Musical Chairs: March 2

Ex-Rdio marketing head Paola Cracknell at Shazam

Former Rdio Marketing Director Paola Cracknell begins tomorrow at Shazam in the newly created role of Partnerships & Implementation Manager Asia Pacific. She told Musical Chairs she will work out of Shazam’s Sydney offices, covering Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Cracknell was most recently at Live Nation, handling marketing and promotions. She was also Head of Music & Talent at MTV Networks Australia and Senior Producer and Talent Booker for The Kyle and Jackie O Show before joining Rdio as Marketing Director for Australia/ NZ in 2013.

UKindustry strategic advisorSammy Andrews heads up Ei

Music industry strategic advisor and former Cooking Vinyl UK head of digital Sammy Andrews has joinedindependent data solution developer Entertainment Intelligence (Ei) as a director.

Ei, which wasfounded by CrowdSurge’s Greg Delaney and is wholly independent,has spent the last two years absorbing data from 150 labels to inform its development and build an out-of-the-box dashboard. Its dashboard is currently in Beta.

L-R: Erik Gilbert (Director), Greg Delaney (Founder and Director), Sammy Andrews (Director)

Executive reshuffle at Grant Broadcasters

Regional radio network Grant Broadcasters completed a restructure to “allow for more streamlining and greater efficiencies for the whole business along with a more focussed approach to the different types of businesses within the Group.” These include radio stations, websites, publishing, agency services, property and investments.

From March 1, the new positions are Dugald Cameron as CEO of Grant Broadcasters Property and Investments; Grant Cameron as CEO of Grant Broadcasters Media; Alison Cameron and COO of Grant Broadcasters Media. They remain Directors, and Janet Cameron remain as Chairman.

Alisson Longhurst moves to Sea FM

Alisson Longhurst is new Executive Producer on the Galey & Charli show at Sea FM Gold Coast. She was most recently EP for Executive Producer at KIIS FM for the Matt & Meshel show, with stints in that role for Kyle and Jackie O at Kiis 1065, Nova 106.9 Breakfast and 92.9 FM Breakfast in Perth, and Producer at the B105 FM Breakfast show in Brisbane. She began her career at 16 presenting her own show on West Sydney’s WOW FM.

Rebecca Batties stays on at Foxtel

After last week’s closure of Channel [V], Foxtel confirmed that Rebecca Batties remains as GM of Music Channels and Head of Digital. Battles came over from MTV Australia two years ago, bringing with her digital strategies which saw MTV Australia with a social media following of 3.3 million.

Three staffers including presenter Jabba were let go immediately after Foxtel made its announcement, while presenter Danny Clayton will stay until mid-year when his contract runs out.

Etihad Stadium CEO resigns

Paul Sergeant, CEO of Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium, has resigned after taking over the job in October 2012. He built up the venue by widening its program forma (including the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Australian Speedway Grand Prix), installing wi-fi and IPTV, reducing catering prices, insisting on tougher agreements with its sporting league tenants, transforming its playing surface and promoting the stadium overseas to get sponsors. Born in the UK, Sergeant was given an OBE in 2006 for his work there in venues and events including Queen’s farewell at Knebworth and INXS’s massive show at Wembley,

Director of Operations Michael Green will act as interim CEO. Green joined the management team in 1988.

Gillings anchoring on Gold Coast

Digby Gillings, one time afternoon presenter at Nova 1069 Brisbane is now anchor for Galey & Charli’s breakfast shift at Sea FM Gold Coast.

BPI fills new Head of Content Protection role

In its fight against piracy, London-based British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has created the new role of Head of Content Protection. Tim Cooper, current Head of Operations at NetResult, part of Thomson Reuters, will move over on April 20.

Cooper has overseen anti-piracy activities across a wide range of intellectual property rights. After joining NetResult in 2006, he helped develop the world’s first anti-piracy service to combat damaging effects of live streaming, devising strategies to deal with streams delivered by live P2P networks and streaming platforms.

Hal Crawford heads to NZ

Another Australian media talent has been tapped by the New Zealand industry. Hal Crawford, Editor in Chief at Ninemsn, is relocating in May to take over as Chief News Officer at MediaWorks. Crawford was at Ninemsn for ten years in five different roles.

Next Wave losing CEO

Meghan Bourke, Executive Director & CEO of Next Wave is parting ways with the festival only days before its program launch on March 15, ArtsHub reported.

Zinc 96.1 launch Abbey & Champs

Zinc 96.1 Sunshine Coast launched a new local lifestyle show Abbey & Champs with ACRA winner Abbey McKenzie from South Australia and former footballer Richard Champion.

New addition to Spotify UK

Keith Jopling joined Spotify’s London office as global Head Of Strategic Intelligence. For the past two years, he has been a strategic consultant within the UK music business as well as leading the innovation and strategy modules for the Henley Business School MBA for the Music & Creative Industries.

New Chairman for VPL

Music video licensing company VPL appointed Geoff Kempin as Chairman, following the retirement of Fran Nevrkla at the end of 2015. Kempin has been a director of VPL since its inception in 1983 and continues to be executive director of Eagle Rock Entertainment.

New role for Brad Guy at SCA

Brad Guy has a new role at Southern Cross Austereo, now Digital Content Producer for the Fifi & Dave Breakfast Show on Fox Melbourne. He held a similar role at DMG Radio’s Nova 100 Melbourne between August 2013 and June 2014. In between he was a co-presenter at SCA’s StarFM Gippsland as half of Brad and Mandy which he also produced.

New board directors for IEBA

The International Entertainment Buyers Association has appointed seven new names to its board, each serving three year terms. They are Scott Pang (ICM Partners), Adam Kornfeld (Artist Group International), Eric Bresler (AEG Facilities), Brad Garrett (Police Productions), Angela Miles-Powell (Ticketmaster), Megan Wilson (Red Light Management) and John Zarling (Big Machine).

Imogen Banks at Endemol Shine Australia

Endemol Shine Australia signed award-winning producer Imogen Banks to head the new drama division: Endemol Shine Banks. Her past projects have included Tangle, Party Tricks, Offspring, Puberty Blues, Gallipoli and Paper Giants.

ACMA shuffle

In the wake of the retirement of Chris Chapman, the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) Deputy Chairman, Richard Bean, is Acting Chairman while authority Member James Cameron is Acting Deputy Chair.

Three new board members for ADMA

The Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) appointed Paul Robson (Adobe) Roger Sniezek (Coles) and Dr. Catriona Wallace (Flamingo Customer Experience Inc). to its board.

Stuart works the magic

Matthew Stuart is Network Production Manager of Magic 931 and 5RM in South Australia. He began his production career at Fresh 927 Adelaide before heading to Tamworth as Production Manager at 929 and 2TM. After a year he returned to Adelaide to do live production for NovaTech Creative Event Technology.

Star Observer loses editor

LGBTI news publication The Star Observer, which covers music and arts, has lost editor Elias Jahshan who leaves after 2 ½ years to relocate to London.

ACT appoints graffiti street art coordinator

The ACT Government appointed Louise Emberson to help manage the Territory’s local graffiti and street art. With a background in arts and working with the community, she will liaise with artists, students, businesses and the broader public to improve how graffiti is managed. “One of my roles will be to review the 23 legal graffiti sites and identify new sites across the ACT,” she said.

The appointment of a graffiti coordinator was an outcome of a roundtable held last year with local artists and stakeholders. Illegal graffiti costs the ACT Government over $500,000 a year to remove but having young offenders involved in the ACT Restorative Justice program has produced positive outcomes over the past year.