The Hot Seat: Dom O’Connor – A&R for Lunatic Entertainment / St Jerome’s Laneway Festival
TMNhas revived The Hot Seat interview series to offer our young industry subscribers an insight into what it takes to make it in the music business.
Since starting out writing a column for The Brag at age fourteen, Dom O’Connor has most assuredly climbed his way up the ranks in the industry, hosting weeklyshows on FBi radio, booking for Oxford Arts Factory Side Gallery, The World Bar and now fulfilling the duties of A&R scout at Lunatic Entertainment / St Jerome’s Laneway Festival.
O’Connor chats to TMN about starting out at a young age and making your way up in the industry, Australia’s troubled festival climate and how Laneway seems to be a bit on the safer side of that.
You made your start in the music industry at just 14, writing an all ages show column for The Brag, how did that all come about?
I think I was just bored one night, and listening to records, and thought that I wanted to get into working in music. So I did some research, and found a site called Indent- They were advertising to write their All Ages column in The Brag, so I just shot off a few emails and that's how it started.
From then on you moved to FBi radio, where you currently have the Thursday arvo slot. Did you always have a show of your own or did you have to work your way up?
From The Brag, I started doing an All Ages segment on Arvos- That led to being trained in panelling and doing All Nighters, or graveyard shifts from 1-6am. Luckily, being sixteeen, I only had to do two of these before I was offered my own show, doing Saturday Overhang (from 7-10am). I did that while I was seventeen and doing Year 12, and then as soon as I finished high school, I was offered Arvos!
Do you believe that volunteering and unpaid intern work has a role in getting a foot in the door in the industry?
I definitely think volunteering is an integral part of getting a start in music, but I would also tell anyone looking to do it to not get stuck in the vortex of internships and unpaid roles. They're definitely important, and the knowledge you gain from those roles is great, but after a while it's important to try and find paid work, or else it's just not feasible to have a career.
Given your experience across the board with upcoming and established local talent,how do you think the local booking sector is doing? Are agents using all the tools available to them?
The local booking sector is definitely doing well- Venues like Waywards and Brighton Up are killing it, and booking agents like Select Music and Village Sounds are constantly taking chances on newer talent. I think they've definitely got their ears to the ground to a bunch of blogs, and avenues like Triple j Unearthed and FBi are constantly being watched and being used to find artists.
How did you get your gig at Lunatic Entertainment and as well as A&R scouting for St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival?
The Lunatic thing is a strange sort of story- Like almost everyone in a Sydney band, I owe Dan Zilber (former music director of FBi) a huge thanks. Essentially, Dan and my boss Danny are good friends, and Danny asked Dan ifthere was anyone at FBi that was relatively young and would suit Lunatic and Laneway. So I just got a cold email from Danny's assistant one day to organise a meeting. We ended up sitting in the park near the Lunatic office, he got me lunch and we just talked about music and Laneway. I waited about a week, and he offered me a job doing A and R for Lunatic Entertainment.
Australia’s bigger festivals have suffered from a lack of headliners. Given Laneway’s niche ethos, does it suffer from the same issues?
I don't think Laneway suffers from that problem as much- and as a festival, it's our goal to have a well-rounded lineup more than just splurging on a big headliner. We're in a lucky position that I think people go to Laneway for the discovery aspect as well. I strongly believe that people will go to a festival without a giant headliner if you put in the work to make the mid-tier acts fresh, or really try and find something that people connect with.
Did you consider Australia's troubled festival environment when scouting artists for the last Laneway?
I don't think any of us did. I can't really speak for the other people that book Laneway (and do a lot more than me, ha) but I think we always just try and program the festival within our means, and not base it off any other festivals. It does affect how we view our own, and there's still a more than healthy competition around our festival (Meredith, Golden Plains, Sydney Festival), but I think we focus on our own festival more than the supposed 'state of festival market'.
What’s your advice tor those who want to break into the A&R side of the music industry?
A and R only isn't a common job within music. I'd tell anyone that wants to get into it to just start going on blogs, going to shows and maybe start writing their own blog- It's essentially like you're writing your own resume there, and it's an impressive thing to show to people in music.
What would you say to '2004 Dom O’Connor', who is just about to write his first column for The Brag?
I'd probably tell him to stay the course to be honest- I think I've been prettylucky with the opportunities I've had, and I probably wouldn't change much.Maybe don't spend so much time at shows? Actually fuck that, that's probably the best part of the job.