This conversation with David Chitty, Managing Director & Promoter of Perth-based Sunset Events [pictured below left], originally appeared in an A&R Worldwide email newsletter on September 21, 2009.

David, tell us about your background in the music business.

Around ten years ago I started an outdoor cinema with my business partner. The cinema was successful and from that we were able to start holding special events – mainly solo artists playing before films initially. That was my first experience with the music industry and from there it grew.

What is Sunset Events?

Sunset Events is an events company specializing in unique music festival experiences in Western Australia. We also do some contract work for other companies as event managers and, of course, are partnered with A&R Worldwide and Chugg Entertainment for One Movement For Music Perth.

You organize multiple festivals throughout the year. How do you differentiate them from one another?

All of our events have their own personality and their own audiences. Southbound, a music, camping and arts festival, is set in the Margaret River region over the Christmas holiday summer period. It’s our largest event and is primarily a young adult demographic. This features acts such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, and Moby, and previous acts include Kings of Leon, Groove Armada, Franz Ferdinand and Basement Jaxx, among others.

The West Coast Blues ‘n’ Roots Festival, around the Easter period, is set in Fremantle and attracts a slightly older demographic and has had names like James Brown, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy and John Fogerty over the years, as well as Jack Johnson, Ben Harper and John Mayer.

Then there are events such as Laneway, which is pretty much your top-end tastemaker crowd – very cool bands for a very cool audience in an urban street party festival setting. Stereosonic is a dance event targeted for the end of university exams, and a new introduction next year is Groovin’ The Moo in Bunbury – a regional rock event.

Who are some of the acts you’ve helped establish via your multiple festivals?

The first one that springs to mind is Michael Franti. We also worked a lot with Xavier Rudd in his early days (and still do today) and gave Wolfmother there first-ever show in Western Australia at Southbound. There are now literally over a hundred emerging national and international acts that come and play at our festivals for the first time to decent-sized crowds; Santigold is a good example, as she played to 20,000 people in her first show in West Australia at Southbound 2009.

It’s touching that our festivals can contribute toward an artist’s audience development. Sometimes we will put a relatively unknown act on one of our events earlier in summer on a small stage, and then play them later in the summer at another one of our festivals on a larger stage and a better time slot, and then when that act tours come winter, they’re doing decent-sized rooms.

How can global acts looking to break into Australasia and Asia Pacific best garner your attention? What are the criteria that you seek to consider them for your events?

By getting on the radio and by touring. Album launches and interviews help raise their profile too. If I read an interview about an act I’ve heard of and then see a tour ad and then hear a track on the radio around the same time, then I will generally head to MySpace and YouTube and do some more homework.

From there, it’s all about the song, the voice, the sound, and how it’s all produced. How the act is presented in terms of its artwork/image is also important. If they’re doing all those things well and have a sound that stands out, then usually we’ll invite them to be a part of one of our events.

Australia is viewed as a very important market for international acts looking to launch into Asia Pacific and into the UK and US. What’s driven the importance of Australia as a global musical launch pad?

Being a smaller population - but a very active musical one - with fantastic musical infrastructure and a solid live music audience, we often get used as a test market. Australian fans consume so much music, it’s so much a part of our lives and it continues to grow. The growth of the live touring and festival market gives acts a willing and active audience.

triple j has undoubtedly played a large role in developing and nurturing the tastemaker market in Australia, which enables many acts to “break” and have a solid fan base when they first arrive into the country (if their songs have been heavily rotated on the station). Australian governments – federal and state – invest into and support musical talent, so this has also helped to develop our musical industry, its infrastructure, and its audience.

Your organization has played a pivotal role in establishing credibility and respect for not only Western Australian music but Australian music in general. What inspires you to take on such a personal musical mission?

It sounds simple but…we love the universal voice of music. There’s so much musical talent here; we just wanted to try and present it in a setting that reflects that talent and acknowledges the amount of dedication it takes from artists to make a special sound that we can identify with. Music has so much power to inspire and evoke change, and festivals can help an artist communicate some of the many messages and joys their music contains. We think fans of the bands playing at our events like that extra effort, too, so that keeps us inspired as well.

Where do you foresee Sunset Events in the coming years as a global music event leader?

At this stage we’re happy to grow and improve our existing events, but in a sustainable and environmentally-conscious way. Of course, over time it would be fantastic for one, some, or all of our events to be recognised as world class or even leading in some areas. It would be very satisfying for Sunset Events to put Western Australia on the map musically and for that to spin off on the hotbed of talent that’s here in West Australia.

Who are some of the unsigned and emerging acts that the international music community should be aware of from your neck of the woods?

That’s easy – they’re all showcasing at One Movement For Music in October! Ha, I couldn’t tell you if these acts are all signed or unsigned, but acts like:

• Art vs Science
• Bertie Blackman
• Whitley
• Wolf & Cub
• Dappled Cities
• The Touch
• Cassette Kids
• Canyons
• Regular John
• The Middle East
• Polo Club
• [ME] [pictured above right]
• Philadelphia Grand Jury
• The Seabellies
• Young Revelry
• Boys Boys Boys
• Abbe May & The Rockin’ Pneumonia
• Wagons
• The Paper Scissors
• Lost Valentinos
• Tijuana Cartel
• Canvas Kites
• Parades
• NGAIIRE
• Fergus Brown
• Cloud Control
• The Chemist
• Hunz [pictured right]
• Bluejuice
• Oh Mercy
• Sugar Army
• Miami Horror

…and that’s just the tip of the emerging iceberg!

If you had to choose between a vegemite sandwich and jam sandwich, which would you choose and why?

Vegemite…because I come from a land Down Under. I do love a good jam sandwich though!

Contact David Chitty via the Sunset Events website.