Damian Rinaldi Appointed AMPAL General Manager

Damian Rinaldi is the new general manager of the Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited (AMPAL).

Rinaldi will take the reigns at the music publishers’ trade association with effect from July 1, succeeding Matthew O’Sullivan.

The incoming GM boasts more than 30 years’ experience in the music industry, first as an artist in his hometown, Perth, and then working in senior positions with a string of trade bodies, collecting societies and major music companies.

His CV includes lengthy stints as head of legal and business affairs for both Sony Music Australia and Alberts, as board member of PPCA, WAM and AMPAL, and as past president of the Copyright Society of Australia.

Damian Rinaldi

Currently, Rinaldi is managing director of music industry consultancy Sonic Rights Management, and principal of its affiliated music law firm, Sonic Lawyers; he holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Laws degree, specialising in media, communications and information technology, from the University of New South Wales.

The appointment, announced Wednesday, June 26, “signals a new, dynamic era for the representation of music publishers and their writers,” comments AMPAL chair Clive Hodson.

Adds Hodson, co-founder and managing director of Pitch Perfect Publishing, “In order to take AMPAL to the next level, we were looking for someone who could ideally provide not only industry and strategic experience and profile, but also operational and administrative capability. Between them, Damian and his team at Sonic Rights Management tick all of these boxes.”

Rinaldi’s appointment follows Hodson’s election as chair of AMPAL and Australasia and Asia global regional board of ICMP, and the election of Karen Hamilton (120 Publishing) as deputy chair of AMPAL.

“Though my many years working in the publishing arena,” comments Rinaldi, “I have been convinced that our publishing fraternity deserves strong representation in the creative industries conversation. I’m delighted that my team and I now have the opportunity to follow through on that vision.”

AMPAL was formed in 1956 and today boasts more than 50 music publisher members, collectively representing north of 90% of the economic value of the music publishing sector.