John Watson, Music Manager

Abstract

This chapter is an interview with John Watson, widely recognised as being one of Australia’s most successful and innovative artist managers. He began his management career with Silverchair in 1995, helping to sell six million albums for the band. In 2000 he established Eleven: A Music Company and took up the management of Silverchair once the band had finalised its contract with Sony. In 2012 the company managed a small but influential roster of artists that includes Gotye, Missy Higgins, Cold Chisel, The Presets, and Birds of Tokyo. Eleven was in many ways a pioneer for a new music business model. It combines the functions of a label with the functions of management and has been widely emulated, at throughout the Australian industry and elsewhere.