Sizing Up: Joel Connolly on BIGSOUND no-nos and knocking down buildings

You might recogniseJoel Connolly from his time as an artist manager and founder at Umbrella, where he managed The Rubens– but these daysis the Head of Community at Blackbird Ventures, an Australian venture capital company that focuses on “startups with a global mission”. He was alsoa Founder and Festival Director for Sydney Craft Beer Week.

More importantly (for the purposes of this interview) he’s a veteran of half a dozen BIGSOUNDs as a manager, and about to hit his seventh in his new role at Blackbird. He’ll bring theexpertise gathered while wearingall those different hatsto the Music Tech Showcase, as well as on the Capital Raising & Financial Sustainabilitypanel.

Before that, though, he chats to TMN about his best worst BIGSOUND moment,why music is finally catching up to tech, and which beer you should shout him if you’re trying to get in the good books.

What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you at BIGSOUND?

It was at once the best and worst thing. I’ll set the scene for you: the year was 2008 I think. I was very new to artist management and we had just started working with a new band called Cloud Control. I was green as hell but I wanted to make a good impression at the meetings Sounds Australia set up for you – what better way to do that than to bring along a pocket-sized speaker in the shape of a Marshall amp and play your band’s demos in the middle of all the meetings?. So very embarrassing!

Luckily one of my first meetings was with a dude called Shin. He very kindly told me we could listen to the demos in the background, but that he would much rather just talk to me.

This was the worst experience because… embarrassing! But it also taught me a lot about how to treat people. Shin didn’t make me feel bad, he actually encouraged me and years later we were able to laugh at the situation. Now I always make sure I am kind to people who are just starting out. The music industry is very fluid and today’s new kid is tomorrow’s kingpin. You gotta be good to people at all levels.

What do you wish you’d known before your first one?

That the speakers and the panels are great –but the real work gets done in cafes and pubs and in the conference foyer. That’s the first thing.

The second thing –always go in to every meeting with a very clear ’ask’, and an offer to help. Too many times I went in to meetings with fuzzy objectives and that just wastes people’s time.

Whatare you especially excited about?

I’m super excited about the tech showcase. I honestly believe technology can save the music industry and I think artists need to start taking more ownership over that.

The Visual Arts showcaseshould be rad too. And the Management in a Crisismasterclass should be fun.

What are you most looking forward to at the tech showcase?

Honestly? I’m hoping we can start pushing technology founders to start re-thinking the whole music industry. So many companies we see at Blackbird aren’t trying to knock the building over, they’re just trying to clean the windows. I think we’ve got a great list of finalists in the tech showcase this year and I’m hoping some of those companies will be inspiring to others at Bigsound.

Why do you think tech spinoffs and showcases are becoming so much more common at music industry events like BIGSOUND?

Ahh, because technology has been responsible for every major shift in music over the last 20 years. Everything has changed because of technology. That we’re only just now catching up is a bit embarrassing but entirely necessary. If you sit down and try and imagine what music will look like in another 20 years, it’s impossible to imagine a future that isn’t deeply impacted by technology.

People who have been in the industry for a while think it’s been a shockingly rough period, starting back with Napster in the 90s – well, it’s only just beginning. The rate of change is accelerating and we must be ahead of that, not being dragged along kicking and screaming by it.

What do you tellstartups and tech-focused creatives who are trying to get the attention (and money) of the music industry?

Are you trying to rip the building down and re-build it? Or are you just cleaning the windows? We don’t need more apps and services that reinforce the existing paradigm. We need to totally re-imagine how everything from first principles.

How do you get my attention as an investor? It’s not that hard – my email isjoel@blackbird.vc– and if you’ve got a good story I want to hear it.

What question are you asked all the time about your job/field?

What’s a venture capitalist? And where does community fit it? Answer: VCs partner with founders. We give them money in exchange for equity in their company, then we help them on their journey. Community puts us in a position to have the very best founders choose Blackbird. It’s varied and so, so much fun.

And what should people ask you instead?

I actually think the above is a fair question!

What was the last new thing that made you say “holy shit” (in a good way)?

This.

“We didn’t do this because we wanted to flip a business, we did this because we wanted to found the future”.

This is Tim Kentley-Klay and Jesse Levinson. They’re the founders of Zoox, a Blackbird portfolio company. They’re building a robotics company that’s making a self-driving car. Tim used to run an animation studio in Melbourne and got interested in robotics in about 2012. Fiveyears later they’ve raised hundreds of millions of dollars, have ~250 people in their team and they’re honestly very likely to change the way people move around the world. What amazes me the most is the scope of their ambition, and their complete commitment to it.

What’s a great Brisbane beer we should try while we’re in town?

ABC Bomb by Blackhops! I can not wait to try it.