The Great Divide

At an industry panel at Brisbane's recent BIGSOUND conference and showcase, a British booker (who shall remain nameless) made a contentious assertion – that Australia may just possess the friendliest music industry on the planet.

It seems a stretch, but Jen Long – a veteran of not only previous BIGSOUND events but multiple international trips around the world – is happy to confirm it on her way Down Under for the upcoming Face The Music conference, as a guest of the annual Melbourne Music Week event.

“Everyone in Australia was just so friendly to me, and just so lovely,” she enthuses down the line from England. “I think within the three days I spent at BIGSOUND, I met more than half the Australian music industry, and everyone was so nice that we’re still friends today.

“When I got announced for Face The Music, loads of people from Sydney were like, ‘You are going to come to Sydney though, right?’ … but I think in the UK, I think you just have to prove yourself; and once you’ve proved that you’re either a good person or you’re actually doing good work, and you’re bringing something, then people are so nice.”

She should know – Long only recently wrapped up a considerable career as a presenter for BBC Introducing, a radio program renowned for its track record in breaking bands, and she now splits her time between running celebrated indie label Kissability, working with Aussie world-beaters DZ Deathrays, and promoting just-launched initiative DICE, a gig-finding app that does away with pesky (and unnecessary) booking fees.

While she’s in town for Melbourne Music Week, though, Long will canvass topics from the radio industry to the speed with which bands now break through – and break up.

“I’m sure that’s something that we’ll explore [at Face The Music], but I think it’s very easy to get caught up in buzz and hype,” she says.

Still, despite her clear wealth of knowledge and experience in the industry, Long says making the long trip to Australia for conferences such as Face The Music is still an incredibly worthwhile exercise.

"I think, the thing is, because we’re in London, it’s so easy to get to Europe and it’s so easy to get to America that … you know, you can be emailing someone and the chances are you’re gonna get to meet up with them within a few months of emailing, but when you’re emailing someone in Australia and you’re trying to get anything done,” she explains. “You guys are so far away from us; it takes 24 hours to fly there, so I think it’s really valuable to meet up with people face to face. You get to know so much more about a person and what they do by meeting up with them.

“Over email it’s so difficult; the real value is going out to things like Face The Music and making contacts, because then people are fresh in your mind and when you’re back in the office like, ‘Who can we get to do that? We need someone to do that!’, then you’re like, ‘Ah! I know!’ – And even if you don’t know, you’ll know someone you can email.”​