CHUGG Entertainment
Chugg Entertainment is an Australian based, globally operating entertainment business with a focus on promoting music festivals and special events, and touring international artists throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
Founded in 2000 by music industry pioneer Michael Chugg, Chugg Entertainment has toured hundreds of major international acts including Dolly Parton, Coldplay, Radiohead, Elton John, Pearl Jam, Robbie Williams, Florence + The Machine and many more and continues to search for new, up and coming talent to build into the next generation of arena and stadium level acts.
The team at Chugg Entertainment take pride in developing an artist’s career outside of their hometown market and consistently deliver innovative ways of promoting tours and special events. Chugg Entertainment has recently worked on the debut Australian tours for incredible new talent such as Hozier, Leon Bridges, The Internet, Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line and Clare Bowen.
The scope of Chugg Entertainment’s live business is extensive, representing artists across musical genres as diverse as rock, pop, folk, indie, country and metal. Chugg Entertainment proudly partners with a number of independent promoters, including Destroy All Lines, Lunatic Entertainment (co-promoters of the Laneway Presents touring arm), Penny Drop and Rob Potts Entertainment Edge, who each have experience and expertise in niche markets, to deliver unique insights and an in-depth understanding of both the artist and audience. Chugg Entertainment also co-promotes major music festivals in Australia and abroad, including St Jerome’s Laneway Festival across seven markets in three countries and CMC Rocks QLD; Australia’s premiere country music festival.
Over the past sixteen years, Chugg Entertainment has toured over 600 international and Australian artists, making Chugg one of the most prominent and respected promoters not only in Australia, but also around the world. Chugg promoted Coldplay’s first ever arena and stadium tours in 2006 and 2012, while AC/DC achieved unprecedented success with 2010’s Black Ice World Tour, selling out stadiums across the country and breaking international records for the highest grossing tour that year. Chugg Entertainment has played a key role in establishing local psych-rockers Tame Impala as a global sensation, selling out the band’s biggest ever-Australian tour in 2015 including 2 nights at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt, has successfully toured Sir Elton John for the past 15years in Australia, in 2010 sold out a 6 date arena tour for country legend Alan Jackson in what was his first ever Australian visit, and in 2011 delivered Dolly Parton to Australian audiences for the first time in over 20 years, selling close to 100,000 tickets.
Consistently at the forefront of the touring industry, Michael Chugg and Chugg Entertainment have received a plethora of industry awards over the years. Michael Chugg received the prestigious Pollstar Magazine Award for International Promoter of the Year in 2016; the fourth time that he has been recognized on a global scale for his groundbreaking work touring international talent in Australia. He has twice picked up the Best Promoter gong at the International Live Music Conference, and has a multitude of Billboard Awards, Helpmann Awards, Country Music Awards, Musexpo Awards and more to his name.
In 2004, Matthew Lazarus-Hall joined Chugg Entertainment and became a partner in the business. Lazarus-Hall spearheaded a number of special projects and acted as CEO of the company until 2016, when he left his full-time position to start his own consulting business and continues to work closely with the Chugg Entertainment team.
Though Chugg Entertainment is recognized globally as one of Australia’s leading tour promoters and works with some of the biggest names in music, Michael Chugg is particularly passionate about the grassroots development of an artist’s career. In 2012, on the eve of Chugg’s 50th year in the music industry, Chugg Entertainment proudly launched Chugg Music, an arm of the business that provides artist services including artist management, label services and consulting to primarily domestic artists. The independent label currently represents a stable of talent including multi-award winning, platinum-selling band Sheppard, along with acclaimed songstress Megan Washington, Hey Geronimo, Dappled Cities, Deep Sea Arcade, Major Leagues, Lime Cordiale, The Griswolds and New Zealand’s Avalanche City.
