Matt Gudinski Promoted To Mushroom Group CEO, ‘Determined To Honour The Great Legacy My Father Left’

After joining the company in 2003 at the age of 17, Gudinski was named executive director in 2013, which led to an era of expansion and diversification. 

The live segment of Mushroom Group’s 24 companies includes Frontier Touring, Premier Artists. Illusive Presents, Harbour Agency, A Day In The Green, Role Model Artists, Sugar Mountain festival, The Harbour Agency, Venue Merchandising Services, Frontier Comedy, Mushroom Events, Good Life Presents, Love Police ATM and Converge Management.

The group, formed 1972, also encompasses record labels and artist services, publishing, film and television production, talent management, creative services and a brand agency. 

Matt Gudinski said, “This isn’t a role that I expected to assume yet, but I am determined to honour the great legacy my father left.  

“Mushroom Group is in its strongest position ever and as we fast approach our 50th year I know that our incredibly talented Mushroom family will help me deliver the vision Dad and I had for the next 50 years of our business.” 

Like his father, Gudinski began in the business in his mid teens, initially away from the company, working on rap and R&B tours and artist management.

After joining the Mushroom Group, he set up Illusive Presents, touring Drake, Khalid, A$AP Rocky, Róisín Murphy and Fatboy Slim, and introducing Channel Tres and Lil Uzi Vert to Australia and New Zealand. 

In 2019, Illusive sold 500,000 tickets.

Within Illusive, he created the RnB Fridays Live touring brand in 2016 (Friday Jams Live in New Zealand), the inaugural run with Nelly and TLC in five Australian cities grossing US$3.3 million and drawing 48,820.

Successive runs included Usher, Lil John, Salt N Pepa, Naughty By Nature, Craig David, Sean Paul and Kelis. The 2019 bill with Janet Jackson, Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, Jason Derulo and Fatman Scoop grossed $11.3 million and shifted 110,440 stubs.

He also set up a management arm Role Model Artists, which included hitmakers Love Deluxe and Bliss N Eso, and rising stars Fergus James and D’Arcy Spiller.

A second management division was home to alt-rock names Body Type and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever.

In recent years, Gudinski also brokered  partnerships to expand its live footprint. One with Underground Cinema saw a recreation of the Dirty Dancing with actors and dancers, and in its inaugural year in 2019, drew 20,000 to at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse and The Domain, Sydney.

A joint venture with Arena Touring made its debut 2019 with AQUA, Vengaboys and Blue.

Recent partnerships included Sasha Chifura and Shelley Liu’s Valve Sounds label and boutique management agency Foreign Echo, and Los Angeles-based management and publishing firm XXYV.

In 2020 and 2019, Gudinski ranked #8 in the annual TheMusic Power List, which was usually topped by his father.