Musical Chairs: January 18

Image: Avicii (Tim Bergling)

AVICII PARTS WITH LONG TIME MANAGER

Grammy nominated songwriter/producer Tim Bergling and his production/publishing entity Avicii Music AB have parted ways with manager Ash Pournouri of At Night Management. Bergling, who is signed to Universal Music Sweden, is expected to release a new album in 2017.

BMG AUSTRALIA PROMOTES RACHEL KELLY

BMG Australia has promoted Creative Director Rachel Kelly to the newly created position of Vice President — Creative.

BMG Australia Managing Director, Heath Johns, said, “Rachel has done an incredible job for BMG since joining us at the very start of our journey in Australia (in March 2016). She is a well connected and well respected synch executive but more than that she is a champion for our growing roster of Australian and New Zealand writers and artists and I couldn’t be more thrilled to announce this well deserved promotion – we are very lucky to have her on our team.”

SCA CREATES HEAD OF EVENTS ROLE

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) appointed Jacqui Hoban in its newly created role of Head of Events, effective February. She will work across a number of the broadcaster’s divisions to monetise its events such as its Rooftop sessions, expand its new national Hit and Triple M brands and increase its content and partnerships volume. With 15 years in sporting, entertainment and events, Hoban was most recently Head of Events at the Football Federation of Australia since 2007.

NEW MD FOR DOMINO

UK label Domino, which has an Australian division, has appointed Vincent Clery-Melin. He founded management firm Cooperative Music and was recently a senior member of the Kobalt Label Services management team.

NEW PRESIDENT/CEO FOR VIACOM INTERNATIONAL

MTV and VH1 parent Viacom appointed David Lynn as President and CEO of Viacom International Media Networks. He will work in London and New York, overseeing Viacom media networks and related businesses outside the US. He was President of VIMN’s operations in the UK, Northern and Eastern Europe.

NEW PROGRAM MANAGER AT QMUSIC

Brisbane based QMusic announced Trina Massey as new Program Manager, beginning this month. She’ll already contracted as Producer of the Queensland Music Awards and Artist Liaison for BIGSOUND. Massey began in the biz as venue booker and creating warehouse parties, and then became a DJ, four years ago becoming a partner in Brisbane indie Smack Face Records.

CHANGES AT RADIO TODAY

The Radio Today site undergoes major changes this month. Editor Blair Sullivan leaves at the end of January to concentrate on his growing company Create Consult Research. Jay Bradley who has run the title’s sales and administration since its launch on February 15, 2012, also resigned citing new directions.

The title has also gone through an ownership change, with Jake Challenor’s Sydney-based Jaden Social acquiring a majority stake.

SONY CEO TO FOCUS ON SNAPCHAT

Michael Lyndon, CEO of Sony’s Entertainment division, will leave in six months to concentrate full-time on the Snapchat app. He was one of its earliest investors and last year became its Chairman – and now making the move ahead of its IPO.

DEATHPROOF PR ADDS TWO, WIDENS SERVICES

After five and a half years of offering music publicity to bands and brands, Deathproof PR has launched a new website (deathproof.com.au) and expanded its full service to social media management for clients across a range of industries and events. Joining the team this year is skilled PR veteran Kate McCabe (Face The Music, AIR Awards, Xavier Rudd, Seth Sentry, Illy, Birds of Tokyo). Designer Dean Reeve, who’s been working on Deathproof campaigns, also joins on a formal basis.

MIDEM GETS NEW DIRECTOR

MIDEM, where hundreds of Australians head to each June to do business in Cannes, has a new Director. Alexandre Deniot was at Universal Music Group, most recently as Business Development Director for UMG’s Paris- based digital division where he developed its digital footprint in emerging markets.

DUAL ROLE FOR DAN BOURCHIER

Dan Bourchier this week began at ABC Canberra in two roles – presenting Breakfast on radio for the 5:30am slot and presenting the news at 7pm on TV. He replaces, respectively, Philip Clark and Virginia Haussegger. Originally hailing from Tennant Creek, NT, the 31-year old was most recently political reporter and National Indigenous Affairs correspondent for Sky News based in Canberra.

HOPE’S DWAYNE JEFFRIES MOVES NORTH

Dwayne Jeffries, CD for Sydney’s Christian station Hope Media, is moving to Brisbane to take over as CEO for 96five and co-Mission CD for Hope Brisbane. He was 25 years in commercial radio, at Gold FM, 2GO FM and WS FM.

NEW MD FOR SYDNEY’S FBI

Sydney community radio station FBi Radio has appointed its third music director, with Amelia Jenner taking over from Stephen Goodhew. Jenner has been a volunteer at FBi since 2012, presenting shows as The Bridge and Body Promise.

NEW DRIVE HOST FOR ABC PERTH

720 ABC Perth’s new Drive host is Belinda Varischetti, a regular on the late Eoin Cameron’s Breakfast program but better known as host of Country Hour since 2011. She replaces Jane Marwick who decided not to return this year.

DEBBIE SELLNOW SETS UP OUTWARD

Debbie Sellnow, who was 20 years with Mazur Public Relations, has set up Outward Public Relations. More details at www.facebook.com/OutwardPublicRelations.

BREAKFAST ADDITION AT i98FM

i98FM Wollongong brought in former Home and Away cast member Christie Hayes for her first radio gig. From this week, the Illawarra local joined Marty Haynes and Ryan Cram for Breakfast. Hayes replaces Fairlie Hamilton who moves to the 1pm and 4pm slot.

TWITTER REVOLVING DOOR TURNS

While Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey continues to work to turn Twitter into a profit-maker, the company wiped $1.12 billion on the stock exchange when two top executives – Chief Technology Officer Adam Messinger and Vice President of Product Josh McFarland announced they were leaving.

The news came after Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain and Vice President of Advertising Sales Richard Alfonsi also left in the six week period preceding these events.

Dorsey remained positive about the executive moves. “We’ve shown our strategy is having a direct and positive impact on our audience growth and engagement,” he said. “I’ll be working even closer with our engineering and design teams to ensure we continue to be the fastest and best service to show what’s happening in the world.”

MORE CHANGES AT 97.3 BRISBANE

ARN’s 97.3 Brisbane has another change, with Ruth De Glas, producer of the Robin, Terry & Bob breakfast show for the past six years, exiting the company.

WARNER MUSIC EXEC TO LEAD AMAZON TICKETING

Amazon, which is expanding to event ticketing, tapped Warner Music’s Lawrence Peryer as Director of Tickets in the US. Peryer was four years at the major, first as CEO of the artist-to-fan division Artist Arena and then Executive VP of WEA Global Consumer Sales & Marketing Group. Before that, Peryer was at Live Nation.

JADE ROBRAN RETURNING TO ADELAIDE

Adelaide girl Jade Robran, currently working in Melbourne at Channel 7, heads back to her old hometown at end of January. She is presenting FIVEaa’s Afternoon show (its first woman host) replacing Jeremy Cordeaux, who is headed to Evenings.

SHAUN GOUGH PROMOTED AT TRIPLE M MELB

Shaun Gough has been promoted to Content Director for Triple M Melbourne. For the past seven years, he was Network Head of Music Operations Manager and Program Manager. Mike Fitzpatrick, who previously held the role, now oversees the Triple M Network overall.

CUMMINS TO EP NOVA SHOW

Minnie Cummins is new Executive Producer for Nova’s Kate, Tim & Marty, replacing Elle Conwell who is on maternity leave. It marks Cummins’ return to radio after spending 12 months producing TV shows – I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and Australian Survivor for Network Ten, and Channel Nine’s upcoming series The Last Resort: Love Me or Leave Me. Beginning in radio in 2003, she worked as a producer in the Brisbane and Sydney markets.

SARA CLEMENS QUITS PANDORA

After two years at digital streaming service Pandora, Sara Clemens has resigned as Chief Operating Officer. The company said that she played a key role in driving its international business, its live events / Ticketfly ventures and its Artist Marketing Platform, as well as forging ties with the broader industry.

BRIAN COX HEADING TO NICKELODEON

Former Foxtel executive Brian Cox is the new VP and GM of the Nickelodeon channel. He will be responsible for the day-to-day management of Nickelodeon’s brands in Australia and New Zealand, overseeing a diverse business that spans 24-hour subscription television, digital platforms, and live events. At Foxtel, Cox was GM of Content Aggregation.

SONOS FOUNDER QUITS AS CEO

Speaker and home music experience company Sonos, which is forging closer ties with the music industry, has seen its founder John MacFarlane step down as CEO after 14 years. Citing the need to spend more time with his family, particularly his ill wife, he will be replaced by long-time exec Patrick Spence.