Music industry veteran and leading Australian artist manager Gregg Donovan has announced that he will be hosting a free online music business training seminar this month for people wanting to get into the business.
As a director of his own music company, Wonderlick, Donovan has worked with a number of huge Aussie music acts including Grinspoon, Airbourne, Pete Murray and Boy & Bear to name a few.
Speaking to theMusic, Donovan said that the motivation behind the decision to host a seminar was to give opportunities to fresh talent that he wasn't given at a younger age.
"When I started in the business back in the very early 90’s there wasn’t any courses or anything to go and study that related to the music industry at all."
He has made a point to attend as many seminars and functions as he can over the years, including annual Aus industry event BIGSOUND to offer his advice.
"It’s important to keep the industry healthy and I wish it was there when I was younger," Donovan said.
Learning about the music business is something Donovan believes can be achieved best with mentoring.
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"I’ve always looked for mentors and I’ve always looked for people who can give me advice, so even from day one I was trying to find someone who had done it before."
However, he revealed he learnt a great deal about the industry during the 90's where he spent much time on the road as a tour manager.
"That’s where I really got to self-learn, by watching what other managers and agents and promoters were doing."
He recalled working with now hugely successful US artist Ben Harper on his first Aussie tour and then seeing him through his next four national tours.
"I got to see him grow from [NSW venue] The Basement to the Hordern Pavilion."
"That took five tours and a few albums and I got to watch how he organically grew and all the strategies behind it."
He hopes his online seminar can give people advice that helps them in the industry today.
"There’s so much negative talk about the music business these days and it has been a tough place in terms of album sales, but in terms of tickets and merchandising and other things, it’s been great ," Donovan said.
"So I’m hoping to help inspire people to get that it’s going to be a healthy business again…it’s coming back around already and there are elements of it you can control."
Donovan went on to say that one of his most favourite pieces of advice came from fellow leading Aussie music figure John Watson who said: "You have to be prepared to 'un-learn'."
"I’ve got 19 year old's teaching me new ways of how things are working and I’ve also got 40 year old’s telling me that too," he explained.
"[The music industry] moves left, it moves right, technology changes things dramatically…what you learn might be different next month so you have to be ready to change your opinion all the time."
Donovan's free online seminar will take place on Tuesday, 14 July from 7pm — to register and secure your spot, click here.
