Changes Afoot As Mushroom Announce 40th Birthday Gig In Melbourne

2013 is shaping up to be the biggest year in Mushroom’s 40-year history and it’s being kicked off on Wednesday with a special free gig in Melbourne featuring some of the most exciting local acts from Mushroom’s esteemed roster.

Mushroom are thanking the people who are fundamental to making the Australian music industry tick – the album-loving, gig-attending music fans – by offering up the chance to see some of Australia’s most exciting and respected musical offerings in the flesh with no cover charge whatsoever.

The event – entitled Mushroom Free For All – will feature live performances from Adalita, Bleeding Knees Club, DZ Deathrays, Owl Eyes, Stonefield, SURES and World’s End Press. The incredible line-up will take to the stage at Melbourne’s Thousand £ Bend next Wednesday 6th February.

The only way to obtain tickets to the 18+ event is by entering a ballot system on Mushroom’s new Facebook page, www.facebook.com/mushroomgroup, which will close at 8.59pm on Tuesday 5th February. Winners will be notified in staggered announcements on Monday and Tuesday nights with each receiving a double pass.

The event signifies the launch of what the company is calling “the new-look Mushroom”, and is the first in a series of planned Free For All shows in other cities to celebrate the occasion.

What exactly “the new-look” means has been left up to much speculation, but with the sudden inclusion of founder Michael Gudinksi’s son, Matt, on invitations and press releases it’s probably fair to assume that a hand over to the new generation at Australia’s largest independent music and entertainment group is afoot.

Mushroom Group currently houses iconic Australian brands including Liberation Music, Ivy League, Illusive, Liberator, I Oh You, Wunderkind, Frontier Touring, Mushroom Music Publishing, Love Police ATM, Mushroom Marketing, Roundhouse Entertainment, Mushroom Pictures, Premier Artists, Harbour Agency and Artist Voice.

It follows comments by rival Michael Coppel, who sold his business to Live Nation in 2012, that the same major promoters that have dominated the Australian market for nearly 30 years, what Billboard dubs the Fab Four of Down Under – Michael Gudinski, Michael Chugg, Paul Dainty, and Coppel himself.

Paul Dainty, recently ranked at #4 on the BRW Entertainment rich list with estimated earnings of $13.837 million for the 2011-12 financial year. A princely sum that doesn’t even include Virgin Live, the newly forged alliance with Richard Branson to help stage The Rolling Stones’ 50th Anniversary concerts London and New York recently.

Close behind was Gudinski sitting at #6 with $10.489 million in earnings, followed by Michael Chugg’s Chugg Entertainment at #10 and Michael Coppel close behind at #11.

The Sydney-based Chugg Entertainment’s $8.9 million in earnings comes after a busy year that includes moving into A&R with a new business partnership, becoming the co-promoter for Homebake, and being recognised as the highest-ranking Australian promoter internationally.

But after 30 years, Coppel thinks that it’s probably time for a change of guard, and predicts that we’ll see massive upheaval in the next 10 years as the promoters leave the industry either through retirement or death. “I don’t think that’s normal for any industry,” said Coppel, talking about the longevity of the fab four. “It’s not normal for any concert market any where else in the world.”

Wednesday’s Mushroom Free For All will follow an invite-only industry event the night before on Tuesday 5th February for the Mushroom Group’s close friends and associates.