| Paul Piticco | |
| Birth Name: | Paul Piticco |
| Birth Place: | Brisbane, Australia |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Occupation: | Music promoter, Music manager, A&R executive |
Paul Piticco (born 7 March 1969) is an Australian music and hospitality entrepreneur. He is notable for managing Australian band Powderfinger and organising Splendour In The Grass. He is also Managing Director of Dew Process, Create-Control and Secret Service Music Company.
Piticco was born an only child to Fernando and Carmel Piticco in Brisbane, Australia. His father was an Italian immigrant who had relocated to Australia at a young age and founded a construction business in Brisbane and his mother was employed part-time in nursing and education. Piticco attended Petrie Terrace State School while growing up and later attended Kelvin Grove State High.[1]
After leaving high school, Piticco started working with his father at the family construction business. Piticco then moved onto employment as a steel salesperson for Boral Limited. It was during this period that Piticco was asked to manage Powderfinger. 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.
Piticco placed at number 11 in The Australian newspaper's 2012 "Top 50" list of influential Australians in the "Arts" field,[2] In addition to appearing several times in the Top 5 AMID Power 50[3]
Pittico is the founder of Secret Service Artist Management, which manages four Australian musical acts: Bernard Fanning, The Grates, Powderfinger and Mosman Alder.[4] The company previously managed Magic Dirt, Yves Klein Blue, Dan Brodie, Turtlebox and Not From There.
Co-founded by Piticco with his partners Jessica Ducrou and Kristy Rosser,[5] Secret Sounds Connect are the exclusive commercial rights agents for Australia's top festivals including Splendour in the Grass; St Jerome's Laneway Festival; Falls Festival; Fuzzy Events (Listen Out, Harbourlife, Field Day); and Southbound Festival.[6]
Secret Sounds promotes the tours of several international artists in Australia, including The Strokes, Mumford & Sons, London Grammar, Foster The People, James Blake, Mark Ronson, The Flaming Lips, Blur and many more. 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.[7]
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. Piticco was also a producer for the band's final commercial DVD, Sunsets Farewell Tour, directed by Gregor Jordan.[8] The farewell tour eventually grossed A$30 million.[9]
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.[10] [11] The festival was temporarily held in Queensland, Australia for a number of years and eventually returned to Byron Bay.[12]
Piticco and associates purchased a site in the North Byron Parklands to secure a permanent location for the festival prior to the 2013 edition.[13]
In September 2012, Piticco announced he would become co-promoter, alongside Splendour in the Grass colleague Ducrou, of the Falls Music and Arts Festival.[14] The announcement came shortly after the resignation of previous staff members Naomi Daly and Carmella Morgan.[15] Piticco expanded the festival to a third location, Byron Bay, in 2013.[16]
In 2002, Piticco started Dew Process, an independent record label based in Brisbane, Australia.[17] Dew Process' roster includes London Grammar, Bernard Fanning, Mumford & Sons, James Vincent McMorrow, Sarah Blasko, The Living End, The Hives, The Grates, Bluejuice, The Panics, Jebediah, Last Dinosaurs, Art of Sleeping, Kingswood, Seeker Lover Keeper, Little May and Tkay Maidza.[18] In addition to the label, Dew Process Publishing was founded in 2008 and represents the publishing copyrights of Powderfinger, Art Of Sleeping, and Last Dinosaurs.[19]
In 2012, Piticco launched another record label, Create/Control.[20] Create Control has released music from The Smashing Pumpkins,[21] Cold War Kids, The Jungle Giants, Metric[22] and is the Australian distributor of both the Mute Records and Downtown Records catalogues.[23]
Piticco opened the restaurant and bar Popolo in South Bank, Brisbane in 2011.[24] Piticco's business partners are restaurateur Andrew Baturo, Brian Quinn and Denis Sheahan, Powderfinger's former tour manager.[25]
The Gresham Bar 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.[26] In 2015, The Gresham Bar was the recipient of several hospitality awards: Australian ‘Bar of the Year’; Qld ‘Bar of the Year’ both awarded at the Australian Bar Awards[27] and Gourmet Travellers’ "Bar of the Year’.[28]
Heya opened its doors in early 2015[29] and is the third venture to be added to the hospitality portfolio by Piticco and his business partners Baturo, Sheahan and Quinn.[30]
Piticco lives with his partner of 20 years, Lisa Wickbold, and their children.