A successful musician whose talent spawned during his high school years in Whangarei wants to give local talent a hand up via a talk for aspiring musicians tonight.
Musician Paul McLaney, deputy chairman of the NZ Music Commission, will speak about how to forge a career writing and performing music, signing to a label, and intellectual property rights - a poorly understood subject that was a large part of making money as a musician.
"It's not as romantic as drinking Jack Daniels and having your photo on the monitor," he said.
"But if you're a guitar player you should know how to change the strings on your guitar. If you're a writer you're in the business of creating intellectual property."
Mr McLaney formerly ran Mushroom Music Publishing and currently manages the writers at Native Tongue Music Publishing. He has worked with numerous New Zealand musicians such as Concord Dawn, Anika Moa, Rhian Sheehan, James Duncan and Fly My Pretties.