Metal legend Devin Townsend is heading to Brisbane for a very heavy industry summit
Devin Townsend will be heading to Brisbane’s Crowbar next month to take part in the Music Industry Summit alongside some other key figures of our local heavy music industry.
The summit is being held by Rodney Holder, of Music Business Facts, together with APRA AMCOS, and will see Townsend deliver a keynote lecture, The Music reports – as will his manager, Andy Farrow, whose roster also boasts metal giants like Opeth.
In addition, Parkway Drive’s manager Graham Nixon of Resist Records, Tim Price of Collision Course and Eli Chamravi of Wild Thing Presents will be attending, a who’s who of heavy music in Australia.
Holder quickly addressed with The Music the criticisms that may come in the wake of the all-male lineup, insisting that it wasn’t from a lack of effort or consideration.
“The entire event was initially just going to be myself and Devin doing a keynote,” he explains, “then Devin’s manager Andy Farrow was going to be in town so we added him, then I invited my buddy Tim Price to speak, then we added some bands, and one of the managers of the bands offered to also speak,” he continues. “And, boom, I had a live event comprising of only men.
“But it certainly wasn’t a conscious decision to leave out women from the summit. More a reflection of my close network of friends in that particular genre or style of music. Again, something I acknowledge I need to address.”
Women will, however, feature in the online iteration of the summit, with further details here.
The topics at hand will include Townsend’s keynote on “How To Develop Creativity & Excel As A Successful Songwriter In A Changing Industry”, and Farrow’s on “How To Plan, Book, & Implement A Successful International Tour”, while the others will join Farrow for a panel on “How To Succeed In The Modern Music Industry”, sans Townsend.
The main program kicks off at 4pm on Monday May 19, and there’ll be music too, with live sets from Dyssidia and icecocoon at 10pm.
Anyone interested can find more details here, with tickets priced at 35.
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.