BIGSOUND Speaker Profile: Luke Logemann

27 August 2015 | 4:27 pm | Staff Writer

Name: Luke Logemann

Business: UNFD 

Position/Title: Head of Recorded Music

How did you first become involved in the music business? I started putting on my own shows and started a small label when I was about 16. It started purely as a hobby and everything just snowballed from there, really.

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What do you perceive to be your area of expertise and how did you gain experience in this field? I manage artists, run a record label, promote a festival and run an online merchandise store. So I have experience across a few different areas of the industry, which I have gained by just going out and giving each thing a go.

Popular culture tells us that the music industry is all about hedonism, drugs and partying - how true is this in your experience? I guess experiences vary from person to person, but I don't think the music industry holds a candle to the finance or IT industries when it comes to partying.

In this time of technological change how do you see the dissemination of music changing in the future? Is there still a place for physical product? There will always be a place for quality physical product, but you need to give people a reason to want to purchase that product. Lazy packaging isn't going to cut it anymore.

Some pundits espouse that the future of music is electronic-based - in your opinion is rock'n'roll passé? All I work on is rock music and, in particular, that of the harder variety. It's definitely not dead, we are just in a particular moment where radio and TV isn't interested. That will change soon enough.

Do you think it's a good or bad time to be starting out as a musician? I don't think there is ever a good or bad time, you just need to make good music and find a way to stand out and connect with your audience. That's always been the case, regardless of the tools available in whatever year it is.

What advice would you give young practitioners in your area starting out today? Write good music, know who you are and find a way to stand out and connect with your audience. Work out what makes you better than every other band.

What will you be primarily discussing during your appearance at the BIGSOUND conference? How Australian heavy rock bands are making waves in overseas territories.

What are you hoping that people will be able to learn from your panel/interview? Hopefully they can get a snapshot of what it actually takes to make it overseas, so they can decide whether its something they'd like to pursue.

What do you personally hope to take away from your time at BIGSOUND? I love meeting people and talking to them. BIGSOUND gives young people a chance to learn from the mistakes others have made. I'm glad to have a chance to share some of my knowledge.