News
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January 30th, 2025
Dear Peers,
I’d like to welcome you to a brand new look and a new monthly mailout for industry and media friends of the Association of Artist Managers! Up until now we have directed most of our communications directly to our membership, but after 13 years of advocating for Australian artist managers behind the scenes, we are now keen to open our doors to non-members and share exciting and important updates regularly with peers such as yourself. You have received this because we have engaged with you in the past, or we feel like you might be interested in updates from (in our opinion) the hardest working people in the industry.
If we haven’t met, I’m Maggie, the Executive Director of the AAM. I was an artist manager for 16 years until recently where, thanks to core funding from Music Australia, I am now here full time, alongside our small but powerful team. Our Board is made up of some of the country’s most experienced managers, and together we work hard to support the healthy sustainability of music managers – and in turn, their artists.
Here are some top-line activities our org is engaging with at the moment:Alongside the aforementioned core funding from Music Australia, we are also recent recipients of project funding from Sound NSW. Through this support we have had a fresh new rebrand, we’ve hired a full-time NSW-based Memberships and Administration Officer, and are running an unprecedented paid internship program called ‘Placements’.
In this stage of growth, we have developed our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan which is due for launch in the coming months. It was developed in partnership with Vibe Lab after experiencing their interactive and collaborative process producing the ‘Vote Music’ campaign, which led to unprecedented results for the music industry at the NSW state election.
We are getting ready for a big year ahead with the return of our Manager Awards, our flagship mentorship program in partnership with Spotify; ‘Co-Pilot’, and an exciting new partnership with ARIA on ‘ARIA Collab’.
In amongst this activity, one of our most impactful causes has centred around our advocacy of ‘Michael’s Rule’, which seeks the return of a policy that ensures every international tour to Australia features a local artist on the line-up. In the latest data report by Tixel, it was revealed that 1 out of 3 event goers aged 18-24 attend 3-5 stadium or arena concerts per year. With budgets tightening, it reported that they are “gravitating towards headline shows where they know and trust the artist”. Given these stats, coupled with the decline of traditional discoverability structures, it’s never been more important and influential, that the live setting of popular well-known artists is a priority focus for platforming Australian artists. It’s an IRL recommendation engine.
This all comes at a time where the industry is at its most challenging AND most prime for optimism – both at the same time, somehow. We at the AAM believe that a complex ecosystem like the Australian music industry needs a holistic approach to advocate for a strong and healthy future. So whether it’s Michael’s Rule, other local-focussed causes that we get behind, or simply an exciting activation we’re working on, we hope you are keen to join us for the ride by receiving these monthly updates from our team to yours. Naturally if you’d prefer not to be on this list, please follow the link at the bottom of this email to unsubscribe.
Regards,
Maggie