2. Michael Smellie, Global Record Executive

This chapter is an interview with Michael Smellie. Michael is Australia’s most successful major label record executive. From his beginnings as an accountant in the publishing business he became Chief Operations Officer for Sony BMG (Global) and led the company through what was to prove an historic merger. His time with Sony coincided with the advent of the CD and the subsequent explosion in revenues for the major record labels. Michael also played a major part in funding and conceptualising one of the most exciting and successful independent record labels in the history of Australian music, Rooart Records, the many achievements of which include the international success of INXS. An accountant by training, Michael brought a new management ethos and radical financial logic to the music business. The interview covers expansive ground, including Rooart; Warner BMG (the merger that almost happened prior to Sony BMG); the relationship between sport and music; and commentary on the nature and quality of management in the major labels sector of the music industry.