Beth Appleton, Cathy Oates, Emma Donovan added to FastForward: Sydney speakers line-up

Warner Music Australia general manager Beth Appleton, top flight artist manager Cathy Oates and songwriter Emma Donovan are among the fresh names added to the next week’s FastForward: Sydney line-up.

Appleton, a veteran label executive with major and indie label experience here and in the U.K., will deliver the opening keynote, entitled “Being a local in a global industry,” on April 11. The Brit will recount her stints working in global marketing in London and, more recently, in Sydney as senior VP of marketing Australasia at WMA.

Meanwhile, Donovan, a celebrated Indigenous singer and songwriter who has performed with her family band the Donovans, co-founded Stiff Gins and is a regular with The Black Arm Band will participate in a Q&A, during which she’ll reflect on her 20-year career in music, with all his many highs and lows.

Also confirmed to speak at the two-day summit is ABC Music Publishing manager Marianna Annas; Labour politician John Graham, NSW’s Shadow Minister for Music and the Night Time Economy; and Original Matters chief Cathy Oates, who manages Alex The Astronaut and guided the careers of Angus & Julia Stone and Dean Lewis, whose debut album A Place We Knew debuted at No. 1 in Australia on the weekend and cracked the top 40 on debut in the U.K.

FastForward: Sydney 2019 programme

Spearheaded by Media Insight Consulting boss Chris Carey, the second annual FastForward: Sydney will take place within UTS, Sydney across April 11 and 12, with a daytime programme that includes discussions on the future of labels and data, classical music, playlists, “influencing” government policy, the return of the “Can We Hack It” contest and much more.

Speakers across the two days include Dean Ormston (CEO, APRA AMCOS), Dee Speed (Design Director, Google), Heidi Lenffer of Cloud Control), Takayuki Suzuki (ParadeALL), Julie Knibbe (VP Product, Soundcharts), Luke Girgis (CEO, The Brag Media), Renee Hermsen (Promoter, Live Nation), Simon Cahill (VP Partnerships + Audience Management, Warner Music Group), Keith Tan (CD Baby, Singapore), Jackie Antas (GM Communications, Live Nation ANZ) and Poppy Reid (Managing Editor, The Brag Media).

Tickets are on sale now. For more, visit sydney.fastforward.xyz.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.