11. Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall

This chapter is an interview with Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall. They represent “ground zero” of the music industry for the series: the artists, the creative labourers who make the music that makes money for them and everybody else in the business. Kate and Keir are partners in life and music, and in that sense they are a rare combination. Kate’s creative repertoire spans indie-alternative, pop, heavy metal, musical theatre, and Opera. The couple is quite obviously on a journey of continual renewal at every level: as artists, musicians, and business people. The interview makes clear, I think, that Kate and Keir are new kinds of artists who are emblematic of successful charting a way through the music business’s digital interregnum. Shortly after the interview, Kate parted company with her label to become entirely independent, with both her and Keir beginning solo ventures in areas as diverse as comedy, musical theatre, and opera, as well as continuing their professional collaborations.