AIR GM Nick O’Byrne steps down

After seven years with the Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR), including four as General Manager, Nick O’Byrne has stepped down.

O’Byrne will finish his tenure at AIR on June 30 to concentrate on his role as Executive Programmer for Bigsound and as manager for artists Courtney Barnett, Milwaukee Banks and Sterling Silver.

The Music had the exclusive, posting a statement from O’Byrne which reads: “Working with AIR’s passionate board and membership has shaped my way of thinking about the music business and I’ll continue to be fascinated and enraged by the machinations of an industry where indies drive all musical innovation while fighting against a tide of multi-nationals whose approach to business is consistently short-sighted and damaging.”

AIR told TMN on Wednesday the non-profit association held an AGM meeting yesterday to discuss the finer details and this afternoon released a statement in the AIR newsletter.

CFO Maria Amato will take over the responsibility of AIR’s commercial and sponsorship relations roles and from July 1 AIR’s former CEO Stu Watters will step into the role as a spokesperson on advocacy issues facing the independent sector.

Henry Compton, Client and Retail Marketing Director at music distributor The Orchard, Future Classic Label Manager Ed Sholl and Chugg Entertainment’s Artist Services Manager Andrew Stone have joined the board following exits from Mushroom Group’s Matt Gudinski and Correne Wilki and HUB Artist Service’s Troy Barrott.

Compton, Sholl and Stone join existing board members Jaddan Comerford (Unified), David Vodicka (Rubber Records), Andrew Walker (Head Records), Philip Mortlock (Alberts), Ashley Gay (Xelon) and Basil Cook (ABC Music).

Nick will however remain engaged with AIR to consult on the 2014 Carlton Dry Independent Music Awards.