There are a million DJs in the world, figuratively speaking. No one knows exactly how many. But what can be said is that hundreds of thousands of people around the world use DJ gear made by Numark and Denon. And all those mixers and controllers run software made and maintained in Uptown. 

Morgan Donoghue looks around the new home of inMusic Brands’ New Zealand development centre and quietly ticks off the possibilities. It’s the first day of possession at 22 Minnie Street, but he sees the potential.



It’s three years since inMusic, a privately- owned colossus in the global DJ and musical instrument sector, opened its development centre in Karangahape Road with Morgan as managing director – and while that location put the company right in the middle of local DJ culture, the building it was in was essentially two floors of office space. The Minnie Street location allows for more creative uses. One space is already marked out for an in-house recording studio.

“The talent within our team is massive and retention of the team is super important to us. Having a facility like this allows for that to happen,” says Morgan. “This is going to be awesome for everyone. The studio will mean we can test stuff and do research, we can use the apartment for creatives to come and stay, and we can have parties in here, both down in the warehouse and out on the deck. 

Morgan himself has worked for some of the biggest names in music and technology, from EMI to Live Nation, Serato and Vodafone. Under his leadership, inMusic has acquired the Tauranga company Soundswitch, established an e-commerce development centre in Christchurch and hired more than 60 New Zealanders. He’s also an investor in and chief operating officer of Nura, the chosen headphones of the All Blacks. And when he’s not doing all that, he campaigns to stop mining on DOC land in the Coromandel.

He’s enthused about moving into an area on the cusp of development and change: “You can see in the next few years this area will just totally develop.”

But with dozens of thirsty software developers and creatives moving in, there’s one thing he’s particularly keen to see: “We’re going to need even more cafes!” 

“We’ve got a ton of musicians, DJs, artists – we want to make it a collaborative space. One of the things I say to everyone when they start is, I don’t mind if you come in here after you’ve been to a gig, make some noise, bring your mates in. I want you to look after yourself and not be irresponsible and I want you to clean up, but I want this to be a collaborative space. That’s what this will be.”

But if K’ Road was an obvious spot, inMusic’s arrival has started to make Minnie Street look like a creative cluster of its own. Across
the road is Lot 23, known to locals day-to-day as a cafe, but also home to a high-spec performance space and a TV edit suite. It’s also the office of Loop Recordings, the company behind L.A.B. and Fly My Pretties. The building next to inMusic houses bass player and producer Neil Hannan’s Scoop De Loop studio, where albums by Graham Brazier, Midge Marsden and the Auckland Jazz Orchestra were made.

“It’s super exciting,” says Morgan. “If we could develop this as a real precinct, if we could do that, then we’d love to. Get some other creative companies in, bring everyone in and have a little music creative hub, which is what we’ve always talked about. But here we can actually create the spaces for people to be in.”