Born in 2005 from the hard work and experience of booking agents Stephen Wade and Rob Giovannoni, Select Music is an agency that’s helped form the careers of so many Aussie music icons, including DZ Deathrays, Boy & Bear, Andy Bull, San Cisco, and Seth Sentry, as well as branching out to set up a new office in New Zealand.

The passionate and driven folk behind Select were also responsible for the popular central coast Coaster Festival as well as also promoting over 150 international tours including Crystal Castles, Good Charlotte, Ice Cube, Dandy Warhol’s, Public Enemy, Passenger, They Might Be Giants and Cypress Hill.

This year Select Music is turning 10, and to celebrate Stephen Wade gave us a run down on some of the greatest moments in Select Music’s impressive history. For more info on Select and their work visit www.selectmusic.com.au.

Passenger’s Success

“An artist that was busking the streets of Sydney and playing small venues around the country, who we took on and were initially the only agent he had in the world.

He has of course, now sold millions of albums/singles, multi-platinum and gold sales, and is a global star, and recently toured Australia playing arenas/outdoor venues for his (and our) biggest tour yet.”

Select Music 7th’s Birthday

“Where we took over four venues up and down Oxford St and sold out and all of our artists donated their time to perform and help us raise over $15K for Beyond Blue. We had big acts playing small venues and it was well run and the punters loved it.”

ARIA Time Across The Board

“When Boy & Bear swept all before them by winning five Arias. Our indie rock champions Dz Deathrays – winning two arias / second one was the sweetest! And all the multiple nominations that our artists have received has made for exciting times once the awards come around.”

Setting Up The NZ Office

“We had wanted to create more opportunities overseas for our acts and have been running a very successful NZ office with sold out tours by The Paper Kites, Boy & Bear, Passenger, Rufus, Stu Larson, Seth Sentry and Busby Marou all having toured over the past few years.”

Select’s International Touring

“As things were kicking on for us with our Australian roster we decided to try our hand at some international artists and did some amazing tours with acts like Crystal Castles, Chairlift, Does It Offend You Yeah, Public Enemy, Dandy Warhol’s and Ice Cube etc.”

Josh Pyke With The Sydney Symphony Last Month

“This was an amazing show and an incredible achievement for an artist that has been with us from the start and our first show with him was the Hopetoun Hotel ten years ago.”

Dipping The Toe In The Festival Pool

“We ran Coaster Festival for four years up in Gosford on the Central Coast, which was a great experience for us and we put on some killer line-ups that featured the biggest acts from Australia as well as internationals like Cypress Hill and Does It Offend You Yeah.”

Venue Booking Side

“In the early days we were a very multi-faceted company and we did a lot of work starting venues in the live Sydney scene. Venues like The Gaelic Theatre, Spectrum and FBI Social were all started by Select Music and ran for countless years putting on thousands of shows that remain some of our favourites of all time.”

Seeing Our Artists Break Through Internationally

“Boy & Bear, Midnight Juggernauts, The Preatures, Rufus, Passenger, San Cisco, Tkay Maidza, Emma Louise, Jungle Giants, Ball Park Music, Gin Wigmore – there is such a huge list that have been able to do great things in the international market that we are always constantly smiling about their successes.”

The Countless Memories Of Thousands Of Shows

“We have booked for hundreds of artists over the past 10 years. When we started and based in Sydney we wanted to have an act that could sell out an Annandale, then an Oxford Art, a Metro, An Enmore, the Opera House, The Hordern and likewise in every state throughout the country, which is now something we handle every week of the year but that drive/desire to see new and current acts achieving this is something we never forget.”

If you’re interested in booking, touring or becoming a music promoter, visit www.aim.edu.au for more info on exciting new courses. 

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