The 2017 Turn Up Music Industry Conference brings the cream of the industry to the Sunshine Coast this October.
David Dean is the founding executive producer of the conference and also runs his own booking and management firm, Hostile Entertainment.
David recalls how the conference originated from a need to coalesce the region's various music communities. “It was an idea born out of me and Eloise [Gallagher, programme director] having a meeting,” David explains.
“Eloise is a teacher for the music courses at the Sunshine Coast TAFE in Nambour and I do guest lectures there.
"We said we needed to do something because there's all this cool stuff happening on the Sunshine Coast, all these events and festivals and new venues and lots of new acts. No one was actually talking to each other and we needed to have something to bring everyone together.”
This year, Turn Up presents another round of quality guest speakers and musical acts for an evening of professional development from industry representatives. Management and production veteran Ted Gardner will be in conversation with Barry Bull, sharing wisdom cultivated over a 40-year career working with bands like Jane's Addiction, Tool, Frank Zappa and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
Founder and director of the Woodford Folk Festival, Bill Hauritz will be discussing how to transform a grassroots event into an internationally-acclaimed cultural festival. While Glenn Wheatley, the man behind John Farnham, Delta Goodrem and 'The Voice' will give Turn Up's keynote speech.
Turn Up also presents two workshops: brand building and image making, and how music shapes the culture of a city. Rounding out the event is a selection of local performers David says are already on a good path and need some extra help to break through to the next level of their career.
This year's line-up features three acts: Mason Hope, Nicole McKinney and Doolie. “Mason is a young guy I know really well,” David says.
“He's only 17 and in the past year he's already won the Gympie Music Muster Star Maker, the [Voice of] Urban Country Music Festival, he's been to Tamworth twice and he's been to another trans-Tasman award and won that. The funny thing is he's not really country, but I think they're looking for something a little bit different and he's really good. He's going to be big in [the] coming years.
“Doolie is a pop-indie act that's released [a] few singles and she's only 18 or 19; she won the Schools Award last year for the Queensland Music Awards. Then Nicole McKinney, she's only a young act as well and she's doing really well; she's a folk, indie singer-songwriter.
"Even though some of them have won awards, none of these acts have any representation or labels. They've got interest from people, but we want to try and push them out to a wider audience.”
As Turn Up establishes itself as a key event on the industry calendar, David says he sees the conference playing a complementary role to its city cousin, the national BIGSOUND conference.
“We're trying to have a small, boutique conference where I and the others who work with me can bring in people that we've been lucky enough to have had as mentors or worked with, that other people can't get near, and put them in a place where people can actually talk to them and get up close and personal to give them their business card or CV,” David says.
