Influenced by my father, a part-time musician, my passion for music started at a very young age of four, I grew up obsessed  with the Australian TV show Young Talent Time on ABC, and VHR Tapes of Billy Ocean and ABBA music videos. If there was any time in my life that I would count as my favourite happy memorable time, it would be those days as a Young Talent Time performer jumping from one lounge chair to the other, dancing and singing at the top of my lungs. lol!

When I was about nine or 10, my father would have my two brothers and I practice music with him. My brother Russell would be the keyboardist, my younger brother Jeran Ukulele and at times keyboardist, and I was the singer if not strumming along with my ukulele. We all loved music, learning new chords and songs that we’d hear on the radio, it was pretty much our favourite family activity.

Interestingly, when I was in Grade 4, I fell in love with poems and writing poems, that is where I discovered songwriting. I had a very wild creative imagination, creative enough to write short poems, give them a tune and turn them into songs. I started teaching a few of my friends in class with the help of my long time childhood friend Joy songs that we’d compose. One day, Joy and I convinced our classmates to get their parents to drop them off at my place on a Saturday so my dad (who had no idea) could record us. I had no idea how recording worked at the time, but I was convinced we could somehow record our songs onto blank cassette tapes.lol. We ended up recording something but it didn’t work out,.That same year, I wrote a letter to my now boss Raymond Chin. I can’t remember the contents of my letter, but I am pretty sure I sent him a couple of my songs and asking him to give us a recording opportunity to record our songs. You’re probably wondering where I got his address… Well, it was printed at the back of every cassette tape from CHM Supersound. Lol

Fast track to two decades later, in 2011the HR Agency that I signed up for called me one day to tell me they had three opportunities for me, two real estate companies, and one was with CHM. I knew CHM was pretty much into retail, having visited their store as a teenager to buy cassettes. I asked what the role was, and I was told it was PA to the Managing Director. So I then asked who the managing director was and I was told Raymond Chin. I was stoked! The opportunity to work with Raymond Chin, wow! I had no experience as a secretary, but I was super keen for an experience of a lifetime to work for him. I got the job, but moved on as his PA a year later into the music business full-time as a Music Admin Coordinator, where I also volunteered as a part-time TV host on the CHM Supersound local Music TV program called Rait Musik. I was later promoted to music division operations supervisor and now Music Operations Manager. My role is still evolving within the corporate world,with one foot still in the music business to date.

Apart from music,  I also run marketing and other special projects for the company. My day can be fast paced and hectic, so I start off with checking my emails, going through my daily planner and project trackers for each project to make sure my team and I are tracking well according to schedule with our daily deliverables.

Music deliverables could be, meeting with music producer, updating recording schedules, liaising with artist on music contracts,  social media content, scheduling music releases, music pitching, copywriting, press releases, music publishing enquiries with APRA, artist and content users. It’s never the same thing every day or week, but I love it, I get to learn new things on the job everyday, and work with an amazing supportive team. We all get to learn, and experience growth together which is great!

I live in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, the music scene here has changed so much from string band, local pop to a modern style adapting mainstream trends. The major game changers in this era are the new generation of ridiculously talented self-taught music producers and vocalists.

Unfortunately some of the challenges of a developing country facing content piracy issues affect the digital revenue for artists looking to sell their music on both physical copies and digital. Most artists and musicians earn a revenue through live gigs here. If they are able to capture the following of the South Pacific diaspora in developed countries, retain and grow that following, they have a good chance of getting a good number of streams on digital platforms and get invited to perform at shows internationally, which means a good return for them overtime.

No you don’t need one, but in order to  understand the structure of the music industry and how music revenue works is important.

I met a lot of people in the PNG music industry that did not go to college to study music business to be good at what they do, a lot of them self taught… All I had when I first joined was my passion for music, a growth mindset, and a cause. Unfortunately music business courses are not offered in PNG, and the music industry is not listed as an eligible industry under development scholarships offered to Papua New Guineans.

Oh I had a lot of challenges, especially in this male dominated local industry, so many to count. One of my biggest challenges as a woman in the music industry, was earning the trust and respect of the men in the industry. I remember being told I was not a sound engineer/producer at a music release meeting. I was upset, felt displaced but turned that into motivation and spent the next couple of years paying regular visits to the studio to have one on one meetings with our sound engineer/producer, instilling into him self-belief, sharing music that was trending at the time, encouraging him to experiment with local music and western genres… The next couple of years saw him making local hits after hits, contributing to the changing of the game in the local PNG music trend.

My role model locally will always be Mr. Raymond Chin MBE, without him, there would be no music industry in PNG. I learnt so much from him, and I wouldn’t be where I am today, if he did not believe in me or given me the opportunity to play a leading role in his music business. I still learn from him everyday, not only music business, but life skills as well.

Also, Braden Chin, an expert in the music business in the South Pacific, also responsible for where I am today. He was behind the nomination of Solomon Islands artist Jaro Local, the first Pacific Islander living in the islands to win the “Best International Pacific Artist” with hit song Daki Ni Tangarareh at the 2019 Pacific Music Awards in New Zealand. Not a lot of people know that, behind the results there was someone putting in the work. I am extremely proud of him, and will always be his biggest supporter!

Internationally, my role models,  introduced to me by Braden are Budi Voogt and Tim van Doorne, founders of Heroic who’s music business courses under Heroic Academy, their music courses taught me the ropes in music marketing, music pitching, and how music business worked.

Oh this is a tough one, there is a ridiculous number of talented independent artists and producers out there that I follow!

My Top 3 Artists to watch

1. Loi, also known as Leonie Greiner, is a 19-year-old singer songwriter from Germany. At the tender age of 14 her powerful voice, dark tone and incredible range carried her into the final of The Voice Kids 2017. She broke out into the music scene when she started uploading cover songs on TikTok, starting her own grand adventure in music at 18, I love her cover of Weeknd’s song Blinding Lights and I am anticipating the release of her cover of Slander’s Love Is Gone that she teased on TikTok recently.

2. Tems – a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and producer whose thoughtful blend of alternative R&B and Afrobeat earned her international attention, collaborating with WizKid, Justin Biber and Drake, and more recently a cover of Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry for the Marvel movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. I am obsessed with a number of her popular tracks. She’s one to watch. I first discovered her music on TikTok, and have been following her since.

3. Mereani Masani (female artist PNG) – she is the lead vocalist for the South Pacific 2015 game theme song Time To Shine, as well as the 2016 FIFA WWC-U19 theme song Kumul Susa. When I think of vocal control, I think Mereani :). She has an unreleased single that was recorded in 2016 by one of Solomon Islands top producer Baka Solomon, that I believe is going to be huge for her when released.

My Top 3 Producers to watch.

1. Hudson Matai known by his stage name as ‘Son’ from Solomon Islands. He has worked on a number of albums with top Solomon Islands reggae groups DMP, Onetox and recently on a couple of collaboration projects between Jamaican and Solomon Islands Artists.

2. Jamie Magunaua known by his stage name ‘3L4iCKO’ (Blaicko). I was introduced to his production by one of our top PNG artists, Nathan Nakikus, on Nathan’s song World Go Round, around the time when EDM was just taking off in PNG. This guy is ridiculously talented and why not, he is the youngest coming from a family of talented producers and musicians, definitely one to watch.

3. Raymond Waloloki, known by stage name ‘Skolaw’ also from PNG, the producer behind the 2015 South Pacific Games theme song Time To Shine, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Apart from being self taught, he’s stepped up his career to formally gain professional certification from the Audio institute of America in his craft, and continues to produce music for upcoming international artists as a freelance producer.

My greatest achievement was seeing PNG music from the CHM Supersound Library, made accessible on Spotify and Apple Music, that project alone took almost five years.

My Grade 5 teacher Mrs Beatrice Genia once told me, “If I don’t succeed I must try and try again” that has stuck with me all my life. It made sense later in life. To condition yourself to have a growth mindset. So when things don’t turn out the way you want it to, find the lesson, learn, make changes and keep working towards your goals. Failure is just part of the process, it’s just another step in the journey to  success.

I count myself fortunate to be able to work with Braden Chin, one of the best mentors, an inspiring leader who continues to contribute to my personal and professional career growth.

The biggest threat to artists right now is the lack of basic music business knowledge. A lot of upcoming artists tend to think all they need to do is record music and try to get it onto the radio playlist to get their song enough traction to get them gigs. But there are so many opportunities to get them exposure and to monetise their content out there, unlike before.

They either need a label or manager to do the business side of things and let them focus on their creativity and performance. But that would mean sharing a percentage of their revenue, which again is another scary thing for them, as understanding contracts will need someone educated and well versed with how music business works to go over the contracts with them, negotiate and make sure they get a good deal.

There is not much digital revenue to make domestically because no one will pay for music when they can download off youtube and share files. However, if an artist is serious about breaking out into other music markets, they will need a team, have the right attitude and consistency when it comes to songwriting and recording new music. They will need a manager. Not everyone will agree with me. I can’t change everything, the only thing I can do is provide advice, which I do for artists who I am friends with, within PNG and the Solomon Islands. I still help them with music publishing, APRA queries, registration, cut deals, song pitching and anything an artist manager would do, but for free when I can find time. Lol

Two dogs and a pickup truck living in the outback on a farm wasn’t a bad idea and was achievable. Never let anyone talk you into making their dream for you, yours, they don’t get to stick around to support you emotionally and mentally in the long run.

Yes, loud music and singing, pretty sure my landlord understands lol, sleep-ins on Sundays and evening walks by the seaside  just before sunset, I love sunsets.

To be honest, I have not been firm with setting boundaries at all, ’til recently this year when I started experiencing a burnout. I now try to leave work on time, and try to make plans to spend time with family and friends. I’m pretty much a homebody these days after years of socialising.

Put on some noise canceling headphones or in-earbuds and listen to this playlist of motivational speeches on Spotify called ‘This is Motivational Speech’

Followed by songs Elastic Heart and Unstoppable by SIA to re-emphasis self-belief and switch on that inner beast mode. Sia my-go-to-artist for empowerment any day!

Colour Of Love by Billy Ocean (My whole childhood and everyone I lost in that song).