Graham Reid | | 2 min read
Manager Matt Harvey knows the music industry from two key perspectives, as one half of Concord Dawn and as a manager of Shapeshifter and Nick Dow.
He has toured globally and so when he speaks in the Music Managers Forum panel discussion this Saturday at the Herald Theatre in Auckland's Aotea Square he brings a wealth of experience.
He is on the panel which will address marketing and promotion of live shows (alongside PR person Anna Loveys, self-managed musician Mel Parsons and internet wizard Harry Pettit).
There are other panels on keeping yourself healthy and safe on the road, live production and festival booking.
Details of all these events are here, but meantime let's hear from manager Matt . . .
What three pieces of advice would you give anyone aspiring to be a manager?
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Patience
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Listen
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Lists
Ever thought, 'This is a mug's game, I wish I'd listened to my parents'!
Haha not really. I love my job! Its been a great life so far and wouldn’t swap that for anything.
What is the most constantly irritating part of your job as a manager?
Other people – you have to be patient and listen to them in order to tick things off your to-do-list.
Management: is it an art or an arm-wrestle?
It’s the art of arm wrestling.
The three songs (by you, your artist, or by others) you would love everyone to hear . . .
Shapeshifter – Break Me Down
Nick Dow – The Daughter and Her Dad
Concord Dawn – Untitled (Techno Bongo)
The New Zealand venue you or your people most enjoy playing would be . . .? And why.
Any field with a view. Because mother nature is one of the oldest muses of art.
The best book on music or management you have read is . . .
The 33 1/3 Steely Dan “Aja” book.
I think the only book I have ever read about management was Simon Napier-Bells one!
If you could have a conversation about their life with any international manager it would be . . .
Good managers should be neither seen nor heard really. But Irving Azoff if I had to pick one.
The last CD or vinyl album you bought was . . . (And your most recent downloads include . . .)
I don’t own a record player or a CD player….just some USB CDJs.
My Juno cart runneth over with house and techno these days…Matrixxman, Cleric, Ejeca, Mella Dee etc….nothing too cool, just sort of semi-popular underground music I guess. I still get sent haystacks of drum and bass promos which I search for needles.
Off to see Kasey Musgraves tonight, which I think is my first gig I have been to since Slayer on the shore. I work most weekends so don’t get to check out gigs as much as I would like.
What is the importance to you of the Music Managers Forum?
It's cool to korero. As a newer manager and having lived overseas for a decade I don’t really know too many other managers but I’m sure that will change.
When you go on tour what three things can you not do without?
Passport, phone, credit card. Can I buy a toothbrush and undies with the credit card or is that cheating?
What has been the most absurd or funny situation you have found yourself in as a manager?
If everything is absurd then nothing is absurd. That’s why this is so much fun and constantly stimulating.
Ever woken up in a strange town and for a while not remembered where you were?
Far too many times to count.
And finally, what do you as a manager bring to an artist which you believe can be your unique contribution?
I’ve been there man. Done the touring and all that entails, struggled with creativity, suffered with labels and management who weren't doing their job, ridden the highs and wallowed in the lows.
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