Launched in 2011 by entrepreneur Jaddan Comerford, its concept was to have four major pillars “that all work to improve the lives of artists.” These were Artist Management, Recorded Music, Touring & Events and Merchandise.
“Looking back at our original statement of intent, none of what we believe has changed,” Comerford said in a statement, “but we’ve grown and expanded in such amazing ways that it was time for us to refresh the way we organise our divisions.
“We exist as a company focussed on building careers. Whether this is for a client or a team member that is why I get out of bed in the morning. So in order to do this, we need to be organised, and we need to be very clear about what we are doing and how we are doing it.”
The relaunch will see the business restructured via the four pillars:
UNIFIED Artist Management, which looks after, among others, Amy Shark, Illy, In Hearts Wake, Nina Las Vegas, Northlane, The Amity Affliction, Vance Joy and Violent Soho.
UNIFIED Recorded Music which consists of four record labels, with flagship heavy music label UNFD, and now expanded to include ONETWO, NLV Records and Exist. Recordings – all labels started in conjunction with management clients.. Unified also provides label services for US indie Hopeless Records, and REMI & Sensible J-owned label House Of Beige. In 2016, UNIFIED launched 1825 Records in partnership with Atlantic Records and Matt Emsell.
Under this pillar also operates UNIFIED Music Publishing which really extended its deal with Mushroom Music Publishing.
UNIFIED Touring and Events: covers the successful UNIFY: A Heavy Music Gathering, which was set up in 2015, and the company’s touring arm Unify Presents which was set up in conjunction with Live Nation and toured Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot, A Day To Remember and Architects amongst others.
UNIFIED Merchandise Services which owns and operates 24Hundred and The Vinyl Store, while fulfilling orders for Sony Australia (The Music Vault), Warner Music Australia (Maniacs Online), and STL Tones.
After launching with a team of eight people in 2011, the company now has 35, with offies in Melbourne, Sydney, London and most recently, Los Angeles, where Comerford is currently based. The Melbourne contingent, which makes up more than three quarters of the staff, recently moved into a new office space in the inner city suburb of Richmond. The space includes expanded warehouse downstairs for the Merchandise arm and extensive space upstairs for staff. Cult-favourite store 24Hundred will reopen in spring, and a new writer studio and content creation space will start construction soon.
The restructure of staff now sees the senior executive list as Jaddan Comerford (CEO), Matthew Rogers (Chief Operating Officer), Luke Logemann (Chief Creative Officer; General Manager of Recorded Music and Touring & Events), Rachael Comerford (Co-Owner and General Manager, Business Development), Nick Yates (General Manager, UNIFIED Artist Management), Graham Muir (General Manager, UNIFIED Merchandise Services), Maya Janeska (General Manager, UNFD), Conrad Lloyd (General Manager, UNIFIED Label Services), Ben Patashnik (UNFD Label Manager, UK and Europe) and Oliver Mitchell (UNFD Label Manager, North America).
Comerford continues: “I really could not to be more to be leading this incredible team of people to achieve our vision. From very humble beginnings, I am proud to be the CEO of what I truly believe is a company looking into the future.
“With offices now on three continents, we are committed to global growth for our business and our clients. We want to be able to give everyone as many opportunities as possible to succeed and have long lasting careers.”
