A second season wrapped in December, while Music From the Home Front is confirmed to return on April 24, this time with a live, all-star concert at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl. A third project was realized when season one of The Sound premiered in July on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He then orchestrated a six-part virtual concert series, State of Music, through an alliance with Victoria Together, the online platform of the Victoria state government.
He spearheaded the April 25 Anzac Day special Music From the Home Front, which was a ratings hit (capturing 1.4 million TV viewers, according to OzTAM data), as well as a spinoff multidisc fundraising album that reached No. 1 on the ARIA albums chart. He threw himself into content production through his company’s Mushroom Vision division.
With touring grounded, Gudinski’s considerable live-entertainment assets were mothballed. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, he recalibrated his company and focused on a string of new projects, which included the launch of a new label, Reclusive Records, with Yorta Yorta singer-songwriter Scott Darlow as its first signing. “If it wasn’t for Michael Gudinski, I wouldn’t have been working or been a recording artist.” How Mushroom Group's Michael Gudinski Pivoted and Built New Channels During the PandemicĪrchie Roach, the iconic Indigenous artist who was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame in 2020, recounted Gudinski’s tireless championing of First Nations artists, including Troy Cassar-Daley, Christine Anu and Dan Sultan, and for his support of Yothu Yindi and its breakthrough hit, “Treaty.” Today, the group includes Mushroom Music Publishing, the country’s leading independent publisher The Harbour Agency labels I Oh You, Liberation and Bloodlines and the concert promotion juggernaut Frontier Touring, which ranked as the third-largest promoter in the world in 2018, according to Billboard Boxscore, with gross ticket sales of $245.1 million and over 2.7 million tickets sold to 440 reported shows.ĭuring the tribute in Melbourne, held in the city’s largest indoor arena, those closest to Gudinski appeared onstage or in the audience, including Kylie Minogue, Jimmy Barnes and Ed Sheeran, who made the long haul from the United Kingdom to pay tribute to “this titan of a man.” Sheeran performed a new song in celebration of Gudinski, “Visiting Hours,” which he wrote during his stay in quarantine, a hurdle for every visitor entering Australia.
Gudinski established the company in 1973 and led as chairman until his death. The careers of countless artists and music industry figures moved forward thanks to the 24-strong companies that form Mushroom Group. His impact on Australia’s music industry is immeasurable, highlighted by the state memorial held March 24 in his honor at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.
Michael Gudinski with his son, Matt Gudinski, in 2019.