WAM Festival Speaker Profile: Andrew Fuller

Organisation and Position: Principal, Andrew Fuller Commercial, Arts & Entertainment Law (Melbourne) and New Action Management.

 How did you first become involved in the music business? I started playing in original bands in Perth - Spank, Pete Stone & The Assistance, The Mission Blue and then joined the WAM board in the early '00s while studying a law degree.

What's your area of expertise and what experience do you have?  I manage musicians (Kim Salmon, Rob Snarski and Timothy Nelson), prepare Australia Council grants for a long list of clients, and provide business and legal advice to all strata of participants in the music business: songwriters, studios, festivals, publishers, managers, bands and performing artists, producers, labels, caterers, venues. I was recently awarded a lifetime membership to Music Victoria for my service to the MV board of management.

 What topics will you be mostly talking about at WAM?  I'm appearing on the panel for the session 'The Biz-  Starting a Successful Music Business' at the WA Music Conference and will be talking about the right business structure for your business, the importance of the right business partnerships and identifying and building a strong and enduring relationship with your customers.

What do you hope to personally take away from the WA Music Conference and WAM Festival events?  Meeting new people and catching up with old friends and learning more about innovative business models within the creative industries and emerging artists in WA.

What's one question about the music industry you'd love to have the answer to? When will music streaming companies admit that they are in the business of collecting big data on consumer behaviour and are in fact not "music companies"?

One piece of advice to make it in the music biz? Work on your songwriting and don't sell out your publishing rights too early. Instead aim to build good relationships with music placement agencies.