EXCLUSIVE: Jess Beston on signing Olympia, getting praise from Liam Gallagher and what makes a good manager

Jess Beston is one of the foremost voices is Australian artist management.

From her years in A&R at Universal and PR at EMI to her own artist management, artist development and indie radio servicing business Tiny Monster, Beston has been behind some of the biggest Aussie acts in recent years like Alex The Astronaut, The Trouble With Templeton, Holy Holy and many more.

Now, she’s joined forces with Melbourne singer-songwriter Olympia, who has just been announced as one of the artists on this year’s BIGSOUND lineup.

To celebrate the news, Beston had a chat to TMN about her newest singing, championing female voices in the industry and what makes a good artist manager.

What drew you to Olympia?

What I loved about Olympia from the first moment I heard one of her tracks was Olivia’s beautiful voice, her ear-catching originality, her witty, clever, lateral lyrics – and killer chord changes – I’ve always been a sucker for chord changes that make you stop in your tracks and her songs are full of them.

Her debut album is definitely one of my favourite Australian albums of all time… It led to us asking her to support Holy Holy on their national tour in January 2016, where we met, and I was lucky enough to see her stunning live show on several occasions.

… Amazingly, she told me she was in the studio recording songs for her new album, and she was interested in chatting. After a few listens to a few desk mixes – I was IN – hook, line and sinker.

[The new album] is absolutely stunning – and again, so incredibly original, some seriously striking songs, with that trademark Olivia wit and wisdom, honestly some of the most beautiful singing and lyrics I’ve heard on a record in a very long time.

We met for coffee, and I was struck by her intelligence and humour, we got on like a house on fire and had brilliant professional chemistry, (which is very important), and decided to work together.

I am beyond excited to get Olympia’s new single out into the world, and having her perform at BIGSOUND is a great way to kick things off, closely followed by some touring here, then in the UK and Europe…

I’m not the only one who has been drawn to Olympia… Alex Smith (known for working on videos with Coldplay, Iggy Pop, Peaches and Kylie Minogue) is also a huge fan of Liv’s.

[He’s] come on board as creative director for this album, working with Liv on all videos, art, imaging. He will be making all the videos for the project, and we actually filmed the first single’s video last week. It is going to be absolutely blinding. It comes out late July – WATCH OUT WORLD.

Is championing female artists a consideration when taking on new clients?

I must confess, the way I earmark new artists I’d like to work with is identifying a connection to their songwriting, their sound and their live show, the potential I see in them for the journey ahead (both musical skills and personality/likelihood to endure the challenging road that is a music career), and then assessing whether I feel I am the right person to help them on that journey.

I do feel very passionately about championing female artists (and females in the industry in general), and the artists I work with on the artist development/radio side – Alex The Astronaut, Heaps Good Friends, Jeffe – have been absolutely killing it.

I suppose I do feel particularly excited to come upon a new female artist I really believe in and want to work with.

There is definitely an extra bolt of inspiration I get from that feeling – which is hard to explain but it’s true. Like, “Hell yes I want to help this brilliant and talented woman get their incredible music out into the world – BRING IT ON.” (It’s something like that.)

How do artist management and development complement each other?

I think my 18 years experience in A&R, PR and management have helped me understand the big picture/end game, and given me a greater understanding of the critical first steps that artists need to take to start building a career. There are a lot of great acts out there, and not a lot of managers, thus the creation of the ‘artist development’ part of my business.

The short answer is – artist development is a stepping stone to management (among other things).

In the artist development role, I give advice that will help them finish their music to the best of their ability. I write a plan and targets, I help them start to release that music and start to build their story including servicing radio (but not PR).

When the time is right, I will try and help them start to build a team around them, and often that includes management.

For example, Alex The Astronaut who ended up being managed by Cathy Oates and Bill Cullen; Mid Ayr who was then managed by Stu McCulloch; PLGRMS who was then managed by Ben Karter in the UK, and Ben Wright Smith who was then managed by Kim Thomas.

What are the most important aspects of artist development?

The most important aspects are helping develop an artists’ songwriting skills, helping them find a sound that you and that artist feel truly represents them at that moment in time (which often involves finding the right producer), and getting their live show as tight as possible through practice and feedback.

From there it is about helping the artist develop a relationship with their fans, and then at the right time, helping them find the right team who are passionate about that artist.

How does it compare working in A&R for a multinational company like Universal to working on your own Tiny Monster project?

There was a lot I liked about working for both EMI and Universal, but I must admit, I do prefer running my own small business.

There is no doubt, it can be a little frightening in a way you don’t quite experience when you’re working for someone else, but once you get through that fear, (or get used to dealing with it when it comes), running your own business is fantastic. The freedom, ability to travel if and when you need to, to adjust your hours if and when you need to, is worth the challenges in other areas, in my view. But it wouldn’t be for everyone.

It is also worth it to have the freedom of choosing exactly who you work with. All my clients are fantastic people, and many of them have become very close, lifelong friends. The reason for that is simple: I don’t work with people who are difficult anymore. And I have the freedom to make those decisions.

I did hugely enjoy A&R, but a lot of the elements I loved about it, I do in my business now. I still scout bands, I still pick the bands I work with, I still give them feedback on their music and creative tools and are involved in the creation of all those things, as I did in my A&R role at Universal. But with management, now I get to help those artists I care deeply about, take those creative elements, and take that vision, out to the world, in a more extended, more involved way.

You are deeply involved in every element of that process – the creation, the over-arching strategy and plan in Australia, international plans, all touring, festivals, collaborations of all kinds – it’s just brilliant.

Again – it’s more responsibility and accountability which can be at times challenging, and a little daunting, but you find ways to combat those feelings, and overall it’s incredibly rewarding, and a lot of fun.

Can you share with us some of your greatest successes?

I like this question! It’s always nice to reflect. Sometimes as a manager, you don’t really look at things this way, there is always the NEXT goalpost…

Managing Holy Holy and what we have achieved together I consider my greatest ‘all-round’ success. What I mean by that is, it is a success, rewarding and fruitful from a career perspective, but also creatively, and from a personal perspective too – holistically I suppose.

From a purely business and financial perspective, what we have achieved working together from the beginning: 50 capacity venues to 200 to 500 to 1,200; no Facebook page to 500 fans to 5,000 fans to 27,000 fans; the path from getting one song added to radio, to five, to ten in a row; from tiny festival stages with small crowds to medium ones to getting a great fee and playing in front of thousands of people at the biggest festivals…

From a career perspective our greatest highlights so far would be 10 songs in a row on rotation on triple j; their two albums coming in at #7 and #11 on the ARIA album chart; a song in the Top 40 of the triple j Hottest 100 this year; several extensive sold our national Australian tours in a row, selling out shows in London and in The Netherlands, playing Splendour, Falls, Bluesfest, Woodford, and a heap more; three heaving packed-out shows at Reeperbahn in Germany and playing the stunning outdoor stage next to the ocean at Primavera in Spain.

Oh, and Liam Gallagher coming to our London show and saying he loved the band. That was an incredible moment and we were all pretty floored by that one.

Finally, the fact that Holy Holy continue to make my favourite music on earth just amazes me and I count that as a success because that’s actually the most important thing to me. In Holy Holy and Olympia, I literally work with my favourite band on earth. (Okay okay, a smidge after Radiohead).

What’s something that you find less experienced managers overlook with their artists?

A lack of planning and strategy, and a lack of consideration for the long term health of a project and the humans involved in that project.

The “mad dash” is a trap a lot of young managers can fall into, (and indeed one I fell into myself when I first started managing).

Must do everything, must take every opportunity presented to us, must work 20 hours a day to make it all happen, GO GO GO.

If you want the project to have longevity, you need to think those things through. You need to think about what’s important, the best time to do all of those things, and how you can achieve what you need to achieve whilst maintaining a healthy, realistic life, for yourself, and for your artist or band members.

Something that is so important to remember: If you’re worn out and you start to feel your fuse shortening, that is a sign you need some time off.

If you are the kind of person who is a bit of a workaholic a good way of thinking about it is, if you get to the point you are burning out, you will be less effective for your artists (let alone more challenging for yourself, and for your friends and family.)

If you have to be in the office at 7am three days in a row to do international calls, finish early and have a swim or do a yoga class. Just don’t work 18 hours a day consistently for a long period, (and we all know it can happen), because it will catch up with you.

It is far better to look at both your and your artists’ career and well being from a holistic point of view, proactively prioritising balance, than it is to do the mad dash for a year or two, experience some success, and then either you or your artists experiencing burnout, or issues with your/their lives or relationships. The effect of that will be far greater than the effects of having a few nights off or taking an early mark to do a yoga class when you’re feeling stressed.

Communicate with your artists about such things from the beginning, build well-being and balance into your conversations and your 12 month plans, and you will have a higher chance at longevity and sustainability for your business, and for your artists’ careers.