WAMCon Reflections
~Bacon's Blog~
So I recently got asked to speak at WAMCon in Perth, which is the most isolated city in the world. Nestled in the bosom of the Indian Ocean, Perth resides alone on the far west side of Australia. It’s a region that is sparsely populated and whose main musical exports include Bon Scott and Tame Impala. I wanted to reflect on this experience a little bit. There were a lot of interesting things that happened, but I wanted to get a little more granular on some of what I learned from this experience. It was a unique one, after all. My core takeaways were that Australia is not actually that fucked up; that bands face the same problems where they are in the world; artists will still only listen to what they want to hear; and core concepts of kindness and listening to others are all that matters.
4. Australia Is Weird But Not That Weird
So in America Australia is portrayed as an insane hellscape of spiders, deadly animals and fucked up megafauna. As luck would have it – Australia is actually pretty pleasant. I mean I’m sure the outback is gnarly, but when it comes down to it, I didn’t see a single huge spider the entire time I was out in Australia. Hell, I even fed an emu, and those things are terrifying. What I will say, though, is the Chinese influence there is a lot more than I expected, they own a ton of the country. On top of that, the focus they have on indigenous peoples writes is much more than what we see in the States and I think that’s really admirable.
3. Bands Face The Same Problems Wherever They Are
This was the big one I was a little bit nervous being asked to go speak at a conference in Australia because I felt like I had no clue how things operated down there. Ultimately I understand more or less how things operate in the US and Europe, I feel like I can give good advice in those markets. I didn’t think I could do that in Australia. However, as luck would have it, bands in Australia face the same problems we all do. The one thing that really did really strike me, though, is that because of how isolated the continent is, and especially Perth, people seem very willing and able to look out for each other and the scenes are very supportive. That being said, I heard countless people tell me about "tall poppy syndrome," essentially the idea that anyone who has a measure of success needs to be cut off at the knees. This is an unfortunate reality. We need to be better at encouraging each other across the globe.
2. People Only Listen To What They Want To Hear
As a part of the conference, the industry people were asked to do something called ‘music business speed dates.’ Essentially what this meant was that we would do a series of sit downs with musicians trying to get some connections and make it. These were open to just about anyone involved in music in Western Australia from students to promoters and of course musicians. One of my colleagues at the conference said to me as I prepped for my speed dates, "You can see people only listen to what they want to hear," and upon digging in I was disappointed to find she was correct. I talk in this blog all the time about how hard it is to succeed in the music business and to be told that to your face is unpleasant. The sooner you can learn to accept it though, the better off you will be. Sometimes when people give you advice, it is because you need to hear it.
1. Kindness And Listening Remains The Core
Of course, I made a ton of great connections with other people in the scene. What I was reminded of time and time again is that being kind and listening to the people around me was the best way to make friends. This lead to arguments about Soft Machine to bonding over Lovecraft. People want to talk about the things they are nerds for, and there are so many things to be a nerd about in the arts. So let people do that. These connections will last a lifetime and you will have a new set of contacts. The people who go to music industry conferences, shockingly enough have music industry contacts and if they think you are cool then they are going to want to stay connected with you. So it makes sense to invest in growing these relationships. Spend the time. Learn about the people around you. Show kindness and compassion and it will always pay off.
Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) with Dropout Media is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Matt also co-hosts the Dumb & Dumbest podcast with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.
