Mushroom Music Will ‘Create Even More Opportunities’: Chris Maund, Linda Bosidis Talk New Division (EXCLUSIVE)

“It’s the most significant change to how Mushroom supports Australian artists since the sale of Mushroom Records in 1998.”

That’s how Mushroom Group CEO Matt Gudinski describes the creation of Mushroom Music, unveiled today.

The so-called “powerhouse operation” gathers the independent music giant’s recording, publishing and neighbouring rights activities, creating what the company describes as the largest music collective of its kind in the region.

“It’s very exciting and it’s a big part of the next era of Mushroom,” says Gudinski.

As previously reported here, the reimagined recording division consolidates the Group’s celebrated record labels (Liberation Records, Ivy League Records, Bloodlines, Liberator Music, Soothsayer and 100s + 1000s) under the Mushroom Music banner, while I OH YOU and Valve Sounds remain as standalone label partners of Mushroom Music.

Also, Mushroom Music is home to neighbouring rights specialist Good Neighbour, which continues to be run by its managing director Susan Cotchin.

Chris Maund and Linda Bosidis helm Mushroom Music as co-CEOs, executives who’ve been “instrumental in driving Mushroom’s growth and are esteemed leaders within the industry,” adds Gudinski in a statement. “Backed by a dedicated and talented team, Mushroom Music is in a great position to support the development and continued success of our artists and writers.”

As part of the realignment, the Melbourne-based group’s media, streaming, marketing, and audience functions are merged into a single department, TMN can confirm.

The Music Network caught up with Maund and Bosidis for a first look at Mushroom Music.

Chris Maund, Linda Bosidis and Matt Gudinski

What will be the benefits of consolidating the recording, publishing, and neighbouring rights divisions?

Maund: We are uniquely placed with Mushroom Music because we have the publishing and recording rights of so many of our artists together, including Kylie Minogue, Teskey Brothers, Vance Joy, Julia Jacklin and more.

That’s not the same at the majors – and it’s not by accident – but it allows us to work much more across company lines.

Bosidis: We have a unique, creative, and vibrant culture, dedicated to supporting artists, songwriters, and producer-writers. Our restructuring aims to enhance this by fostering a more cohesive approach to music representation. By integrating our A&R and sync teams, we will refine our unified strategy, harnessing the strengths of both our publishing and label divisions.

Overall, this change is designed to create even more opportunities by providing a tailored range of expert services to the individual needs and goals of our artists and writers, while also enriching our roster.

Chris Maund

How will this new set-up change the way yourselves and your teams work?

Maund: Let’s look at A&R. What’s the point in having one junior A&R person on the recording side looking at the same A&R sources/data to find new acts as a junior A&R on the publishing side?

So, we divide the A&R sources we want monitored between them and they report to both recording and publishing A&R heads.

Further, our two A&R teams sit right next to each other and meet regularly to discuss new signing, co-writes, demos and singles. It’s highly collaborative.

Bosidis: The new setup aims to streamline our operations and broaden idea-sharing within the company. As co-CEOs, Chris and I will have distinct roles: I will focus on publishing, Chris on recordings, neighbouring rights, and other strategic areas.

Despite our separate responsibilities, we will collaborate closely on vision, strategy, and company culture for Mushroom Music.

We have differing yet complementary leadership skills – I have an A&R and creative background and Chris’ background in legal, business, and label management will help us drive the company forward.

Our teams are exceptional operators, reflecting Mushroom’s philosophy that values what individuals bring to the table over what the company can extract from them.

Maund: Also, with neighbouring rights there is a lot cross over with our recording division, so we share analytics, royalties and other back-end staff and resources.

Linda Bosidis

For an artist or songwriter, how will they engage with this new Mushroom Music division.

Bosidis: Our priority isn’t on becoming the largest music collective. It’s our independence, spirit of exploration, and a willingness to take risks that set us apart.

Our leadership and team prioritise creative freedom, expertise, attentiveness, and a love for music. We strive to provide a matchless experience for our artists and writers.

Maund: While everyone refers to us as the biggest indie in the region, that is not our focus. Obviously, scale comes with advantage, such as having the resources to take our artists and writers to the highest level and compete with the majors on signings.

But through this restructure, particularly the consolidation of the labels, we have significantly increased the number of staff per artist, allowing us more resources to develop, nurture, and break artists globally.

Will the imprints of Liberation Records, Ivy League Records, Bloodlines, Liberator Music, Soothsayer and 100s + 1000s live on?

Maund: Not outwardly. We had expanded to eight separate record labels, which doesn’t make sense strategically or efficiently for a single independent music company.

The industry is almost unrecognisable from when many of these labels started, and while they have been incredibly successful and so many life-long friendships have been built around them, it’s time for us to evolve and use our collective strength.

So, we have brought the artists under these labels together to form an independent powerhouse, combining our publishing and neighbouring rights divisions under the collective name Mushroom Music.

I’m also very excited about the restructure within the labels division. By consolidating the labels, it’s enabled us to bring A&R into a single team led by Damian Slevison, who has some of the most impressive A&R credentials in the country.

Also, media, streaming, marketing, and audience functions are merged into a single, fully aligned department led by Dan Baker, which is crucial to having success today.

Further, the social media and audience team is expanding with new hires, and a streamlined global marketing team is being created across Mushroom’s Australian, U.K., and U.S. offices.

It’s going to make a big difference.