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

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February 27th, 2025

Dear peers,

There are many things that Australian artist managers excel at, but one of my favourite, is good chat.

Recently I have been lucky enough to witness and engage in some really important and deep conversations centred around problem-solving the bigger issues in our wider industry. Given how central problem-solving is to a managers’ life, I can’t think of a better cohort of people to get together and tackle issues these issues. These conversations have happened at our recent Executive Dinners which occur each year for our executive level members. In amongst the list of challenges, here were some takeaways that stuck with me:

+ Success stories blossom where artist-to-fan connection focuses on quality over quantity.
+ Stay focussed on solutions, no matter how despairing the problem.
+ Don’t be overwhelmed by the end-goal, just put one foot in front of another.

It was great to get this wisdom and inspiration from these senior managers. There sure are a lot of challenges for developing artists in this country at the moment, but the AAM exists to provide managers and our industry with whatever opportunities and support we can to move forward. Check everything out below, it’s a busy month as always!!

Maggie

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Thursday, March 27th 2025

Dear peers,

Another month, and another reminder of how fast this year is going. The AAM team has been working at full throttle, processing applications for our funding and professional development programs MAICC and Co-Pilot, our Award submissions, co-ordinating judges for each, speaking at a Parliamentary Hearing on the Inquiry into Cultural and Creative Industries in Victoria, co-hosting ARIA Talks, attending ARIA Innovator, and dealing with a literal tropical cyclone over here in SE Qld. And that’s not to mention things that are still in the pipeline to be announced. It is also a time of transition for our team as we announce that the UK is reclaiming our wonderful Membership and Administration Officer, Jacob Clements, and he will be returning there for some family commitments. Thankfully we will continue to work with Jacob remotely on some projects for the next few months, but I’d like to take this opportunity to formally thank Jacob for his incredible contribution to our team and wish him all the best in his transition back home!

As always there’s a lot to soak up below. You can also check out a chat I had with revered manager Michael Parisi for his podcast Vinyl Tap, where we talked about the state of play in artist management today, and some ideas on how we can move forward in such an unpredictable year ahead. I’d love to get any feedback on whether you agree / disagree with the points raised and if you have any other ideas you want to share with me!

Happy reading!
Maggie 

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