John Watson to Receive Legacy Honour at 2025 AAM Awards
John Watson, the doyen of artists managers, will be saluted at the 2025 AAM Awards.
Announced today, February 19th, Watson is the recipient of the Association of Artist Managers’ Legacy award, recognition of an “incredible career in artist management” during which time he has guided the likes of Silverchair, Cold Chisel, Missy Higgins, Midnight Oil, and many others.
Watson, president of the boutique indie label, Eleven: a music company, and founder of John Watson Management, has been a key player behind ‘Michael’s Rule’, unveiled at the 2024 edition of the AAM Awards, he’s an architect of the AAM and has been a patron of the organisation since its formation.
The award caps an embarrassment of riches for JWM/Eleven artists.
Higgins celebrated the 20th anniversary of hit debut album The Sound of White with nearly 50 sold out shows, for a tour that won the publicly voted category for Australia’s best live act at the 2024 ARIA Awards. The singer and songwriter was also inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, and landed another ARIA No. 1 with her new album, The Second Act.
Midnight Oil released their AACTA winning documentary, The Hardest Line, Cold Chisel sold over 250,000 tickets across Australia and New Zealand on their 50th anniversary tour, and the rock legends’ Best of album was the best-selling homegrown release of the year.
“2024 was a special year for our artists and ourselves so thank you to the AAM for this award which I obviously share with our whole team but particularly our GM, Melissa Chenery and our CFO, Skye Nevin,” comments Watson in a statement.
“We’ve been managing artists for 30 years now, and it’s never been more critical to keep advocating for more Australian songs on our stages, on our airwaves, and on the multinational platforms through which most people discover music. The AAM is a key voice in this advocacy and I’m very proud to be a part of it.”
Presented in Melbourne on the day of the APRA Music Awards, April 30th, the AAM’s fourth annual ceremony celebrates the outstanding achievements of Australian artist managers, highlighting the global success, hard work, dedication and passion of the key figures behind Australian artists’ global and local success.
Categories this time include the Legacy award (presented by Frontier), manager of the year (presented by White Sky), breakthrough manager of the year (presented by DMT Lawyers), community engagement award (presented by Oztix) and the Patrons Gift – a monetary prize given to an early-career manager to assist them in building their business, an initiative of the late, great artist manager, Michael McMartin.
This year sees the inclusion of a new category, emerging manager of the year (presented by Live Event Logistics).
Nominations for these categories will close on Monday, March 3rd.
White Sky is the main sponsor for this year’s event, to be presented lunchtime at Northcote Social Club.
Also announced at the AAM Awards will be the winner of the APRA AMCOS Lighthouse Award, which supports a forward-thinking manager who is dedicated to Australian music. The award was established to encourage women and gender diverse artist managers in memory of the late, pioneering artist manager and mentor, Linda Gebar. Applications are open for this award here.
The AAM Award categories are:
Manager of the Year (Presented by White Sky)
Breakthrough Manager of the Year (Presented by DMT Lawyers)
Emerging Manager of the Year – (Presented by Live Event Logistics)
Community Engagement Award – (Presented by Oztix)
Legacy Award – (Presented by Frontier)
Patrons Gift – (Curated by The AAM Patrons)
APRA AMCOS Lighthouse Award