BIGSOUND: Joe Schiavon

Business: Global Live 

Position/Title: Promoter

How did you first become involved in the music business? My uncle was in a punk band in the '80s that were signed to EMI, so I kind of grew up around it, playing in bands at school and organising little gigs in the school hall. I did a music business degree and it went from there.

What do you perceive to be your area of expertise and how did you gain experience in this field? I work in live music, concerts and festivals, but I certainly wouldn't call myself an expert by any means. I've recently started as a national promoter, and learned more in the last couple of months than the last few years, and hopefully that will only continue!

Popular culture tells us that the music industry is all about hedonism, drugs and partying - how true is this in your experience? I guess it's not NOT true, but you can involve yourself in as much or as little of that aspect of it as you want, just like you can in normal life I suppose?

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? I think ours is probably the last generation that will really use physical products, because we're nostalgic about it. Children who grow up with iTunes and Spotify will probably just continue streaming because that's what's natural to them. Assuming nothing better comes along!

Some pundits espouse that the future of music is electronic-based - in your opinion is rock'n'roll passé? I think if anything electronic music is maybe starting to decline a little bit. While there are obviously still acts like Calvin Harris and David Guetta that will do crazy business, I don't think it's a licence to print money. Rock music is going nowhere, it'll always be there.

Do you think it's a good or bad time to be starting out as a musician? I don't think there's ever a good or bad time really. While the internet makes it a lot easier to get your message out there, it also means you're competing in a global marketplace, which you wouldn't have been 20 years ago. It just forces you to work harder.

What advice would you give young practitioners in your area starting out today? Start small, grow your thing gradually and learn from your mistakes. I started promoting a club night in a bar in my hometown and just expanded from there, making my own share of mistakes along the way but becoming a much better promoter as a result.

What will you be primarily discussing during your appearance at the BIGSOUND conference? I'd imagine it'll be the usual contenders - festival exclusivities, the lack of headliners, the future of ticketing etc. 

What are you hoping that people will be able to learn from your panel/interview? Hopefully they'll learn some of the differences between how the UK/Australian markets operate (I might actually learn that myself), some of the things we work on, the challenges we face and some of the things that might or might not be happening in the coming months/years.

What do you personally hope to take away from your time at BIGSOUND? I'm just excited to visit Australia for the first time, meet some of the delegates, see some bands, and hopefully have a great time in the process!