AC/DC For Big Day Out?

Australia’s Big Day Out is generally considered an alt-rock festival. Yet co-promoter Vivian Lees has long dreamed of having an Australian act close the show.

"We’d like to have AC/DC do the honors," he said. Lees was talking at the "Love It Live" panel at the Australasian Music Business Conference at Acer Stadium in Sydney August 16-18.

The panel agreed that the Australian touring scene had never been more buoyant.

Lees said it gives him great satisfaction that the three-month Powderfinger and Silverchair tour looked like it would top record-breaking ticket sales of international superstars U2 and Robbie Williams.

The rest of the panel speakers included talent managers Bill Cullen of One Louder Management, creative director of Music NSW; Select Music agency and management founder Stephen Wade; and Craig New of merchandising company Out With The New.

During the conference, organizer Phil Tripp announced that Sony BMG Music Australia was in the process of buying out David Caplice Management, which looks after Human Nature and Katie Noonan among others.

John Watson – manager of Silverchair, Wolfmother and Missy Higgins – captivated the 600-strong audience during his keynote speech with eight points on "how to get the ball rolling."

He described artist management as "the guy with the map telling the artist, who is driving, ‘I really think you should turn left here.’ You decide which way to go. But when you go over the cliff, the last voice you hear is the manager saying ‘I told you we should have turned left’. But it’s important that the manager goes down the cliff with the artist."