Mushroom Group Unveils New Booking Agency MBA
Written by djfrosty on July 19, 2023
MELBOURNE, Australia — Mushroom Group’s talent booking division welcomes MBA, a new agency operating across Australia and New Zealand for live bookings, strategy, touring and partnerships.
MBA is a partnership with Guven Yilmaz, founder and managing director of Vita Music Group.
With offices in Sydney and Melbourne, the new agency represents a slew of artists from the Vita roster, and boasts a lineup at launch that includes Peking Duk, Bliss n Eso, Conrad Sewell, Skin on Skin, Winston Surfshirt, BIG WETT, Kaylee Bell, Milan Ring and Tasman Keith.
“Mushroom has been esteemed as the independent leader in the Australian music and entertainment industry. Partnering with a company that not only emphasises but promotes an independent entrepreneurial culture was essential to me,” comments Guven in a statement.
Mushroom Group CEO Matt Gudinski is said to be keen to grow his independent music company’s booking capacity. MBA, he says, boasts some of the best in the business.
“We’re delighted to have Guven join the Mushroom family,” Gudinski comments. “He’s a very well respected agent and operator, with an incredible track record to boot.”
Supported by a “first-class team” including Shelley Liu, Sam Rogers, and Matt Thomson, Gudinski continues, “I am excited about the offering we are going to create for the talent we represent.”
For those artists repped by MBA, Mushroom’s doors will remain open for talent to work with the group’s production specialists to help build and design their live-show, in addition to accessing the Mushroom Creative House and the brand’s sprawling network.
Mushroom Group this year celebrates its 50th anniversary with a “once-in-a-lifetime” all-star concert and the release of a documentary, Ego, a study of the indie powerhouse’s former chairman Michael Gudinski, who at 21 years of age, founded the company.
Today, the Melbourne-based group numbers more than two-dozen affiliates active in every conceivable area of the music and entertainment industries, from touring to publishing, merch and marketing services, venues, exhibition and events production, neighboring rights, branding, labels, talent management and more.
The late Gudinski formed Mushroom Records in 1972 but had had learned the ropes by booking artists in the region years earlier. In 1970, he established the Consolidated Rock agency, which evolved into the Premier Artists/Harbour Agency.
Mushroom Group cut ties with Harbour Agency in 2021, following an investigation into claims from former Harbour Agency staff on past management behavior and workplace culture.
MBA sits alongside Premier Artists, which reps Jimmy Barnes, Vika & Linda, Marcia Hines and others.