BIGSOUND 2012: Dave Jiannis

Business/Position:
Epitaph/Anti/Hellcat Records Australia – Label Manager.

How did you first become involved in the music business?
First off being a fan of music. Working in record stores at an early age. Playing in bands, meeting people in the industry. Started casual work in a warehouse packing cds and moved up from there. Learning  along the way.

What do you perceive to be your area of expertise, and how did you gain experience this field?
Promoting and marketing a diverse roster of artists on the label. Being involved in the industry from an early age, being surrounded by it and learning from others. Gained experience from selling music to retail outlets across the country. This is helped by what marketing + promotion is happening with the artist/release. These tools together help drive those sales. Then being lucky enough to be employed by Epitaph Records and learning their way of doing things whilst working with artists ranging from Tom Waits through to Pennywise.

What will you be primarily discussing during your appearance at the BIGSOUND conference?
How punk rock is not dead! It has just evolved into many different forms and sub-genres. Whether it be hardcore, emo, screamo, post-hardcore, crab-core (haha, yes it exists) and also the many different ways people can access music and the challenges we face in getting people's attention to listen to music.
What are you hoping that people will be able to learn from your panel/interview? How partying is all we do in the music business. We only work 3-4 hours a day and party all weekend.  Ha! A lot of hours and hard work go into putting out a record. From setting it up months prior, working it up to release date and beyond.  That we work for our artists, they don't work for us, as without them, we wouldn't have a job!

What are you expecting to take away yourself from your visit to BIGSOUND?
Hopefully a clean and healthy liver!