Soundwave chief AJ Maddah, who once memorably referred to the Madden twins as “money grubbing cunts”, is the most powerful person in Australian music.
The festival founder and noted Twitter enthusiast ranked #1 in the Australasian Music Industry Directory (AMID) ‘Power 50’ list, edging out prominent industry power Michaels brokers Michaels Gudinski and Michael Chugg who polled second and third respectively.
In his typically candid fashion Maddah graciously told theMusic.com.au, “To be perfectly honest I am shocked and a little bit uncomfortable. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, I do not care to be on any list that would have me at number one. I’m still learning on the job and taking lessons from masters like Michael Gudinski, Frank Stivalla, Carl Nicholas, John Parker, Denis Handlin and Michael Chugg all of whom are more knowledgeable than me and continue to be very generous to me with their time and advice.”
In addition to the hugely popular annual punk-metal-hardcore fest and an exemplary Zero Tolerance troll policy, Maddah conceived the more eclectic indie-leaning Harvest Festival and is behind the triumphant return of Vans Warped Tour to Australian shores.
The Top 20 of AMID’s 2013 List (which can be viewed here) includes triple J music director Richard Kingsmill at #9 and just three women: Splendour In The Grass co-director Jessica Decrou at #6, iTunes Music Manager Janelle McCarthy, and 2012 ‘SMAC Of The Year‘ Millie Millgate, Executive Producer of Sounds Australia. The full list comes out on Monday in the latest edition of the Australasian Music Industry Directory.
No recording artists were listed in the Top 20.
