2026 AAM Awards: Manager of the Year Finalists on Touring, Talent and Industry Change

Ahead of the 2026 AAM Awards, The Music Network asked this year’s Manager of the Year finalists about the opportunities and challenges facing managers today, memorable moments from the road, and what excites them most about the future of Australian talent.

The awards, returning to Sydney on April 29th, celebrate excellence in artist management across multiple categories, with finalists selected through consultation with a judging committee comprising senior figures from across the Australian and international music industries.

This year's Manager of the Year finalists including Weird Fishes' Aidan McLaren and Joe Miles, Heartstop Music's Alastair Burns, UNIFIED Music Group's Caleb Williams, UNIFIED Music Groups Dan Nascimento, and Sundowner Artists' Simone Ubaldi and Andrew Parisi - all of whom have navigated an increasingly challenging industry as costs rise, technologies change, and the wider music business continues to reshape itself.

The awards will also crown the winners of the Breakthrough Manager of the Year and Emerging Manager of the Year categories, as well as the Community Engagement Award. The event will feature live performances and will be hosted by comedian, writer and presenter Matt Okine.

Elsewhere, Melita Hodge of Six Boroughs Management will be recognised for her longstanding contribution to artist development with this year's Legacy Award. Hodge’s roster includes Kasey Chambers, Andy Golledge, and Denvah, among others.

The Legacy Award, presented by Frontier Touring, honours an individual whose enduring contributions have shaped the Australian music industry and artist management landscape. It recognises a person’s vision, dedication, and influence, and the mark they leave on the career of artists and the broader creative community.

See all the 2026 AAM Awards finalists here.

 

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The Music Network: What is the best and most challenging part of being an artist manager in 2026?

Joe Miles: One of the best things about being an artist manager is being able to form meaningful relationships with amazing people from all around the world. The places we get to visit, the memories we get to create and share, and the lives that are touched as a result of amazing art put out into the world by the artists we work with. To be a small part of that journey is a real honour and a privilege.

One huge challenge that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon is navigating careers through a time of huge rising costs. No doubt everyone is feeling it and it means being incredibly frugal, creative and as adaptive and resilient as possible. Something we will no doubt continue to battle with.

Alastair Burns: The best part is that it is possible to build and manage the early stages of a global career as a solo operator or small team. I can shoot for the moon with an artist, build a team of label/PR/agent/publisher/promoter/marketing/touring crew and manage the operation from anywhere in the world without having to take big risks with overheads.

The Covid pandemic was an incredibly challenging time on so many levels, but it did teach me the benefits of being nimble, and scaling carefully with the artist business. It also taught industry in major markets that campaigns can be managed successfully online, and that as long as a manager understands the landscape, they don't have to be on ground all the time. I'm still a huge advocate for being at shows, and having face to face relationships with the people I am working with, but I am very intentional about travel now and this is allowing me to do this job and be an engaged parent and partner.

The flip side of keeping the operation so lean is that I can only imagine working with one developing artist at a time, and two artists on my roster feels like a max. I have been doing every imaginable task, small and big with Folk Bitch Trio, for example, and I have really loved being in the trenches but it's not a very scalable business model. So it limits my ability to work on a bigger roster and has obvious risks as a business, but it is my favourite thing to dive all in with an act I believe in and hope we can beat the odds of this incredibly challenging industry.

Caleb Williams: I’m sure it is different for every manager, but for me the biggest challenges are keeping up with the technology and different forms social media, changes to release platform features and systems constantly changing.

Dan Nascimento: I’m incredibly grateful of being able to do the job that I do with the people I do it with in this incredible industry every day. I appreciate being able to be part of amazing artist teams, and I take so much pride and have so much care in representing the artists I work with and their careers.

The challenges are outweighed by the gratitude I have for my role, however the days are long and you never really switch off, you’re always on and thinking about everything more you can be doing to support and elevate your artists, whether that is for their artistry or for them as individuals. It’s about finding balance and ensuring that mode of operating is sustainable, but at the end of the day the gratitude and appreciation for the role I have and the wider team support is the biggest catalyst and driver to ensuring that everything is optimal and has longevity.

Simone Ubaldi and Andrew Parisi: Working with musicians feels relatively safe and sane. All we are trying to do is make art and spread a bit of joy, and it feels like such an innocent mission in the context of geopolitical meltdown and shredding social fabric. The best thing about being an artist manager in 2026 is that it’s a nice thing to do, for ourselves and for the world.

The most challenging part of being an artist manager is navigating the attention economy with integrity. It’s hard to feel good about the new frontiers of music marketing, where fan culture has been co-opted by labels to help game the algorithm, and you can no longer trust the comments section. It’s depressing to see how the post-truth world of online discourse is now materially impacting whether or not artists succeed, and challenging to think outside of that box. But we try.

What is your wildest memory of being on the road with one of your artists?

Joe Miles: We went to France with Steph Strings after she was booked to perform at Les Escales Festival in Saint-Nazaire, a small town in the west of France. It was an incredible experience to be on the other side of the world, riding around the French coast on bicycles together pinching ourselves that Steph's music and our job as artist managers was allowing us to create these memories and help an artist realise their dreams.

Steph performed four times across the weekend, starting off to about 300 people not knowing who she was. By the final set, Steph had 5000 people packing out the stage, jumping up and down, clapping along to her music and the final song finished with a huge standing ovation. I think it was the first time we saw Steph let out a few tears on stage of overwhelming joy. It was truly special. Steph returned to Saint-Nazaire for a headline show the following summer and completely sold it out.

Alastair Burns: If wildest means most exciting, it would have to be Marlon Williams performing with The Yarra Benders and Ngā Mātai Pūrua at various gigs over the past 12 months. The energy between them on stage, and with the crowd has been one of the most special experiences in my life and I have heard countless people say it's the best gig they have ever seen.

Caleb Williams: While there are many, most recently it would be in Chandigarh, India and being driven to the venue to find out it was at the base of a dug-out construction site for a high rise building. They had stopped construction for the show to take place. There were giant trucks and bulldozers inside the site. The stage was were the underground carpark will eventually be and the 5000 + crowd was walking down ramps to the 50+ metre drop to the show. Where there’s a will there’s a way!

Dan Nascimento: It’s been an incredible year with so many moments that were surreal and mind blowing, especially for someone that tries to never let a moment get too big and always keep things even keeled. Ocean Alley just completed two months of immense headline shows at home in ANZ, however performing at Alexandra Palace in London was one to shout out. The guys had just released their brilliant new album, and there was so much that went into that release moment.

Shortly after release, the band and team were all en route to London to kick off the next leg of touring in support of the new record, starting with their biggest headline show anywhere in the world to date. Ally Pally is such an iconic venue and massive show delivery overall, with the added layer of the new album euphoria. Being able to simply play a part in that and share that with the band on ground was wild and something I’ll never forget.

Simone Ubaldi and Andrew Parisi: A particular band member failed to make the 9am bus call in Manchester. After lots of panicked calls, we decided to get the band on the road sans member, so they would make their soundcheck time (at their biggest show ever at that point!). In the meantime, I [Andrew] had to quickly learn some songs in my hotel room so I could do the soundcheck for him.

We didn’t have crew back then, so no one else was around who was familiar with the songs. Once he finally made contact later that morning, we made him catch the train to London and then Uber to the venue.
I was literally standing on stage about to soundcheck for him when he strolled in. Collected his instrument from me without batting an eyelid!

What excites you most about the Australian music industry now and the future of talent?

Joe Miles: It's a fascinating time to be working in Australian music, and we say that with full awareness of how challenging the landscape can be and currently is. Building a career in music has never been easy, and the volume of content and competition today makes it harder than ever to cut through. Artists are being asked to be creators, marketers, brand managers, live performers, and businesspeople all at once, often without the resources or support to match that expectation.

But what genuinely excites us are the artists who navigate all of that and still find a way through. The ones building dedicated fanbases on their own terms, without waiting for a major label to open a door for them. That independent drive and creativity is something Australia has always had, and right now we have better tools than ever to channel it. The tools have evolved, but the creativity and passion for making emotional art still remains, and always will.

Alastair Burns: I have been entirely focused on Marlon and Folk Bitch Trio in the past 18 months, so I find it hard to speak about the bigger picture of the Australian music industry right now. However, watching Folk Bitch Trio take on a global career in their early 20s has been super inspiring and shown what is possible to achieve in 18 months across global markets. They are so engaged in their business alongside being incredible performers and songwriters, and they really understand and embrace the challenges that come with building an artist business.

Caleb Williams: It has and always will be the talent of the artists we have in this country. I honestly believe we have constant and consistent artists delivering incredible music. I feel we work together much more than many other countries, Organisations such as AAM is great to connect so many people and intern artists together. We may be small in numbers but, when everyone supports and works together to promote Australian music anything is possible.

Dan Nascimento: There is so much incredible music being created within Australia, and whilst in many ways it is an overwhelming time for many reasons, I genuinely believe it’s one of if not the best time to be an artist, and that’s because great music and art is able to reach audiences and be discovered independently, more than it ever has before. The audience is in control, and by extension the artist can be more in control than ever with how they’re building their career and reaching their audience.

Add to that the plethora of incredible local talent that we have across the abundance of BTS roles across the industry to support artists. It’s never easy of course, but the ability to establish and genuinely build independently is something that is really exciting.

Simone Ubaldi and Andrew Parisi: It’s exciting to see so many Australian artists finding success overseas, on very different paths. It’s really heartening to see Folk Bitch Trio breaking through with consistent work, it’s great to know The Chats have a solid international fan base and touring opportunities, and it’s fun to watch Way Dynamic catch a big wave after so many years toiling in obscurity. It’s just great to feel like living on this remote island isn’t an impossible handicap to overcome in order to be a professional musician.