Falcona Director Chris Murray shares the important lessons learned over the last 10 years

For the last decade, one of the most well-known and respected names in the Aussie music industry has been that of Falcona, an agency that has worked with some of the best and brightest names on the scene today.

This weekend, Falcona are set to hold an extra special 10th birthday celebration in Melbourne.

Taking place at The Wool Store in Footscray, huge names like DMA'S, Hot Dub Time Machine, Paces, GRAACE, and Running Touch are all set to perform, showcasing the immense talent present on the Falcona roster.

However, it's not every day that a booking agency of Falcona's level gets to turn double digits. Rather, it takes hard work, integrity, and the desire and motivation to achieve the goals you set out to accomplish.

With Falcona's 10th birthday celebrations just a matter of weeks away, Director Chris Murray sat down with us to share his the lessons he has learnt from being in business for the last 10 years.

If you're already in the music industry, or looking to make inroads in order to revolutionise the business, then this sage advice might be exactly the sort of thing you need to help make yourself a leading figure in the industry.

The lessons Chris Murray has learnt from having been in business for 10 years

I won’t try to give anyone advice on what to do, we’re all running our own race. But I am happy to chat to you about my experiences and what’s important to me:

Kindness

You feel better, they feel better,  everybody wins. Kindness goes far further than anger or intimidation. Kindness is often mistaken for weakness where I find it to be more of a strength.

While impossible to achieve all the time, I do strive more and more every day to be kinder to the people I work with. Hah I’d be interested to hear if I’m succeeding in that or not.

Balance

Nowadays a little cliched right? It nonetheless holds true as one of my most pertinent lessons.

Without a strong sense of balance and awareness in all things, I find myself quickly forming unproductive habits – particularly so in this industry we love so much.

If you want to take over the world but ostracise yourself in the process (be it relationships or friendships) then what’s the use of success? At what cost? You’ll have no one to share it with. Same if you work 120 hour weeks and burn yourself out before you get to where you want to be.

I’ve found it goes for all things: food, work, exercise, sleep, drinking, friends, family, travel, time management.

It’s a constant balancing act which you will never achieve but for me, it’s about being conscious of the interconnected nature of these things. Yoga and meditation have also really helped with this.

Honesty

We all fuck up. Own it, take steps to learn from it and move forward. Finger pointing and ass covering is rife not just in the music industry, it occurs in all industries and in my experience is best met front on: by one’s chin.

You’re only as good as your word so it’s important to be open and transparent on all things.

Perseverance

Externally, particularly nowadays, you only see people’s successes and achievements – because that’s all they want you to see.

You very rarely get an insight into actually what went into that achievement, the toil and anxiety and years of perseverance.

The Falcona Agency for instance today has a great roster of exciting artists doing very well in their particular worlds, but it absolutely did not start like that. When we started we were literally knocking on club doors offering DJs for free to try and get our foot in the door (and repeatedly being dismissed).

We didn’t pay ourselves for years and had set-back after set back for what left like a lifetime before we were able to do simple things like afford rent and staff. But what we did do, was believe in the artists we worked with and threw absolutely everything into helping them build their careers.

I’ve certainly found that old adage to be true: the harder you work, the luckier one gets.

Creativity

This is a big one for me. I find it almost impossible to be simultaneously productive/strategic AND creative. It’s because each use different sides of the brain, but it’s very important that I set time aside for both.

Often the creative side gets ignored which is dangerous because you fail to innovate. Everyone copies your ideas and your artists or events no longer stand out from the crowd. Creativity is key, even on the business side of the music and entertainment industry.

Check out 'The End' by DMA'S:

Falcona 10th Birthday Celebration

DMA’S Hot Dub Time Machine

Approachable Members of Your Local Community Carmouflage Rose Falcona DJs George Maple GRAACE I Oh You DJs Paces Running Touch Sosueme DJs Young Franco

Saturday, June 29th The Wool Store, Footscray, VIC