Harvindar Singh: Principal at The Curve Enterprises

Harvindar Singh is the Principal of Auckland-based ‘The Curve Enterprises Ltd’ a Business Consultancy specialising in Marketing, High-Level Entertainment and Technology. He has a warmly large-as-life character and in his field has the competence and experiences to match. No small feat. When he speaks his mind, he’s worth a listen to, on many levels.

ABOUT Harvindar Singh

Harvindar focuses his attention on business strategy, digital, ICT and marketing, high-level entertainment and executive management. He applies specialised competences to next generation ideas and business ventures to realise their commerciality.

5 KURIOUS KIWI QUESTIONS

Do you have interesting friends? I do. I’m a kurious kiwi, so in this LifeStyle section I ask them 5 Questions. Their responses are sometimes startling yet always thought evoking. I ask each of them a common question relating to a Cause they believe in and why it matters to them. Read on to share in their take on what they think really does matter.

Start-Ups are an area of your expertise, best advice you’d give to young entrepreneurs in today’s business ecology?

Make sure your idea can answer and satisfy the following points:

* Do you solve a problem? What is it?
* Is your idea fit for purpose? Demonstrate proof of concept.
* Do you disrupt an existing market? Which market is it?
* Why will the market come to you? Describe your customer.
* Can the idea be easily scaled up? Describe the supply chain
* Do you have a financial model? How does the money go round?
* Do you have an Exit Strategy? What is it and why?
* Can your idea be used to cause harm? What will it damage?

Objective and Outcome

Be very clear about what you wish to achieve including how much money you wish to make. If you start with the end game then plan backwards your business planning will form itself through the application of best business practices.

Write the business plan straight away and place the most attention around people and cash flow. This will ensure that you know what steps to take and when, saving precious time and money.

Research, research, research, research, research, research and research. You can never do enough analysis and strategic foresight planning. Ensure you have added more than enough value to the project before going to the investment community for funding. There should be significant value contained within the equity offering in return for the seed capital sought.

You’ve been a Promoter & Tour Manager for U2, Simple Minds, Miles Davis, Eurythmics, INXS, UB40, Simply Red, Bryan Ferry and Talking Heads. What motivated you to become a Promoter & Tour Manager? And in order, Top 3 skill-sets you need to be successful at it?

Show Business

Although they are closely related, most people do not make the distinction between the music industry and the recording/production industries. They are very much separate businesses and possess different clients and customers.

Where the role of the recording/production industries is to create, construct and stage entertainment products, it is the music industry’s role to present, promote and sell entertainment products. However, the artist remains central to both industries.

The production business is a cost and logistics centre for the artist while the music business is the revenue and fans generator for the artist. The most fascinating aspect about the music business in that, as an industry, it is amongst the smallest in the world by revenue when compared to most other everyday commoditised industries.

For example the global advertising industry generates annual revenues in excess of $500 billion where the music industry does not even generate $20 billion. But surely the most remarkable and fascinating aspect, while appreciating the industry size, is the massive impact music has in our lives.

Nothing else makes such an important and lasting impression. Special and treasured songs etch themselves firmly into our long term memories, from that long hot beach holiday, to that summer romance, your final college year or your wedding day.

“There is always a favourite and memorable song, and every time you hear it you are right back there again living that moment. I have never, ever in my life, met anyone that hates music.”

What motivated you to become a Promoter & Tour Manager?

I am a Radio New Zealand trained recording engineer by trade and pursued a career in music production while working radio. Back then, you quickly became a jack-of-all-trades. From being hired as a stage technician for overseas touring acts to forming record labels and releasing singles and albums for local bands to promoting your shows and national tours, and managing artists and everything else in between.

It was a natural progression for me to enter into promoting and tour managing international artists and that eventually led to a position in an Artist Management company in North America where I was the Commercial Manager responsible for recording, publishing and touring worldwide.

One of our key artists was Fritz McIntyre from Simply Red who was developing his own career as a solo artist based in Canada. I constantly travelled between the UK, US and Canada.

What motivated me to get into the music industry is ironic. As a teenager growing up in Te Puke I had naturally developed a love for rock music, however, my chosen career was aviation and the plan was pretty clear: join the Air Force as a pilot, then go to Air New Zealand and fly commercial passenger jets; marry an air hostess and live happily ever after. I was well down this path excelling at mathematics and physics at school, I was an Air Scout and also leaning to fly light planes but it was not to be.

“I came home from school one day and turned on the television, I watched with total admiration a documentary by producer Roy Thomas Baker about the making of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Well, my life aspirations changed forever and the rest is now history.”

In order, Top 3 Skill-sets you need to be successful at it?

Always exercise discretion

In such an ego driven industry mistakes and misunderstandings occur constantly so it is important to remember to keep your mouth shut. It is your discretion that is ultimately valued in this industry. A big mouth will always get a wide berth. “What goes on tour stays on tour.”

Capacity to remain deadly calm

The industry at all levels and by nature, commands a position of being very demanding. It is also highly competitive at every level. To the outside world some of these demands may seem outrageous or unreasonable at times but believe me they are most certainly not.

At this level the stakes are very high, the risks are enormous and the large amounts of capital invested are sometimes never recouped. So one needs to grow a very thin skin and have nerves of steel. You need to know how to take calculated risks, from an anything can go wrong point of view and make decisions very quickly. From the stars of the show to the production logistics to the public, nothing should ever faze you.

Desire to entertain

It is vital to have a desire to entertain, appreciate why artists entertain, value the effect of entertainment on people and most of all understand what that burning desire to entertain means to you personally.

Entertainment is a vital element in the make-up of our everyday lives, our culture, it creates history, and it’s about emotions, its forms treasured memories and affects how people feel about themselves, how they feel about other people and the world and environments they live in.

“Sometimes people celebrate, sometimes they want to be happy then other times they may wish to feel sad in a reflective or melancholy way about something dear to them from the past. These different emotions enrich the very essence and make up of our daily lives.”

Tell us about a Cause you believe in or something that matters a lot to you?

I do not have a Cause as such but I am into the usual stuff and can be relied upon to stand up for things such as equality and the under privileged, and fight against corruption, discrimination, prejudices and racism.

I am very much into the advancement of mankind, my view is we are still in our evolution but we will soon become super intelligent. My life principles are based on the key teachings of Nanak Dev ji (1469 – 1539) the founder of the Sikh belief system – these are simply “Faith, Honesty and Trust.”

I have also been greatly influenced by my departed mother. Everyone got the same attention from her. She didn’t care if you were black or white, young or old, male or female.

Children also matter a lot to me; in my view they represent and are the future. They go on to change the world and make a difference in people’s lives –- they are everything. If as a society we spent way more on nurturing, educating, and raising our children we would barely need to spend anything on our old folks. Children should be everyone’s cause.

What’s right with New Zealand?

New Zealand is lucky to be such a young country that is still developing its true identity and establishing its sovereign position on the global stage. In my view our two greatest and most important assets are our People and The Treaty Waitangi. These two assets when working together will surely make this country great:

Our People

I love Kiwis, they are my favourite people in the world, and we are such a unique bunch of cultural differences. We are pioneers that have tamed this land and made it productive.

Our number eight wire attitude is inventive and innovative. The blend of diverse cultures unites us to be unique in the world and our isolation drives our hungry-for-knowledge, education and good judgment.

New Zealanders are laid back people and like to be unpretentious and mostly ignore and see straight through any hype and bull. Through our urban sophistication we are gradually building a national character that will eventually define our nation and its people.

The Treaty of Waitangi

The significance of Indigenous Rights appears to be an important issue for New Zealanders, a sentiment I agree with and will always support and maintain. I think New Zealanders are proud of the uniqueness that the embedded Maori legacy represents and that there is a Treaty that binds us all to this rich and captivating inheritance.

Like teaching a child an additional language the Treaty entitles New Zealanders to see things from different points of view and not be sheltered in single-mindedness but providing the privileges of multiple perspectives.

Without the Treaty, the people of New Zealand are a non-entity, undefined, unidentifiable and lost in a world of clutter never to cut through and succeed. With a strong focus and the galvanisation of these two vital but basic fundamentals, a guiding light is formed providing a clear direction for all New Zealanders to follow.

Fav. foodie dish you cook yourself and best NZ wine to go with it?

One of my favourite foodie dishes is a Creamy Ham and Mushroom Spinach Fettuccine with a glass of fresh and lively Corbans White Label Sauvignon Blanc. Yummy!