Marcus Walkom

Marcus has experience in all facets of entertainment and commercial law and as a litigator having practiced both in Australia and the UK. With his practice focused primarily on the music industry, Marcus has represented high profile artists, managers, producers, labels, publishers, festivals, events and start-ups  throughout the world, and with a particular interest in working with new and emerging talent he has assisted in procuring, negotiating and advising on local and international deals for his clients. Marcus also runs independent label and management company We Are Golden.

Charlotte Abroms

Charlotte Abroms is the recipient of The Lighthouse Award (2017) and the Fast Track Fellowship (2018). She is an Australian based music manager who guides the careers of Ainslie Wills, Angie McMahon and Haarlo. With a background in creative digital strategy and content production, Charlotte commenced her career in a voluntary capacity, co-founding Large Noises, a music blog dedicated to filming high quality live performance videos with a focus on emerging Australian artists. Driven by passion, belief and commitment, Charlotte has evolved a voluntary role in the music community into a full-time professional artist management role.

Ali Barter

For Ali Barter to make music again, she first needed to learn to get out of her own way.In the wake of her 2017 debut record A Suitable Girl the indie-pop singer became a kind of vessel, slowly filling to the brim with a steady stream of doubts and hang-ups about her sound and herself.“The first record came out and for some reason I rejected it,” she says, listing the complaints she found with her own work, it’s too polished and my voice is too high being at the top of the list. “When people responded to it, I heard myself in a heightened way”. The criticisms came so regularly and in such quick succession that the vessel threatened to overflow. Barter was determined to never write a song again.But in winter, a few months after the record’s release, she went out of town to clear her head, with her guitar for company. “Stuff started coming up and I couldn’t push it down,” she says, despite feeling like she “wasn’t ready” for what these songs were saying.When she set about recording and testing the limits of her surprising new songs with Oscar Dawson – her producer, constant collaborator and husband – she heard something in them she’d realised she didn’t need to fight against anymore. “When we demoed them up I was like, Oh, there I am. The thing that I was pushing against was me.”"

Emily Ulman

Emily Ulman is a multi-talented venue booker, festival programmer, producer, publicist, teacher, entertainment manager, musician, radio presenter, podcast enthusiast, AFL Western Bulldogs fanatic and highly respected contributor to the local music community of Melbourne, Australia. For over 18 years Ulman has curated stages and shows at venues across Melbourne, notably The Prince Bandroom, The Gasometer Hotel, The Toff in Town, Boney, The Kelvin Club and The Post Office Hotel. With unparalleled expertise in booking lineups that are consistently diverse and eclectic, Emily is a key force in driving the Melbourne music scene towards a progressive and inclusive future. She is currently Managing Director and programmer of Isol-Aid festival and the programmer for the Brunswick Music Festival.

Jamie Gough

Jaime is Managing Director of independent music publisher Native Tongue Music Publishing, overseeing offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. He is also a Director of the Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA), the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited (AMCOS) and the Australasian Music Publishers’ Association Limited (AMPAL).Jaime has a double Bachelor of Business degree (Marketing & Management - Monash University), and worked in artist management at Mayday Management and music licensing at Mana Music before joining Native Tongue in 2005.  Jaime has served on the board for non-profit youth music organization The Push, and is a co-owner of independent record label, Best & Fairest.www.nativetongue.com.au 

Leigh Treweek

Director of multiple companies including Handshake Agency creator of live streaming Live music show Delivered, Live and thepodcasts.com.au. Handshake Media owner of themusic.com.au a stable of magazines. Handshake MGMT a bespoke management company guiding the careers of Alex Lahey, Vacations, Bakers Eddy, L-Fresh The Lion and Plgrms.

Mike Warner

Mike Warner is rapidly emerging as the new face – and voice – of the streaming music world. Mike’s multifaceted role as a freelance Streaming A&R has allowed him to develop and execute strategic streaming campaigns for a wide variety of artists and labels. Between advising clients on analytics and insights as part of the Chartmetric team, to spear-heading third party play listing strategies for artists, Mike’s mission is simple: to help the music industry find it’s feet on this new terrain. As an industry leader, Mike has shared his insights and experiences across every platform imaginable, from guest starring on numerous podcasts, to appearing live on CNBC, and being handpicked for workshops and panels at the Las Vegas Music Summit, SXSW, and Electronic Music Conference in Sydney, Australia. Between publishing a paperback book, hosting a podcast, and consulting numerous artists, labels and managers, Mike Warner has earned himself as reputation as the “Tim Ferriss of Streaming.” Opting to lead by example, Mike invests time in curation himself. “well curated playlists are one of the most powerful tools artists can have in the streaming era” Mike explains. “I’ve built my playlists as a way to show artists just what is possible, without a budget or large social media following.” As an independent artist himself, Mike understands the obstacles and challenges facing artists today better than anyone. Insightful, approachable and always available, it’s no surprise that the phrase ‘Ask Mike’ has rapidly worked itself into the music industry’s vernacular. “I’m just here to help all artists” Mike says, with a sly grin “on and off the charts."

Arlo Enemark

Arlo Enemark has spent 10 years as a music industry professional, working on content strategy, A&R and digital distribution for labels and artists with Xelon Entertainment as well as being label manager for dominant Aussie club label Medium Rare Recordings. Arlo now heads up noisehive.com – Xelon’s distribution platform for independent artists.

ARIA is a national industry association representing major and independent record producers, manufacturers and distributors. It acts as an advocate for the Australian music industry, administers the labelling code of practice, provides a ‘blanket’ non-exclusive licensing function for copyright users and compiles industry information and research.

ARIA is active in many key areas of the music industry:

• We act as an advocate for the industry, both domestically and internationally
• We support Australian music, and create opportunities to help it be heard
• We play an active role in protecting copyright and the fight against music piracy
• We collect statistical information from members and retailers and compile numerous ARIA charts with data provided by over 1,100 retailers and digital music services
• We are a focus for industry opinion and compiler of industry information and views
• We provide in certain cases, a reproduction licensing function on behalf of its participating members, for various copyright uses
• We stage the highly prestigious annual ARIA Music Awards
• We administer the voluntary Recorded Music Labelling Code of Practice in conjunction with the Australian Music Retailers Association (AMRA)
• We are the Australian International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) national agency, and allocates the Country and First Owner Codes to members for encoding on all audio and audio-visual recordings, as a method of identification
• We also help those in the industry who have fallen on hard times, through our support of Support Act Limited, the industry's benevolent fund.
• Our primary objective is to advance the interests of the Australian record industry by ensuring ARIA is a cohesive, effective and respected organisation.

With the continued support and membership of local record companies, ARIA's success is guaranteed. We harness the talents of key industry people to achieve the best outcome on industry issues and challenges.If you're interested in becoming an ARIA member, please visit our membership section.

Mardi Caught

Formerly General Manager for Warner Music Frontline Marketing, Mardi carries a weight of global and domestic experience. She recently launched a marketing services company called The Annex, which works with talent, management and labels to tailor and deliver marketing strategy. Clients will benefit from Caught’s International marketing experience honed in her previously held roles in the UK as International Marketing and Promotions Manager for EMI, Vice President of Talent and Music at MTV UK and General Manager of Columbia Music Sony UK (Ting Tings, Mark Ronson, Kings of Leon, Calvin Harris). During her time at MTV, Mardi served as a judge for the Mercury Music Prize and also the BBC Sound of 2006. She returned to Australia in 2009 to take up the GM role of Day One Entertainment at Sony Music Australia, before heading to Warner Music. Since launching in March 2018, The Annex has built up a diverse list of clients including artists Passenger, Sheppard, ChillinIt, Didirri, Kota Banks, Safia, JXN, Jealous of the Birds, Triple One, Love Fame Tragedy, Adam Lambert, Illy, Genesis Owusu, Ok Moon, Pnau , Violent Soho, Melanie C, Mia Rodriguez, and Lime Cordiale alongside labels UNIFIED, Ultra, Mom + Pop, Good Soldier and TMRW Music (formerly MOS), Sweat It Out and Central Station Records.

Andrew Stone

Andrew Stone is the Head of Chugg Music, a Management, Publishing, and Record Label based in Sydney, Australia. Alongside business partner, Michael Chugg, he is the manager for Australian artists, Sheppard, Lime Cordiale, Mia Rodriguez, Mason Watts, Casey Barnes, and New Zealand artist, Avalanche City. Andrew is also head and founder of City Pop Records. Chugg Music artists have received multiple #1 album and #1 single certifications, as well as Gold and Platinum sales in over 25 countries. This includes the longest running #1 single for an Australian independent artist of all time, for Geronimo by Sheppard. Andrew is a current AIR Board member and member of the Association of Artist Managers.

Tim Nelson - CUB SPORT

Cub Sport has undergone a transformation from local indie band to global pop powerhouse. With sell out dates across 4 continents, and a community and message that is impacting lives worldwide, the prolific independent Brisbane group are forging their own path to global acclaim.The energy around Cub Sport is fearless and captures the uniquely vulnerable writing and vocal delivery that saw the group reach new heights on their 2019, self-titled album Cub Sport, winning praise everywhere from Billboard, i-D, Rolling Stone, NME, The Guardian, Nylon, PAPER Magazine, Gay Times, Attitude, The Fader and Line of Best Fit to DUMMY, Monocle, Music Week, and many more.  LIKE NIRVANA, the band’s newly released fourth record, (NME 5/5 Stars, Rolling Stone 4.5/5 stars) debuted at #2 on the ARIA Album Chart, #1 on the Australian Album Chart and #1 on the Vinyl Chart. The record embraces every side of frontperson and songwriter, Tim Nelson: the angelic lightness as well as the multiplicitious, haunted darkness. It recasts them and their bandmates — multi-instrumentalists Zoe Davis, Sam Netterfield, and Dan Puusaari — as fearless innovators, experimentalists willing to blow up everything about the Cub Sport of old in order to create this dazzling and daring new chapter. Described by Nelson as more of a holistic release from Cub Sport in contrast to their largely linear early records, LIKE NIRVANA  is a glistening, tightly-woven exploration of religious reckoning, oppressive structures of masculinity, and feelings of inadequacy. The record is impressionistic, pushing aside the brightly coloured realism of 2019’s self-titled record in favour of gauzy lucid dreams perfected on Lorde’s Melodrama and Frank Ocean’s Blonde. Nelson’s embrace of raw emotion has pushed them and their bandmates to create a record more fiercely emotive than ever. If This Is Our Vice introduced Cub Sport, and BATS and Cub Sport made them stars, then LIKE NIRVANA is the record that solidifies them as daring, open-hearted renegades.

Melody Forgani

Melody Forghani is the Director of twnty three, an independent artist managementand publicity company based in Sydney and Los Angeles. twnty three manages Vallis Alps, Tasman Keith and more and handles PR for artists such as Dune Rats, Alice Ivy, Alex Cameron, Kucka, Noname, Todd Terje, and more. In 2019, Melody worked as the music co-programmer for BIGSOUND, the largest music conference in the Southern Hemisphere. She previously worked as theexecutive producer for FBi Radio's Arvos program and currently produces theTuesday Arvos program with Chris Twite, a position that she has held for 8 years.

Alex the Astronaut

Sydney-based singer, songwriter and storyteller Alex the Astronaut shares new single ‘Christmas In July’ today, along with the accompanying video. The track, which documents the delirious stupor of falling in love is the latest to be released from her forthcoming debut album The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing, due out 21 August. Listen/Watch HEREOf the track, Alex shares: ""I met someone and it felt like Christmas had come and I’d won the lottery at the same time. I feel like she took all the things that I knew and really flipped them on their head which was exactly what I needed.""Brought to life with bright melodies, plucked guitar and Alex’s unmistakable vocals, The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing is the work of a storyteller attuned to the world around her. Having always had a supernatural knack for capturing human experience in song, the record explores friendship, love, loss, pain and change, weaving a constellation of stories about the personal reckonings that come with growing up. The release features ‘Happy Song’, ‘I Think You’re Great’, ‘Split The Sky’ and ‘Lost’, which have received praise from triple j, Rolling Stone, NME and The Guardian, among others.The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing follows on from two highly acclaimed EPs (To Whom It May Concern and See You Soon) and a slew of big singles, which have had a way of landing at just the right moment. Alex’s breakout track ‘Already Home’ arrived in 2016 and features the now-iconic line ‘And there’s billionaires for presidents / And parking fines at hospitals'. In 2017, she returned with ‘Not Worth Hiding’, an open letter to her 16 year old self that details the journey to her own sexuality. The track arrived as Australia was debating marriage equality and became the unofficial anthem of the Vote Yes movement. The mammoth single then went on to receive support from Elton John on his Beats 1 radio show and score #23 in triple j’s Hottest 100.

Jeremy Sirota

Jeremy Sirota was appointed Merlin's CEO in January 2020, joining from Facebook's Music Team where he led efforts to license and acquire recorded music rights from independent record labels and distributors around the world. Sirota previously held a number of senior positions at Warner Music Group, and before that was a tech lawyer at Morrison & Forster, LLP.

Ollie Wards

Ollie Wards is TikTok's first Director of Music for Australia and New Zealand. Over his previous ten years at triple J, Ollie Wards led the radio station to its current place in the Australian music industry, with the highest ratings on record, strong social media following across platforms and support of local artists. As Content Director of triple j and Unearthed, Ollie was responsible for triple j's content, brand and operations across all platforms. This includes overseeing triple j's well known music brands and campaigns like triple j's Hottest 100 and Like a Version. Originally from New Zealand, Ollie has a passion for music and helping audiences connect with local artists. With a focus on always making decisions on behalf of audiences and artists, Ollie will bring a local connection for Australian music to have global impact on TikTok.

Kerry Kennell

Kerry is a proud Torres Strait Island women and a respected consultant, business owner and lawyer with experience in business management, employment relations, contract management, across various industries including music, construction, government and small to large business sectors. Kerry is the Co-Founder of Same Way Nation, a boutique consulting business based in Melbourne.

Siobhan Kranz

Siobhan is currently Marketing & Communications Senior Manager at Frontier Touring, one of Mushroom Group's touring companies. She has been with the Group for nearly 6 years in various positions within both the label and live sectors of the business and has worked on campaigns for artists such as Julia Jacklin, Khalid, Violent Soho, Kylie Minogue, Midnight Oil, Archie Roach, DMA'S, The Teskey Brothers, A$AP Rocky and more. Siobhan is extremely passionate about diversity and inclusion in the creative industries and society at large, and has served on Music Victoria's Women's Advisory Panel, as well as Mushroom Group's Social Responsibility Committee.

Jana Gibson

As Head of Member Services at APRA AMCOS, I lead the membership team, working with and advocating for 103,000 members. We provide ongoing education and identify opportunities and partnerships that support sustainable careers and businesses for our writer and publisher members.

Paulette Long OBE

Paulette Long OBE has worked within the music industry for over 35 years beginning her career in music PR and artist management. Moving on to work for independent music publisher Westbury Music (where she became a director) Paulette worked within all areas of publishing from licensing, artist development and business affairs to royalty accounts and distribution. Also finding time to work for an advertising agency on their music accounts and an independent record label before setting up her own management company.A previous long standing board director for The Music Publishers Association and a previous director of PRS For Music where she held the post of Deputy Chair, Paulette is an Ambassador for the PRS Foundation and a trustee of the PRS Members Fund.A founding member of ADMM who successfully created the UK music industry’s first Diversity Charter (formally adopted by UK Music), Paulette currently sits as deputy-chair of the UK Music Diversity Task Force and co-chair of the BPI Equality and Justice Advisory Group.  In  2016 Paulette was added to Music Week’s ‘Women In Music Roll Of Honour’ and later that year received an OBE for services to the music industry. 2017 saw Paulette receiving the prestigious Gold Badge Award from The Ivors Academy and more recently in 2019, held the role of Jury President in the Entertainment Lions for Music category at the renowned Cannes Lions Festival. Paulette is also a qualified Peer Reviewer on the CLOCK Your Skills programme and manages the very talented  singer, songwriter, cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson.  She has more recently extended her diversity work into the recruitment arena with the setting up of ‘Zero8’, a boutique recruitment agency working to improve ethnic diversity at senior management level within the UK music and creative industries.

Filippo Palermo

Filippo Palermo is the 27-year-old co-founder of Untitled Group, one of Australia’s largest independent music & events companies. The Untitled Group brand encompasses music festivals as well as an established artist management roster, booking agency, record label, international touring division and an investment arm that collaborates with various music-technology companies including talent booking platform 'Muso'.  Since organising their first music festival in 2014, the U.G festival roster has grown to over 10 major touring and camping properties and bespoke metropolitan events, selling over 250,000 tickets nationally annually. Untitled also produces several events each year where 100% of proceeds go to supporting a variety of causes, the largest of which is ‘Ability Fest’ - Australia’s first all-inclusive annual music festival aimed to normalise disability. Ability Fest is run in partnership with the Dylan Alcott Foundation and has raised over $500,000 AUD for children with disabilities. Filippo has been acknowledged by the National Disability institution of Australia as a contributor to this through his efforts as a festival director. After cutting his teeth on the Melbourne nightclub scene at the age of 18, Filippo partnered with his now-business partners Nicholas, Tom, Michael and Christian to begin planning their first large scale camping festival, Beyond The Valley. The widely renowned festival has since played host to Tyler, The Creator, Chance the Rapper, Jamie xx, Little Dragon, Stormzy, Rüfüs Du Sol and more with their 2019 edition selling out in under 1 minute. Following BTV's success, Filippo & his partners set their eyes on diversifying their event portfolio, which now spans a variety of musical genres, each with their own unique audio, visual, and experiential components. These include Wildlands festival (Brisbane, sold out in 2019), Pitch Music & Arts (prev ft. Maceo Plex, Richie Hawtin, Mount Kimbie, Nina Kraviz), Grapevine (Touring nationally), For The Love (touring nationally), Ability Fest, Duke St Block Party, Sun Cycle & many more. Notable Untitled Group tours include Hip-Hop heavyweights Wu-Tang Clan, pop sensation Gus Dapperton, producers 16BL and Ben Bohmer and local stars Dom Dolla, Crooked Colours, Hayden James, and Mallrat to name a few. Untitled Group has differentiated themselves from others in the industry through being at the forefront of lighting, sound, and production design, as well as pioneering a new direction for venues by activating alternative locations for events. The Coburg Velodrome, Duke Street, and The Wool Store warehouse; a historic heritage-listed Melbourne landmark turned-temporary event space, have all set the scene for performances by artists such as Solomun, Jamie Jones, John Talabot and more. Filippo is heavily involved in the creative direction for each event and collaborates with local architects, designers, artists and production experts to carefully curate and craft the interactive displays and unique venue activations. This high level production and creative direction has landed Filippo personal editorial interest from notable outlets Resident Advisor (featured in RA's 2019 Melbourne Real Scenes), Industry Observer and the Herald Sun as well as being listed in IQ-Mag's 'New bosses of 2020'. His work on overseeing installations such as Beyond The Valley's main stage every year has contributed to Untitled Group winning awards such as the 'In Theory Design Award' in 2018 and the 'Muse Stage Design Award' in 2019. Untitled Group's premiere electronic music festival property Pitch Music & Arts has also polled consistently in Resident Advisor's 'Top 10 Festivals Around the Globe in March' since 2016. Filippo is also the proud manager of esteemed Australian artists Big Words, Cassettes For Kids & Bertie. From their humble beginnings as one of Melbourne's best-kept-secrets, Big Words are rapidly becoming a prominent part of Australia's music scene. Their continued success has seen them support Hobo Johnson nationally, sell-out Melbourne's iconic 170 Russell music venue, hit over 9 million Spotify streams and feature on Triple J, Flaunt Mag, Viral Hits, New Music Friday's AUS/NZ, Fresh Finds and more.  Solo artist, DJ and producer Cassettes For Kids aka Zak, has warmed up the decks for some of dance music's biggest names, such as Marcel Dettmann, KiNK, and Dj Koze, and has been hailed by industry critics such as Triple J's Andy Garvey and Finding Figaro as Australia's next breakthrough artist in the electronic scene.

Cathy Oates

2006 – Present                                               

OWN BUSINESS - ORIGINAL MATTERSA worldwide music management and marketing business.  Current roster is Alex The Astronaut (co-managed with One Louder) ++ Alt Fiction ++ Fletcher Gull ++ JEFFE ++ Kira Puru ++ WASHINGTON. Australian consultant to US Company MTheory – oversee projects by:   ++ Major Lazer ++ Petit Biscuit ++ RL Grime.

Previous clients: 

*Signed Dean Lewis to Island Records worldwide – No. 1 Australian album.  Over a billion streams on “Be Alright”, Top 15 around the world on Shazam and Spotify, Top 15 single on UK Chart,  Syncs on US Programmes - Suits, Gray’s Anatomy, Riverdale, So You Think You Can Dance and more.

*Brought together Angus & Julia Stone in 2006 and launched them around the world.  The peak whilst working with them for six years in Australia was a triple platinum record in 2010 / Single and Album ARIA Awards / “Big Jet Plane” No. 1 on Triple J’s hottest 100.  Sold out five nights at Le Trianon in Paris and Double Platinum album sales in France, Massive US syncs with Maybelline and TV Shows, Original Matters did all the marketing and PR in both Australia and Europe via EMI / PIAS.1990 – 2006 Sales / PR / Marketing / Label HeadSony Music Australia / EMI Music Australia / various other music industry roles.

Johann Ponniah

Terry McBride

Shav Garg

Mike Warner

Meg Williams

Blake Rayner

John Ferris

Jacqui Louez Schoorl

Maya Janeska

Vo Williams

Sweetie Zamora

Michael Chase

Francesca Caldara

Ed Sholl

Missy Scheinberg

Nikki Tuckwell

Matt Bird

Poppy Reid

Kira Puru

Jaguar Jonze

John Watson

Guy Blackman

Bonnie Dalton

Ari Herstand

“The poster child of DIY Music” – Forbes Los Angeles based Ari Herstand (pronounced Ar*ee Her*stand), is the author of the best-selling book How To Make It in the New Music Business (Norton / Liveright Publishing | December 20th, 2016). It remains at the top of the Amazon charts and has been widely adopted by music business schools worldwide.
His music business advice blog, Ari’s Take, has become the go-to resource for independent musicians on how to run a successful music career in the NEW music business. Herstand’s well-researched, relatable, no BS approach is why so many musicians continue to trust him for advice. He offers encouragement without condescension and maintains a “we’re all in it together” attitude not found elsewhere in the space.
Ari Herstand is an independent musician who has played over 700 shows around the country, has opened for or toured with Ben Folds, Cake, Matt Nathanson, The Milk Carton Kids and Ron Pope, has performed on Ellen, and has had his music featured in countless TV shows, commercials and films. He currently leads the 1973 funk project Brassroots District.
Herstand has written for many of the top musician trade magazines and websites including Music Connection Magazine, American Songwriter, Digital Music News, Playback Magazine, CD Baby, Tunecore, Reverbnation, Roland, Discmakers, ASCAP, Hypebot and others. He has been a featured speaker at SXSW, BBC One’s Amplify, ASCAP Music Expo, SF MusicTech, CD Baby’s DIY Musician Conference and Berklee College of Music.

Charles Caldas

Will Page

Stu Watters

Ahilleas Papantos

Ahilleas (Louis) Papantos has seen success in both the music and gaming industries, setting him up perfectly for his current role as the Director of Esports for Europe at AZYT Global Talent. Previously, Ahilleas founded ROAM Esports, Australia’s top esports specialist agency, and was a share-partner at Grammy and ARIA Award-winning label and artist management company Outpost Management.Having worked on campaigns and events for prolific artists such as XXXTentacion, Trippie Redd and Illegal Civ, as well as developing and discovering artists and players like Japanese Wallpaper, FBI (Golden Guardians), Ryoma (100 Thieves), and Fudge (Cloud 9), Ahilleas understands how to develop and nurture world-class talent in both the music and gaming worlds. He is well-versed in youth cultures and is passionate about creating initiatives that integrate the worlds of music and gaming.

Ben Dennis

Nirmala Shome

Nirmala Shome is Project Director at Spirit Level Records lab - where the label explore how tech can help create new music experiences. Over 12 years experience managing design and technology projects across Melbourne and New York, working for product innovation teams at Google, Nike, Apple Samsung and more specialising in emerging technology.

Hazel Savage

Maize Wallin