Power 50 - #6: Jaddan Comerford

A company restructure means usually one of two things: evidence of growth, or of redundancies. In the case of UNIFIED, it’s a sign of how much development has taken place. Since its inception in only 2011, UNIFIED has reached far beyond its roots as Australia’s home of youth-focused heavy music.

“Looking back at our original statement of intent, none of what we believe has changed, but we’ve grown and expanded in such amazing ways that it was time for us to refresh the way we organise our divisions,” founder and Chief Executive Jaddan Comerford said in a statement in July, when it was announced that UNIFIED would relaunch as UNIFIED Music Group. The new look entity now operates across four core pillars – UNIFIED Artist Management, UNIFIED Recorded Music, UNIFIED Touring & Events and UNIFIED Merchandise Services.

And within those pillars, UNIFIED artists went from strength to strength. Management clients like Amy Shark picked up two ARIAs, while Vance Joy returned with his single Lay It On Me coming in at #9 in the Hottest 100. On the recorded front, there were signings of the likes of Didirri (Comerford personally singing him, stating at the announcement, “From first hearing Blind You, I fell in love with his voice and unique way of storytelling”) and Tonight Alive, the latter of which debuted at #11 on the ARIA album charts and was triple j’s feature album. Label faves Northlane surprised dropped their crushing album Mesmer, debuting at #3 on the ARIA album charts.

UNIFIED were also busy becoming partners in the inaugural Download Festival in Melbourne, renewing their publishing partnership with Mushroom in May and launching THAA Records from The Hills Are Alive festival team. Violent Soho guitarist James Tidswell (already managed by UNIFIED) launched Domestic La La Records with the assistance of the parent company.

“I am proud to be the CEO of what I truly believe is a company looking into the future,” Comerford said at the company’s relaunch. “We want to be able to give everyone as many opportunities as possible to succeed and have long lasting careers.” On the evidence of the past 12 months or so, that seems easily achievable.