In 2016, UNIFIED Music Group’s founder and CEO, Jaddan Comerford, stood at BIGSOUND to discuss the new UNIFIED Grant, which was set up to help interesting independent music companies take the next step to greatness.
He was motivated by his own rise, from a teenager starting his first company in his suburban bedroom in Melbourne and turning it into a global award-winning multi-division empire.
It is open to anyone running a business that positively impacts the music industry, whether delivering creative services, helping artists expand their popularity, or developing new technology.
Every year, five start-ups get $5,000 each to be empowered to move their projects forward.
Eight years later, over 800 individuals and groups have applied for a grant with vibrant ideas that Comerford says make him both excited and humble.
UNIFIED Grant Returns For 2024
“Our independent music community and those who operate within it have such brilliant, bubbling ideas for making it even better, and I’m so pleased UNIFIED Music Group and its Impact Committee is in a position to help these ideas become a reality,” he said.
Projects included a solar-powered concert series, a not-for-profit record label that signs migrant and refugee musicians, a meeting place for musicians and execs with autism, a tech startup focusing on sustainable touring, a music mentoring program for young women and GNC teens, a platform where touring artists can find food for free, and a First Nations-led mobile music, healing, recording and storytelling space.
Two from last year were the Bush Music Fund and the RELEASR. start-up.
BUSH MUSIC FUND
Bush Music Fund is a pathway for First Nations acts from remote and outer regional Australia through financial help to get equipment and tour, help set up their infrastructure and find gig opportunities.
“There are so many great bands out there,” says co-founder Jack Parsons. “When we see them first-hand and meet them, there is such a power in their storytelling and language, the collaboration and the cultural exchange which celebrates people, place and culture.
“These were obviously things that every Australian needs to experience. But these acts face insane barriers, which makes it difficult for them to participate and makes it so difficult for them to get access to venues and recording studios.”
He adds that the Fund’s task to overcome the barriers “is not an easy task, and it costs a lot of money. We’re grateful that we’ve had lots of partners, supporters, and like-minded individuals who’ve jumped abroad to give these acts a series of opportunities.”
Parsons and co-founder Arian Pearson launched it with a $60,000 crowd-funded investment. Sympathetic partners in the music industry offer their services—T-shirt and merch manufacture, vinyl production, web design, publicity, and marketing—for less.
UNIFIED’s grant allowed them to approach merchandising company Love Police to print T-shirts that they could sell.
Parsons calls the grant a turning point. “It was so important. Until that time, industry support was limited. UNIFIED’s was a great acknowledgement of the work we were doing and a belief in the concept. At that time, it was still conceptual.”
Bush Music Fund’s whole basis is that it is the point of connection between the artists, their families, their community and the broader music business. Each year, it chooses an “established artist,” “emerging artist,” and “new artist.”
In July, the Fund announced Ripple Effect, Mulga Bore Hard Rock, and The James Range Band as its three nominees for 2024.
Ripple Effect is an all-women reggae-rock band from Maningrida in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. They sing in five languages: Ndjébbana, Burarra, Na-kara, and Kune. They are the first women from their community to play instruments and create their own band.
They receive $30,000 in services across two years and an opportunity to release an album, tour the record, and undertake vinyl pressings as a start.
“It’s amazing working with them; [they are] a great performing band. We managed to get them a website, marketing and PR help, [and] performance opportunities, including dates as part of (Victoria)’s IT’S ALIVE program.
“The Fund is trying to get them management. They have an awesome album out in mid-September, and we’re ready to help them with their album campaign, which includes a national tour and heavy marketing.”
Mulga Bore Hard Rock are six related teenagers from the Mulga Bore outstation in the middle of Central Australia. It is located 240 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs, English is a second language, and the water has to be boiled before it can be drunk.
They made headlines two years ago when they drove kilometres and kilometres to get to the Gold Coast to open for their idols KISS alongside Wolfmother and Tumbleweed.
They later had a private meeting with KISS, who fist-pumped them, “You guys rock!” They were presented with a boomerang and art and invited to visit their community.
Since then, Mulga Bore Hard Rock made a splash at BIGSOUND, are booked for SXSW Sydney, St. Kilda Festival in Melbourne and Mona Foma in Tasmania. The Fund is helping them to shape their songs together and take the next step. “They’re really cool, really exciting, and they’re really killing it,” Parsons emphasises.
The James Range Band are named after the picturesque mountain range surrounding the Central Australian desert Pitjantjatjara community of Utju. They sing in Pitjantjatjara and English. The Fund got them new equipment and worked closely with their teacher, who helped set up their business structure.
The Fund also put them on its Guts Tour with Melbourne’s Floodlights. It began in Alice Springs on Wednesday, September 19, travelling through remote Mutitjulu, Docker River, Tjukurla, Kintore, Mount Liebig, Papunya and Santa Teresa before a homecoming at Utju on September 28.
The tour also holds music and lifestyle workshops for the youths at each stop to give them a positive attitude.
RELEASR.
RELEASR. is a music tech platform that automates and simplifies into a one-stop admin process to allow emerging talent and their business associates to build correct music metadata.
It launched in beta at BIGSOUND 2024 and plans to go to market in the same week as SXSW Sydney.
Features include a release builder for the act to collate their releases with their team, asset storage solutions, a Dropbox tailored for the music business, and the ability to share artist timelines, EPKs (electronic press kits), and all important documents with the team. Coming soon is an artist team checklist.
“Basically, it stops having to juggle multiple emails with the team by centralising all their digital assets in one place,” explains founder Jaz Yates. “This way, their team has a cohesive and organised environment whether they’re releasing a product, setting up a marketing campaign or managing creative assets.
“Administration is an important part of an artist’s career. But the less time they spend on it, the more they can spend on being creative, achieving their goals and making money.”
For Yates, who also spoke at the DIY panel at BIGSOUND, technology has made it so much easier for musicians to be DIY. However, such artists can have problems navigating the maze, so RELEASR. is part of other interlocking entities.
Yates also set up the artist management, mentoring and career advice JY Management Group, the Your Music, Your Business podcast, and a new panel session to discuss issues with a global audience every three months.
She asserts that these are part of the essential need for “connection and meaningful networking.” Part of the reason the podcast was born was the need for more knowledge and more people breaking down the gates.
“I was having conversations in rooms with people – about ideas or strategy changes – that should have been shared with everyone. These are foundational aspects – how can we help artists make money, which keeps them in the industry, and how can we ensure that artists and this industry are learning from each other and not keeping all the secrets to themselves.”
The benefit of the UNIFIED Grant, she says, “was a really great opportunity for us in the direction of connecting.
“We launched a panel series bringing people from the industry to structure panel series. It’s maybe been done before but (a) we’re doing it on a global scale so anyone around the world could be learning from the panel; and (b) allowing there to be a networking session online afterwards.”
Music tech executive Matt Stone joined the company in June as a partner and Chief Technology Officer.
Applications for the $5,000 UNIFIED Grant close at 5:00 pm (AEDT) on October 22. Go to https://theunifiedgrant.com/ to apply.
