How I Got Here: Laneway’s Assistant Programmer on why you should use social media as your resume
WORDS BY IZZY WIGHT
“I have definitely invented my own role at the festival, which is the best of both worlds for me.”
Have you ever stalked someone on LinkedIn and wondered how on earth they managed to land that wildly impressive job? While the internet and social media might have us believe that our ideal job is a mere pipe dream, the individuals who have these jobs were, believe it or not, in the same position once, fantasising over someone else’s seemingly unattainable job.
But behind the awe-inspiring titles and the fancy work events lies a heck of a lot of hard work. So what lessons have been learnt and what skills have proved invaluable in getting them from daydreaming about success to actually being at the top of their industry?
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Welcome to How I Got Here, where we talk to women who are killing it in their respective fields about how they landed their awe-inspiring jobs, exploring the peaks and pits, the failures and the wins, and most importantly the knowledge, advice and practical tips they’ve gleaned along the way.
This week we chat to Ruby Miles, Laneway’s Programming and Social Media Assistant, as well as co-host of Arvos with Ruby and Al on FBi Radio. Like so many careers in the music industry, Ruby’s journey to landing her role was a little unconventional. Her first job interview happened during the 2019 Laneway Festival (but did not clash with Mitski’s set) and after sticking it out through the live music hiatus that was COVID, Ruby ended up taking her part-time gig full-time by combining her areas of interest (social media and programming). Below, she speaks on taking risks, trusting your gut and how social media can act as the ultimate resume.
What do you do and what’s your official job title?
It’s a long one – I’m the Programming Assistant and Social Media Assistant at Laneway Festival. I split my time between helping to book the acts for the festival and doing wild stuff on TikTok to promote it. On top of that, I’m also a Music Programming Executive at SXSW Sydney and the co-host of Friday Arvos on FBi Radio.
Take us back to when you were first starting out. Did you study to get into your chosen field, or did you start out with an internship/entry-level role and climb the ladder? Tell us the story.
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My background is actually in radio. I studied media at uni and then started volunteering at the Sydney community radio station, FBi Radio. I was hosting the breakfast show there when the music director at the time, Amelia Jenner, recommended me for a programming position at Laneway Festival.
My job interview was actually at Laneway Festival in 2019 in Callan Park, where I got to meet the whole team and have a chat before I cheekily asked if I could leave to catch Mitski’s set. Apart from just enjoying music, going to gigs and working at a radio station, I didn’t have any skills in music festival programming. I was as junior as they come.
My job was initially two days per week, collecting data like streaming and radio play for artists to monitor growth as well as writing music reviews and making new music playlists for the programming team. Then I started helping out with socials and, since my background is in presenting, I quickly started making informational videos in front of the camera and artist interviews backstage.
Then we had a two-year COVID hiatus. With no festival for the foreseeable future, those were dark days, but it gave me time to learn more about artist research and develop my video editing skills. When festivals were back, I had three years of artist research under my belt. I helped book the 2023 and 2024 lineup, as well as build the festival’s TikTok following and interviewed artists backstage.
In 2023, my main programming contributions were Phoebe Bridgers, Fred Again, Joji and 100gecs, and we had one of our most successful years yet. This year, I’m also programming some smaller side stages in some cities that will be announced soon!
What challenges/hurdles have you faced getting to where you are now? Can you tell us about one in particular?
The two years of Laneway hiatus during the pandemic were really hard. At my age (24 at the time) I was hoping to see more career growth, more responsibility and a full-time position at Laneway, but was stuck researching and slowly preparing for our dream festival, if it was ever to come.
For a time I had a retail job and then worked at a cafe so that I could stay at Laneway part-time. I could hear a tiny voice in my head saying maybe I should look for full-time work elsewhere, and was feeling anxious about wasting my time and choosing to struggle in such a temperamental industry. I guess I knew that when the festival industry was eventually back, I was in a great position with really supportive people around me to hit the ground running, which kept me going through a couple of years stuck in the mud.
@lanewayfest All in a days work at Laneway socials 😏 #dominicfike ♬ original sound – Relatable Work Memes
I was also excited to have the opportunity to bring international artists back to Australia! I fell in love with Phoebe Bridgers in early 2020 and was adamant about having her on the Laneway tour. It was surreal hopping on a charter flight to Perth and walking past her along with the rest of the 2023 lineup. I was wedged in a row between The Backseat Lovers and Joji! I remember thinking ‘Yep, this has all been totally worth it’.
What do you want people to know about your industry/your role?
OMG, this is an opportunity to air one of my biggest gripes. I think a lot of the time people look at lineups and think that we set out to get these 30 acts and booked them… in reality, we have a long wishlist of artists and we deal with a lot of rejection in the booking process.
While we absolutely wouldn’t book anything we didn’t believe in, there are also a lot of acts that we love that for one reason or another couldn’t make it work for Laneway. It’s a process, and it’s why it takes us a full year. So yeah, to those people always commenting ‘Why didn’t Laneway book ___?’, we most likely tried, okay?!
What’s the best part about your role?
This might sound corny, but seeing everyone come to the festival and have a good time watching the acts you booked. We sometimes book artists far in advance and hope their star rises at the right time so people will get excited and come to Laneway. It means there are moments where we think ‘Oh god, will anyone want to come?’.
I had been wanting to book Fred Again for a few years before we finally did and even when we were in discussion with his team, it felt like a huge risk booking such a new artist. Seeing Fred Again blow up in Australia before our eyes was really surreal for me. I had close friends – who I’m certain didn’t know about him three months before – message me asking where his secret shows were going to be. I didn’t know, my job isn’t THAT cool!
What would surprise people about your role?
Probably that the Laneway team is so small. The programming team is just me, the Co-Founder of Laneway and a Programming Manager. The socials team is equally as small, so as much as I’m doing artists and repertoire and programming stuff, I’m also whipping up the Insta infographics in Canva and helping run our giveaways. Please don’t come for my Canva skills – if you’ve read this far you know I have zero background in graphic design, I’m just a gal trying her best.
What skills have served you well in your industry?
@lanewayfestBuy tickets or i’ll lose me job♬ original sound – Sully Finlay
I’d say all of the skills for my job are easily teachable, apart from maybe taste and charisma (and a sense of humour). I have definitely invented my own role at the festival, which is the best of both worlds for me. I get to be a bit of a tastemaker in the programming part of my job and then get to be a silly goose on the company socials.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be in a role like yours one day?
You can tell from my story that this part of the industry doesn’t necessarily have a straight line in terms of career paths. For this industry, the best thing to convey to the employer is that you’re a fan – you live and breathe live music or music on TikTok or music journalism.
If you’re passionate about it, you won’t necessarily need skills to get started. Don’t be afraid to work/intern or volunteer in adjacent or similar fields – radio isn’t necessarily the career I have ended up in but by volunteering at FBi Radio, I was able to meet the future of the music industry and network that way.
What about a practical tip?
This industry goes by word of mouth a lot of the time – you’ll struggle to find your dream music festival job on Seek. So I’d recommend using your social media almost like a resume. Post the festivals you volunteer at or start a music review TikTok account – anything to show your interest!
Read the rest of the How I Got Here series here.
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