Power 50 - #3: Jessica Ducrou & Paul Piticco

The Secret Sounds team had the wind in their sails at the start of 2017, as at the end of 2016 it was announced global touring behemoth Live Nation had acquired 51 percent of the company. Immediately after at Falls Festival though, there were a couple of setbacks though for which the team took a hit, from incidents obviously beyond their control. There were allegations of sexual assault at Marion Bay and a stampede at the Lorne event (with WorkSafe Victoria finding there was insufficient evidence in the end at the latter to establish any offence to organisers).

From a less than brilliant start to 2017, Ducrou and Piticco powered on. The two cornerstones of the Secret Sounds touring calendar, Splendour and Falls, performed strongly as per ever. Splendour once again sold out in the blink of an eye, with all general admission tickets gone in under an hour courtesy of a jam-packed bill featuring The xx, LCD Soundsystem, Sigur Ros, Queens Of The Stone Age, HAIM and more.

Meanwhile the most recent 25th anniversary Falls shows, powered by the likes of Flume, Run The Jewels, The Kooks, Glass Animals, Liam Gallagher, sold out all four venues (including an increased capacity at Byron Bay and Fremantle). Plus Secret Sounds added a new must-see festival to the calendar, launching Sydney City Limits, sister event to the famed Austin City Limits.

As Ducrou said at the announcement, “As a Sydney sider I’m super excited to bring this new event to town. Sydney City Limits looks forward to presenting some of the most awesome international and Australian acts around. Offering up the best in show, it’s very much going to be a celebration of Sydney itself – the food, local artists and the community that makes it such a great place to live and visit.” Secret Sounds also have a hand in the inaugural Download Festival in Melbourne too.

But it wasn’t just touring and festivals that occupied the attention of Secret Sounds throughout the year, they were ensuring punters had a place to witness the music. With North Byron Parklands receiving a 20-month extension to its trial period through to August 2019,it means the venue for Splendour andFalls’ Byron leg are locked in until then. Meanwhile, Piticco is leading the charge in Brisbane to fill in the gap left by the conversion of Festival Hall into apartments, by being part of the team to build a 3300-capacity venue in Brunswick Street Mall, with work having begun at the start of this year.

There is always a heavy focus on social issues from Secret Sounds too. When northern NSW, around North Byron Parklands, copped the brunt of flooding in the wake of Cyclone Debbie, they auctioned off gold passes to Splendour, with 100 percent of proceeds going to flood relief in the Northern Rivers regions. They were also one of the prime movers with music industry supported initiative Your Choice, created to address the growing cultural issues and harmful behaviour within the musical landscape. Ducrou stated at its launch, “The message loud and clear is that if you see some antisocial behaviour at the festival you do need to talk, you do need to speak up, we do want to hear from you. We’re always going through a process of improvement, we see this as a really important step for a safe event for everyone.”