Wednesday 4th August
TOURING INTERNATIONALLY presented by Sounds Australia
Millie Millgate
As founding employee and Executive Producer of Sounds Australia, Millie is responsible for the roll out and representation of the Australian music industry at key international music events, including; SXSW (Austin, USA), The Great Escape (Brighton, UK), Reeperbahn Festival (Hamburg, Germany), Jazzahead, Classical:Next, AmericanaFest, Folk Alliance International and A2IM Indie Week (New York, USA).
She has been instrumental in the growth of Sounds Australia worldwide, having overseen the marketing, networking and showcasing activity undertaken at 80 different international events (many multiple times), in 69 cities, across 25 countries since 2009.In 2011 Millie was honoured by Sydney’s FBi Radio Station with the "SMAC of Year” Award, in recognition of her efforts with Australian musicians internationally and in 2012 was inducted into the Yearly Music Conference Awards, UK (YMCA) Hall of Fame for Outstanding Achievement: Music Export. Millie has placed in the AMID ‘POWER 50’ list, each year since its inception in 2012.
In 2017 Millie graduated from Harvard Business School, Executive Education (Business of Entertainment, Media and Sport) and was also the industry Partner Investigator, alongside academics from Newcastle and Monash Universities for an Australian Research Council (ARC) awarded project, Born Global: The economic and cultural value of Australian music exports, released in July 2019. In 2018 and again in 2021, Millie was one of the 5 Australian judges for Eurovision and was one of two music industry representatives on the Governments’ Creative Services Working Group for the creation of the Services Exports Action Plan, launched in April 2021.https://www.linkedin.com/in/millie-millgate-a87116106/
Glenn Dickie
Glenn Dickie is the Export Music Producer for Sounds Australia. Glenn has helped put Export Ready artists on stages all over the world from SXSW in Austin Texas to Classical Next in Rotterdam or NH7 Weekender in India to Sao Paulo Brazil and many, many more. Glenn previously worked at EMI Music Australia with experience in Artist Relations, A&R, Marketing and Promotion.
As someone who has spent their life in music playing and working alongside his peers all over the world, he holds a unique expertise in International Music Showcasing and how to best be prepared to tackle international music markets.
Esti Zilber
Esti’s background is a mixture of music and arts. She has been involved with producing several theatre productions, worked in book publishing in New York and was the Executive Producer Arts and Culture at FBi Radio.
Joining Sounds Australia in 2010, she has worked on ground at priority market events including SXSW, The Great Escape and Reeperbahn Festival. Esti oversees all Sounds Australia’s marketing activity and collateral creation as well as taking carriage of Sponsorship procurement and delivery.
Dom Alessio
Dom Alessio is the Digital Export Producer for Sounds Australia. Dom's role is to drive the digital strategy of Australia's export office, as well as identify opportunities for Australian artists and industry in the digital space. He's also a regular guest on ABC Radio, occasionally a DJ and partial to hosting a music trivia night.
For eight years Dom was the host of Home & Hosed on triple j, Australia's national youth radio station. Starting in 2009, he presented and programmed the show, introducing audiences to the future of Australian music.
COMPOSING MUSIC FOR GAMING AND SYNC
Frank Tetaz
François Tétaz is a film composer and music producer who won the AACTA Best Original Score Award in 2019 and Best Soundtrack at the APRA Screen Awards in 2020 for Judy and Punch.
He won 2 Grammys, including Record of the Year at the 55th annual Grammy Awards in 2013 for his work with Gotye and an APRA / Australian Guild of Screen Composers Award for his score for Wolf Creek in 2006. He is currently working with Gotye in his studio in Melbourne, Australia.
Jen Taunton
Jen Taunton is the founder of Australian music sync agency The Midnight Choir and co-founder of rights management company Nice Rights.
She has been a Music Supervisor with Level Two Music since 2005 and is passionate about championing independent Australian music on the world stage.
Morgan Read
Morgan Read is an Adelaide-based games composer, sound designer, musician, and producer who has been working with Mighty Kingdom since 2013. Morgan applies his years of experience performing in bands, working in film, and producing award-winning remixes, to the sound design and musical scores for all of Mighty Kingdom's games.
Morgan has developed the ability to understand a gaming experience and deliver amazing soundscapes for any type of game, from kids games on mobile to multiplayer games on console and everything in between.
Jasper Leak
Originally from Sydney Australia, Jasper Leak moved to New York in 2005 where he established himself as an in demand touring/session musician. After working with a diverse range of artists including SIA, Tegan and Sara along with jazz greats Clark Terry and Billy Harper, Jasper moved to LA in 2014 to pursue songwriting and production work.
In this time Jasper signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV and has songs he co-wrote appear on SIA's platinum selling "1000 Forms of Fear" and "This Is Acting" albums.
He has also had songs appear in hit TV shows "Transparent" (Amazon) and "13 Reasons Why" (Netflix) and worked on film projects "The Intervention", "Keep On Keepin' On" and the Netflix documentary "Quincy", which lead to a nominated for an Emmy award in the Outstanding Music Supervision category.
Amanda Brown
Amanda Brown has been composing music for the screen since graduating from AFTRS in 2000. She has written the scores for several feature films including Babyteeth, Kairos, The Family, Son of a Lion and Look Both Ways.
She has a long list of television music credits, most recently the eight part drama series RFDS for Channel 7 and The Secrets She Keeps on the 10 Network. In 2020 Amanda won the AACTA Awards for Best Music Score (Babyteeth) and Best Documentary Score (Brazen Hussies) and in 2019 she won the Soundtrack Stars Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival, also for Babyteeth.
She has released multiple soundtrack albums in addition to an extensive discography of work with a range of artists including silverchair, The Vines, Youth Group and The Church.Amanda has also had a career as a multi-instrumentalist in several bands. She was a member of The Go-Betweens and has worked with artists including R.E.M, The Apartments and Toni Collette.
In 2021 Amanda will release her first solo album of songs, 8 Guitars.Amanda is a writer director board member and screen music ambassador for APRA, the Australian Performing Rights Association.
Thursday 5th August
OPENING KEYNOTE
Jaddan Comerford
Jaddan Comerford is the Founding CEO of UNIFIED Music Group, a globally renowned multi-service music company. From its suburban Melbourne bedroom beginnings as Boomtown Records to its stake as one of Australia's largest independent music companies, UNIFIED now offers a full suite of artist and music services across the globe. In 2021, the company is proud to celebrate its official 10 year anniversary as Jaddan moves towards a milestone 20 years in the music business in 2022.
Today UNIFIED provides a range of services including artist management, label and distribution services, publishing, touring, festivals and merchandise to a diverse roster of local and international artists. With its head office based in the heartbeat of Melbourne’s live music scene, UNIFIED also has offices in Sydney, Los Angeles and London as the company continues its worldwide pursuit. UNIFIED’s team of artist managers cultivate the careers of Vance Joy, Illy, The Amity Affliction, Dashboard Confessional, Violent Soho, Client Liaison, Ocean Alley, SAFIA and many more.
Meanwhile, the company is home to a group of established brands including direct-to- consumer merchandise outlet, 24 Hundred, and Australia’s premier heavy and alternative music label, UNFD, home to some of the world’s most adored artists and records in the scene. Jaddan is committed to developing artists and the careers of the next generation of the music industry through the work of UNIFIED. Driven by his deep passion for independent music and its community, he continues to oversee the company’s global expansion into its next decade and beyond.
Mardi Caught
Former GM for Warner Music, Mardi Caught carries a weight of global and domestic experience. She launched a marketing services company in 2018 called The Annex, which works with talent, management and labels to tailor, and deliver, marketing strategy.
Clients benefit from Caught’s International marketing experience, honed in her previously held roles in the UK as International Marketing Manager for EMI, VP of Talent and Music at MTV UK and GM of Columbia Music UK. During her time at MTV, Mardi served as a judge for the Mercury Music Prize and the BBC Sound of 2006.
Since launch, The Annex has built up a diverse list of clients including Sheppard, ChillinIt, Kim Churchill, Kota Banks, Tasman Keith, Triple One, Adam Lambert, Illy, Genesis Owusu, Violent Soho, Mia Rodriguez, and Lime Cordiale alongside labels UNIFIED, Mom + Pop, Good Soldier and TMRW Music, Sweat It Out and Central Station Records..
DECONSTRUCTING A&R
Linda Bosidis
Linda is the Managing Director of Mushroom Music Publishing and has over 25 years experience in music publishing. Mushroom Music is a creative and fiercely independent music publisher and has been in operation since 1972.
They work with some of the most iconic Australian, New Zealand and international songwriters and catalogues to help build rewarding, sustainable careers. They are true champions of emerging artists and pride themselves on nurturing talent. The team are lateral thinkers who generate real opportunities and listen to the individual needs of the writers.
Linda and her team at Mushroom Music are dedicated to their songwriters who always come first. They believe in supporting the creativity of their writers. Mushroom help their artists tell their own stories and advise how to successfully blend their business with their craft. Mushroom Music represents artists like Julia Jacklin, Gordi, Kehlani, Violent Soho, Middle Kids, Laura Marling, Jack River, The Teskey Brothers, Rolling Blackouts Coast Fever, Vance Joy, Hatchie, Amy Shark, Archie Roach, London Grammar, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Black Flag to name a few.
Ollie Wards
Ollie Wards is TikTok's first Director of Music for Australia and New Zealand. Since joining TikTok in September 2020, he has worked to create opportunities for Australian and Kiwi artists on the platform both domestically and overseas.
Ollie is always building ways to deepen the users' experience with music on TikTok and connect them with musicians through multiple avenues including live streaming, music editorial, content creation support and most recently launching a TikTok radio station.
Previously, Ollie was at triple j for a decade where he led content and programming for the network including triple j Unearthed.
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.
Mark Jowett
Mark co-founded the Nettwerk Music Group in 1984. He has helped to oversee the company’s creative affairs, as well as the company’s overseas operations and Nettwerk’s publishing division.
Although based in Canada Nettwerk strives to offer an effective global approach to developing audiences for an artist’s music, with offices in the US, the UK and Germany. From its infancy, Nettwerk has always worked with Australian acts, starting off in the 1980s with classic industrial acts like SPK, Severed Head and Single Gun Theory, and then evolving through the years to work with acts like Cub Sport, Boy and Bear, Mallrat, Angus and Julia Stone, Jaguar Jones, Garrett Kato and Hayden Calnin amongst many others.
We believe Australian is a phenomenal hotbed of gifted artists artist, who are supported by a strong music industry infrastructure, which Nettwerk is proud to be part of. Mark’s love of music is not only reflected in having been in the industry for almost fourty years, but he has continued to play in indie-bands of one kind or another the whole time.
He is now a cellist in the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra. He also plays in a Vancouver based quartet.
Mari Stuart
Mari Stuart is Head of Marketing for [PIAS] Australia/Inertia Music’s Label Group, who count among their roster some of Australia’s most exciting acts: Jesswar, Annie Hamilton, Mildlife, Shady Nasty; alongside [PIAS]’s co-op label roster, which includes the company’s first Australian co-op label Astral People Recordings (Stevan, Wave Racer, Milan Ring).
Mari has a range of experience across the music sector, from marketing roles at peak industry body MusicNSW and digital agency Comes With Fries, to volunteering at FBi Radio and Bondi Beach Radio, running an independent label, producing events, speaking on industry panels, and some very average DJing at the odd birthday party.
Rachel Jones-Williams
Rachel Jones-Williams recently launched the Asia-Pacific arm of London-based indie label Dirty Hit as their General Manager. Overseeing all label operations for the region, Rachel represents an international roster including The 1975, Wolf Alice, Beabadoobee, Rina Sawayama, Oscar Lang and more.
Rachel is currently developing a local domestic roster with new signings to be announced soon.
Lorrae McKenna
Our Golden Friend was set up by Lorrae McKenna and her partner Skube Burnell in December 2015 as an outlet for their love of Labradors and years of experience and passion for the Australian Music Industry.
In 2016 Lorrae resigned from her full time role with Remote Control Records as Marketing and Promotions Manager to put all of her time and energy into the daily running of Our Golden Friend and to focus her career on artist management in particular.
THE JOURNEY OF A RELEASE
How to market and release music
Sweetie Zamora
Victoria Sweetie Zamora is Head Of Labels & Promotions at Remote Control Records / Dot Dash Recordings as well as the Founder of Pointer Recordings. Sweetie has managed campaigns for artists including Adele, Courtney Barnett, Queens of The Stone Age, The xx, The National, Donny Benet, Telenova and many more. She is the main point of contact for Remote Control’s local and international artists, managers and label partners (Beggars Group, Omnian Music Group, Milk! Records, Secret City + more) and also works with the full Remote Control team to organise release planning, strategy and PR campaigns.
Since 2007 Sweetie has worked for the likes of Bossy Music, Laneway Festival, Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House and Warner Music Australia. She also plays bass guitar and is a Ken Done enthusiast.
Anika Ostendorf
Anika Ostendorf is the store manager for Melbourne indie label Milk! Records that was founded in 2012 by Courtney Barnett & Jen Cloher. Anika's expertise lies within D2C release strategies.
As a self-managed artist Anika, who performs under the moniker Hachiku, equally is very familiar with DIY releasing and recording music and has established herself as a well-respected producer in the Australian music scene.
Fanny Lumsden
ARIA Award, 8x Golden Guitar, AIR Award winning Australian artist Fanny Lumsden released her third studio album, Fallow, on Cooking Vinyl Australia/Red Dirt Road Records, which recently took out Best Country Album at the 2020 ARIA Awards, and swept the field taking home five CMAA Golden Guitar Awards including Album of the year, Female artist of the year and Single of the year, was shortlisted to the Australian Music Prize top 9 albums of 2020 and Is nominated for Album of the year and Country Album of the Year at the AIR awards.
Along with her husband Dan Stanley Freeman she runs her own Record Label and Production company – Red Dirt Road and hugely successful touring brand – The Country Halls Tour which has sold out over 180+ halls all over Australia, no small feat for a self-managed artist.
The last 12 months did not slow Fanny down releasing fallow which debuted at #10 on the ARIA charts, appeared on Play School Showtime, ABC’s The Set, was one of 12 Aussies in Global Music Match, became a Support Act Advocate, a Volunteer firefighter, wrote and produced a documentary telling the story of Fallow through the summer of bushfires and recording her album in a stone hut and also managed to pull off a sold-out theatre tour during the pandemic.
Fanny was also named 2021 Albury Local Woman of the Year for the Hume Shire for her work with regional communities. She is currently on the road with Paul Kelly and simultaneously putting on her 8th Country Halls Tour. In her own lane, Fanny is forging a career that is distinctively hers and changing up how ‘things are done’.
Mike Warner
Mike Warner is rapidly emerging as the new face of the streaming music world. Author of the critically-acclaimed industry guidebook on streaming Work Hard Playlist Hard.
Mike is also the Director of Artist, Label and DSP Relations at Chartmetric. 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.
As a public speaker, his busy virtual and touring schedule spans the largest music conferences across the globe, including NAMM, SXSW, Music Forward, IndieWeek, the Las Vegas Music Summit and Electronic Music Conference.
Sarah Guppy
Sarah Guppy is a publicist and marketing professional, who’s global perspective has been gained from years of working both in Australia and the UK. Working in the London office of This Much Talent led to setting up and becoming the Owner of their base in Melbourne. Sarah has experience in producer, songwriter and artist management, marketing, publicity, radio servicing, venue and music programming.
To date, Sarah has worked as the booker and publicist for Melbourne venues Revolver, Shadow Electric, Horse Bazaar, Common Rooms and curates the live acts for Melbourne Fashion Week and VAMFF (formally L’Oréal Fashion Festival) as well as Mountain Goat’s annual Cans and Bands event alongside The Social Crew.
Sarah is the COO of Gig Life Pro, a Singapore based music consultancy that enables the music industry in the Asia-Pacific to grow their business through trusted connections with market experts. Gig Life Pro builds purposeful networking opportunities for its curated global community of agents, record labels, label services, managers, promoters and venues.
GLP also has a standalone ability to create authentic, bespoke B2B experiences in collaboration with festivals, conferences, brands, government agencies and service providers. Sarah has worked on networking events in Singapore, Seoul, Busan, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Manila.Sarah has been a speaker on panels at industry conferences and events including BIGSOUND (Brisbane), Face The Music (Melb), Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Stonnington Jazz Festival, APRA & Music Victoria Workshops (Melb), SONIK (Manila) Indie Week (Canada), Vietnam Music Week, and has participated as a mentor on programs for The Push, Live Music Professionals, MIME (Music Industry Mentoring Edge) and the AIR Women In Music Mentor Program.
Kate Lawrence
Kate Lawrence is a Product Manager at UNIFIED Music Group, working across multiple label brands including UNFD and Domestic La La. In her four years with the company, she’s worked on releases for some of heavy music’s biggest names – Northlane, Architects, In Hearts Wake and Silverstein, to name a few.
In recent years, she’s also co-ordinated marketing efforts for artists such as Allday and Didirri. Kate now oversees campaigns for emerging domestic artists across the rock and heavy scene such as Slowly Slowly, Thornhill, Yours Truly and more. Expanding upon her background in social media and marketing, Kate specialises in fan engagement and streaming strategies for artists, and works with the full UNIFIED team to build global release campaigns.
When she’s not hard at work bringing her bands’ visions to life, catch her on Slack sending everyone TikToks.
Amber Horsburgh
Amber Horsburgh is a music and brand marketing professional who’s spent 9 years working in New York City and Los Angeles.
During her time in New York City she held the position of SVP Strategy at Downtown Records where she oversaw marketing and strategy for the entire global artist roster. As a passionate advocate for emerging artists, Horsburgh moved to Los Angeles to start a consulting business advising labels and artists directly in 2019. Her previous and current clients include Chet Faker/Nick Murphy, Miike Snow, SOFI TUKKER, Cold War Kids, Electric Guest, Allday, Tkay Maizda, Cub Sport, NBA YoungBoy, Smino, Tommy Genesis, Mura Masa, Interscope and Atlantic Records.
Horsburgh’s approach to artist marketing comes from the advertising world. She cut her teeth developing global digital campaigns for YouTube Music, Google Play, Sonos, Samsung, and MTV. Her work has been awarded by Cannes Lions, Webby’s, Shorty’s, One Show, Clio’s and SXSW Innovation Awards.
In 2017, Horsburgh founded Deep Cuts, a music marketing platform to equip independent artists with strategies and tools to snowball their own career. Today it is used by more than 15,000 artists and professionals at some of the world’s leading music companies including Universal, Sony, Warner, The Recording Academy (GRAMMY), CAA, Pitchfork, Complex, Beggars Group, Def Jam, XL, 4AD, Subpop and Warp.
In October 2020, Horsburgh launched her signature online course and group coaching program aimed to empower artists with the resources they need to release a record like a major label.
Through her Deep Cuts education work, Horsburgh has provided thought leadership for brands including Spotify For Artists, SoundCloud, and was featured in Billboard.
NFT'S AND INDIE LABELS
Annabelle Herd
Annabelle is the CEO of ARIA and PPCA. Annabelle has come to ARIA and PPCA following a 16-year career in television at Network 10 where she most recently held the role of Chief Operating Officer leading the network’s broadcast operations; group strategy; corporate and internal communications; interstate markets; policy, regulatory, compliance and government affairs; and lobbying and stakeholder relations.
Prior to Network 10, she spent several years working at senior levels in Canberra with Government, which culminated in four years as Senior Advisor (Broadcasting and Copyright) and Acting Chief of Staff for then Minister for Communications and the Arts, Senator the Hon. Richard Alston AO. Her other Canberra based roles included Government Lawyer within the intellectual property branch of the Attorney-General’s Department and Executive Officer of the Australian Digital Alliance and Australian Libraries Copyright Committee from 1996.
Annabelle received her Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from the Australian National University. She is a Council Member of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Annabelle was previously a board member of Save the Children Australia, Freeview Australia and Free TV Australia. Annabelle was invited to be a participant in the 2019 McKinsey Remarkable Women Program.
Nickolas Falkner
Nick is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Adelaide. He’s a an artist, technologist, winemaker, and occasionally writes bad adventure fiction.
Nick’s research areas include new models for creative markets, the ethical use of data, innovative and secure data systems, cybersecurity, and educational research in student behaviour and motivation.
In case of global apocalypse, he has survival training and is good with wild dogs.
Jaguar Jonze
There is nothing predictable about the remarkable rise of Brisbane native Jaguar Jonze. Her success stems from hard work and her pure creative vision, with second EP ‘ANTIHERO’ a triumphant step in her growing industry influence.
As the public artist voice of the Australian #metoo movement, Deena Lynch has appeared on The Project, triple j’s Hack, The Guardian and in numerous news pieces as she strives to create meaningful change in the music industry.
A true advocate, Deena’s commitment to getting results for victims in an industry which has ignored reports of harassment and assault has seen her join a working group of industry professionals to build and enforce behavioural guidelines and victim support strategies in the workplace.
Deena Lynch is not solely a musician and activist. She is a noted visual artist, with her narrative illustration project Spectator Jonze, described as a conversation with the mind, and her male gaze-subverting photo-project Dusky Jonze, a conversation with the body, attracting interest from brands and arts media alike.
Julian Hewitt
Julian is a Managing Partner of Media Arts Lawyers, Australia's largest entertainment law firm.
In relation to his music practise Julian was the Industry Observer's "Australian Music Lawyer of the Year" in 2018 and represents talent like Flume, Courtney Barnett, RUFUS DU SOL, Peking Duk, Matt Corby, Tash Sultana, Flight Facilities, Dune Rats, and Daniel Johns as well as many of the top independent record companies, management companies and executives.
Julian is a highly experienced dealmaker and negotiator with a strong corporate advisory background.
Nathan McLay
Nathan began his career in the early 2000’s establishing the digital department for independent distribution company Inertia [now PIAS owned], the Australian home to many of his beloved record labels including XL, Warp and Ninja Tune. Nathan was the first independent in Australiato partner with Apple’s iTunes service.
Over the course of his 15+ year music industry career Nathan has developed a knowledge of the industry across artist management, touring, recording and music publishing. He oversees a respected roster and manages Flume with whom he has been working since 2011.Flume’s Skin tour sold over 300,000 tickets globally, the album winning a Grammy Award for Dance/Electronic Album of the Year and certi ed Gold in the USA. Hit single Never Be Like You certi ed platinum in the USA and 6 x Platinum in Australia. Say It is also Platinum accredited in the USA.
Nathan has presented and participated in industry conferences including MIDEM, BigSound, c/o Pop, SXSW, Popkomm, The Great Escape, Nuit Sonores and consistently ranks highly in Australian Music Industry ‘Power 50’.
Clare Smith
Clare Smith comes to Serenade, a music technology company delivering sustainable new revenue streams to artists and unique experiences to fans, with over 20 years of experience in the music and entertainment industries across record labels/music publishing, brand partnerships, tv and film, talent management, talent booking and events.
Clare has worked with the Mushroom Group of Companies, EMI, Foxtel Music channels, Chic Celebrity Management and AAA Productions (USA based).As the Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager at Serenade, Clare is responsible for partnerships and artist content acquisition on the platform.
Working closely with record companies, labels and artist management, she is always looking for ways to cultivate existing connections in the entertainment industry and explore new opportunities for the Serenade platform.
DIFFERENT OPTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION
Maria Amato
Maria Amato is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Independent Record Labels Association and has worked in the Arts and not-for-profit sector for over 25 years specialising in finance and business management through her own consultancy firm, Results Management.
Maria is currently a board member for the Worldwide Independent Network as treasurer and member of its Executive committee. She is also a board member for the Anchor – Reeperbahn Festival International Music Award.
Maria has held former positions as Chair of the Creative Industry Advisory Board and member of the board of directors for the Australian Institute of Music, CEO/CFO of the Melbourne International Film Festival and board member for Music Victoria.
Ashley Gay
A distinguished record executive, Ashley Gay has been instrumental in the rise of Australia’s electronic dance music scene. Starting his career in the mid-1990s, Ashley has worked closely with countless dance and electronic music artists, and hundreds of labels.
A former radio DJ and music director for dance radio in his hometown of Melbourne, Ashley entered the record business with the prestigious dance labels Pro-DJ (1995-2000) and Central Station Records (2000-2007). In late 2007, Ashley combined his expertise in IT and computer science with his A&R skill set for the launch of Xelon Entertainment, which today represents over 500 labels in all genres.
Today, he heads up Xelon Entertainment, Australia's premier digital music distributor, boasting offices in various countries. Remarkably for the space, Xelon remains 100% independent and completely Australian owned.
Sarah Hamilton
Sarah is the regional manager for Australia and New Zealand at Ditto Music, which is a music and label services company that works with over 500 000 artists and labels worldwide, with offices in 25 countries. Sarah has been working in digital distribution in Australia since 2008, with a short stint in New York City. She loves working with independent artists and seeing them gain access to the same opportunities as artists signed to major labels.
Sarah loves watching the industry change and grow, and helping artists navigate the changing digital space. She has eclectic music taste and loves hip hop, soul, rnb, pop, with some alt-country thrown in. Sarah also co-founded a charity called One of One with Joanna Cameron, a website that highlights women and non-binary people in the music industry and hosts annual events for International Women's Day, now in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.
When not at her computer with headphones on she can be found eating Vietnamese food on Smith Street in Collingwood. (when it's open).
Blake Rayner
Blake Rayner is the General Manager of The Orchard's Australia & New Zealand team and has 15 years of experience in labels, A&R, marketing, business development, international export, touring and artist management.
The Orchard is a leading music distribution company operating in over 45 markets worldwide. With a comprehensive artist & label services offering including full-service marketing, sync licensing, video services, transparent data analysis, advertising, rights management, digital and physical distribution and more, The Orchard empowers creators and businesses to grow and adapt in the dynamic global industry.
Vivienne Mellish
Viv Mellish is a founding partner and Director at independent, Queensland-based digital music distribution companies, GYROstream and DistroDirect.
Viv oversees GYROstream and DistroDirect's global marketing and A&R strategy as well as the wider artist promotions team across DSPs, PR and Digital Marketing.
Viv has previously held PR and marketing roles in a range of sectors including music, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, politics, theatre and film industries.
Will Evans
Bandcamp is an online record store and music community where passionate fans discover, connect with, and directly support the artists they love.
Will is Bandcamp's Artist & Label Ambassador for Australia & New Zealand. Outside of Bandcamp, Will manages the band Mildlife and has previously worked as a festival & venue booker, record label owner and booking agent.
Mick Tarbuk
Mick Tarbuk is the Australia and New Zealand Manager for Believe, the leading fully independent digital distributor and services provider for artists and labels worldwide. Believe empowers artists and labels to maximise the value of their music in the transitioning digital music space by providing them with a full suite of services.
Joining Believe in November 2015, Mick was made responsible for the Australian and New Zealand business unit. Using his previous experience and knowledge within the Australian Music Industry Mick has quickly helped develop a strong footprint within the independent music community.
With a career spanning over a decade in the Music Industry, Mick has held roles at Fable Music Publishing, Shock Records/Distribution as Label Director along with running his own record label L X V I and artist and label services company A Northern Soul.
David Sayer
David's music career began as a member of the 90s Melbourne band Rail. His career highlights include recording two albums for Mushroom Records, as a multi-final ARIA Awards nominee and an appearance at SxSW.
David career in the digital landscape began in 2013 at Valleyarm Digital where he was instrumental in signing the labels Wheatley Records, Half A Cow Records, The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the artists Devo, Dragon and The Fauves.
David has spent the last twelve months as Director, Artist and Label Services at Songtradr.
Songtradr’s platform currently has 800,000 users across 130 different countries and specializes in music licensing and distribution. Songtradr is the largest B2B music licensing marketplace in the world, providing music creators and rights owners with complete tech-enabled solutions
Colin Daniels
Colin Daniels is the CEO of the Inertia Music, Australia’s leading independent music company, offering tailored sales, distribution, promotions and marketing services for labels including Beggars Group, Ninja Tune, Kobalt, Secretly Group, Sub Pop, Warp, and many more.
Inertia Music was acquired by [PIAS] Group in 2018. Colin is also a partner in concert promoter Handsome Tours, artist booking agency Collective Artists, music festival Fairgrounds and publisher Gaga.
Nina Rabe-Cairns
Nina runs the business for Ingrooves Music Group in Australia and New Zealand, a global digital and physical distribution company and strategic growth partner for independent artists and labels. She has a background in editorial, brand and business strategy, broadcasting, and journalism.
Before joining Ingrooves, she was a global senior playlist curator at Spotify in Berlin and later took care of the market strategy & operations for Spotify AUNZ.
Friday 6th August
MUSIC START UPS AND FUNDING FOR LABELS
Lars Brandle
Lars Brandle has reported at the frontline of the international music industry for over 20 years. A former musician, Lars joined the American music trade “bible” Billboard in 2000 and went on to serve as Global News Editor. Lars relocated from London to Brisbane in 2008 and is now Billboard’s Australia correspondent, “overnight editor” for Billboard.com and senior writer with The Industry Observer, based in Sydney.
Lars’ voice has been heard on CNN, the BBC and ABC, and he has spoken at music industry conventions around the globe, including Midem in Cannes, Singapore’s Music Matters, Amsterdam Dance Event, Sydney’s Electronic Music Conference and City Showcase in London.
His works have been published by Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter and many more outlets, and he has featured as a pundit in the Australian Financial Review, Business Review Weekly, the Courier-Mail, and Britain’s The Independent.
Alison Wenham
Current: Music Credit Fund, board adviser. Advancing funds to writers, artists, record companies using copyrights as security. A global fund for the music industry.
Previous:WIN (Worldwide Independent Network). Trade Association (2006-January 2019) (concurrent with AIM) Position held: CEO Duties: Representing the global independent commercial music sector, leading a board of representatives from 18 countries, developing capacity in the commercial and political arenas. Promoting and protecting SMEs in the music industry, identifying their contribution to music diversity, economic value and cultural contribution. Specific achievements included: negotiating with You Tube, Apple, My Space and other online services to secure parity of terms for the sector with the leading international companies.
Publishing Fair Digital Deals Declaration (2015) to promote transparency and fairness in digital deals. Subsequently used by Canadian and French Governments in legislation to improve deal transparency for artists. Cited in the House of Lords as an example of best practise. Published WINTEL report annually from 2016 to establish global market share of the independent sector, measured by copyright ownership, not distribution.
Previous employment: AIM (Association of Independent Music). Trade Association (1998-2016) – Chairman and CEO Founded by the leading independent music companies in 1999, and now established as a leading presence in the commercial, cultural and economic fields in the UK music industry. Building membership to over 800 companies from the largest independents (whose artists include Adele, Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead etc) to the smallest start-ups, services included training and education, advocacy and lobbying, research and development of the vital cultural and economic contribution of the sector. Specific achievements: launched annual Women in Music Awards (2014-present) launched the UK’s biggest annual conference on digital, Music Connected.Campaigned to improve gender and ethnic diversity, particularly at senior levels in the industry.BMG - (1993-1998).
Position held – Managing Director, Classical and Jazz. Responsible for RCA Victor, Conifer Classics and various jazz, folk and alternative music catalogues. Increased classical market share from 3% to 11%. Conifer Records (1980-1993). Classical record production and leading distribution company for domestic and international classical and specialist recordings. Position Held – CEODeveloped in house record production for Conifer Classics. Artists and composers signed to Conifer Classics included Sir Malcolm Arnold (first complete symphony cycle recorded), Peteris Vasks (Latvian composer) Kazakevitch, Kathyrn Stott (pianists), Sir John Rutter. Specialised in premier recordings. Developed exclusive WH Smith, Royal Opera House, Boots and Woolworths own brand classical ranges. Education and honours.1970-1972 - North Herts College of Music. Principal instrument: piano.1974-1978 - Keele University (BA Hons), Music and American Studies2004 – present - Visiting Fellow, Warwick University, (Centre for Creative and Cultural Policy MA course)2010 – OBE for services to the Creative Industries2014 – Order of Arts and Letters, France2015 – Honorary MA (Creative industries), University of HertfordshireOther board positions held:Founding Trustee, Creative and Cultural Skills. Government appointed charitable body for skills development in the creative industries (2004-2010)PPL - Collecting society for public performance and broadcast (turnover £200m pa). 1990-1995; 1999-2016BPI - British Phonographic Industry. Record industry body. 1989-1995UK Music – Cross industry lobbying and advocacy for the music industry. 2008-2016Merlin – Music and Entertainment rights licensing independent network (turnover £400m pa). 2008-2018IMPALA – European lobbying organisation for the independent sector (2000-2016)
TECH AND HOW IT CAN WORK WITH INDIES
Basil Cook
Basil has worked in the Australian music industry for 15+ years with roles in various record labels including marketing, A&R and all things digital, and is a passionate supporter of Australian music.
Basil is currently Senior Label at ABC Music and has worked with a diverse array of bands and artists including Mo'ju, All Our Exes Live in Texas, Tim Rogers, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Lee Kernaghan, Justine Clarke, The Wiggles and many many more.
Matt Elsley
Matthew Elsley is Co-Founder and CEO of Qsic, a platform that contextually automates in-store infrastructure and audio content to create unique data driven experiences for customers. Qsic provides software and solutions that help brand leaders to understand people, their experiences and transform physical retail spaces.
Founded in 2012 by Matt and Nick Larkins, who had known each other since school, Qsic has transformed to become the market leader for commercial music streaming, with hundreds of subscribers, thousands of stores and millions of listeners, daily across Australia and the US.
Joshua Simons
Josh Simons is the CEO and co-founder of Vampr, the world’s largest and most active social-professional network for musicians (often dubbed the “LinkedIn for creatives”). With one million users, and active in every country on the planet, the music startup has helped fledgling musicians broker over 6.5 million connections worldwide. Vampr offers a free solution for young musicians, built by a sympathetic founding team of established musicians with Josh’s co-founder, Baz Palmer, best known as the lead guitarist for seminal hall-of-fame rock band, Hunters & Collectors.Simons has grown Vampr into a multi-award winning platform, including a most prestigious nod from Apple with an inclusion in their Best of the Year list.
Over four funding rounds the company has raised $2.6M from VC, the crowd and music industry angels.Prior to running Vampr, Josh Simons spent the better part of a decade as a successful artist, songwriter & producer. His artist project Buchanan enjoyed multi-million streams & chart impressions worldwide. They retired from the live circuit following a sold-out arena tour opening for Keith Urban & Carrie Underwood.
As a producer and songwriter, Simons has shared credits with Travis Scott, Troye Sivan and Kanye West to name a few.In April 2020 Simons was named in The Music Network’s 30 Under 30 List in addition to being voted Reader’s Choice. Simons holds a Bachelor of Business from Swinburne University.
Katrina Balcius
Katrina Balcius is a business development and customer success expert in the music tech world. She is currently based in Los Angeles helping music professionals adopt DISCO, a music file sharing and workflow platform built by music supervisors.Katrina guides music teams at the likes of Amazon Studios, Viacom, Tik Tok and many more to maximize creative wins by removing tedious work, streamlining collaboration and focusing more on the fun parts of the job.
Before joining DISCO in 2017, she spent years in the San Francisco music tech space helping rights holders protect their intellectual property in the online use of their music and visuals. Her desire to work with artists and music motivated a change of career, leading to her role in creative sync and A&R at Silver Side Productions, a boutique music licensing company.
Working at the intersection of sync and tech, she possesses a unique perspective of how both sides operate and the many ways they can complement each other. She finds it deeply rewarding to educate and empower other companies to work faster and smarter to achieve their goals.
Jeff Bacon
Jeff Bacon has a background as both an artist, artist manager and international business development consultant for market leading tech providers in music spanning marketing, rights and royalties, supply chain, blockchain and live music solutions.
In his role as Industry Relations at Family in Music, Jeff is part of a team developing a growth engine for independent music creators and industry professionals; harnessing innovations to improve the experience for everyone in the value chain.
Abel Farre
Abel Farre has been working in BMAT Music Innovators since 2019. He is the Client & Operations Support Manager for APAC.
Gemma Colbran
Gemma is a Sociologist and Entrepreneur creating dARTbase a monetisation platform for all forms of artists to generate income, connect with both industry and clients, while accelerating their career. She was shortlisted for the Music Networks 30 under 30 awards pre-product.
Gemma is devoted to ensuring she can help make an impact in creative's lives and help provide them with a marketplace where they can monetise their skills.
Gemma is a passionate supporter of the arts, with a deep love for music, performance and creativity.
Heather Johnson
I have always been passionate about music. I picked up my first viola when she was 8 and fell in love. I switched to the violin at 13 and worked hard to get accepted into the Phoenix Symphony Guild (which I continued to play with until 18). In high school, I pursued singing and joined my high school’s show and madrigal choirs. And I continued to participate in my university’s choirs and orchestra while studying electrical engineering at the University of Arizona.
During a software engineering career experience at Apple in my last year of college, I was introduced to the fun and burgeoning world of gaming and live streaming. In 2017 I dove headfirst into the YouTube and live streaming community by joining the team at Ninety9Lives, a record label focused on providing music for content creators. Soon after, I was given the opportunity to work with the team at Mixer (Microsoft’s answer to Amazon’s Twitch.tv), where I helped guide and develop the partnership onboarding and review process.
Missing the music side of content creation, in late 2019 I returned to Ninety9Lives, this time taking over the role of CEO. I have devoted my time at Ninety9Lives to cleaning up and organizing the catalogue’s metadata, signing Ninety9Lives with the Merlin Network, joining A2IM, upgrading the label’s internal tech, and finding new ways to revitalize the label’s presence in the gaming and streaming industry. In 2020, I joined the advisory board of A2IM where I have focused on advocating for independent labels’ and artists’ rights within the music industry’s ecosystem.
MERLIN PRESENTATION
MERLIN INTERVIEW
Jeremy Sirota
Jeremy Sirota is CEO of Merlin, the independent’s digital music licensing partner, that empowers independent labels, distributors and rights-holders by striking premium deals with digital music services. He joined Merlin after spending two years as Independent BD Label Lead on the Facebook Music Team. At Facebook, he helped to shape the company’s music strategy and licensed rights from independents around the world.
Sirota’s role at Merlin weaves together his lifelong passions for music and technology. Sirota previously held a number of senior positions at Warner Music Group, culminating in his appointment as SVP and Head of Business & Legal Affairs for both Warner-Elektra-Atlantic (WEA), Warner’s artist and label services division, and Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA), Warner’s indie distribution arm. Early in his career, he was an associate at Morrison & Forster, New York, in their Technology Transactions Group, focused on technology startups and entertainment clients.
In addition to his role at Merlin, Sirota is a mentor to the TechStars Music Accelerator Program. He currently resides in New York City, but was born and raised on the beaches of Orange County, California.
Dona Inthaxoum
Dona Inthaxoum joined Facebook Inc. in March 2019 as Head of Music Label Partnerships APAC. She is responsible for developing and managing relations with the music labels in the APAC region. She leads FB & IG music products launches in Asian markets, and works closely with music partners to drive adoption of FB’s audio features in the region. Dona has 13 years of experience in the music industry. Prior to Facebook, she spent over 4 years at global music streaming service Deezer as Head of Label Relations APAC, in charge of artist marketing and label relations. She helped to launch the streaming service in Asia in 2013. Dona began her career working with French and Japanese music professionals to promote and develop the careers of artists signed with French record companies in Japan, and providing research and market intelligence to French music professionals.LIVE STREAMING PLATFORMS AND LICENSING
Emily Ulman
Emily Ulman is a multi-talented venue booker, festival programmer, producer, publicist, teacher, entertainment manager, musician, mentor, radio presenter, podcast enthusiast, AFLM/W Western Bulldogs fanatic and highly respected contributor to the local music community of Australia.
For over 19 years Ulman has curated festivals, venues, stages and shows at venues across Melbourne. With unparalleled expertise in booking lineups that are consistently diverse and eclectic, Emily is a key force in driving the Australian music scene towards a progressive and inclusive future.
She is currently Managing Director and programmer of award-winning online music festival Isol-Aid, the programmer for the Brunswick Music Festival and Program Director of Always Live.
Oscar Selden
I have worked with APRA AMCOS since 2014 looking after various aspects of broadcast TV, radio, production music and digital music use.
I currently focus on licensing major online music users to ensure songwriters are fairly remunerated for the use of their music.
Marion Briand
Marion leads Music Partnerships for YouTube AU/NZ, working closely with labels, artists, management companies and industry bodies to represent music culture locally and bring it to a global stage.
Luke Burrowes
Luke Burrowes is the Booking Manager for Guesthouse, a livestream music discovery platform powered by leading emerging artist festival, Liverpool Sound City.
Since its launch in April 2020, Luke has worked alongside partners such as AWAL, Tileyard, INES (Innovation Network of European Showcases), BPI and many more in order to provide artists from across the world the opportunity to continue to perform, engage with their fans and offer much needed income streams.
Jessica Ducrou
Jess Ducrou is co-CEO of Secret Sounds, a Live Nation partner, and producer of Australia’s premier festivals including Splendour In The Grass and Falls Music and Arts Festival along with its portfolio of companies including Secret Sounds Touring, Secret Service Artist Management, Village Sounds (promotions), Dew Process (record label), Dew Process Publishing and Secret Sounds Connect (brand agency).
Born in Adelaide and bred in Sydney, Jessica Ducrou has been passionate about live music since she was a young teen. With such an insatiable appetite for seeing bands, a career in music is not surprising, but the heights that career has reached is exceptional.
Over the past 30 years, Jessica has smashed through every glass ceiling possible in the male dominated, top end of the Australian music industry. She has featured as the highest ranked woman on the annual “The Power 50” music industry list for many years, sitting at #2 overall in 2019.
COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS
Lynne Small
Lynne Small has been with PPCA since 1996, and currently holds the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Prior to joining PPCA Lynne spent almost 7 years at Festival Records. She is a CPA, holds an MBA from the AGSM, and also acts as COO for the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
Lynne is also a Director of the Australian Copyright Council and the music industry benevolent fund Support Act Ltd.
Tania Oliveira
Based in the United Kingdom, Tania Oliveira is the Director of Society Relations for Transparence Entertainment Group (TEG), a music rights organisation that identifies, recovers, and administers royalty and licensing income from various sources for music creators.
TEG maximises payments by administering rights around the world effectively, rapidly and with complete transparency. As former Co-Manager for Wixen UK LTD and her current involvement as a Board member of IAFAR (the International Association for Artists & Rightsholders), Tania has a comprehensive understanding of the various nuances of UK and European publishing and worldwide neighbouring rights.
Prolific in both German and Russian, Tania is also a professional musician and songwriter who was signed to a pop-punk girl band in her teens and is now an active session guitarist and bassist.
Her first-hand experience witnessing poor management and misinformation inspires Tania to protect the rights of music creators through education and activism.
Noemi Planas
Noemí Planas is General Manager at WIN, the international organisation representing independent music trade associations worldwide. Previously she was a board member of IMPALA, the European association of independent music companies, and a founder member and Executive Manager of the Spanish Independent Phonographic Union (UFI).
She also worked at a record label, coordinated a music festival, did booking and tour managing, and founded her own music publishing company.
Jessica Iuliano
Jessica is a solicitor at one of Australia’s leading entertainment law firms, Media Arts Lawyers. Listed in The Music Network's "30 Under 30" Class of 2021, Jessica works with both emerging and high profile clients in the music, live performance, creative design, technology, and media industries.
She currently also serves as a non-executive board member for Arts On Tour, the peak industry body for performing arts touring in NSW. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication/ Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) from the University of Technology, Sydney.
Susan Cotchin
Susan's reputation in neighbouring rights precedes her. With 20+ years in the field, Susan is indisputably recognised as one of the world’s most experienced people in the sector.
In 1999 Susan began working in London based PAMRA/PPL as Royalty Accounts Manager, securing income for PJ Harvey, Muse, Crowded House whilst developing relationships with the societies around the globe. When PAMRA was absorbed by PPL, Susan established International Royalties Rescue (IRR) in London, signing Beyoncé, Radiohead, Rihanna and many more.
In 2019, Michael Gudinski's iconic Mushroom Group acquired Susan Cotchin’s pioneering company, to move into the field of neighbouring rights, forming the joint venture company Good Neighbour Rights.Good Neighbour now represents many international major artists including Vance Joy, Zedd and Amy Shark.
CLOSING KEYNOTE: INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER OF LINKTREE
Anthony Zaccaria
Anthony is a co-founder of Bolster & Linktree alongside his brother Alex and best mate Nicky. Bolster is the leading entertainment & culture marketing agency that builds world class campaigns for brands to connect with and grow their audiences.
Bolster works with festivals such as Splendour in the Grass and Laneway Festival, labels such as Caroline and Dew process and brands such as YouTube Music, DePop and more.
Linktree is the market leading linking platform that connects your online ecosystem with one link. Founded in 2017, Linktree is now a team of 110 and has over 15 million users worldwide including Selena Gomez, Pharrell, Red Bull and the LA Clippers to name a few.
To add to the mix of having twin businesses, Anthony is also a dad to 1 year old twins Augie & Casper.
Sosefina Fuamoli
Sosefina Fuamoli is a music writer, content producer, podcast host and publicist based in Melbourne, Australia.As a music journalist, Sosefina has profiled some of the world’s biggest artists and music festivals in the United States, Europe and the UK, including SXSW, Lollapalooza and The Great Escape.
Her work in Australia has led her to write for publications including Rolling Stone Australia, Red Bull Music, NME, the AU review, The Big Issue, LNWY, Time Out, Music Feeds and more.In 2020, she received the inaugural ‘Live Music Journalist’ award at the National Live Music Awards.Sosefina has appeared on and facilitated panel discussions at events including Splendour in The Grass, Melbourne Music Week, CHANGES Festival and the Melbourne Writers Festival.
She currently co-hosts Mushroom Group's music culture podcast Hit Different, guest programs on 3RRR and can also sometimes be read on triple j as a Music News producer. Sosefina also sits on the judging panel for the Australian Music Prize, and has served as an industry judge for events including the ARIA Awards, National Indigenous Music Awards, Age Music Victoria Awards, South Australian Music Awards, the Vanda & Young Songwriting Award and the Hilltop Hoods Initiative.