By JOLENE OGLE
THE Originals Music Festival isn’t just for locals. Four international, industry heavy-weights are on their way to scout local talent and catch some waves while they’re at it.
Hailing from Canada, America, UK and Europe, the industry big wigs are booking agents for major festival and record labels.
Among the group is Chris Porter, One Reel and Bumbershoot Festival programming director responsible for snaring and booking acts to perform at major international music festivals, including the POP Montreal festival that celebrates emerging and independent talent from around the world.
Pip Newby is the artist and repertoire manager for Play It Again Sam, the in-house label of the PIAS Entertainment Group. Before joining the PIAS group, Pip was the artist and repertoire scout for Atlantic Records and he also runs Friends vs Records, an independent label he started at university.
Chris Sampson is the general manager of programming at Superfly Presents and oversees the booking and programming on behalf of Superfly for festival properties in New York, including Bonnaroo Music and Arts, Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival and the Great Googa Mooga.
Last but not least is Ali Hedrick, booking agent for The Billions Corporation, with 35 artists to her name including the Glass Animals.
Originals Music Festival event organiser Marcus Pluckhahn said the industry agents are in Australia as part of the Big Sound festival in Brisbane.
“We’ve managed to lure the group to Noosa with the promise of great local talent and some good waves. The talent we can be 100 per cent sure about, the waves not so much,” he said.
Marcus said the aim of the visit was to reclaim Noosa’s place on the map as a live music destination and offer local musicians the chance to meet some industry people to help establish connections and raise their profile.
“We want to show the world that we have top-class talent here in Noosa, as well as stunning beaches,” he said.
“The Originals Music Festival is almost sold out and now we have some great talent scouts among the event-goers. This is an awesome, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for local acts.”
Marcus said the Originals Music Festival is already looking to be a success, with outstanding support from the community and council.
“We couldn’t have made this happen without council’s support, especially Councilllor Wilkie and Jill Ikers. The community has also given us some great feedback and local businesses like Wimmers have come on board. As tickets head towards selling out, we couldn’t be happier,” he said.
Marcus said he had received feedback about noise concerns, but said he was happy for anyone to contact him on 0487 333 172 if they would like to raise any issues.
