Transatlantic Records – In 1974, Michaelides began his sales and marketing career working for the independent British record label Transatlantic Records and its United States subsidiaries Blue Note, Milestone and Nonesuch as their Northern Sales Representative. He sold jazz, folk and blues records out of his van to major record stores across Northern England.
ABC/Dunhill (Anchor Records UK) – In 1976 Michaelides moved to ABC/Dunhill as Regional Sales Representative.
Island Records – In 1978, Michaelides joined Island Records as their Regional Promotion Manager responsible for the coordination and organization of all media activities for their artists in Northern England. During this time Tony also promoted Stiff Records artists' such as Elvis Costello. Due to financial difficulties, the entire Regional Promotions Team was laid off in 1980.
Charisma Records - Immediately upon leaving Island Records, Michaelides joined Charisma Records as Regional Promotion Manager, promoting the Peter Gabriel (1980 album) tour for Peter Gabriel and the Duke (album) tour for Genesis. After a brief stint, he left Charisma and went back to Island.
Island Records / Stiff Records - In June 1980, Michaelides returned to Island Records to head their Regional Department including artist development and radio and television promotions[4] for artists like Bob Marley, Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, and Stevie Winwood. One of Michaelides's first projects when returning to Island was developing the newly signed U2. On September 22, 1980, Tony secured an opportunity with the BBC where U2 recorded their first national radio session. Tony worked with U2 beginning with their debut album Boy through the multi-platinum release The Unforgettable Fire.[7] This was also one of Islands Records' most successful periods ever with releases from artists such as U2, Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Welcome to the Pleasuredome) and Bob Marley’s album, Legend, which topped the UK album chart for 12 weeks remaining on the UK chart for a total of 265 weeks. It is the best selling reggae album of all time (13.5 million platinum in US[8]), with sales of 25 million copies.[9][10]
TMP (Tony Michaelides Promotions) – In 1982 Michaelides began an independent operation named TMP on Princess Street, Manchester. TMP became one of the biggest independent promotions companies in the UK music business, promoting both UK and international artists to regional radio and TV.
The Circa - The Circa label contracted Michaelides to represent their artists including Massive Attack, Neneh Cherry, and Hue and Cry. In 1984, he secured a contract with Arista Records and later with RCA and began working BMG’s entire roster. Before long his promotion company was expanding at a remarkable rate and TMP was working with Mute Records, Rhythm King and 4AD Records to name a few. In the early 1980s he created all regional radio and television promotions at Factory Records for their founder Tony Wilson and continued to work for them for 10 years until their demise in the early 1990s. Tony then forged a long-standing relationship with BMG, enjoying their one of their most successful periods ever with Annie Lennox, Whitney Houston, Take That, Natalie Imbruglia, Westlife, and Puff Daddy. It was during this period, he spent several years working with the Simon’s: Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell.
The Last Radio Program – In 1984, Michaelides replaced Mark Radcliffe on Piccadilly Radio, presenting their specialist music program The Last Radio Programme for Key 103 in Manchester. He took the on-air name of “Tony the Greek” and remained as presenter for this program for the next 13 years. Throughout the show, Michaelides helped to launch careers for bands like The Stone Roses,[11] Happy Mondays, Simply Red, James and R.E.M. He conducted interviews with artists regularly and was arguably one of the first to introduce the now familiar Acoustic Set to UK radio in 1985. While working on The Last Radio Show, Tony was nominated for several Sony Music Awards for Best Specialist Music Show.
In 1997, Michaelides was asked to be publicist for David Bowie’s Earthling Tour, responsible for press, radio, and television. The following year TMP worked closely with Lippman Entertainment, one of the world’s most successful management companies, to launch Matchbox Twenty in the UK. At the same time, he was also a working with Warner Chappell’s LA office and Atlantic Records’ New York office.
Around 2000, Michaelides became a consultant for the Manchester Business Consortium, a member of the Brits Voting Academy and a provided expert advice to the Music Managers Forum's master classes. Beginning with its inception in 1992, he was a regular panelist and moderator at the UK’s major music conference, In the City and was also one of the founding members of The Manchester Music City Network. He continued mentoring sessions in the UK as well as Canada's North by Northwest festival until deciding to move to the United States in 2004. Prior to relocating to the US, Michaelides was tagged by the United States Government as an "Alien of Extraordinary Ability".[6] This is a classification that is granted only to "that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor".
Magic Leap - In December 2010 Michaelides joined Magic Leap, a U.S. based multimedia augmented reality company beginning in 2015 utilizing his past working with musicians and artists around the world to bring in content as well as promoting the company. Tony's early achievements with the company included bringing onboard the former President of Virgin USA, Ray Cooper. Founder of Magic Leap Rony Abovitz gave Tony the title of "Chief Evangelist, Zen Master, Head of the School of Cool".
Michaelides continues working as an Artist Development Consultant and has become an author. His first book, Insights Collection: Insights From The Engine Room,[12] was published in late 2009. In 2023, Tony published his second book, Moments that Rock.
Michaelides currently resides in United States and continues writing and speaking to multi-disciplinary audiences both domestically and internationally.