Face The Music, Melbourne’s music industry talk-fest rears its informative head once again in November. Featuring two jam-packed days of panel sessions, keynote presentations, meeting opportunities, practical music workshops and intimate master classes, it all happens at the Arts Centre Melbourne on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November.
Face The Music 2015 offers the opportunity to exchange ideas, make new connections and support each other’s professional development. From artists and managers, labels and journalists, festivals and start-ups to policy-makers and music activists, Face The Music covers every inch of the music industry.
In 2014 Face The Music delivered a ground breaking speech on the future of the music industry from uncompromising music legend Steve Albini, a masterclass with Grammy award-winner Hiatus Kaiyote, and provided a platform for five political parties to pledge support for the contemporary music industry and 2015 promises to be even bigger.
Face The Music in partnership with Melbourne Music Week is proud to present international guest speakers JD Samson and Ruth Daniel, in Melbourne to exchange ideas, inspiration and information with Australia’s contemporary music community at Face The Music and to get out to see some great music at Melbourne Music Week 2015.
JD Samson is an American musician, producer, songwriter and DJ, best known as a member of bands Le Tigre and MEN. One of 2015’s hardest working artists, she recently completed a musical collaboration with Pussy Riot, has been touring the world with her DJ set, and her new collaborative dance project SHARER has just had its first single ‘Body Tonight’ released in August 2015.
Well known for her passionate support of LGBTQIF and feminist causes, JD’s work often examines responses to gender identification. Her published writing also looks at music culture – her article ‘I Love My Job But It Made Me Poorer’ for the Huffington Post has been widely quoted. More recently, she has been a host of Broadly, the new digital channel devoted to representing the multiplicity of women’s experiences.
Internationally renowned music activist Ruth Daniel joins Face The Music 2015 with a strong DIY message for Australia’s independent artists. Ruth is the founder of Un-Convention, the global grassroots music event and community with a presence in 25 countries. Based in Manchester, UK, she is also Co-Director of In Place of War, which supports artists in sites of war, revolution and conflict. Their entrepreneurial programs are giving creative people the skills they need to make a sustainable living from their art in some of the world’s most challenging contexts.
Ruth will introduce us to the work of her colleagues Fora Do Eixo, the revolutionary Brazilian music group who have created one of the world’s amazing music scenes. She will discuss the new Off Axis Network they are jointly creating to take Fora Do Eixo to the rest of the world, providing a cooperative model of audience development and artist networking to provide long-term opportunities for independent artists.
Ruth Daniel’s work challenges traditional ‘industry’ pathways for popular music by looking at innovation and new community models that connect to new audiences and can be a powerful tool for social change.
This year, Face The Music welcomes over 150 Australian and international speakers from every facet of the music industry.
Face The Music tickets are now on sale at facethemusic with tickets priced from $65 to $120. Member discounts are available from Music Victoria, AAM, APRA, AIR, Collarts, AIM and The Push.