Musical Chairs: December 8
MUSHROOM’S CHRIS MAUND ON MERLIN BOARD
Chris Maund(pictured) of the Mushroom Group will be Australia’s new representative on the board of global rights agency Merlin which negotiates digital rights on behalf of the worldwide independent sector.
This year saw a record number of candidates standing for election, as well as the highest ever percentage of votes cast by Merlin members.
Epitaph executive Dave Hansen replaces Beggars Group founder Martin Mills after six years as Chairman of the Merlin board.
Board seats are divided into three territories, with five members each for North America, Europe and R.O.W. (rest of the world).
North America:
Bob Roback, Isolation Network (US)
Darius Van Arman, Secretly Group (US)
Dave Hansen, Epitaph Records (US) & Merlin Chairman
Justin West, Secret City Records (Canada)
Tom Silverman, Tommy Boy (US)
Europe
Emmanuel De Buretel, Because Music (France)
Horst Weidenmueller, !K7 Records (Germany)
Martin Mills, Beggars, Group (UK)
Michel Lambot, PIAS Group (Belgium)
Nando Luaces, Altafonte Network (Spain)
R.O.W.
Bruno Guez, Revelator Ltd (Israel)
Chris Maund, Mushroom Group (Australia)
Luciana Pegorer, Delira Musica (Brazil)
Masahiro “Jack” Oishi, Maverick D.C. (Japan)
Yoel Kenan, Africori (South Africa)
ABC NEW BREAKFAST AND DRIVE LINEUPS
In addition to yesterday’s report in TMN about changes at triple j and Double J, the ABC has made sweeping changes through all timeslots for its 2018 slate, beginning on January 22.
In Sydney, Breakfast presenter Robbie Buck and Morning presenter Wendy Harmer join forces to co-host an extended show that will be broadcast from 6.00am to 10.00am weekdays (with a 30-minute break for AM at 8.00am).
In Brisbane, Rebecca Levingston and Craig Zonca team up to present weekday Breakfast from 6.00am to 10.00am (with the AM break at 8.00am).
Melbourne also gets a dual Breakfast presentation with local favourites Jacinta Parsons and writer/comedian Sami Shah co-hosting a new show from 5.30am to 7.45am.
ABC Radio Perth sees a shared time-slot from 6.00am to 9.00am (with the 8.00am AM break) with its Breakfast presenter, Peter Bell and new Mornings presenter Paula Kruger.
In Adelaide and Canberra, the local stations will see a co-hosted 30 minutes cross-over between their Breakfast and Mornings presenters.
In Adelaide, the two slots remain unchanged, with Ali Clarke at Breakfast and David Began for Mornings.
In Canberra, Dan Bourchier maintains his Breakfast slot, with Adam Shirley coming in as the new Mornings presenter.
There are new Drive presenters in Brisbane (Steve Austin); Perth (Geoff Hutchison); and Canberra (Laura Tchilinguirian).
MICHAEL ALEXANDER TO RUN GLOBAL CAMPAIGNS FOR UNIVERSAL DIVISION
Michael Alexander’s promotion to EVP, International for Def Jam, Island and Republic – which is part of the Universal Group – will see him helm all campaigns outside the US including Australia while still based in New York.
A long time UMG employee, he played a key role in releases from Justin Bieber, Drake, The Weeknd and Ariana Grande.
Republic Records says it increased profit and market share outside the US since he took over an earlier international role.
David Massey of Island Records attributed his large role in working releases by Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, Fall Out Boy, The Killers and Nick Jonas to their worldwide presence.
RED HOT IAN CRIPPS PROMOTED AT ATLANTIC
Ian Cripps, one of the hottest and most versatile A&R execs at the moment, has been promoted by Atlantic Records to Vice President of A&R from Senior Director of A&R.
“Ian is the consummate A&R person, with the rare ability to identify and nurture great artists across a diversity of styles,” said Atlantic Chairman & CEO Craig Kallman and President of A&R Pete Ganbarg in a joint statement.
Three of his biggest signings have been R&B/hip-hop act DRAM whose ‘Broccoli went Top 5 in America and sold 6 million units; R&B singer Kyle whose debut single ‘Spy’ sold three million; and country singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson who went on to win a Grammy.
ROOK JOINS ARN
Mason Rook is new Commercial Director for the Australian Radio Network, effective January, leading its commercial teams in Sydney and Brisbane. He previously held a similar position at the Daily Mail Australia.
AMAZON AUST GETS COMMUNICATIONS HEAD.
With Amazon Australia off and running, it has encouraged Katie Curran to come over as Head of Communications fromUber Australia and New Zealand, where she held the same position.
CNET GETS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Mark Serrels is taking over as CNET’s Australian Editorial Director. He was previously Managing Editor at Allure Media, overlooking its Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Kotaku titles.
Before that seven-year stint, Serrels was technology correspondent at ABC Radio and Managing Editor of Future plc whose titles included the Official Xbox Magazine and The Official Nintendo Magazine.
PROMOTION AT IHEARTMEDIA
John Ivey, who joined iHeartMedia six years agohas been promoted to President of CHR Programming Strategy, overseeing its contemporary hits radio (top 40) strategy across 150-plus markets.
VEVO’S NIC JONES TAKES PUREPROFILE
Highly respected Australian digital media exec Nic Jones, most recently Chief Revenue Officer at music video publisher Vevo, where he was based between London and San Francisco, has left to join data and insights company Pureprofile as its CEO.
HAMISH & ANDY TO LAUNCH PODCAST IN AUTUMN
Radio duo Hamish & Andy are launching a new weekly podcast in March, they told Media Week. Their podcast this year drew 30 million downloads around the world.
FACEBOOK SNARES CARAT’S DAN SINFIELD
Facebook Australia snared Carat’s Sydney Managing Director of three years, Dan Sinfield, to head its FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) division from next month.
SONG ROOM STRIKES NEW NOTE
Caroline Aebersold, CEO for the past 12 years of The Song Room, is stepping down early next year.
Under her watch, the organisation grew from being a small Victorian group to a national one, working with 100 disadvantaged communities and providing digital education programs in more than 8,000 Australian schools.
Taking over the role in February is Simon Gipson, most recently Head of St Michael’s Grammar School in Melbourne.
STARCOM LOOKING FOR TOONE REPLACEMENT
Starcom is looking for a new Melbourne Managing Director after Peter Toone quit. Joining the company eleven years ago, he got the top job last year.
21ST CENTURY FOX ANNOUNCES ASIA PRESIDENT
21st Century Fox promoted Star India Chairman and CEO Uday Shankar to President of its Asian operations. He will continue in that old role at Star India, one of India’s largest entertainment companies with 60 channels across entertainment and sports and eight languages (which reaches 700 million a week), as well as leading digital video platform Hotstar
His new role at 21st Century will see him leading the company’s video business across the Asian territories to become the Murdochs’ vision to be the region’s largest content and distributor.
CALOUNDRA CENTRE LOSES SHARON DAVIS
Caloundra Events Centre has farewelled Sharon Davis who was with the venue for 34 years, and now decided to retire.
As head of administration, box office, events, marketing and more recently as Performance Manager, Davis was the first point of contact with acts from the music and performance arts industries who performed there.
DENDY /ICON STEPS DOWN
Greg Hughes, CEO of Dendy Cinemas and Icon Film Distribution, has quit after eleven years at the company.
During his time at the helm, he carefully monitored changes in the entertainment business and adapted the company to these.
He introduced many initiatives including its home entertainment business, acquired the Dendy Cinema chain, the on-demand digital platform Dendy Direct and the premium on-demand Dendy Marquee.
Icon Films became the top independent film distributor in Australia and New Zealand.