2013
SEBASTIAN CHASE
Sebastian Chase’s long and illustrious career in the music business has spanned booking, management, promotion, publishing, recording and most recently, teaching.
In 1996, Sebastian established The Metropolitan Groove Merchants, aka MGM Distribution. MGM broke away from conventional commercial practices from the beginning. Unlike its competitors, its economic viability did not hinge on having a balance of local and foreign artists. Instead, MGM was dedicated to only distributing recordings by independent Australian artists.
Starting with The John Butler Trio’s album, “Sunrise Over Sea”, MGM made its mark on the Australian industry. “Sunrise Over Sea” was the first independently distributed album to ever debut at the No 1 spot of the national ARIA charts. MGM now releases over 100 albums of Australian artists worldwide each year.
COLIN DANIELS
Colin Daniels is the Managing Director of independent distributor & record company, Inertia.
He is also a Director of Handsome Tours, a founding patron of The Australian Music Prize and a board member of the global digital rights organization, Merlin.
Founded in 2000, Inertia is an Australian independent full service music company specialising in sales, marketing and distribution for physical and digital formats. Inertia’s clients include Beggars Group, Sub Pop, Secretly Canadian, Warp Records, Ninja Tune, Elefant Traks, Stop Start and others.
NICOLE DUCKWORTH
Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Drop, Nicole Duckworth, has built Fat Freddy’s “Artist Owned-And-Operated” business into an international record label and touring company.
After FFD’s phenomenal success in New Zealand as an independent label, the full international vision was finally achieved in 2008 with the establishment of The Drop as a UK Company. This has allowed the business to trade directly with distributors and promoters throughout the EU. European record and ticket sales are now the band’s largest business.
Nicole’s other business The Licorice Factory (est.2010) is a label services and music production company that has worked with Kora, Dallas Tamaira, The Thomas Oliver Band, The Nudge, Cornerstone Roots, Rio Hemopo & Six60.
