Power 50 - #31: Claire Collins

Bossy Music has set the golden standard in Australia for artist management and promotion thanks in part to the fearless leadership of founder Clare Collins.

The greatest measure of this is Bossy Music’s continuing success is the placement of their artists in the triple j Hottest 100 every year since the company’s inception in 2009. 2017 was no different with Bossy Music artist securing no less than six positions for Lorde’s Green Light, Homemade Dynamite, Perfect Places and Liability, Billie Eilish’s bellyache and Flume’s Hyperreal. Collins defining success in that last 12 months is the proud championing of emerging and established female talent.

Last year saw Bossy Music take on publicity duties for two young rising stars in 16-year-old Californian Billie Eilish and Perth-based singer/songwriter Stella Donnelly. Both artists have broken into the national and international markets and have garnered the kind of buzz that sees them referenced in several other entries in the Power 50 this year as well. Donnelly’s debut EP Thrush Metal and her first single Boys Will Be Boys was universally praised by the likes of Pitchfork, NPR and Rolling Stone for its powerful message about toxic masculinity.

Similarly, Eilish has become one of the most sought after young artists of the last 12 months, releasing her much loved EP don’t smile at me which led to her being named Apple Music’s latest UPNEXT artist, all before her seventeenth birthday. Another one of Collins’ 2017 successes came in the form of New Zealand songstress Lorde’s much anticipated second album Melodrama. The record has been widely acclaimed as one of the best pop records of the year, landing on dozens of top ten lists and nominated for Album of the Year at the 2017 Grammy Awards. Collins continuing work with Laneway festival has seen it grow and evolve into one of the stable touring music festivals in Australia and the Asia region. The rapid expansion of the festival has not come at the expensive of its reputation of being one of the most in-touch and relatable music festivals thanks to Collins masterful brand representation.