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Canadian Dave Holmes manages Coldplay. He also manages Interpol, Scissor Sisters, Julian Casablancas and has just signed My Chemical Romance among many others. Long and short of it: this guy is onto it. Wide and skinny of it: you’d be a halfwit to miss the opportunity to hear what he has to say.

Most delegates, industry visitors and media leeches here for the amazing One Movement Musexpo weekend realised this and the Swan Conference Room of the Parmelia Hilton was packed on Friday morning to hear what the man had to say.

What to expect from a person with such a reputation? We in the media create a dehumanising hype around people who live lives we could only dream of. Then, as is almost always the case, when we see these people in the flesh, off the stage or out of magazines, they turn out to be normal people. There are exceptions, Michael Jackson would probably be one, but Dave Holmes definitely was not.

He was surprisingly young, dressed casually and was running some Nike skate kicks. He could have been any Canadian uni student. Crazy old Uncle Chuggy, who is one of the funniest personalities in Aussie music history, kicked off proceedings with a typical expletive-laden speech and introduced Sat Bisla. Bisla was there to moderate the discussion with Holmes and is also an influential music identity in his own right, being the founder of Musexpo and massive US talent spotting company A&R Worldwide.

It was a predictable discussion, but an intriguing one none the less. Where did Holmes start out? Washing cars at the age of 14 and like most who end up – œmaking it’, he had an obsession with music. His first music job came in 93’ at Nettwork (Canadian artist management company) in their warehouse and said he was just happy working with people who loved music. He listed the company’s CEO, Terry McBride as one of his biggest influences along with, unsurprisingly, Chris Martin, who he said was one of the most driven people he had ever met.

He said the discovery process had changed for artists these days. He didn’t think the SxSW festival was as important to discovering unsigned talent as it used to be, because most artists that played that show were already signed. He said they just went there to promote records now. He said in the old days managers would hunt for bands in clubs but now of course, through the explosion of the information age, everyone was more informed.

For all you budding artists, managers, label owners or budding anything, he listed his keys to success. But don’t expect any world conquering revelations, it was mostly stuff that you would have been told before. You have to make great music. He said the focus used to be on having a hit single but not these days because artists are under increasing pressure to make albums. You just have to want it. You just have to work hard. Sound familiar?

If you’re a manager, you’ve gotta manage your client’s expectations, make them focus on the bigger picture. You can’t use CD sales to gauge success these days, look at touring etc. He said as an artist grows bigger so does the pressure that’s on them, so don’t let them get complacent. He used Coldplay as an example; that they continue to bring a great live show and give the feeling that they’re working just as hard on a stadium stage as they did when they played clubs. Make an honest assessment of yourself and find out where your strengths lie (A&R? touring? etc). He said labels called the shots in the 90s but managers were a much bigger part of the industry now and it was a more collaborative effort. He couldn’t put enough emphasis on the fact that as manager, you’re in the service business and you’re there to service your client’s needs.

Probably his most important piece of info for industry up and comers was not to have expectations. He said if you had expectations you were in the wrong business and you shouldn’t ever think you’re above doing anything.

The audience got the chance to ask him some questions and the names that were standing up to talk were quite amazing: Phil Stevens ( “Hi I’m Phil Stevens, I manage a band here, I don’t know if you’ve heard them, called John Butler Trio ” -Holmes had heard of them), Clare Collins (manager of Art v Science) and Martin Novesel (aka PhDj and manager of Philadelphia Grand Jury) were among them. People like this were asking questions like they were just new to the business and hadn’t even had an ounce of success yet. Then there were people who hadn’t had an ounce of success yet and they were up asking questions as well. That was the beauty of it.

Then some knob from fasterlouder stood up and asked Holmes if artists really gave a shit about journalist’s opinions, reviews and the like. The short answer: yes. What about Chris Martin? He could make a crap album and still sell millions: Yes, Chris definitely does apparently.

This knob is still not convinced but enjoyed the buzz of industry talent around the Swan Conference room that morning. That is for sure.

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