We ask Danae Effern if working in music is all it’s made out to be.
Danae Effern runs Little Giant Agency, a Melbourne-based management and publicity agency working with the likes of The Smith Street Band, Press Club, The Teskey Brothers, Benny Walker and music industry summit Face The Music. We recently chatted with her over a glass of wine at Fitzroy’s Panama Dining Room to find out if working in music is all it’s made out to be.
Effern: Well I’ve always had a love for music. When I was younger, I surrounded myself with people who could play (mainly because I knew I couldn’t) and helped them out with their gigs and that sort of thing.
After I finished school I completed a psychology degree but quickly decided I wanted to follow my passion instead, so I started a degree in Music Business.
In my early 20’s I pretty much threw myself into every aspect of the industry that I could. I volunteered at Meredith, interned at record labels and stuff like that. During that time I met a lot of great people and got to know a lot of the different sides of the industry.
My first paid industry job was working as a bookkeeper at White Sky doing bookkeeping for musicians. It was around then I quit university; I felt I was making inroads with some industry experience, and I wanted to take advantage of that.
From bookkeeping I worked my way into a management role working with commercial artists in Melbourne, which I was lucky enough to find through a friend of a friend. There I learnt a lot about the actual craft of artist management in terms of promoting releases, advancing tours, liaising with the media, working with artists on releases both here and abroad, video shoots and those sorts of things.
After four years in this role, I decided to start my own business [Remedy PR] with a good friend. We both had acquired skills in different areas and found our strengths complimented each other and worked well as a team.
We’ve never put too much energy into promoting ourselves. We’ve always had a philosophy of doing a really good job and let the results speak for themselves. Working with clients we really believe in. I know that sounds really simple and obvious, but it worked for us, and a lot of the bands we acquired were from word of mouth. We had also worked in the industry for a few years so we’d developed a good network to start from.
I can tell you it’s not as much a party as you may think. In reality it’s a lot of long hours, endless amount of emails, phone calls and meetings.
You may have listened to that new podcast Mogul about legendary ’90s hip-hop manager Chris Lighty? Well, it’s nothing like that at all. Like I don’t have to wear a bulletproof vest to work and worry about office shootouts. It’s a lot less full-on than that in my world.
Don’t work with anyone who makes you wear a bulletproof vest! Seriously, just surround yourself with good people. Work with those who inspire you, whether that be artists who make music you are passionate about or other managers, labels, or industry people who you respect and admire.
Get involved in as much as possible. Consider a music industry course, there are heaps on offer at great institutions like Collarts, AIM and the like. And, if you are Vic based, check out The Push, a local not-for-profit. I was involved in their mentorship program when I was younger and the program is still running and I certainly got a lot out of it.
I absolutely love that I can call this a “job”. I am very proud of the many artists, bands and events I have worked with over the years, it’s been very rewarding. I love seeing one of my band’s on the cover of The Age EG, or their name on the front of Melbourne’s Forum Theatre or The Tote! I also love being my own boss and the flexibility that comes with it. It makes up for never being able to have a day off or holiday. But I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it.
Check out Face The Music, Melbourne’s music industry summit in November. I recommend heading along if you want to find out more about the industry. There will be heaps of great keynotes, workshops and networking opportunities … and lots of beer and fun too.
Note: In February 2017 Danae left Remedy and started Little Giant Agency.
Photography: Ben Mulligan
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