The Influence of Dirty Pool on the Australian Live Music Industry: A Case Study of Boy & Bear

This chapter is based on fieldwork conducted in Australia, the UK and the US from April 2010 until December 2011 during my tenure as co-manager/promoter of Australian band Boy & Bear. It draws on participant observation and secondary interview data featuring the perspectives of other Australian and international agents, artist managers and concert promoters. It argues that due to the establishment of the company Dirty Pool Management in the late 1970s, the Australasian case is different to that of other Anglophone countries, such as the US and the UK, in terms of who takes the risk on promoting, and then either incurring a loss or reaping a return from, the unique localised experience of live music. At the entry to mid-level of the Australian live music industry it is common for a combination of the artist and their management to promote their live shows themselves, without the assistance of a promoter. There is an historical precedent for this. This chapter will argue that the management company Dirty Pool changed the way in which the Australian music industry operated and this has had lasting ramifications.