Michael Gudinski AM b1952

In recent years Gudinski sold Mushroom Records and established a dynamic new label, Liberation, in 2000. Among Liberation’s local roster are a broad range of Artists including Jimmy Barnes, Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, Josh Pyke, Liam Finn, The Temper Trap, Bliss N Eso, Archie Roach, Troy Cassar-Daley, Kate Alexa (Gudinski’s daughter) and many internationals including Dizzee Rascal, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Kaiser Chiefs and Simply Red.

Mushroom Music remains the principal independent publishing company in Australia representing some of the leading independent publishers from America and Europe. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack Johnson, White Stripes, Eskimo Joe, The Temper Trap, Neil Finn, Tim Finn, 2009 APRA winners Faker and many more.

In addition to his ARIA Hall of Fame Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, Gudinski received the prestigious Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music at the 1998 APRA (The Australian Performing Rights Association) Awards. In 1999 the Australian Marketing Institute awarded him The Sir Charles McGrath Australian Marketer of the Year Award, their highest accolade for personal achievement. In 2003 he received the ILMC Bottle Award, the equivalent to a lifetime achievement award, at the International Live Music Conference.

In 2006 Gudinski was made a Member of the Order of Australia ‘for service to the entertainment industry through the promotion of Australian music recording artists, as an advocate for young people in the music industry, and to the community.’ He was also listed among The Bulletin’s ‘100 Most Influential Australians”.

Gudinski continues to work with enormous enthusiasm across all facets of his companies. He can often be found trekking from pub gig to entertainment centre, in Australia and abroad, looking for the next big thing to come under the banner of The Mushroom Group of Companies.