Michael Chugg: The Ultimate Australian Impresario – Part Two

::Michael Chugg: The Ultimate Australian Impresario – Part One

Chugg has had a half-century to study the game. On 14 March of this year, the 50-year milestone passed since a 15-years-old Chugg hosted a fundraising dance for the local Launceston Cycling Club. More 250 people attended that event, with $80 going back to the club owners. Chugg operates in one of the most competitive markets on the planet for live concert promotion. He’s a regular member of the “big four” players (the others are Michael Coppel’s Live Nation Australasia, Paul Dainty’s Dainty Group and Michael Gudinski’s Frontier Touring Company). And he’s worked with the world’s biggest acts. He was tour director on Abba’s legendary Australia tour back in 1977, and he’s toured Frank Sinatra, and Fleetwood Mac in their prime. He helped put AC/DC into stadiums across the country. The likes of Coldplay, Radiohead, Elton John, Pearl Jam and Dolly Parton have toured for Chugg in recent years.

A youthful Chugg left Tasmania for Melbourne, where he connected with a bright, younger entrepreneur, Michael Gudinski. Later, he would launch the Sunrise agency in Sydney alongside Roger Davies. Sunrise merged with Phillip Jacobsen’s Let It Be agency, which had on its books Daddy Cool and Spectrum, two of the country’s big acts at the time. Chugg and Jacobsen joined Gudinski’s Premier Artists, managing acts and working as a freelance tour co-ordinator with British trailblazer Paul Dainty. In 1978, the Harbour Agency came into being. Chugg was one of the foundation pieces of Frontier Touring, which formed in 1979 and hosted its first tour the following year. Chugg initially served as GM, working on tours by The Police, Frank Sinatra (with Sammy Davis Jr. and Liza Minnelli), R.E.M., Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Kylie Minogue, Elton John, Billy Joel, Madonna, Sting, Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kiss, Pearl Jam, Tom Jones and The Cure. Michael Chugg Entertainment was established in 2000.

Today’s he is meaner on the purse-strings than in years prior. “We’ve taken a distinct stance this year; we won’t get into any bidding wars,” he said earlier in the year. “I don’t want to do Beyoncé and have to do 95% out of it to break even. I’d rather stick with my clients and break some bands. That’s what we’re doing.”

Chugg’s portfolio of live events includes a stake in Laneway, the brainchild of Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio which began life in a Melbourne in 2004. Chugg entered soon after, and Laneway grew into international touring event, first adding a New Zealand connection, then Singapore, and in 2013, a leg in Detroit, Michigan – understood to be the first time an Australian festival brand has entered the US (the Detroit show didn’t happen in 2014 because, organizers say, the right headliners couldn’t be booked).

For years, Chugg has been banging the drum on Asia. “It’s a slow process up there. More and more Australian acts are getting to work up there. It’s still very much ruled by needing to have success in America and England first.” Chugg is part of new touring arm, Laneway Presents. “Obviously we’ll probably take some Laneway Presents tours into Asia,” he says.

“It’s hard to have a beef at the moment,” Chugg laughs. That doesn’t sound like the knuckly promoter whose barking from the mic is the stuff of legend. He doesn’t need much prompting to prove the fight’s still there. Chugg is reminded of the chatter from Canberra of the stripping and selling of the ABC, and the sale of Triple J. “Yeah, well, that’s just terrible. The fact they’re taking the Australian Network off air is a big blow, not just Australian expats watch that. Asians watch it. It’s a whole education on Australia and they’re taking that off air, which I think is a disgrace. I’d still like to see the Australian government be more aware of what’s going on and really get involved internationally. They’ve been making noises but they need to do more. If there’s a beef, that’s it. We need more Australian radio stations play more Australian music. I’m not going to back off that. Right now it would be great to see the Australian government come up with some sort of plan and a lot of money to really get behind what’s going on.”

Battles with government aside, what does Chugg want to achieve in the year ahead? “I just want to keep building our industry and pass on my knowledge to the younger ones. It’s been quite amazing, the amount of success Australians are having this year. It’d be nice to knock off a few more #1s in England and America in the next couple of years. I’m sure we’re going to.” And some personal goals? “To slow down would be good.” Few would argue Chugg deserves it.

This article is taken from the November issue of the Australian Music Business Review.If you'd like a hardcopy of themagazine pleasecontact us.