Australasia News: TEG Ups Tim McGregor; Canberra Gets Live Boost; Desert Fest Sets Record; NZ: Going Global

Tim McGregor
TIM MCGREGOR has been promoted by TEG Live to global head of touring from his current position of managing director, effective Aug. 16. (Photo courtesy of TEG)

AUSTRALIA


TEG Moves Tim McGregor To Global Head of Touring

TEG moved TEG Live’s managing director, Tim McGregor, to global head of touring. Effective Aug. 16, he’ll lead its concert touring and festival portfolio across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, UK, Europe and North America.

Trained in entertainment law, McGregor had roles in operational, marketing, sponsorship and hospitality across sports and entertainment before joining 2016 as head of TEG Live.

TEG Group chief executive Geoff Jones cited “Tim’s outstanding track record in the live entertainment industry (which) draws on more than three decades of experience.
“His in-depth industry knowledge and excellent business acumen makes him the ideal choice.”

McGregor welcomed the challenge, saying, “I am excited to be furthering my remit with TEG to build its Touring operations both locally and globally.

“I am immensely proud of all that we have achieved to date, but this is only the beginning.”
In Pollstar’s 2023 box office rankings, TEG Group was No. 9 among worldwide promoters with a gross of $254.1 million and just shy of 3 million in ticket sales.

Canberra Live Sector, NTE, Get Boost

Canberra’s live entertainment sector and A$3.8 billion ($2.53 billion) night-time economy got a boost with the Australian Capital Territory government announcing a raft of changes.

Businesses hosting live music and arts events had liquor licence fees reduced, regulatory barriers removed and trading hours made more flexible.

The city’s first entertainment precinct, in Civic, had its noise level upped to 75 decibels from 60 decibels, with arts and culture minister Tara Cheyne observing, “fun isn’t silent.”

Desert Festival Sets World Record

The 14,000 fans, campers and adventurers who trekked into the desert near Broken Hill for the Mundi Mundi Bash set a new world record.

In costumes ranging from dinosaurs to princesses, 6,248 broke the Freeze Frame Dance record, breaking the record of 2,754, set at its sibling Birdsville Big Red Bash July.

Attempts at Largest “Nutbush City Limits” Dance and Largest Gathering of Mad Max Characters in One Location missed setting records but raised A$97,725 ($65,175) for
the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The 25 acts at the Aug. 15-17 event by Greg Donovan’s Outback Music Festival Group included Vanessa Amorosi, Jon Stevens, The Living End, Chocolate Starfish, and Tim Finn.

New CEO For Venue Management Association

Joel Edmondson was tapped as CEO of the Venue Management Association (VMA).
He was 10 years in strategic development, most recently as CEO of Queensland Music Festival (QMF) and music association QMusic.

The VMA has 1,000 members in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, across 300 venues in 16 countries.

NEW ZEALAND

More Speakers For Going Global Summit

More speakers were added for the Aug. 29-30 Going Global Music Summit in Auckland.
They include the heavy metal trio Alien Weaponry on how they broke the European market, and tech strategist and author Glenn McDonald, who founded music-exploration website Every Noise at Once.

Also on board were Independent Music Coalition Japan’s global marketing secretariat Brendan Gaffney, Ian Emmanuel C. Urrutia of The Rest Is Noise / AXEAN Festival (Philippines), Weining Hung, an artist manager and co-founder of Taiwan’s showcase festival and conference and 9Kick Agency, and Reggie Ba-Pe, founder of Australian-based avatar creating platform Alias.