Life as a Band Manager and Tour Coordinator: Meet Niamh Hurley
If Niamh Hurley hadn’t followed her dreams two years ago, she’d be finishing up her primary school teaching degree right about now—ready to step into a classroom and pursue a career she wasn’t interested in.
Luckily, she chose to follow her passion for music instead and she’s been kicking goals as a tour and festival coordinator and band agent ever since.
Intrigued? So were we, so we sat down with the 22-year-old to find out how she made it in the music biz and what it’s like being behind-the-scenes.
It’s all part of our May series exploring all the careers in the music industry.
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Meet Niamh (that's pronounced like 'Neev' not 'Nimm').
Ever since she was little, Niamh has been obsessed with music.
“It’s always been a big part of my life,” she said.
“[Going to gigs] is what I loved to do before I started even doing any of this work. I would spend every last cent on tickets just to go to things. I was at a gig every single weekend, sometimes two or three. I’m a crazy gig fan.”
But she never imagined making a career out of her love for music, taking the more traditional uni pathway—which she pretty quickly regretted.
“Throughout high school, I was keen to work in events and study event management, but it wasn’t until after school… everyone was going to uni and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do so I just did primary teaching. But it wasn’t what I wanted," Niamh recalled.
So, she took a risk, a leap of faith, and went out on her own in 2020 with a small business running local gigs and events out of Mandurah, a regional city in WA.
Enter Ludic Events.
“I began by doing bookings for a local venue, Scott’s Garage. I booked a few bands (like Spacey Jane and Death by Denim) to play there, the first few shows that happened at that venue, and they were really successful,” she said.
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“Then Scott’s Garage closed down, so I started organising my own mini fest—a line-up of WA based bands and artists, bringing some headliners down to Mandurah.
“After that, things started happening. I started getting to know a lot more people in the industry and started managing a band, which was something different I wanted to try out because I didn’t have much experience in that, but I did have the contacts.
“I thought that I was going to be doing Ludic for a long time, but I only did that for a year and a half before the next opportunity came and I grabbed it.”
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Taking her career to the next level.
That next opportunity was making a move to Melbourne to work for a prominent booking agency, coordinating tours with a range of artists and bands, shows and festivals.
As for what Niamh does day-to-day? Well, it’s epic and it’s a lot.
“People don’t realise, I definitely didn’t realise how many people and how much work goes into shows, even the small ones,” she said.
“It’s really fun and I love all the work I do, it never feels like work for me, but having done this for a couple of years now, I realise how much work and people go into making it a good show. It’s amazing to see everything that goes into it to make sure people buy tickets and the crowd enjoys it.
"I used to just be a punter in the crowd and now I’m going to gigs as someone who works in the industry, which is a bit of a proud moment for me. Now I'm having something to do with the organisation of it all... it's surreal to think about really."
Image: Supplied.
And when it comes to the five-piece band she still manages, there’s a lot more to that than just making gigs and tours come to life, too.
“Booking shows and touring and getting them on line-ups all comes with it, but there’s a whole other side to it of being a band mum and giving advice to what they’re wearing, what they post on social media, anything like that."
"I do everything behind-the-scenes for them, organising and sorting everything so they can focus on the creative side, which is what they love to do, and I do everything else. Lucky I only manage one band honestly, I don't think I'd be able to handle anything more than that," she laughed.
“Say yes to everything.”
Ah, so you've also got your heart set on working in the music industry and could see yourself working alongside artists like Niamh does? Well, she’s got a few nuggets of gold (advice, she’s got advice).
“Going to gigs is how I started everything, even the smaller ones, and asking to meet the band afterwards. Actually talk to everyone you can—bands, promoters, managers,” she said.
“I have no degrees, I’ve done no study in what I’m doing, but everything in this industry comes down to experience and networking. It’s all about gaining the experience by saying yes to everything that comes your way, even selling merch at a show and talking to everyone and making connections.
“The more times you say yes, the more people you’re going to meet. I cannot speak more highly of networking and experience.”
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Onwards and upwards.
Niamh is pretty damn proud of where she’s gotten herself to, and rightly so.
She’s only in the early years of her career and she already describes it as a “dream come true”.
“Where I’m at right now is amazing—the people I get to speak to and the things I get to do now is everything I’ve wanted and aimed for throughout the past few years,” she said.
“I don’t know what could be better for me right now.”
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But, there’s always more to strive for, and Niamh said heading overseas is definitely part of the plan.
“In the future, I would love to have more to do with international artists and festivals, which will hopefully come at some point,” she said.
“I’ve always just gone with the flow… There’s no point that I’ll stop, I’ll always take any new opportunities that come. I’m not going to limit myself to anything because there’s so much that can happen… There are so many places you can go in this industry.”
If you love all things music, keep an eye on our May series profiling all kinds of super cool and profesh industry experts and check out what we’ve done so far here.
