Stephen Green [Greeny] from SGC Media is one of the busiest publicists in the Australian music industry, with a roster of some of the countries biggest acts, events and labels, including Sticky Fingers, Gurrumul, Sheppard and BIGSOUND (which he also programmed for 2 years). He is one of the savviest operators around and a regular fixture on the music conference circuit - we were delighted when he agreed to share some of his tips and experiences with us recently.

With a 15 year career starting with music journalism and winding its way through music retail, radio, inflight media creation (as host and producer of ‘En Route FM’ for Canadian Airlines and Air Canada), management and marketing, his first business Australian Music Biz was started in Brisbane in 1999 creating a hub providing publicity and radio plugging for independent artists. In its eight year history the company worked with artists as varied as The Butterfly Effect, Hanson, Epicure, Kate Miller-Heidke, Petula Clark, The Screaming Jets, Bodyjar, The Boat People, Tom Jones and Presidents of the USA. As the company built to five staff over the years, clients included Sony, EMI, Warner, Destra, Shock, Modern Music and many more of Australia’s top labels.

In 2006 Stephen started his second company Outbreak marketing focusing on the emerging online and street marketing opportunities available. After purchasing and integrating two street marketing companies to complement Outbreak’s already-strong online presence the company serviced clients including Disney, Sony and many of Australia’s top indie touring companies.

In 2007 Stephen sold the two companies, concentrating on independent consulting. Major projects included twelve months as Program Director at Queensland’s peak music industry association QMusic and programming the international BIGSOUND Music Industry Summit and Showcase event in 2008 and 2009, raising the profile of the event by hosting industry identities including Van Dyke Parks, Seymour Stein (Sire Records), Robert Schneider (The Apples in Stereo), the International Music Manager’s Forum (IMMF) and many more from the US, UK, Asia, India.

Throughout this period, Stephen also oversaw the successful rollout of the Play MPE and D-Star Spins systems for Sydney company Shooting Star. The company rose from a standing start to being the industry standard for promotional music delivery and radio monitoring services through strategic guidance and client relationships throughout the major and independent music industry.

In 2010 Stephen formed a joint venture with respected Sydney music industry identity Sebastian Chase (MGM, Phantom, Waterfront) to create SGC Media, focused on marketing Australian music to the world through online marketing, international radio and strategic methods. The business’ roster has included John Butler Trio, Triple J Hottest 100, Blue King Brown, The Waifs, Sarah McLeod, Abbe May, San Cisco and more. The business currently employs four staff and works with Chugg Music, Skinnyfish Music, Sony Music and many more. 2013 saw the company spearhead the top five single “Bayini” with Indigenous artist Gurrumul and Delta Goodrem as well as charting albums for Abbe May, Mia Dyson, Sticky Fingers and Pete Murray. So far in 2014, SGC has achieved top five albums for Sticky Fingers, Sheppard and Russell Morris as well as other charting releases for Marcia Hines and Gurrumul. Sheppard’s single “Geronimo” hit #1 in the ARIA charts and has gone on to four times platinum; the highest selling Australian single of the year.

2014 also saw the creation of Title Track, a division of SGC Media concentrating on underground releases with artists like Sticky Fingers, The Love Junkies, Moses Gunn Collective and MTNS all achieving success with the likes of triple j and international blogs.

In addition to this, Stephen retains board positions with QMusic and Starving Kids (MICS Ltd), a music industry college providing secondary education for young people. He has also been a speaker at music industry events including Australian Music Week (Vic), BIGSOUND (Qld), WAMI (WA), The Seed (NSW), Unconvention (Qld), Fuse (SA), Face the Music (Vic), Rock On (Rockhampton) as well as conducted workshops for various community groups and grassroots industry activities in Australia and New Zealand.