Rich Moffat Is Stepping Away From the Music Industry

Rich Moffat, the veteran festival programmer and talent booker, is calling time on the music industry.

The Castlemaine-based live music professional will “step away and retire from formal booking roles / music business in 2024,” a decision he announces by way of a social media post.

“As you may have noticed, over the past few years I’ve been really enjoying teaching and working a bit closer with people (rather than the endless emails and calls of most of my working life!),” reads the message.

Music, Moffat insists, “will always be my number one passion in life,” but it “feels time to make some space for others to take charge as curators of future events.”

Moffat learned the ropes booking a string of venues including The Punters Club (1992-1998), Evelyn Hotel (1990-1992), Northcote Social Club (2004-2014) and Corner Hotel from 1995, a role he fulfilled for almost two decades.

Through the years, Moffat enjoyed stints as festival programmer for Falls Festival, Splendour in the Grass, Groovin the Moo and Queenscliff Music Festival, and, from 2021, programming coordinator for MAINfm.

Moffat also founded Way Over There, an artist-run record label that released albums from such acts as Machine Translations, The Dead Salesmen, Gersey, Mississippi Barry and Blue Grassy Knoll, hosted radio shows, and, away from the cut and thrust of booking bands, he teaches Qigong, Yoga, Pilates, and more.

A formidable public speaker, Moffat announced his retirement from music industry panels in 2017, explaining at the time: “I don’t want to be the voice of the old man’s music industry looking backwards.”

The music programming business Way Over There will finish up in 2024, Moffat confirms.

“I have been so lucky to be able to do my ‘dream job’ over the last 30 years,” reads his latest update. “Words cannot express how grateful i am to all the people who have given me opportunities and supported my often wonky visions.”

Going forward, he will remain available for “advisor type roles, mentoring, or other short-term contracts / projects” should they come up.

“I hope my knowledge and experience may be useful somehow somewhere. I would love to do more work in the mental health space of those in the creative community.”

There’s one aspect of the music community Moffat isn’t giving up anytime soon; he’ll continue to spin tunes as the wedding DJ Rich-Spanning-Time.