"For the first time in a long time, the record business is growing," entrepreneur Jaddan Comerford enthuses over the phone.
Unlike most men in their early thirties, he knows what a long time feels like and intends to stick around for a while yet.
![Success story: Jaddan Comerford created Unified from his parents' suburban home.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170717042918im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/a/m/7/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx8skj.png/1499925697996.jpg)
Comerford started his music business, Unified, after selling his clarinet at 17 and still living in the family home.
Last year, the company employed 35 people out of Sydney, London, Los Angeles and Melbourne and turned over $7 million.
"Half my lifetime has gone by and it feels so surreal. It was 2001, at the height of Napster and CD burning, just before iTunes launched in 2005 to save the day." he says.
"All I knew is that I loved music and I wanted it to be my career and I found a way to build a business model that allowed me to do that.
He is right about the growth in the game, with analysts at Macquarie last year predicting that revenue would double for streaming in the next 10 years. However, sticking around as the industry rights itself hasn't always been a linear route.
Comerford started out initially wanting to work in the punk rock genre, modelling his label on Epiteph, an outfit in LA.
"We had our first big success in 2004 with Behind Crimson Eyes, a band that's not together any more but they were our first win in terms of selling a significant number of records. When I looked at the cheque, because it was still cheques back then, I though holy wow, this is possible."
That success allowed the label to move to its first office in Richmond and for Comerford to "hire a few friends".
Changing gears
In 2009 he hired Nick Yates who is still head of the management part of the business (Unified also trade in recorded music, touring and merchandise).
We're very proud to be Australian and we want to take our musicians as far as they can go.
Jaddan Comerford
"Nick brought with him a client called Illy, a rapper. That was the first time we worked with someone who wasn't punk or hardcore and we realised we could apply what we'd learned to other kinds of artists.
Then came Unified's mammoth success story: Vance Joy, aka James Keogh, another Melbourne boy whose triumphs include a world tour with Taylor Swift starting in 2016.
"We were just lucky enough to hear him before a lot of other people did, we started working with him almost five years ago actually."
Like any wise talent manager, however, Comerford is quick to say the label is bigger than the singular biggest name.
More recent sign-ups include indie popster Amy Shark who took out the No. 2 spot in Triple J's Hottest 100 last year.
"With an act like Amy we are finally in a position where we can immediately take her overseas," he says.
"We're very proud to be Australian and we want to take our musicians as far as they can go."
Keeping things nice and tight, Shark and Vance Joy are managed by Comerford's wife Rachael Tulloch who joined the business five years ago.
Studying for success
When asked how Unified has gone from strength to strength in a difficult industry, Comerford is quick to mention he had a formal education while he was working.
"I did a business degree majoring in the music industry at Victoria University in Footscray. That's always something I tell young people to consider."
Comerford looks back on starting a company in his teen years as a bit of dumb luck.
"My company is a story of believing in something and a lot of blind faith and finding my way through experiences and failures and consistently learning," Comerford says.
"I tell them to get experience. Manage your friends or your friend's friends band, whoever will have you. Just get out there and try. There's no hard or fast way to achieve what we've done but anything is possible if you want it enough."
I suggest to Comerford that he benefited by starting Unified at a time when it wasn't too risky to give something a go.
"Absolutely," he agrees. "My parents never wrote me a cheque but I didn't have to worry about bills and they let me use the home phone for work."
"I think if you add to that the naivety you have as a young person, there were about five-six years that I was able to get through it because I was so blindly ambitious. Now the thought of leaving a job and going to start a business would be terrifying, but at the time I almost didn't realise I was doing it."
0 comments
New User? Sign up