The Director of Future Entertainment gets ready for a colossal summer in Australia
Future Entertainment, year after year, have delivered the highest calibre of dance music artists to Australian audiences. Since the inception of both the Summadayze and Future Music Festivals, Future Entertainment has continued to deliver not only the biggest and most recognised names in the business, has also endeavoured to nurture new talent and introduce breaking artists to the Australian market from all around the world.
Dan Prince catches up with the man with one of the best jobs in the world….
Brett welcome to DMCWORLD. I have to admit as we haven’t spoken before, I called a couple of big Australian DJs before the interview to see what you were like. One of them described you as a suit dude – but a very cool suit dude! You happy with that little description?
“Ha ha ha! Are you going to tell me who you called, I can probably guess?”
Not a bloody chance!
“Well Dan at the end of the day I would rather be known as the nice guy in the suit who makes everything runs smoothly at the company. I make sure I don’t make a habit of getting carried away on the social side of things nowadays as there is too much at stake and business has to come first. I am dealing with a lot of huge DJs and artists in Australia and it’s up to me to look after their careers in this region, make sure they get paid and everything runs to plan. So a cool suit is fine by me!”
And you have a new little daughter, congratulations – has she added to more reasons to have late nights?
“No she hasn’t, she has been really good and her birth was perfect timing. I usually spend a lot of the ‘winter’ Australian months over in Europe checking festivals and Ibiza out, but this year I’ve had a beautiful little daughter to be with.”
That was going to be a later question, I was going to ask you what events do you personally draw inspiration from around the dance globe – where have you checked out over the years?
“Wow so many. Always the big UK events like Global Gathering, Creamfields, T In The Park, Oxygen, Isle of Wight and Glastonbury plus all the European majors such as Benicassim and Sonar. And of course Ibiza…”
You studied Economics and Law at university and then started work as a bus boy in a club before working your way up to manager and then owner. Did you have a love of dance music back then or did you just see it as a business you could do well in?
“I have always been really passionate about dance music for as long as I can remember. I realised that my future was in music whilst studying at uni and I knew I had to follow what I enjoyed the most. It’s a great asset to have all of these qualifications in what I do…I know how to run budgets, I make everything run smoothly and I have great business sense. This business that we are in can be a real minefield, it’s all very well wanting to book the line up of your dreams, but if you get it wrong you can lose your life’s fortune in a flash. We are booking line ups of dreams…but being sensible about it.”
Exciting times all around the world for dance music with major companies in the US and Australia now flexing their muscles and getting their cheque books out. Last month saw you sign an exclusive deal with EMI Music to form a Future Music label deal. It seems to us at DMC, that the Australian corporates have dance music running through their veins rather than the Americans who are just looking at the big pay day?
“I think that’s pretty true. You only have to look at companies like Live Nation buying Creamfields and SFX looking at various dance brands before they float to see what a moneycentric environment it is out there. We’ve been involved in the dance scene now for over 20 years ever since our first club nights in Melbourne and as the music developed here so did the shows. We were a long way behind the UK and US market as regards the appreciation of the big DJs, but we are only just behind them now. We took inspiration from those scenes and are very proud of what we have here now. Back in the day, it was only people like Sasha, Digweed and Oaky trying to break America but now the scene there is so massive, it is a real windfall for the US. Down here however we live and breathe this scene, we are very fortunate how dance music has treated us and it is a product that hasn’t been forced at all.”
The word on the street is that the label will be looking to unearth and push new talent as well as the compilation market…
“We are looking at a number of angles and sure we are looking at new talent as well as investing in the big album market. It is going to be great to unearth new artists and get them hooked up to multi single and album deals and take on the world! We are talking to a lot of the big international labels about releasing their records here, they can naturally benefit from our local promotional skills.”
But the comp market is important to you also?
“Definitely. We see them as the soundtrack of people’s summers, giving people a slice of the festivals to check out whether they are at home chilling, on the bus going to work, at the gym wherever…”
Why do you think it has taken so long for Australia to catch up with the rest of the world with dance music producers? Your home country is producing some major talent now?
“I think if you go back a number of years, we used to take a lot of inspiration from international producers who all came here to perform and the Australian producers never got a look in. However what it did enable to happen was the producers from overseas and the locals here get relationships going. Help was offered by the big guys and the Australians realised that they could do it for themselves. I feel that Future have been integral in the progression of the guys down here in another way too, we put them alongside major artists at our events who then go back home wanting to put out these guys productions through there own labels. Axwell is a good example of how that has worked here. There is a great synergy between all the artists now which is a wonderful achievement.”
You have just launched your new Future Fans loyalty ticket scheme. Basically a way of promoting your events, music and merchandise through clubbers social media accounts where they can earn money, reward points and money can’t buy experiences such as back stage meet and greets. It’s a great idea and if it works everyone will follow suit. But why will yours work whilst others in the past have failed?
“I honestly believe this is the way forward for ticket selling schemes. We basically have an army of street sellers selling maybe 50 or 100 tickets to their friends at parties and uni. We saw how Facebook had taken over the world and every person on there has something like a thousand friends – but we think that the whole face to face aspect is just as important and so we tried to find a platform to give people as opportunity to get involved. We have signed 5300 individual ‘promoters’ who have a reach of over 3 million people, it makes perfect sense to us. Everyone wins, there are no need for billboards everywhere, word of mouth is worth so much more than any TV advert and the power is now in the hands of the people who really care about the product and have been made to feel special.”
One of the key factors that stand out at your events is the way you are realistic and understand your market without trying to be perhaps too clever with your line ups, you cater for everyone’s taste. Why is this important to you?
“Looking back at when dance music started it was all very genre specific, people were either into drum n’ bass, techno, house whatever. There was no real crossover with people digging different scenes. Nowadays it’s all different, people love all sorts of different music. Friendship groups extend to anything from rock, pop to the underground and we had to not only address this, but also understand what our audiences wanted and were happy to pay good money for. If there is no formula you are doomed. Simple as that, that’s why so many other promoters come and go so quickly. Our line ups are fun and we try not to be too serious. It’s great that a young couple can go to one of our events and the boyfriend is looking forward to checking out Hardwell whilst his girlfriend is excited because Rita Ora is performing. And if they both like the artist, well that’s even better!”
Your Future Music Festival explodes in five cities next March with The Prodigy and the appearance of the worst kept secret in Aussie event history – the mighty Stone Roses live on stage. You also have Mr ‘Gangnam Style’ appearing – who have you had the most feedback about from three very different artists?
“Well I think The Prodigy booking goes without saying, they are massive and people are really excited about seeing them. I think it’s amazing they are on the same bill as The Stone Roses and as for PSY, well naturally we’ve had the die hard dance fans saying it’s a rubbish booking, the commercial crowd have all told us how much they love that song and the middle crowd have all just thought it’s hilarious. The way I look at an event is you have to do the unexpected and take people by surprise. We have always said, if you don’t like our line ups then don’t come! We are putting on events with numerous areas where people can drift around watching someone like Bloc Party on one stage, Sven Vath on another or a mainstream artist somewhere else. We put on so many acts they can’t not go just because they don’t like one artist.”
How serious is the rivalry between yourselves and Stereosonic – the UK is legendary on territory and artist battles in years gone by…
“Listen Dan, we all come from the same place and we are all good friends, sure there is a friendly rivalry but to an extent, we are in different markets. Stereosonic are great at delivering really big events with huge DJ line ups, but we are so much more than that. Last night we put on a really special one off show for Ellie Goulding in Sydney, we are putting the Swedish House Mafia on the same bill as Skrillex – we are working so hard to bring special artists to Australia all of the time. And at the end of the day any competition is good, it keeps everyone on their toes.”
Who has been the best ever artist you have booked for one of your events?
“Aww without a shadow of a doubt The Prodigy. They are good friends of mine, a real good bunch of guys who are a pleasure to work with. You cannot beat their performances, they are the most powerful live band I have ever seen and I am so looking forward to seeing them in their Warriors Dance Arena at Future next March.”
And finally, when I interviewed Glastonbury’s Michael Eavis the other day, I asked him who was the artist he tries to book every year but fails miserably every time. He said Dolly Parton. Who is yours?
“Ha ha! Everybody who knows me knows the answer to that…Daft Punk! Once a month I make a call to their agent Peter Elliot and recognise my interest in booking them. We have a conversation, I put the phone down and count down the days til the next call to see if there is any movement. We can all dream Dan!”
Summadayze 2013 – the line up far…
The Chemical Brothers DJ Set, M.I.A, Knife Party (SA & VIC only), HOT CHIP (Gold Coast only), SBTRKT (Gold Coast only), Fedde Le Grand, Mark Ronson DJ Set, Kimbra, Booka Shade, Eddie Halliwell, AN21 & Max Vangeli, Carl Craig 69 Live, Maya Jane Coles, Disclosure Live, Erol Alkan, Fake Blood, Adrian Lux*, Breakbot Live, Hudson Mohawke, Araabmuzik, Icona Pop, Scuba, Aeroplane, Jesse Rose*, Danny Daze*, Krafty Kuts & A-Skillz (Gold Coast only), AC Slater*, Stafford Brothers & Timmy Trumpet, Bombs Away (Perth & Gold Coast only)…
PLUS MANY MORE!
– ADELAIDE – MON 31st December – Summadayze Festival, Rymill Park www.ticketmaster.com – www.moshtix.com.au -www.venuetix.com.au
– MELBOURNE – TUE 1st January – Summadayze Festival, Sidney Myer Music Bowl
www.ticketmaster.com.au
– GOLD COAST – SAT 5th January – Summafieldayze Festival, Doug Jennings Park, The Spit www.oztix.com.au – www.ticketmaster.com.au – www.moshtix.com.au
– PERTH – SUN 6th January – Summadayze Festival, Patersons Stadium, Subiaco
www.ticketmaster.com.au
Future Music Festival 2013 – the line up so far…
THE PRODIGY | THE STONE ROSES
Special Guest PSY (Gangnam Style)
Dizzee Rascal | Bloc Party | Azealia Banks |Rita Ora
Boys Noize (Live debut) | Steve Aoki | Hardwell |The Temper Trap
FUN. | Madeon |Rudimental | Ellie Goulding
Gypsy & The Cat | A-Trak (Live)
Feed Me (Live) | Zeds Dead |Kill The Noise
DJ Fresh (Live)|Nervo |Zane Lowe | Borgore
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
COCOON HEROES feat Sven Väth | Richie Hawtin
Ricardo Villalobos |Seth Troxler | Magda
WAKE YOUR MIND feat Cosmic Gate feat Emma Hewitt
W&W |tyDi | Andy Moor | Super8 & Tab|Ben Gold
AUSTRALIA’S FINEST: The Stafford Brothers & Timmy Trumpet
Bombs Away| Tenzin
+ MUCH MORE!!
BRISBANE – Saturday 2nd March Doomben Racecourse
PERTH – Sunday 3rd March, Arena Joondalup – Labour Day Long Weekend
SYDNEY – Saturday 9th March Randwick Racecourse
MELBOURNE – Sunday 10th March Flemington Racecourse – Labour Day Long Weekend
ADELAIDE – Monday 11th March Bonython Park – NEW VENUE – Adelaide Cup Day
www.futuremusicfestival.com.au
