Lonely Lands Agency Recruits Monty as Business Enjoys ‘Monster Growth’ (EXCLUSIVE)
In a tricky time for the live music industry, Lonely Lands Agency is growing, and adding valuable pieces to its network.
Five years after opening for business, the booking agency recruits Adam Montgomery (aka Monty) who brings with him such artists as Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Cap Carter, Hooligan Hefs and South Summit.
Those rising, homegrown artists join a LLA roster that includes the likes of record-smashing superstar Tones & I, plus triple j Hottest 100 champ Ocean Alley.
LLA was co-founded by Tash Sultana alongside UNIFIED Music Group CEO Jaddan Comerford and Lemon Tree Music co-founder Regan Lethbridge, with general manager Harry Moore at the helm.
On paper, five years of action is accurate. In reality, almost half that stretch was wiped out by the pandemic.
“We’ve only had a clear runway for probably three years to be honest,” Moore explains.
Despite that pause, LLA has enjoyed “monster growth,” reps say, and the company now boasts more than 60 acts on its books.
That expansion, Moore attributes to “word of mouth, by our work ethic and the culture that we have being artist-first driven. It’s all about putting our heads down and just getting on with the work and really focusing on our artists. That’s all that matters to us really.”
The Music Network caught up with Moore for a rare, exclusive interview ahead of BIGSOUND 2024, where on Thursday, Sept. 5, LLA, UNIFIED Music Group, UNIFIED Artist Management and Community Music will present a showcase featuring Vinnie Brigante, Azure Ryder, ISHAN, Cap Carter, and an acoustic set from Stand Atlantic.
Stand Atlantic
On the state of live music
Festivals are struggling but the industry is not gloom.
We should be glass-half-full people.
A lot of domestic artists are still doing great things. Tones & I has just done upwards of 60,000 tickets. Ocean Alley at the end of last year did similar numbers, including 24,000 people across Southeast Queensland; that’s impressive for an independent band.
Trophy Eyes were a band that popped up before COVID and they’ve just pre-sold out The Forum, their biggest headline show that they’ve ever done.
Boy and Bear, obviously a pre-COVID act, did their biggest tour with their Harlequin Dream anniversary tour, doing 5,000-plus wherever they went.
We look after the Dreggs who do hard, hard work touring, building their audience, organically. They’ve close to selling out Fortitude Music Hall with no support, no radio.
Good vibes, only
It’s still quite positive out there for Australian acts.
For festivals, it’s hard. Though electronic festivals, metal festivals, genre-specific festivals are doing great because they’re really focusing on their niche.
(Artists and their teams) need to adjust and think outside the box. It might be building lineups together, or co-headliners teaming up, creating more value.
We’ve done a lot of regional touring with the Grogans and Teen Jesus.
Create a point of difference that sets you apart from everything else.
Obviously, the music’s got to connect. It’s about doing the work, work ethic and creativity.
Look at Fred again… People are starting to use his method of just letting the audience control the narrative and building that community. It works, it’s loose.
I feel like we’re at this point in the industry similar to when Napster came, and everyone thought it was doom and gloom. Then triple j were the gatekeepers at a moment. Spotify came and everything is saturated.
It’s fine.
Adjust to change, think laterally. It will be completely fine.
LLA’s game plan
It’s all about putting our heads down and just getting on with the work and really focusing on our artists.
The artist is all that matters to us. We’re all secondary and we always put the artist before anything else, and that’s why it works.
We want to provide a platform to enhance artists’ careers and we take that really seriously. We don’t really listen to the white noise around us.
We find opportunities for our acts and help support them wherever we can; it really just comes down to passion and drive.
Most of our artists have come from a DIY background. That’s the culture of LLA — head down, get on with it and do the work and, the hard yards. We just keep our head down and work tirelessly for our acts.
Now we’re in a position where we’ve got a lot of focus elsewhere internationally, like in Southeast Asia. We’ll be planning to do some more stuff over there. More on that later.
Tones And I’s ARIA No. 1 with a bullet
That No. 1 was inspiring to watch because that really came purely from her hard work and getting to the fans.
Six pop-up shows were announced within maybe 48 hours, doing Gold Coast, Coffs Harbor, Frankston, Albury.
She went to the people and performed an acoustic set and shook everyone’s hands, did meet-and-greets, and just really got in the grill of her core audience.
She wanted to go where the fans were.
And through that she did a stupid amount of units (of Beautifully Ordinary). But it wasn’t really just about that, it was pretty much just saying thank-you to the audience.
That’s had a flow on effect, it’s really helped complement the rest of her tour.
Everything that she has done is purely about hard work and her determination.
On the arrival of Monty at LLA
It almost feels like a full circle moment.
We used to work together at a different agency about 10 years ago, and an organic conversation came about.
He looks after an incredible roster which keeps growing and growing and growing. With his determination and work ethic, he’s just slotted perfectly within our organization. He just gets his head down and supports our other agents.
We’re really excited and stoked to have him on the team, and we learn so much off each other.
He’s one of the great agents of this country and the future looks bright for the company broadly.
On Tash Sultana’s role with the business
They’ve been a great supporter of the agency and really good with an artist-first vision.
Generally speaking, Tash lets us run our own race, encourages us to do the work and no one is micro-managed.
If there’s anything that we need or help with, Tash will be on the phone, work shopping, jamming ideas.
They always want to use their touring as a platform for LLA artists.
Tash does have a very busy touring cycle as well, and is on the road overseas a lot.
So the juggle for Tash is real.
Then they’ve got a foundation, and the Lonely Lands liquor brand. That’s the entrepreneur that Tash is.
Tash is a great supporter of this company and especially using their platform for grassroots artists.