Paul Piticco

Paul Piticco
Born	Paul Piticco 7 March 1969 Brisbane, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Ethnicity	Italian-Australian
Website
Secret Service

Paul Piticco (born 7 March 1969) is an Australian music and hospitality entrepreneur, and was placed at number 11 in The Australian newspaper's 2012 "Top 50" list of influential Australians in the "Arts" field.^[1] His company Secret Service operates in three areas—artist management, public relations services and digital marketing services—and is notable for managing the now-defunct Australian band Powderfinger and organising the Splendour In The Grass Australian music festival.

Early life

Piticco was born an only child to Sernando and Carmel Piticco at the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. Piticco's parents were Italian immigrants who had relocated to Australia at a young age and, after cutting cane for employment, his father founded a construction business in Brisbane, where he had also purchased a house. Piticco's mother was employed part-time in nursing and education. Piticco provided an insight into the influence of his parents in a 2014 interview, explaining that his father encouraged him to learn from mistakes and “figure your own shit out”, while his mother spoke of the importance of living a life that brought one happiness.^[2]

Piticco attended Petrie Terrace State School while growing up in the inner-west Brisbane suburb of Paddington. Piticco later attended Kelvin Grove State High in the city's inner north-west, but did not graduate from high school, as his "passion for study declined rapidly" after discovering alcohol and cannabis. During his teenage years, Piticco worked as a paperboy for the now-defunct Telegraph newspaper and weekend nights at Brisbane's 24-hour Windmill Cafe.^[2]

Career

After leaving high school, Piticco started working with his father at the family construction business, which also involved his uncle, but he was not suited to the role: "I didn’t want to work a manual job, grinding it out in the sun like my dad. I knew that I wanted something different". Piticco moved onto employment as a steel salesperson for Australia's Boral Limited company. It was during this period that Piticco was asked to manage Powderfinger, as he was friends with the band members—at the time, the band had not achieved popular success and was not earning a living from music.^[2] Powderfinger guitarist Ian Haug recalled in a 2014 interview:

He [Piticco] knew nothing about the music industry; we gave him an opportunity because we could see something in him ... We needed a "bad cop", and he was a good bad cop. We didn’t want to be the ones ringing up bikers saying "pay us our money". He had to be the tough guy. And Piticco’s a pretty tough name.^[2]

Following Piticco's acceptance of the offer, the band sought the assistance of a lawyer to devise a management contract that determined a six-way split for any money that was earned by Powderfinger beyond the actual songwriting—the band continued working with Piticco after the contract lapsed, but did not bother to create another contract, and this arrangement lasted for the majority of Powderfinger's 20-year career.^[2]

Although Powderfinger continued as a band for a prolonged period of time before substantial money was earned,^[2] as of July 2014, Piticco is involved with numerous businesses in the Australian music and hospitality industry:

• Founder and owner of the Secret Service music company that consists of: Secret Service Public Relations, Secret Service Artist Management and Secret Service Digital.^[3]
• Founder and owner of Secret Service Touring, co-promoter of Splendour in the Grass music festival and co-promoter of the Falls Festival music festival.^[2]
• Founder and managing director of Dew Process and Create/Control, two independent record labels.^[2]
• Co-founder and co-owner of Popolo restaurant and bar and co-owner of The Gresham Bar, both of which are located in Brisbane, Australia.^[2]

Piticco entered the hospitality industry in 2011, with the opening of the Popolo restaurant and then the Gresham Bar launch in late 2013. Piticco explained in 2014 that he had wanted to expand his business portfolio in this manner for many years,^[2] and also provided insight into the way in which he views hospitality in relation to music:

The chef is the artist, the restaurateur is the producer ... The chef serves up his works; the producer critiques them, works out which ones are going to be the hits, which ones will pad out the menu. Instead of listening, you taste. The ambience is the marketing and packaging—the visual representation—but the real thing that makes a successful restaurant is the food. It’s just as it is in the music industry: a lot of bad bands have an image, but the songs are really the meat of the proposition.^[2]

Secret Service

Secret Service Artist Management

As of July 2014, Secret Service Artist Management manages four Australian musical acts: Bernard Fanning, The Grates, Powderfinger and Mosman Alder.^[4] The company previously managed Magic Dirt.^[5]

Festivals and touring

Secret Sounds

Secret Sounds promoted the tours of several international artists in Australia, including The Strokes, Mumford & Sons and The Flaming Lips. In 2007, Piticco co-promoted the "Across the Great Divide Tour", a tour headlined by popular Australian bands, Powderfinger and Silverchair. The carbon neutral tour promoted reconciliation in Australia and contributed to the reduction of the 17-year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.^[6]

In 2010, Piticco co-promoted the farewell tour of Powderfinger that signified the completion of the band's career. The "Sunsets Farewell Tour" consisted of performances in 34 cities and towns around Australia, after 300,000 tickets were sold. Pittico was also a producer for the band's final commercial DVD, Sunsets Farewell Tour, directed by Gregor Jordan.^[7] The farewell tour eventually grossed A$30 million.^[2]

Splendour in the Grass

Secret Service, along with Byron Bay's Village Sounds, are the co-promoters of Splendour in the Grass, a live music festival held annually in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, since 2001.^[8][9] The festival was temporarily held in Queensland, Australia for a number of years and eventually returned to Byron Bay.

Piticco purchased a site in the North Byron Parklands to secure a permanent location for the festival prior to the 2013 edition. The new location is 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of the previous Byron Bay site and was attained after a seven-year process. Piticco has organised for the Parklands to be used three times a year for music-related events, including the New Year's Eve Falls Festival event. Piticco explained in a media interview: "Having this land and only having one income stream from it isn't viable."^[10]

Falls Festival

In September 2012, Piticco announced he would become co-promoter, alongside fellow Splendour in the Grass colleague Jessica Ducrou, of the Falls Festival music event. The announcement came shortly after the resignation of previous staff members Naomi Daly and Carmella Morgan.^[11] Ducrou explained in 2014: "Paul and I have done all sorts of glamorous jobs – directing traffic, picking up garbage ... He’s [Piticco] really positive, he mucks in. He has no airs and graces. He’ll do whatever is required.^[2]

Record labels

Dew Process

In 2002, Piticco started Dew Process, an independent record label based in Brisbane, Australia. Dew Process' roster includes Sarah Blasko, The Living End, The Hives, Mumford & Sons, The Grates, Bluejuice, The Panics, Jebediah, Last Dinosaurs, Bernard Fanning, Art of Sleeping, Whitley, Guineafowl and Seeker Lover Keeper.^[12] As of July 2014, the label's main revenue source is album sales.^[2]

Create/Control

In 2012, Piticco launched his new record label, Create/Control. This label operates by a different business model from that of normal recording companies in the respect that no funding is allocated towards A&R development, instead there is a greater emphasis on distribution, marketing and publicity.^[13]

Hospitality

Popolo

Piticco opened the restaurant and bar Popolo in South Bank, Brisbane in 2011—the name means "people" in Italian. Piticco's business partners are restaurateur Andrew Baturo and Denis Sheahan, Powderfinger’s former tour manager.^[2]

The Gresham Bar

The Gresham Bar venue was opened in Brisbane's Queen Street in late 2013. The building in which the bar is located was initially designed for the Queensland National Bank in 1881, and was completed by Queensland Colonial Architect Francis Drummond Greville Stanley in 1885. The name "Gresham" is taken from the Gresham Hotel that was formerly located near Queen Street, on the corner of Adelaide and Creek, prior to its demolition (the building was damaged by the 1974 flood).^[14]

Personal life

As of July 2014, Piticco resides on a property near Mount Warning, in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia. He lives with his partner of 15 years, Lisa Wickbold, and their children: Phoebe, age 7; Ivy, age 5; and Darby, age 3.^[2] In 2014, Piticco shared his outlook on his life and career:

I’ve always had this theory that stems from my mum ... Whether you’re a chimney sweep, a brain surgeon or a band manager, if you’re good at what you do, the rest takes care of itself. I just like having the opportunity to make a living out of music, for myself and others, and along the way make a whole bunch of people happy by enriching their lives in some way. And to get paid for it? That’s fucking awesome!^[2]

See also

• Music of Australia
• Music of Brisbane
• Arts and culture in Brisbane
• Italian Australian

References

External links

• Secret Sounds Touring official website
• Create/Control official website
• Popolo official website