I was deeply obsessed with music from a young age. My parents love to tell a story from when I was eight years old and they were standing at the school gates discussing with the other parents what gifts they were buying their daughters for Christmas. Most wanted the latest Barbie doll and I wanted Alice Cooper’s Poison on vinyl! I’m so fortunate that my parents wholeheartedly supported my passion for music from an early age – driving me to shows, hanging by stage doors for me to get autographs, waiting outside record stores so I could get my hands on albums as soon as they were released. I’ve never had a musical talent of my own, but I’ve always been the ultimate fan.

When I finished school I was accepted into a journalism course at uni but deferred so I could sample a year of a ‘Music Business Management’ course at JMC. The course itself was fine but via a girl in my class, I secured an interview for a Christmas casual position in the EMI call centre. I got the job and that eight-week position turned into four years full-time with the company. I had roles in sales, on reception and later in the frontline marketing team. This was in the early to mid 2000s when EMI was absolutely crushing it domestically with acts like Jet, Missy Higgins, The Cat Empire, etc. It was an absolute baptism by fire and I loved every second of it!

At the age of 23 I made the big decision to step away from EMI in order to widen my work experience. I spent the next four years working in events, touring & event merchandise and managing BJB Studios before being brought back to EMI by Scott Horscroft and Mark Poston to take the position of A&R Coordinator. With all the experience I had gathered, alongside my in-depth knowledge of the company and its incredible roster, this felt like the logical next move for me.

I’ve been back at EMI for almost 11 years now and while there have been many ups and downs over the years, I thank my lucky stars that through a lot of hard work and some real luck I’ve ended up where I am today.

As A&R Lead, I look after a roster of artists and support them from the songwriting and recording phase all the way through to release and beyond. I am also responsible for seeking out new talent to bring into the label.

I listen to a lot of music! This is made up of demo’s, production and mixes from my roster as well as tracks from unsigned artists and new releases from all around the globe. I prepare production notes, liaise with artists & managers, songwriters, publishers, producers and mixers. 

I spend a lot of time meeting with artists, managers, and my internal team both locally and internationally to work on bringing the artists vision to life. This includes delivering final music ready for release, managing budgets, contributing to release strategy discussions and creative planning for videos, photoshoots & content.

Outside of the office I attend shows, events, studio sessions, video shoots, conferences etc. No day is the same and it’s certainly never boring!

Firstly, my incredible team who are some of the most hard working, artist driven, passionate and genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. In this data driven world, it’s so easy to take the heart out of what we do and it’s so inspiring to watch the team go above and beyond on a daily basis in their best efforts to make our artists dreams come true.

Secondly, it would have to be all of the people who have managed to balance their professional and personal lives. In the music industry, these two things tend to blur quite heavily due to all the gigs, events and out of hours meetings that we all attend. Being an active & present parent, partner, friend, etc can be challenging and I admire anyone who has been able to put personal boundaries in place to protect these relationships and their own mental health while still nailing their job.

The highs are definitely when an artist you work with achieves their goals. We all really put our hearts and souls into the releases we support and when the stars align, it’s so rewarding. On the flip side, sometimes despite all the hard work things just don’t land with the audience and that can be difficult to reconcile. 

Personally I’ve lived through the highs and lows of restructures, redundancies and promotions and have turned my lifelong passion for music into a long term career. My greatest achievement would have to be holding a senior A&R position in what is still a male dominated field.

Working with The Avalanches. I joined the project in 2015 as the band were putting the finishing touches on their highly anticipated sophomore album, Wildflower. The album had been in development for over a decade, so I took on the challenging task of project managing the final sample clearances, feature agreements and product set up all while keeping the album a secret from anyone not directly involved. It was truly a labour of love and a real thrill to see the album released in 2016 to such well-deserved acclaim.

I have since worked on their third album I Will Always Love You as well as the 20^th Anniversary reissue of Since I Left You and I’m still pinching myself that I get to work with these absolute legends of the game. 

Without a doubt it’s the team, our culture and our roster. Throughout my many years with the company, I can confidently say that EMI has remained artist lead, with a strong focus on creativity, collaboration and kindness. We keep our rosters lean in order to be present and dedicated to our artists and no voice is considered more important than another.

KIAN, Jada Weazel and Nick Ward

Attend lots of gigs, contribute to music blogs, join online communities, volunteer at a recording studio or at a community radio station.

It’s important to work on developing your ear so listen to loads of music and do your research into who wrote/recorded/released it. Be vocal about what you love and networking is your friend!

I think it can be best described as ‘one step forward, two steps back’. For the artists in creation mode they’ve faced creative blocks, writing sessions migrating to Zoom (which doesn’t work for everyone’s creative process), studio and border closures. Video and photo shoots have been cancelled/rescheduled numerous times with the on set rules changing regularly. Tours have been cancelled/rescheduled due to lockdowns and lack of consumer confidence and even now with things largely open, there is so much competition for ticket sales and with a diminished income over this period it’s hard for many artists to accept shows without losing money.

I think a lot of brilliant albums and singles were overlooked or missed altogether during the pandemic without touring or the traditional promotional opportunities available to artists. As we’ve all seen, artists had to pivot to becoming content creators to maintain and grow their fanbase online and that’s an enormous amount of pressure, particularly at a time when most of us were doing very little apart from binging Netflix in our tracksuits on the couch.

On a positive note, I think we’ve all become much more adaptable and creative with our thinking and planning. Things aren’t quite back to business as usual yet but we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I don’t really have a specific goal, I just want to keep learning, growing and hopefully using my experience and passion to positively impact those around me.

To “always take your seat at the table”. Having the confidence to contribute to the conversation when you know you have something valid to offer.

Sampa The Great. Where do I even start?! The music, her message, the visuals, her stage presence… I’m obsessed.

It would have to be The Beatles final show on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building in January 1969. While a bit of an obvious artist choice, there’s no denying the legacy of The Beatles and the intimate nature of that show would make it absolutely unforgettable.

My roster are all back writing and recording new music and boy, is there some incredible stuff on the way. I’m loving regularly seeing live music again, catching up with interstaters and people from overseas who I’ve only been seeing on my computer screen for the last few years and planning some travel of my own.

Sadly we’ll be saying goodbye to our beloved MD John O’Donnell in September but I’m super excited for the extraordinary Mark Holland (MD) and Alicia Reynolds (GM) to lead us into this next chapter.

Like A Prayer by Madonna. It never fails to get the room going!