More often than not, what anyone will tell you about the music industry is that it’s one with holes in its pockets. Lest you are Jay Z or part of the Illuminati crew that is TIDAL, making actual money from this game is a tough slog. However, despite clams seemingly in short supply you can’t fault the community for not supporting local charities. There are a lot of great instances of Aussie musos and industry figures alike getting behind the people who really need support, much like the stellar crew behind Musica Copa have done these last few years.
Musica Copa is shaping up to be a leader in charity events within the music industry. Co-organiser Paul Stix of UNDR CTRL reveals the inner workings of the 2016 event.
Musica Copa is a five-a-side football (read: SOCCER) tournament featuring figures from the music industry, with the winning team claiming the booty for their nominated charity. The event was the brainchild of UNDR CTRL’s Paul Stix and Purple Sneakers’ Martin Novosel. “Martin and I have played in a number of five-a-side football teams together over the years, and alongside a load of buddies from the music industry” Stix says thinking back to the first Musica Copa event held in 2013. “It turned out that we both had secret goals (no pun intended!) to create an event where we can bring all these music pals together and in the process raise a lot of money for charity. We had both been involved in tournaments over the years in England and we thought it was about time the Australian music industry had one of its own!”
“It was a really proud day for us both. Martin and I both play in the tournament as well so we had an amazing time on the pitch. That first year we had 12 teams, and now we have 20 teams. We invested our own money to cover the charity donations and we felt we had created a truly unique experience for music businesses to network, play sport, raise money for charity and drink beer together!”
Since that first Musica Copa in 2013, the event has grown to become an important date to mark on the calendar. The last event in 2014 saw an impressive $12 000 raised with significant profits going to St Vincent De Paul Society, Beyond Blue and Ted Noffs Foundation. This year there are 17 charities that have been nominated, including Youth Off the Streets, Headpsace and Youth Action International.
Stix admits that he and Novosel have been raising money for charities for years in various ways, but Musica Copa was by far their biggest project. The awareness for the tournament has risen steadily, and ahead of the matches on Friday they have managed to raise $14 000. The Meeting Tree will be on hand to provide some sweet vibes, and a hefty DJ lineup for the day including Adi Toohey, Andy Garvey, Bad Ezzy, Kato, Luen, Nes, Ribongia, Sandro Switch and Sports. Not too shabby gents.
Without a trace of smugness, Stix admits that they had seen the potential for Musica Copa to become a big event for the industry. “Knowing so many people in the music biz that play football, we just felt if we created a professional product that our peers would enjoy being a part of year on year, then the event had longevity” he says.
“Each year we continue to evolve and improve Musica Copa as much as we can, as we want to raise the bar to keep all the teams committed to year on year. This year for example we’re introducing the Beer & Burger Bar, hosted by the legends at Young Henrys and Mary’s.”
Is Musica Copa a massive game changer? Not quite, but it certainly is a step in the right direction in marrying industry events with charitable endeavors. It’s something that Stix says is already happening, on business level, on an artist level and an individual level. As he says “Musica Copa is our outlet to ‘do our bit’ and via our close relationships with all the teams, players and partners involved, collectively we can help generate more awareness for all the charities involved in the event.”
Musica Copa will be going down on Friday February 5 at KIKOFF Fraser Park, Marrickville. This year will be the first time the tournament will be open to the public, and on Saturday 6 there will be a second tournament for punters and their mates to compete too. For an easy $10 on the door you can get in to soak up the action and catch all the great music curated by FBi Click, The Meeting Tree and What So Not.
