Musical Chairs: January 12

COLUMBIA LOSES A&R HEAD AS NEW CEO ARRIVES

The arrival of Ron Perry as new Chairman/CEO of Columbia Records has seen the exit of its President of A&R, Mark Williams, according to Variety. 

As reported in TMN last month, Perry was widely rumoured for the role after SONGS Music Publishing, of which he was President, was bought out by Kobalt Capital for a reported $140 million.

Perry started his new role earlier this week, reporting to Music Entertainment CEO Rob Stringer. At 38 he’s the youngest to helm a major record label.

At SONGS, he signed Lorde, Diplo, The Weeknd, Desiigner and Major Lazer.

Variety reported that when Williams was at Interscope, he signed MIA and The Hives. 

He joined Columbia in 2010, based in Los Angeles, and worked with Leon Bridges, Pharrell Williams, Jack White, Odd Future and Nine Inch Nails.

SPOTIFY ANZ’S DAN ROBINS GETS REGIONAL ROLE

Dan Robins, who has been running Spotify’s Australian and New Zealand operations since April 2017, has been promoted to Head of Programmatic and Data Asia Pacific.

Before Spotify, Robins was in agencies for a decade - most recently at OMD Australia where was Head of Interactive overseeing a digital marketing team of 65.

During his early days in London, at both Carat and The Search Works, he was awarded with multiple industry awards for his work on Vodafone’s innovative online-to-store tracking methodology.

CAITLIN YEO BECOMES AGSC’S FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT

The Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) elected its first woman President in multi-award winning composer Caitlin Yeo, replacing Guy Gross who retired after a successful five-year term.

Melbourne-based composer Brett Aplin was elected Vice-President, replacing Antony Partos.

Yeo said, "I am humbled and proud to take on the role of president and look forward to embracing diversity, inclusivity and equity for all members of the AGSC.

“Along with Vice President, Brett Aplin, and the board members, we hope to find ways to further celebrate and value the practice of Australian screen composers in its myriad of artistic styles and forms. 

“We aim to continue to tackle the lack of gender parity in our industry, improve state and international connections between Australian screen composers, and open conversations with fellow members and colleagues about issues and ideas surrounding our craft.” 

Gender equity has been a focus of the AGSC for the past few years. Women now make up 40% of the AGSC Board.

FORMER PANDORA AUST. EXEC LANDS NEW GIG

Sally Kiernan, marketing executive at Pandora Australia until it closed its doors last July, is now Marketing Director of NRMA. 

Before Pandora, Kiernan headed the marketing at the Australian streaming service Presto, now rolled into Foxtel Play.

NEW GM FOR WARNER BROS UK 

Jennifer Ivory is the new General Manager of Warner Bros. Records UK, currently slamming with Dua Lipa, Royal Blood, and Liam Gallagher.

The newly created role sees her promoted from VP of Marketing, where, the label said in a statement, she effectively ran successful campaigns for releases by Gallagher, Muse, Michael Buble, Green Day, Dua Lipa and Royal Blood.

Warner Bros UK also appointed Sebastian Simone to Head of Digital Strategy.

JULIA NATOLI AT MTV AUSTRALIA

Julia Natoli has joined the MTV ANZ Music programming team in Sydney, reporting to Andrea Gavrilovic | Music Programming Manager, Viacom International Media Networks Australia & New Zealand.

Natoli, who started her career in media at the age of 12 publishing a bi-monthly kids magazine and later was on a student-exchange program studying Broadcast Journalism in the U.S., was Content Producer at Create Curate Collective.

SCOTT MULLER CD AT WS FM

Scott Muller has been named Content Director at ARN Sydney station WS FM, replacing Charlie Fox who had the role for ten years until last month.

During his career, Muller led Nova 96.9 to #1 in Sydney and delivered Capital Radio London its first significant growth in a decade. 

WS FM also installed Mike Hammond as Morning announcer (taking over from Ron E Sparks who also went at the end of last year) while Steven Fitton takes over the Afternoon slot.

CONDRO SWITCHES TO UMPG 

Marni Condro has switched from her successful sync work at Sony/ATV Music Publishing to SVP of Film & Television at Universal Music Publishing Group, based in Santa Monica, California. 

In her new role, Condro will place UMPG catalogue titles in film trailers, TV, sports and video games.

COYLE EXITING MUSIC SA 

South Australia’s peak music association Music SA is losing Emma Coyle at the end of January after two and a half years, due to “funding issues”. 

Coyte was its Industry Development Manager, and a producer of its SAM awards.

She plans to continue in artist and event management.

KOBALT GETS NEW RECORDING CEO

Lonny Olinick has been appointed to CEO of Kobalt’s recording division, in charge of AWAL and Kobalt Music Recordings.

Formerly its Chief Strategy Officer, Olinick says: "In the last year we optimized our recordings division for the music streaming market and as a result we had a banner year with our artists. 

"Our focus on identifying, developing and breaking new artists through our AWAL service, alongside our established artist clients has resulted in a number of break through successes.” 

He cites the success of 23-year-old San Francisco-born guitarist and songwriter Lauv, who is touring Australia this year following platinum success in ten countries and over 500 million audio streams.

ROPPO PROMOTED AT REPUBLIC

Mark Roppo, EVP of Marketing and Commerce at the Universal Music imprint Republic Records, is now its EVP and General Manager.

ASH POLLARD JOINS 101.3 SEA FM

Ash Pollard, familiar to TMN readers who have a penchant for reality TV shows as My Kitchen Rules, Dancing with the Stars and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, joins SCA’s 101.3 Sea FM NSW Central Coast as co-host of its Breakfast show from January 22 with Daniel ‘Gawndy’ Gawned.

BUREAU OF BUSINESS GETS HEAD OF VIDEO 

PR and marketing agency The Bureau of Business’s new Head of Video for its in-house production team is Justin Armsden.

The writer and producer was Victorian bureau chief of Nine’s A Current Affair and more recently ran his own consultancy company All Ears Media.

APRA CHANGES IN SA 

At APRA AMCOS’ offices in South Australia, Alana Jagt takes over as SA Writer Services Rep, taking the torch from Matt Swayne who held the role for ten years.

Jagt previously worked in various government departments, focussing on her passion for environmental issues.

NEW BREAKFAST TEAM FOR 2GO

2GO in Gosford on the NSW Central Coast has a new breakfast team for 2018 from next Monday. Akmal Saleh is joined by Mandy Coolen, who returns from a two-year hiatus from the radio industry following eight years at Star 104.5FM.