Hot Seat: Making It In The Music Industry… with Kristy Rosser, Secret Sounds Connect

TMN has revived Hot Seat to offer our young industry subscribers an insight into what it takes to make it in the music business.

Secret Sounds Connect,the commercial rights agency for Australian music festivals, represents almost all of the nation’s festival juggernauts, including Splendour in The Grass, Falls Festival and Laneway. Steered by co-founder and managing directorKristyRosser, the company announced its biggest expansion yet last month.

Announcing the appointment of seven new team members in one hit, along with partnerships with Foxtel, Topshop and Pandora, Rosser is hell-bent on global ubiquity; but as she puts it, it’s simply a response to the burgeoning industry.

TMN chats to Rosser about her biggest battle in advocating for brand awareness of music festivals, the scale of her plans for Secret Sounds Connect, and what she wishes she had of known when she started out.

In the live sector there are many types of promoters and tour company executives, how would you categorise your ‘business self’?

Being a commercial rights agent means wearing a few hats. While revenue generation is central to what we do, we also work with brands on creative and strategy, and are responsible for managing brand activations at festivals and shows. I love that my job takes me from the boardrooms of major global companies to green field festival sites and on national tours. I take a very collaborative approach to working with my team, with brands, with promoters and artists. When you draw on each other’s strengths and creativity, you get the best outcomes.

The sweet spot is in achieving win-wins for brands, fans, promoters and artists alike. Being able to work with many of the world’s most iconic brands alongside the country’s best festivals and artists is a huge privilege.

You recently appointed seven new staffers to Secret Sounds Connect. Can we expect any acquisitions from SSC in the future?

Acquiring new festivals or events for commercial rights representation is not a particular focus for us at the moment, though we always keep the door open to that possibility. Right now our focus is on honing our expertise and capabilities to do bigger and better work with brands and our existing client base including the wider Secret Sounds group.

What’s the scale of what you have planned for Secret Sounds Connect?

We are working in a dynamic and rapidly changing area of the music industry. Secret Sounds Connect is the fastest growing area of the Secret Sounds group of businesses. Over the next period we will be doing a lot more work with artists alongside our festival work.We recognise that brands will play an increasing role in the careers of artists now and in the future, and we are passionate about ensuring that the work artists do with brands has integrity and that the alignments are believable.In addition to the staff we’ve just taken on, we are also currently appointing people into creative and strategy roles. SSC are growing to meet the demands of a burgeoning industry and added expertise and resources will allow us to be a more effective agency for our clients.

What do you consider your biggest battle in advocating for brand awareness of music festivals?

Staying true to the vision of the festival and ensuring that partnerships feel authentic to fans is critical to long-term commercial rights success. Getting to that sweet spot where everyone is on the same page and each getting what they need out of a partnership takes a lot of planning and negotiation. We get the best results when brands take a collaborative approach to how they integrate with a festival, seeking out ways that they can make an event better and drawing insights from the festival organisers.

Australia has just a few festivals run by international operators, is this a good or bad thing?

Whether good or bad, weare thesixth largest music market in the worldso it is inevitablethat international operators would find the Australian market appealing. Right now most of the successful festivals are owned and operated by Aussies, andI think domestic promoters have an advantage in understanding and therefore best catering to Australian audiences.

What do you wish you had of known when you got your start in the music industry?

Work with people who are emotionally balanced and have integrity in their approach to business. It works out a lot better in the long run.