Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco, two of the Australian music industry’s top power players who come together each year to produce the Splendour in the Grass festival, are bringing their respective companies under the one umbrella.
Secret Sounds is the new home to Ducrou and Piticco’s respective creative endeavors, from the flagship live events Splendour and the Falls Music and Arts Festival; to Secret Sounds Touring, Secret Service Artist Management, live unit Village Sounds; recording, publishing and artist service activities Dew Process, Dew Process Publishing and Create/Control; creative sponsorship partnerships Secret Sounds Connect and Whole Lot of Love, and Secret Service Public Relations.
The east coast entrepreneurs first combined forces more than 20 years ago on homegrown rock band Powderfinger, with Piticco as manager and Ducrou as booking agent. Powderfinger went on to a stellar career Down Under, logging five consecutive No. 1 albums, shifting more than 2.5 million albums and collecting 18 ARIA Awards before calling it a day in 2010.
The Ducrou-Piticco partnership entered a new phase when, in 2001, Ducrou and Piticco launched the mid-winter Splendour in the Grass in Byron Bay, with Powderfinger headlining the inaugural show (the band would take center stage on various occasions through the years). Splendour is now one of the market’s most popular multi-date camping fests. The following year, in 2002, Ducrou and Piticco co-founded Secret Sounds, a full-service tour promoter based in Sydney, Brisbane and Byron Bay.
In a joint statement issued Thursday, Ducrou and Piticco said “joining together makes sense to us for many reasons.” Creatively,” the pair explained, “we’ve worked together for many years. We’ve represented the touring careers of artists we respect and collaborated on events small and large and endless creative projects. Over that time, we have shared band rooms, drinks, meals and more drinks, airport lounges at all hours, crazy ideas, and the pursuit of many common (sometimes misguided) goals. Putting our teams together will allow us to create new magic and grow our brains trust. We love our team at Secret Sounds and recognize that we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for their hard work and determination. We’re looking forward to sharing more good times ahead.”