30 more speakers for WAM Festival Music Conference

The WAM Festival Music Conference (November 6 to 9) in Perth has added 30 more speakers from all aspects of the Australian music industry. The 14 sessions cover management, direct-to-fan marketing strategies, new distribution models, radio airplay and sync strategies.

They include Dom Alessio & Lewis McKirdy (triple j), Danny Rogers (St. Jerome’s Laneway/Lunatic Entertainment), John Wardle (National Live Music Office), Clive Hodson (Perfect Pitch Publishing), Michael Szumovski (Alberts, Millie Millgate (Sounds Australia), Andy Rantzen (Australia Council for the Arts), Chloe Goodyear (Woodford Folk Festival), Will Lanarch-Jones (Parallel Management), Mama Kin, Meg Williams (AAM), Becc Bates (Arts South Australia), Hayley Dart (Country Arts WA), Pete Guazzelli (Department of Culture and the Arts), Simon Collins (The West Australian/The Wire), Darren de Mello (96FM) and Paul Cashmere (The Noise Network). The full list is at wam.asn.org.au.

They join international names as Martin Elbourne (The Great Escape/ Glastonbury), Al Dawson (Earache Records), Lee Hunter (YouTube) and Rene Chambers (Spotify) and keynote speakers Michael Chugg, singer songwriter Adalita and artist manager Catherine Haridy.

The full conference program, and more speakers, will be announced soon via the festival’s site

This year’s festival bears a new name, and moves from one to three new venues. It’s part of an overall rebranding by WA’s peak music association WAM (now known as West Australian Music) which includes a new logo featuring a triangle (“represents the linked triumvirate of musicians, industry and consumers at the heart of our operations” according to CEO Wendy Were), a fresh approach to projects and programs, and more initiatives.

The new look also filtered through to the WAM awards held on November 8. Leading the nominations are The Love Junkies, Karnivool, Tame Impala and San Cisco, followed by the likes of Shockone, Birds Of Tokyo, Pond, Rainy Day Women, Mathas, Abbe May, The Growl and Kučka.