at the beginning - 20% of nothing. There’s a small amount of managers that are in Australia that are worth their weight and they’re usually full up already with artists, so I guess what I saw was all of these really talented musicians and there are no tools or skills that are being taught by other musicians who have been there about how they do it.
The workshops are about experienced industry folk and musicians sharing ideas with up and comers.
“It’s really just that passing on of information that I think needs to happen in the music community, so that we’re helping each other out,” Cloher said. “I really believe that the future of music is all about community and supporting each other, touring together, sharing costs. It’s the way that independent artists can survive.”
Cloher will be facilitating the workshops, where she imparts her wisdom. “I know how to ask the right questions,” she says.
“The whole objective of the weekend is to say ‘This is how these self-managed artists have done it,’ but really showing people what they can do and the actions they can take to keep moving forward with their careers.”
“Essentially I’ve got six keynote speakers coming in over the weekend who are all industry practitioners, definitely coming from the independent side of things, so there’s no major labels or big agencies coming in, so it’s people who are into that indie spirit.
The weekend will consist of four workshops with six keynote speakers. The keynotes will be given by:
Hazel Brown - Musician and co-manager of Two Bright Lakes
Sarah-Jane Wentzski - Musician and Program Officer for Victoria Rocks funding
Tom Harris - Founder of Whitesky and co-manager of The Temper Trap and The Little Stevies
Grant Gillies - Founder of GaGa Music
Carlo Santona - Bass player and Manager of Blue King Brown
Ashley Sambrooks - Show Off Services.
The workshops will take place at the Northcote Town Hall between 10am and 5pm on both Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th of March. For more information and details on how to secure your spot, head over to www.imanagemymusic.com.
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Check out the Undercover interview with The Little Stevies below:
