9 March 2026
For Sam Trevethick - producer, songwriter and founding member of Shapeshifter – a life in music was always on the cards. But it wasn’t always easy.
Raised in a family where singing and performing were second nature, Sam always knew music would be a massive part of his life. But he didn’t immediately know it would become his life’s work until at 18, an on-stage performance with friends really hit home.
I was on stage with a bunch of friends … improvising, and it just felt like anything could happen.
That moment planted the seed for what would eventually become Shapeshifter, one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most influential and internationally recognised live electronic acts.
Shapeshifter was born at music school, with Sam and his bandmates living in Australia, juggling study, creativity, and the realities of survival – including café jobs that paid the rent between tours, and a touring life that was exhilarating but unforgiving.
Being away on tour for a few weeks, meant that sometimes you’d come home to find your job gone. Sam recalls. “A lot of times it would be like, ‘Oh well, see ya later', so you'd come back and you'd find another job and it's just like a grind.”
And it’s a grind that’s still familiar to many musicians. Long before the sold‑out tours, festival main stages, and international recognition – the early years shaped Shapeshifter’s identity.
Shapeshifter’s success grew far beyond its origins, commanding audiences across Aotearoa, Australia, Europe, and the UK. The band’s reputation for powerful live shows and genre‑defying sound has seen them headline major festivals and tour internationally, while still remaining deeply connected to their roots.
At the heart of that success is a commitment to creative freedom - something Sam values as being vital to the band’s sustainability.
When you start to take music seriously and spend more time on it, you need as much help as you can get.
For Sam, support systems like the OneMusic licence play a vital role in making that freedom possible. Music doesn’t exist in isolation - it lives in venues, cafés, bars, and shared spaces. When businesses are licensed and artists are fairly supported, it creates an environment where creativity can thrive on both sides.
Whether it’s a packed festival field or a local venue, Sam sees music as a defining force in how a space feels and how people connect within it. The right soundtrack can shift energy, invite people in, and turn a place into somewhere audiences - and customers - want to stay. “What I would want as a business, is an environment where people were to come that has good vibes, and good energy, and cool music.”
That value isn’t abstract. Music shapes experience. It creates mood, identity, and memory - all things businesses rely on to attract customers and keep them coming back. But Sam is clear that the relationship works best when it runs both ways.
Behind every track is time, skill, and years of commitment. As artists move from passion to profession, the ability to keep creating at a high level depends on being properly supported - including being paid when their music is used in public spaces.
Cool music happens when you’re able to create freely. And to do that, you need to be supported financially.
Rather than seeing music licensing as an administrative detail, for Sam and countless more artists like him, it’s part of a healthy creative ecosystem. When businesses recognise the value music brings to their spaces, and artists are fairly compensated in return, it creates a cycle that benefits everyone. Artists can continue to invest in their craft, which means audiences experience better music, and businesses benefit from their environments feeling alive and inviting.
It’s a simple equation, but a powerful one: music adds value and valuing music sustains the artists who make it.
After decades building Shapeshifter into one of New Zealand’s most successful live acts, Sam knows that when music is valued and supported, it has the freedom to become something extraordinary.
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