Scott Adam is a music business and events educator of 20 years based at North Metropolitan TAFE in Perth. Scott has also had a career spanning 25 years in the music industry in roles such as artist manager, record label owner, publicist, grant writer, booking agent, project manager, local promoter, mentor, and conference moderator. His work has seen him champion West Australian musicians, songwriters, organisations and business practitioners across Australia and overseas. More recently, Scott has taken an active role in advocacy for the sector from a training perspective and the positive impact it can have on the industry’s future. This position had him invited to speak at the 2015 Music Australia roundtable about nationally recognised internships, and he has been invited back this year to continue the conversation with other music industry educators from around the country.

Van Badham is a theatre-maker and novelist, occasional broadcaster, critic, feminist and union activist.  In 1999, Badham won the Naked Theatre Company’s first “Write Now!” play competition and with it a production of her winning play, The Wilderness of Mirrors, at the Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf studio. In 2001, she relocated to the United Kingdom to study at the University of Sheffield. While working in the UK,  Badham cemented an international reputation as a proponent of radical political theatre. She was appointed Literary Manager of London’s Finborough Theatre in 2009 and worked there until relocating to Melbourne to become an artistic associate at the Malthouse Theatre 2011–2013. Awards for her theatre work include the 2005 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Black Hands / Dead Section, the 2014 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award for Muff and the 2014 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards for The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars. In 2013, Badham began publishing political commentary and arts criticism in Guardian Australia. Her commentary has also appeared in publications The Sydney Morning Herald, The Drum, The Hoopla, Women’s Agenda, Australian Cosmopolitan and Daily Life.

Lisa has worked for 20 years in the private, public & not-for-profit sectors across industries including tourism, events, transport, retail, health, film/TV and the arts. She has held leadership roles in government and holds a Bachelor of Economics (Accounting) and a Graduate Diploma in Management (Arts). Lisa has 20 years experience as a Company Director and sits on the board of the Adelaide Fringe, Centennial Park Cemetery and the Australian Music Industry Network. Lisa is currently the General Manager of Music SA, a charitable company with a mandate to champion original contemporary South Australian music. Lisa performs as a vocalist in an Adelaide band and is a short film producer.

Chris Bowen is CEO of Music Australia. Brisbane based Chris has been Director Dance and Music at Arts Queensland, General Manager of two arts centres – The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts and Brisbane Powerhouse, and Director of Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre where he gained a lifelong passion for world music.

Heath is a band manager with 17 years experience in the industry. His time is currently split between his role as MD of management company The Fidelity Corporation and Head of A&R for Warner Music Australia. Fidelity represents some of Australia’s cutting edge music acts – Karnivool, Snowman, Downsyde, Drapht and Papa vs Pretty.

Over the past 20 years, Mark has held various senior roles within the Australian music publishing industry. These have included: MD of Music Sales Pty Ltd, GM of AMPAL and GM of Shock Music Publishing. Mark is a serving board member of Support Act Limited. He has been an APRA writer member since 1981 and continues to compose and perform music regularly.

Dan is a songwriter and musician and has been a member of the Queensland music scene since the late 90’s having independently released on tape, CD, digitally and this year with current project
‘City Over Sand’ on vinyl.Since 2010 Dan has worked as a Senior Project Officer for the City of Gold Coast Council delivering contemporary music programming and Regional Arts Development funding in partnership with the state government through Arts Queensland.Dan has recently authored the City of Gold Coast’s first Draft Live Music Action Plan and remains a strong advocate for the development of the live music sector in Queensland.

Qualified lawyer and serial entrepreneur including founding the Glowzone range. Rick segued into the music business in 2001 managing highly respected indie band The Boat People. Today through Ground Control Music he manages The Church, Darling James, Emma Louise, Robbie Miller and Morning Harvey. He also sat on the board of Q Music for 6 years and is currently co-chair of the AAM.

After co-founding The Frontier Touring Company in the mid 1970s, in 2000 Michael Chugg went out on his own and founded Chugg Entertainment, from there going on to garner a reputation both internationally and locally as one of Australia’s most prominent rock promoters. Michael Chugg has promoted artists from a club shows level, through to stadiums, as well as developing and running major festivals and special events. Michael is a well known public figure in his own right, running the PR machine for many of his tours and often being the media’s “go to man” for an opinion on the music industry or the state of the nation. Michael’s achievements have been recognised with the plethora of awards he has received over the years, including Pollstar’s International Promoter Of The Year (1999, 2008, 2010 and 2011), CMA International Talent Buyer/Promoter Award (2006), ILMC Lifetime Achievement Award (2008) and many more.

Lisa Colley is Manager of Cultural Strategy at the City of Sydney. Prior to starting at the City in February this year she was the Director of the Creative Industries Innovation Centre, an Australian Government funded program supporting the business of creative enterprise. Her previous roles include Director Exhibitions and Events at UTS, Manager New Media Arts Board and Executive Director Communications Policy and Research at the Australia Council. She is a founding member of the Institute for Creative Health the organisation that led the development of the National Framework for Arts and Health endorsed in November 2013 by Ministers of Health and Ministers of the Arts in every Australian state and territory.

Claire Collins is the director of Bossy Music, a boutique artist management and public relations company. Bossy Music manages ARIA award-winning artist Art vs Science,
and up-and-comers YesYou, and counts Gotye, the Laneway Festival, Flume and Disclosure among its publicity clients. Prior to starting Bossy in 2009, Claire was triple j‘s Publicist/Marketing Manager. She has degree in Arts/Law from the University of Sydney.

Smash has been self employed in the music business for more than 30 years. Starting as a sound guy, he owned a PA business, became a tour manager then a band manager, owned a studio and then an indy label and since 1990 has had an event management company that produced some of Australia’s best festivals including Livid, Homebake, Big Day Out Queensland and Soundwave Queensland. In 2003 he co-founded Oztix which today is Australia’s largest independent ticketing company. His hobbies include rock and roll, motor bikes and politics.

Maggie Collins is a national broadcaster, venue booker and artist manager. She manages ARIA Award winning band DZDeathrays, Unearthed triple jAward Winners The John Steel Singers, and The Creases. She was Music Director at 4ZZZ before transitioning to triple j where she is now a presenter covering everything from triple j mornings, to Home and Hosed, Good Nights and Weekend Lunch. In 2015 she moved to Sydney where she spent time as Bookings and Production Manager at Goodgod Small Club, and is now spending her time focusing on artist management and radio.

The Live Music Office works to increase opportunities for live music in Australia by identifying and advocating for better policy, regulation and strategy. Established by the Federal Government, in partnership with APRA AMCOS, the Live Music Office was set up to review the impact of policy frameworks on the Australian live music sector. Damian’s background is across all aspects of the live music and touring industry with over twelve years’ experience in the Australian music industry. He has a strong focus on the business aspects of the live performance industry with broad knowledge in booking venues & music festivals, touring domestic and international artists, ticketing, marketing and promotion, e-commerce and new technologies. Damian has worked as a booking agent and in logistics for festivals including the Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass, Peats Ridge, Surry Hills Festival and the Newtown Festival. He also runs his own live music services company Elastic Entertainment. Over the years, he has handled tour support for Lorde, A Tribe Called Red, Jon Cleary and The Good Lovelies.

Originally from the UK, Arwen moved to Australia at the end of 2015 after nearly 10 years of artist management. She has worked with the likes of Kate Nash, Augustines, Half Moon Run, Black Lips, Tegan and Sara and, most recently, developed and broke internationally acclaimed act Catfish and the Bottlemen. Starting her music career as a junior A&R for a major music publisher in London, Arwen then moved into product and label management for Vice Records before taking on Black Lips as her first management client. She is now Vice President Creative for Universal Music Publishing, Australia and New Zealand, heading up both the A&R and sync/licensing departments.

Patrick Donovan is the CEO of Music Victoria, the chairman of the Australian Music Industry Network and singer of punk rock band Cowsmuff. He sits on numerous boards and councils including Arts Industry Council of Victoria and the City of Melbourne Music Committee, is a patron of the Australian Music Prize and a Melbourne Music Prize judge. He tour managed Iggy Pop in 1998 and was Chief Music Writer for the Age Newspaper for 12 years, where he started the Sticky Carpet column, started the Age EG Awards (now Age Music Victoria Awards) and the campaign to name a lane after AC/DC.

Kerry has worked in the Arts/music sector for the past 28 years in dual capacities as both Artist and Arts Manager. Specializing in CACD, Cross Cultural Development and Remote/regional community engagement Kerry is passionate about access to quality and sustainable arts/music engagement with a strong focus on remote and regional Indigenous communities. In her current role for NT Music School as Artist in Residence and Community Engagement Manager for the Katherine region., she is responsible for capacity building and program development. Kerry works in partnership with Katherine Regional Arts, Ngukurr Arts and Godinymayin Rivers Arts & Cultural centre to provide regional and remote communities with access to arts engagement, mentoring and artist development opportunities.

Philip is Head of Engagement at PwC’s Skills for Australia, the Skills Service Organisation responsible for vocational qualifications in the Culture and Related Industries sector, which includes a range of music related qualifications. Philip’s background is in education, specialising in policy reform and stakeholder management, having worked on a number of high profile initiatives for government and industry in Australia and internationally. In Australia, Philip has worked with government to improve the vocational education funding system and with training providers to better track and manage their performance. In the UK, Philip developed and implemented a large-scale response to the issues of skills gaps in the professional sector and among small businesses. Prior to joining PwC, Philip was a primary school teacher and school governor at a number of schools in the UK. Philip currently volunteers as a leadership coach for school teachers.

Ben is the managing director and co-owner of creative-industry focussed accounting and consulting firm, Generate (formerly known as Moneypenny). Ben has been advising musicians and the industry at large on all matters tax and business for the better part of a decade. Having worked with everyone from back-room DJs through to some of the world’s biggest touring acts, part-time managers to the biggest of promoters, Ben has wide ranging experience in the numbers side of the music industry.

Kerry’s 30+ years in the music business started in record stores and college radio, while drumming and managing his band through two LPs and one EP release. Since then he’s worked on publicity, A&R, and/or marketing on projects involving KISS, Destiny’s Child and Eminem. He is currently recording an EP under the name “Blissiplin” and is Head Teacher of Music at Sydney TAFE, whose alumni include Lanie Lane, Elizabeth Rose, Gideon Bensen, Nathan Farrell, Nick Findlay and the upcoming stars Jannah Beth, Tim Richards and Nat James.

Mark Gerber is ‘The Boss’ & Founder of the OAF. Born in Holland, he came to Australia in 1970. Mark’s musical career started with teaching himself to play the guitar at the age of 14 and culminated with him forming the seminal post punk band JMM/Scapa Flow in the late 70s. It lasted long enough to see them play on the same bill as such illustrious stars as The Birthday Party, Laughing Clowns, Echo & The Bunnymen, Hunters and Collectors and Mark E Smith & the Fall to name but a few.  In more recent years Mark was the main driving force behind the creation of venues such as Spectrum and 34B Burlesque on Oxford Street. Mark conceived and founded the Oxford Art Factory in 2005, which opened its doors in 2007 and is now one of the premiere multi functional venues in Sydney if not Australia. From an early age Mark’s parents taught him that creativity and individuality are things to be proud of and supported not scorned or suppressed. Mark’s aim with the OAF is to connect as many people as possible with live music and the arts, as he firmly believes that this kind of exposure has both far-reaching social and personal benefits for anyone who comes in contact with them.

As the Director of Writer Services at APRA AMCOS, Jana leads a team committed to delivering high levels of service to songwriter and composer members in what is a dynamic but complex environment. Having started her working life in hospitality on the NSW north coast, she developed her passion for music by spending most of her free time at live music gigs. Moving into roles in event management for several years across numerous corporate (Lexus, Toyota, HIA) and live music events (ARIA after-parties to live concerts at the Olympics), meant she was well placed to begin her role as Corporate Events Manager at APRA AMCOS in 2003. Jana oversaw the delivery of the organisation’s large scale events, from Awards nights to industry conferences, which led to her appointment as Deputy Director of Communications & Events in 2014. With 13 years of managerial experience across events, communications and member services at APRA AMCOS, Jana was promoted to her current role in 2016. Jana holds a Bachelor of Business in Tourism from Southern Cross University. She recently completed the Developing Strategy for Value Creation programme at the prestigious London Business School.

Kerri has worked in the Sydney arts scene for the past 18 years. In 2004 she co-founded underground performance space 505 in Surry Hills. Over the next 5 years under her co-direction 505 grew from a one night a week underground venue to a full-time professional performance space now presenting 6 nights per week of local, interstate and international acts as Venue 505. In 2011 a second venue the Old 505 Theatre was opened in the original warehouse space in Surry Hills providing Independent artists a home to develop new works with a strong focus on devised work. In September 2015 the team moved the theatre to a new custom built 70 seat theatre and cocktail lounge in Newtown. Twelve years on 505 presents over 320 productions/events a year and remains entirely self funded and artist run.  Since 2013 Kerri has been at the helm of the Sydney Fringe Festival as Festival Director/CEO. In 2011 Kerri was included in the Sydney Morning Herald Sydney Magazine’s annual 100 Most Influential and Inspiring People List. A vocal advocate for the independent sector she sits on a number of boards and committees including City Recital Hall Board of Directors (2015), Joint Live Music Task Force Marrickville and Leichhardt Councils (2014) and Lord Mayor of Sydney’s Live Music and Performance Task Force (2013).

Stephen’s first music marketing business was started in Brisbane in 1999 creating a hub providing publicity and radio plugging for independent artists and working with some of the biggest labels and indie artists of the time. In 2006 Stephen started his second company Outbreak focusing on the emerging online and street marketing opportunities available at the time. In 2007 Stephen sold the two companies and joined Queensland’s peak music industry association Q Music, programming the international BIG SOUND Music Industry Summit and Showcase event in 2008 and 2009. Stephen also oversaw the successful rollout of B2B radio delivery and monitoring systems Play MPE and D-Star Spins systems with both systems launching to become the industry standard. In 2010 Stephen created SGC Media, focused on marketing Australian music through both online and traditional methods. The company has steered many successes including five top five albums, fifteen ARIA nominations and steering PR for the highest selling Australian single of the decade, Sheppard’s ‘Geronimo’. The company’s expansion saw the creation of genre-based businesses Title Track (indie), Collision Course (metal) and Call & Response (hip hop). Stephen is also Vice President of Q Music and a Councillor of Music Australia.

Vicki Gordon has worked as a Musician, Festival & Music Director, Creative Producer, Artistic Director, Artist Manager, Marketing & A&R Director, Record Label Manager, Artist Mentor, Chair of the Australian Music Development Initiative & ARIA Board Director. She has been an outspoken advocate for Women in the Australian Music Industry her entire career and awarded a Human Rights Commendation, Community Cultural Development Award & Women in the Arts Fellowship in recognition of her contribution to industry. As founding President for Australian Women’s Contemporary Music Inc (AWCM) she produced Australia’s first Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Women’s Contemporary Music Festival; first Training program for Female DJ’s, first All Girl Rock Festival and first Fanzine for Female Musicians. As Director of Independent record label Transistor Music she was integral to the success of Vanessa Amorosi’s 5x platinum debut album The Power. She has been Manager to Indigenous singer/songwriters Brenda Webb, Emma Donovan & Ursula Yovich producing Webb’s ARIA nominated debut single Little Black Girl and producer for the internationally acclaimed Barefoot Divas touring the company to North America, Canada and Hawaii in 2014 & selling out the Hong Kong Concert Hall in 2015. She is currently Founding President & Executive Director for the inaugural Australian Women in Music Awards (Cicada International Inc.) to be launched in 2017. Her papers are held with the NSW library in Sydney.

An experienced change manager positioned amongst senior decision makers, Joe has been a driver in Adelaide’s vibrant city, music, tech, open data and creative industries agendas. Specifically Joe lobbied for and established the Martin Elbourne music industry review in South Australia and facilitated the adoption of new policies and delivered a paradigm shift in the way government supports not only music, but the broader arts and creative industries. Joe recently presented a panel at the Music Cities Convention in Brighton UK and lead a discussion on the need for polices that reflect the industry’s true economic value and potential.

Daniel Henderson is the Manager Arts and Culture for the City of Ballarat. He has a background in arts management, local government, banking and finance, whilst being an accomplished painter. He manages a team of dedicated professionals who actively work across the Community and Council to develop, advocate and deliver opportunities that produce innovative and creative outcomes for the people of Ballarat and beyond. Daniel and his team have:

• guided the development of the Ballarat Live Music Strategy 2016-2021,
• delivered a Winter arts festival,
• supported the operation of 3 community galleries
• installed significant public art installations,
• worked on developing the ‘Season of the Arts’ (SOTA) in Ballarat. SOTA in 2016 will see the delivery of the Ballarat Cabaret Festival through Her Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat, the toured Archibald Prize exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat and the inaugural Ballarat Songways Festival which will showcase Ballarat through live music.

Deborah Klein is currently Arts & Culture Coordinator with the City of Ballarat, where she has initiated a wide range of successful free live music programming  and implementation of the City of Ballarat Live Music Strategy Advisory Committee – which will result this year in the adoption of a Council-wide Ballarat Live Music Strategy. Emigrating to Australia in the late 70’s, Deborah lived & worked in Melbourne for 20 years as an artist & arts manager before re-locating to work in the U.S. with the National Endowment for the Arts / MidAtlantic Arts Foundation as coordinator of the first-ever national community artist residency program, followed by a stint with the Midwest-based Lotus World Music & Arts Festival.  Returning to Australia, Deborah settled in Ballarat, where she continues to drive projects founded on quality community engagement and development of the local & regional creative economy.

Kathryn’s work with Groovin the Moo started in 2006 and has evolved from Publicist to her current role as General Manager of the six show regional tour. In addition to building her role with GTM, Kathryn spent seven years with the ABC coordinating the 1233 ABC Newcastle Music Awards (providing opportunity and airplay to the region’s up and coming artists) and worked with jonesPR, Perth Festival, Sydney Festival, Gadigal Music, Mona Foma, Dark Mofo and ABC Music on a range of album releases, events, programs and tours.

Zoe Hauptmann is the newly appointed Artistic Director for SIMA, Australia’s leading national contemporary Jazz organisation and is also one of the countries busiest bassists.Coming from a Jazz background , Zoe plays both acoustic and electric bass and has a sweet singing voice. Her ability to genre hop with ease sees this Sydney-sider almost constantly on the road. Zoe has toured nationally with iconic artists including Neil Finn, Paul Kelly, Katie Noonan, Wendy Mathews, Justine Clarke, Missy Higgins and Tim Rogers. She has recorded bass on over 50 albums and says a career highlight was getting to cuddle Big Ted when she made a guest appearance on Play School.

Associate Professor Shane Homan teaches media studies at Monash University. He has conducted commissioned reports on the Australian music industries for the Australia Council, City of Melbourne and the City of Sydney. His most recent book, co-authored with Martin Cloonan and Jen Cattermole, is Popular Music Industries and the State: Policy Notes (Routledge, 2016). He is currently project leader on the Australian Research Council grant Interrogating the Music City: pop and the cultural economy of Melbourne at Monash University; and a project member on the Australian Research Council grant, The economic and cultural value of Australian music exports at Newcastle University.

Tom Kiehl has Director of Government and Public Affairs at the umbrella body for the UK commercial music industry since June 2012. Prior to that he was the Senior Political and Parliamentary Adviser in the House of Lords. In 2012 Tom was awarded Dods Parliamentary Researcher of the Year.Tom was a founding architect of the UK’s Live Music Act 2012 which deregulated live music in small venues and has worked on a number of IP/copyright issues affecting the music industry (such as the UK’s Digital Economy Act, Copyright Term Extension, the UK Hargreaves Review into IP and Growth) both before and after joining UK Music.

Karen’s music industry career ranges from export, indie labels and distribution through to major labels. Her current role is Senior Music Development Officer at the Music Development Office (MDO), the South Australian Government office that supports artistic and business development for the music industry. Prior to moving to Australia, Karen worked for major labels including Sony, EMI, and Universal Music. In her early career she label managed Beggars Banquet, Warp, Ministry of Sound, 4AD and Domino, amongst others.

Rich got his first job booking bands in pubs at 17, when, legally, he couldn’t even be in them. His band played the back room at a Melbourne venue on a Wednesday night to 82 payers. Feeling pretty chuffed that he’d got so many people to a mid-week show, Rich got in touch with a friend – another booker – borrowed his phone book and started making calls. The next day, he went back to the pub, told the owner he wanted the job booking bands, the owner said “OK mate”, and the rest is history. Until recently, Rich booked for Evelyn Hotel, Punters Club, Corner Hotel, Public Bar, Northcote Social Club, East Brunswick Club, Shebeen, 170 Russell and Newtown Social Club (NSW). In the early 2000s, he started booking and programming festivals, which include: St Kilda Festival, Queenscliff, Falls, Southbound, Pushover, Groovin’ the Moo, Parklife, West Coast Blues & Roots, Northwest Festival, Splendour and The Plot. Rich also wrote and edited Form Guide, a monthly 60-page magazine; founded Way Over There, an artist-run record label (distributed via Shock); hosted Triple R drive-time radio show ‘Incoming’ for 15 years; arranged music; sorted publishing and booked bands to appear on Channel Nine’s Mick Molloy Show. Most of the work Rich has done started out on a voluntary basis.

Lindy Morrison OAM played drums with The Go-Betweens and Cleopatra Wong from 1980–1993. Since then, Lindy worked as a community musician throughout Australia, performing in or directing shows. She now works at the Bondi Pavilion. She has been the elected (by artist members), Artist Director of PPCA since 1993. Lindy is committed to artists’ rights issues and development of policies increasing income to recording artists. She lectures on Copyright in VET and tertiary level arts/music courses. Lindy is the National Welfare Coordinator for Support Act the charity for professionals in music in need.

Yvette is the Executive Director of the Association of Artist Managers (AAM), the peak body representing the interests of artist managers in the Australian music industry. She is also the Executive Producer of the Twilight at Taronga music series, and has a background in management roles at Splendour in the Grass, Village Sounds and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.

Dobe has been a music industry professional for over 45 years and is the current Chair and President of the Country Music Association of Australia. A singer, percussionist and songwriter, he is best known as the co-author of the iconic “I Am Australian” written with Bruce Woodley from The Seekers, and as frontman for Australia’s pioneering bush-rock band The Bushwackers – celebrating their 45th year in 2016. In 2012 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for “services to the performing arts as performer and advocate”. He has spent over 20 years in the music business education sector, and is a former of the WA Music Industry Association, the Victorian Rock Foundation and The Melbourne Music Festival. He has been agovernment consultant on music policy, and has worked with APRA, ARIA, Australia Council for the Arts, Music Council of Australia, Music Victoria and the City of Melbourne.  The author of two major research studies – ‘Melbourne Live Music Census’ (2012) and the ‘Regional Victorian Music Census’ (2013), he is currently a member of the City of Melbourne’s Strategic Music Advisory Group, and was Chair of the Melbourne Music Symposium – an international conference (as part of Melbourne Music Week 2015) to examine the challenges facing ‘music cities’. Since 2009 he has visited the Americana Festival in Nashville annually to help manage Sounds Australia’s involvement and he brokered a formal Sister Cities agreement between Nashville and Tamworth. For his efforts, the Mayor of Nashville designated him an Honorary Nashvillean in 2013.

Katie Noonan’s technical mastery and pure voice makes her one of Australia’s most versatile and beloved vocalists. A mother, singer, producer, songwriter, pianist and business woman, this 4 x ARIA Award winning and 7 x platinum selling songstress
first received widespread praise as the angel-voiced songstress of indie-pop band George and has since taken audiences on sublime excursions through Jazz, Pop and Classical music. Her various releases include recently collaborating with the world famous Brodsky Quartet for the acclaimed album ‘With Love and Fury’, her jazz folk trio’s self titled album ‘Elixir’ and the 2012 ARIA winning “First Seed Ripening’, the No. 1 selling classical album ‘Two of a Kind’ with her mother Maggie, her gold-selling top ten solo album ‘Skin’ and the acclaimed ‘Songs of the Southern Skies.’ She has also worked with the country’s top orchestra’s including her fruitful collaborations with Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra and recently with the Sydney
Symphony Orchestra. Katie is constantly blurring genre boundaries and exploring interdisciplinary collaborations and is truly an artist that thrives on new creative relationships and exchanges. Collaborations over the last 12 months include working with Rafael Bonachela and the Sydney Dance Company, performing with both the Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, performing with Joe Lovano, Vince Jones, Zac
Hurren, Stephen Magnusson and other world class jazz musicians, creating and performing Love-Song-Circus with Contemporary circus group Circa, working with young singer/songwriters such as Thelma Plum, Jack Carty and Martha Marlow, devising and touring an all female show ‘Songs That Made Me’ with Abby Dobson and Angie Hart and exploring electronic music with collaborations with Flight Facilities and Grammy nominated US producer Andy Caldwell.

Ben provides leadership and oversees the academic and operational running of the The Australian College of the Arts, Melbourne. Ben has taught music industry business at a number of institutions across Australia, including the Sydney Institute of TAFE Ultimo, The University of Tasmania, EORA College, and JMC Academy in Sydney and Melbourne.   His was also the Head of Higher Education (Music Business) at Box Hill Institute in Melbourne. Ben has a broad range of experience in the music industry, having worked in music publishing and licensing as well as event and artist management. He has also been a performer for over 15 years, and runs his own booking agency. Ben also runs thebiz.com.au, an online music business resource centre and has published six textbooks on the music industry. Ben holds a Bachelor of Arts in contemporary music (Honors) from Southern Cross University and a Masters of Business in Arts and Cultural Management from The University of South Australia. He is also currently completing a PhD at Monash University.

Matthew has been the General Manager of AMPAL from 2016, and has also been the Company Secretary of AMPAL since 2012.   AMPAL represents Australian and New Zealand music publishers, and has over 50 members representing more than 90% of the economic value of the music publishing sector. Prior to AMPAL, Matthew practised as a lawyer in Sydney.

Dean Ormston is a senior Australian Music industry executive and is head of APRA AMCOS Member Services Group AMCOS where he oversees Membership, Distribution, International, Communications and Government Relations portfolios. Ormston is an active advocate to Government for the recognition and support of creator’s rights, and has secured government support for export office Sounds Australia, the National Live Music Office, school song-writing residencies, and international songwriting collaborations. Ormston has initiated economic research projects into the venue-based live music industry and the potential application of tax-offsets to the commercial music industry. Ormston is a Board Director of Screenrights, and in a former life was a high school music teacher.

Julie was first elected to the House of Representatives for Parramatta in 2004. She is a member of the Education and Employment House Committee and the Corporations and Financial Services Joint Standing Committee. Julie is the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Early Childhood Education. She was a small-business owner and head of the Association of Australian Independent Record Labels.

Kirsty Rivers is the Manager, Contemporary Music running the $22.2 million Music Works initiative at Creative Victoria. Music Works is a major investment by the State Government of Victoria into the comtemporary music industry through grants, strategic partnerships and game changing investment. Prior to her new role at Creative Victoria Kirsty was the Writer Services National Manager at APRA AMCOS and has had various roles in the recording industry. She was the founding Vice Chair of Music Victoria and currently serves on a variety of not for profit boards including PBSFM.

Matthew Rogers is the General Manager of Unified, one of Australia’s fastest growing independent companies. As an entertainment lawyer he represented some of the most well known Australian labels and artists. Mat now oversees Australia’s largest artist management group, a suite of online merchandise stores, a record label group including UNFD, ONETWO, NLV Records and Hopeless Records and an award winning boutique publishing catalogue. Mat’s passion for artists, music and the independent community is stronger than ever as he works with Australian artists both locally and internationally.

Dan has spent his career at the intersection of the creative industries and technology working in roles as an executive, policy maker, lawyer, and artist. As CEO of ARIA and PPCA, the two peak bodies for the Australian recorded music industry, he has led the organisations through a period of significant digital disruption. Prior to this role, Dan was based in New York working at KIT Digital, a digital media company he helped take from start-up to NASDAQ listing. Before leaving for the US, Dan worked as an Advisor to the Federal Minister of Communications and the Arts, and started his career as a lawyer with Minter Ellison, specialising in media and tech clients. As a musician, Dan won Triple J Unearthed and has toured throughout the US and Australia. He is a passionate voice for creativity in an era of disruption as a Board member of Creative Partnerships Australia, former Chair of the NSW Creative Industries Taskforce and member of the Victorian Government’s Creative Victoria Taskforce.

Chris has been at triple j since 2003, first as Program Director and as Manager since 2010. He got started in radio producing Australian music programs on community radio, focusing on local talent and live recordings. In 2011, he led the triple j team in the launch of its second radio station, triple j Unearthed. The digital station is entirely devoted to unsigned and independent Australian music. In 2012, triple j launched a presence on both Spotify (via an app) and Rdio (via playlists and presenter profiles).

Ed Sholl currently manages the label department at Future Classic – an independent management agency, record label, music publisher and touring company based in Sydney. He cut his teeth in the music industry as a blogger and independent band manager, and then worked across several departments at Universal Music Australia, from Digital Sales to Marketing and Licensing, before joining Future Classic in 2012. Ed’s current role involves overseeing the creation, scheduling and release of FC label repertoire as well as developing the label’s digital distribution relationships and infrastructure. Highlights of his career so far include managing the Flume album release in late 2012 – now a multi-Platinum, ARIA winning record, Chet Faker’s ARIA #1 debut for ‘Built on Glass’, working albums with Jagwar Ma and Seekae and accepting the Independent Label of the Year Award on behalf of Future Classic at 2013’s AIR Awards.

Michael’s career in the music business spans more than 25 years and across five continents as former Global Chief Operations Officer of Sony BMG, Asia Pacific Head for BMG, and Managing Director of Polygram and rooArt in Australia. As COO for BMG worldwide, he directed the company through some turbulent years and was an integral part of negotiating and implementing the merger with Sony Music. He was appointed COO of Sony BMG in 2004 before leaving in 2005 to return to Australia. Until the end of 2008, he was President of Media Development, Asia Pacific for German media giant Bertelsmann. He is an investor, adviser and board member to a number of start-up creative businesses in Australia and the United States.

Mark is the Executive Director of MusicNT, the industry body supporting the growth and development of contemporary music in the Northern Territory. MusicNT has a number of nationally significant programs focussed on supporting regional and remote musicians. MusicNT is also in the process of undertaking an economic study of the live music sector , to inform lobbying for a stronger focus on the creative industries. A drummer and band manager he continues to strive to put regional musicians on the map.

Andrew Stone is the Head of Chugg Music, the Record Label and Management division of Chugg Entertainment. Chugg Music is the management and Australian record label Sheppard, Deep Sea Arcade, Hey Geronimo, The Griswolds, Lime Cordiale and The Tambourine Girls, and is management for Megan Washington, Major Leagues, and New Zealand act, Avalanche City. Chugg Music artists have achieved multiple ARIA award wins and nominations, as well as #1 records in Australia and NZ, multi-platinum international sales (including the USA), and extensive national and international touring. Andrew is a board member of the Australia Independent Record Label’s Association (AIR) and an Executive member of the Australian Association of Artist Managers (AAM).

Kim is the Director, Policy & Programs at Live Performance Australia (LPA), the peak body for the live performance industry. In this role, Kim advises members on the Ticketing Code of Practice and advocates for policy reform on matters affecting the industry. Kim joined LPA following almost a decade in government consulting, and prior to that worked in policy roles in the Victorian Public Service.

In 2009, Professor Vella became chair of the peak national body the National Council of Tertiary Music Schools (NACTMUS). In this capacity he oversees tertiary music issues such as higher education policy and its impact on tertiary music education. As a composer Richard Vella’s diverse output includes works for orchestra, large ensemble, choir, film, chamber music, burlesque cabaret, music theatre, site-specific performances, and popular music genres. Vella’s film credits include “Light Years, Parklands, Renzo Piano: Piece by Piece” (for which he won the 1999 Australian Screen Composer’s Award for best music for a documentary) and “Mr. Strehlow’s Films”. Vella received a nomination for ‘Best Music for a Feature Film’ from the Australian Film Institute for his score to the feature film “Travelling Light” (2003). His book “Musical Environments: A Manual for Listening, Improvising and Composing”, originally published by Currency Press (2000), has become a recognised text for secondary and tertiary music courses throughout Australia. In 2003, a new edition of this book, titled “Sounds in Space, Sounds in Time” was published by Boosey and Hawkes, UK.

John Wardle is the Policy Director for the Live Music Office. John works closely with the live music sector and state, territory and local governments throughout Australia to develop coordinated venue based live music policy.
These include strategic plans for states and territories, capital cities and regional centres, delivering better regulation across liquor licensing, planning, EPA and building codes, as well as research and advocacy.

Stu Watters has been working in the music industry for over 15 years and brings with him a diverse collection of experiences. His previous roles vary broadly from being the CEO of Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR), running the Queensland Music Network (Q Music), serving on the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN) and holding a position on the International Honorary Committee at MIDEM for five years. In 2009 Stuart left AIR with a desire to develop his own film production, publishing, music services and consulting company Morph TV. His clients include Nightlife Music Video, The Seed Fund, Arts Queensland and Q Music.

Donna Weston is Deputy Director (Gold Coast) at the Queensland Conservatorium, and Program Director of its Bachelor of Popular Music program which is housed at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus.   She is also a member the editorial board of the Journal of Popular Music Education, which was launched at the 2016 conference of the International Society for Music Education in Glasgow.

Associate Professor Patrik Wikstrom is Deputy Director of the Digital Media Research Centre at QUT in Brisbane. Patrik’s work on the music industry includes books such as ‘The Music Industry: Music in the Cloud’ and ‘Business Innovation and Disruption in the Music Industry’. He is currently leading a research project focused on how enhanced access to large and detailed datasets on music usage is transforming the Australian music economy.