TOP 3 TIPS FOR
BUY LOCAL
RIKIHANA DOUGLAS
Richmond Music
Connect locally, collaborate with other NZ
artists, share each other’s posts, go to their
shows. Get to know the local music industry
from promoters, managers, labels, radio,
publicists by going to industry events and
getting to know people.
Keep releasing. You are still competing
with international artists on Spotify and at
radio, so the music quality has to be high.
Work with local producers, and mixers to
help you record and produce international
quality music.
Stay active and let your passion show, keep
up activity on socials and engage with
the music community. Support others and
share what you are working on.
Richmond Music manage Montell2099, SACHI, Matthew Young, LA WOMEN,
Melodownz, Ambian & Sleo.
YEE YANG ‘SQUARE’ LEE
SquareSums&Co
KIWI MUSIC IS MORE AWESOME THAN YOU
THINK - Show the world how proud you are
of homegrown musicians and catalogue by
buying, streaming, supporting and sharing
your favourite Kiwi musicians with whanau
and friends across the globe.
TO LIVE(STREAM) OR NOT TO LIVE(STREAM)
- Be clear WHY you want to livestream: just
because you can doesn’t mean you should.
If there are sound reasons to livestream,
and you can do it well, go for it – but make
sure you make it easy for your fans to buy
your music and/or merch, or support you
some other way.
GROW LOVE FROM LIKES - Help your
audience show their love for what you do
by offering moments of insights into your
craft through your social platforms. Help
them grow from likers to loyal fans.
SquareSums&Co manage Troy Kingi & Modern Maori Quartet.
LORRAINE BARRY
MMF Manager of the Year
Look for new opportunities locally but
always strive for global standards in your
creativity.
Your work is never done. Add ‘research’
and ‘education’ to your to do list. Keep
abreast of changes. Watch how other
artists are approaching their releases and
how it impacts on their profile, streams
and following. Join the MMF and IMNZ for
mentoring and upskilling.
Have a plan, broken down into sub-plans.
(I am the to-do-list Queen) Write, reject,
write, reject, write. Rehearse, refine,
rethink. Create exciting art, photography,
visuals, blog, that do justice to the time
spent creating your music. Never move too
soon. Make anything you do count.
Lorraine Barry manages Dave Dobbyn, Tom Scott, Team Dynamite,
Milly Tabak & The Miltones .
CUSHLA ASTON
Aston Rd
The number 1 thing to remember is -
“If You Do Nothing, Nothing Happens”
Connect - with your fans & audience
however you can, but don’t oversaturate it.
keep it fresh and authentic.
Collaborate - with other musicians, other
arts disciplines and align with brands.
Grow together and support each other.
Create - keep creating and bring your
audience in on the conversation, allow
them to be part of the creation journey.
Carry On - Try and try again, if you try
something and it doesn’t work, try
something else. Most of us are making it
up as we go along anyway.
Cash - Don’t be afraid of asking your fans to
support you, they often want to but don’t
know how, make it easy for them.
Aston Rd manages Louis Baker.
TANA TUPAI
Tomorrow People
Think about what other ways you can
create additional income. Do you have
excess merchandise/cd stock of past work?
Many of your fans would be willing to
purchase brand new merchandise that they
may have purchased in the past!
JUST ASK! - Now is an opportunity to
engage with your fans more than ever, so
feel free to ask them what they would like
to see you get up to.
Being an artist in NZ means wearing
multiple hats. Use this time to educate
yourself in other aspects of the music
industry, or even find some other useful
things to learn and discover, that will help
you on your creative music journey!
Tana is a self managed artist and a member of Tomorrow People.
CHRIS CHETLAND
Kog Studio
When personally supporting the local music
industry (buying music), post about it and
tag in the production crew. There is huge
value in everyone reminding people that
music is created by a local community.
Streaming is great, but artists earn much
more if you also buy their music or merch.
Set yourself a challenge to buy from your
favourite local artists.
There are lots of local companies making
musical instruments & studio equipment.
When you want to buy a new piece of gear,
chat to them. They can probably give you
a good local person deal or make you a
customised piece.
Chris Chetland is a NZ Mastering Engineer and co-manages Rei.
For further information go to www.mmf.co.nz
NZ MUSIC COMMISSION MAY BOOK 2020 • 31