BIGSOUND 2016 Speaker Focus: Tim Shiel

Organisation: Spirit Level, Label Manager

How did you first become involved in the music business and how did you end up where you are today? I started a grunge band with my mates in high school, but we broke up when I got a cracked version of FruityLoops. "Creative differences".

What's been the biggest change in the music business you've seen over the past 12 months? I think streaming and playlists are becoming increasingly central - that's not exactly new in the past 12 months, but the general industry awareness around it has taken some time to catch up.

What do you think will be the biggest issue affecting the music industry in the next 12 months and why? There's more great music being made than ever before, which is fantastic, but also brings challenges for both artists and listeners. We are beyond critical mass in terms of what music fans can cope with.

What advice would you give young practitioners in your area starting out today? Listen to everyone and anyone, be patient and polite, and make learning your goal. Try and make your goals realistic ones (this is hard). Surround yourself with warm, creative and honest people.

What will you be primarily discussing during your appearance at the BIGSOUND conference? I'm interested in finding ways to get the music community and the gaming/tech community to have better conversations, and to collaborate to make cool stuff together that people actually want to engage with.

What are you hoping that people will be able to learn from your panel/interview? There's never been a better time for artists and labels to reach out to game and app developers to try and make cool stuff. I hope my panel plants that seed with some people.

What do you personally hope to take away from your time at BIGSOUND? I don't know (sorry).

Which acts are you most looking forward to checking out at BIGSOUND? I'm biased, but two bands I work very closely with - Braille Face and Telling - are playing back-to-back on Thursday night, alongside Broadway Sounds and Rat & Co. A huge Melbourne line-up.

When and where is your panel/interview? 7 Sep, The Judith Wright Centre, 11.20am.