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

Abstract

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 l..