Michael Parisi Joins Ownership Team For acta

Artist managers Michael Parisi, Alex Smith and Karen-lee Goody have bought into acta, the recently-launched booking platform that promises to distribute the entire fee to the talent and their team.

Parisi, former president of A&R at Warner Music Australia, ex-Mushroom Group veteran and now head of Right Hand Management, joins Smith (owner, Bond Empires, manager of The Veronicas), Dom Furber (founder & director, Paxx Group), Goody (CEO Entertainment Consulting and manager of Casey Donovan), Jason Williamson (managing director, Purple Muse Management and manager of Mitch Tambo), Ben Lodge and Mitch Spurrier (head booking co-owners, Catch Management) and Ben Sorensen (host and presenter) are new investors and part owners in acta, which launched in August with upwards of 2,500 entertainers ready for action, including singers, actors, comedians, athletes and more on its books.

Spearheaded by CEO Harris Meitanis, the new service is a one-stop-shop with a point of difference: 100% of the fee is shared with the talent and their own management reps.

Instead, the platform charges talent bookers a fee per booking that is “separate to and above the talent fee,” reads a statement. This fee is said to allow the talent booker access to the marketplace, where they can search artists or engage with the service’s talent curation team for recommendations based on brief or budget.

The platform has raised $1.5 million from “key industry figureheads,” reps say, and is deep in a equity crowdfunding round via the Birchal platform.

At the time of writing, $241,825 had been raised by 155 investors.

“This is a way for me to give back to the industries that have given me so much. acta was built for everyone,” comments Meitanis in a statement, “and we don’t want to exclude anyone from joining our journey of ethical global disruption. That’s why we’re choosing to forgo traditional institutional investment (for now) and instead offer affordable equity to anyone interested in coming along for the ride.”

Launching in Beta in mid-2022, acta claims to have facilitated over $5.3 million in direct payments from more than 800 contracts.

Early investors and part owners included Paul Dainty, president, TEG Dainty; Shaun Levin, chairman, Profile Talent Management; and Sebastian Bohm, founder of Bohm Presents.