Professor Tom Hajdu

Professor Tom Hajdu
 Position Director - Sia Furler Institute
 Org Unit Elder Conservatorium of Music
 Email thomas.hajdu@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone +61 8 8313 3256
 Location Floor/Room Eleventh Floor ,  Schulz ,   North Terrace

  • Biography/ Background

    Tom Hajdu is Professor and Chair of Creative Technologies at the University of Adelaide, where he is Director of the Sia Furler Institute for Contemporary Music and Media. Tom has over 30 years of experience in leadership, music, media, creativity, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.  Tom received a PhD and MFA from Princeton University, the Presidential MBA in Leadership from Pepperdine University and BMus from the University of British Columbia.

    In 1990, he co-founded tomandandy, which he built into one of the largest music production companies in the world. As CEO, he helped reshape the role of music and media worldwide by introducing a new process that lowered music production costs to a fraction of previous levels, while improving creative quality. 

    By appropriating the aesthetics of the avant garde and melding together music and sound design, he blurred the line between music and sound. Coupling this with new ways of using music software, redefined the way in which music and media work together. This was initially through MTV, which then influenced most contexts where music and media are found today. As a result, tomandandy has collaborated on creative industries projects generating over $1billion USD to economies around the world (participation in the Resident Evil franchise grossed over $500million USD alone worldwide, for example).

    He's collaborated with some of the most influential artists in the world, including Oliver Stone, U2, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Alan Ginsberg, Jenny Holzer and Tom Sachs. He has worked with the top TV studios (NBC, CBS, PBS, American Broadcasting Corporation, Canal Plus, VIACOM) worldwide. He has worked with high-quality advertising agencies (Saatchi, WPP, Weiden&Kennedy, Grey and Dentsu) around the world to help shape the identities of many of the top global companies in most categories – from cars (Mercedes, Ford, Toyota) to beverages (Coke, Pepsi), computer and technology (Apple, Microsoft, Intel) to running shoes (Nike, Adidas, Reebok). He has worked with the best film studios in the world (Sony, Universal) and his music has helped build Hollywood franchises, like Resident Evil, The Hills Have Eyes and 47 Meters Down.  

    His work has been reviewed in publications throughout the world (NY Times, Interview Magazine, Details, Hollywood Reporter, LA Times). Recently he was featured in: Scored to Death: Conversations with Some of Horror's Greatest Composers, by Blake Fichera.

    Tom is also CEO of Disrupter, a strategic innovation company. The company has an IP portfolio in deep and strategic technologies, from mobile (digital way finding) and networking (messaging, protocols) to machine learning (AI and music creation).

    Tom was South Australia's first and only Chief Innovator. He was responsible for the Gigcity Initiative and brought the South Australian Government to the White House in 2016, which recognised Adelaide as the first gig city outside of the United States, to join the US Ignite Smart City Initiative as a result.

    Tom has sat on many award juries, including the Australia Council for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts. He has spoken, chaired or given keynotes at the original TED Conference, CalTech/MIT Forum, Pepperdine University's first Disruption Conference, DisruptSydney, as well as several universities worldwide about content, technology and strategic innovation. He is also a member of Sydney University’s Digital Disruption Research Group.

    Recently Tom launched a new initiative intersecting Art and Artificial Intelligence launching AI artistic research initiatives including Laurie Anderson as the first AI artist-in-residence called the Art Intelligence Agency. The work with Laurie Anderson has been featured as part of her Norton Lectures at Harvard University and at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.

     

  • Qualifications

    BMus Unviersity of British Columbia

    MFA Princeton University

    PhD Princeton University

    MBA (Presidential/Key Executive) Pepperdine University

  • Teaching Interests

    Creativity and Innovation

    Leadership and Creativity

    Music History 20th/21st Centuries

    Music and Media

    Creative Entrepreneurship

    Capstone Bachelor of Creative Arts 

    Creative Industries

    Creative Technologies

     

     

  • Professional Interests

    Creative Industries

    Creative Technologies

    Strategic Innovation

    Music and Media

    Disruptive Technologies

    Startups

     

  • Community Engagement

    Advisor Digital Strategy, Australia Council for the Arts

    Panelist, Australia Council for the Arts

    Member, Data Exchange Working Group, South Australia

    Panelist, Helpmann Academy

    Ambassador, Onkaparinga Council

    Managing Director, Art Intelligence Agency

    Panelist, Adelaide Film Festival

    Panelist, Canada Council

     

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Entry last updated: Thursday, 14 Apr 2022

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