Musical Chairs: September 22

AUSSIE EXPAT JOHN CLIFFORD NAMED SVP OF BMG PRODUCTION MUSIC UK

Australian expatriate John Clifford has been named Senior Vice-President of BMG Production Music (BMGOM) UK.

BMGOM was set up earlier this year as a production music library and a full service sound agency as a new division of Bertelsmann’s BMG.

In a move to become an alternative to the larger global players, it has expanded its team.

Clifford was most recently at Universal Production Music after moving to London in 2012.

This followed stints in Australia in the ‘90s at independent music publisher Nightlight Music and Zomba Production Music Australia which became Universal Production Music (UPM) for which he was General Manager.

In another move BMGOM has set up a new office in France after buying out ASX Music, which has 50 composers providing music for film, TV and radio licensing. ASX founder Axel von Hueck is leaving, and the French office is now run by former Universal Publishing Production Music France marketer and business development exec Jérôme Keff as its Managing Director.

BMGOM also has offices in the US, Germany and Benelux.

DAVE THORNTON EXITING FOX FM

After four years as part of FOX FM Melbourne’s breakfast show, Dave Thornton is leaving at the end of the month.

The show kicked off in 2014 with Thornton and Fifi Box, and over the years progressively expanded to include Brendan Fevola and Byron Cooke.

SCA MAKES A CHANGE IN SYDNEY…

Southern Cross Austereo promoted Lyn Barp to Head of Local Sales, in Sydney, from Group Sales Manager. She joined SCA’s sales team 18 years ago.

…AND THE GOLD COAST

Following a drop in ratings for 92.5 Gold FM’s Gold Coast breakfast ratings, veteran Adrian “AJ” Johnston has been moved from the Morning Show to joinBridge Daley and Spida Everit.

SONY/ ATV PROMOTES IN INTERNATIONAL DIVISION

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has promoted VP of International, Dan Nelson, to Senior Vice President, International.

Based in London, he will work with the publisher’s operations in Australia, Europe, SE Asia, Russia, India, Africa, Turkey, Israel and the Middle East.

He reports to Guy Henderson, President, International.

BMG’S JON COHEN LEAVES

BMG’s Los Angeles-based EVP of Recorded Music, Jon Cohen has left the company, Music Week reported. He joined the company in 2014 when BMG acquired the emo rock label Vagrant Records, which he co-owned.

Music Week noted that he is the latest exec to leave BMG after coming on board after their labels were acquired.

Pat Carr who took on SVP of Marketing after the Infectious buy-out in 2014, was one. Erika Brennan, SVP of Legal and Business Affair, who arrived after the Union Square Music acquisition the same year – exited a few months ago.

NEW ACMA CHAIR

Nerida O’Loughlin has been hired as Chair of trhe Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

She was most recently at the Digital Transformation Agency,as interim CEO

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said, “Ms O’Loughlin’s strong skills and experience will enable her to effectively lead the ACMA to ensure it can respond effectively to the challenges of the future communications environment.”

O’Loughlin succeeds Chris Chapman who left in February 2016 after a decade. Richard Bean was acting in the role since.

NEW EDITOR FOR WHO

Emma Nolan takes over as Editor of Pacific Magazine’s Who in December.

She was Editor at Bauer Media’s TV Week. Bauer said that since she took over in 2002, she maintained circulation at “almost half a million readers every week (and) the driving force behind the TV Week Logie Awards for the past 15 years.”

NEW HIRE AT ARN

Australian Radio Network (ARN)’s latest hire is Andrew Sidwell as Head of Custom Solutions in radio and digital. The newly-created role sees him lead the national integration and campaign solutions team from November 6.

MAUBOY RETURNS TO TV ROLE

Jessica Mauboy will remain in drama series The Secret Daughter, for the next season Seven Network confirmed.

In the next series, Mauboy’s part-time country pub singer character Billie Carter returns to Walperinga to find her identity after turning her back on the Nortons and a recording deal.

E-ONE MAKES GLOBAL PROMOTION

Entertainment One (eOne) Global Music President Chris Taylor announced that Nashville-based Michael Olsen is romoted to Executive Vice President, Operations and Business & Legal Affairs, Music.

In his expanded role, Olsen will oversee operations as well as business and legal affairs across eOne’s Music division on a global basis.

MUSIC TECH INNOVATOR LEAVES UNIVERSAL MUSIC

Music and technology innovator Ty Roberts’ stint as Chief Technology Officer at Universal Music didn’t make it past the 17 month mark. No reason as given.

Before joining Universal in April 2016, Roberts became a legend in the music and technology sphere.

Apart from being credited as an inventor of the enhanced CD (an early format of digital music), his Gracenote was one of the earliest internet databases containing information about audio recordings.

He also produced some of the industry’s first multimedia titles with artists including David Bowie, Brian Eno, Todd Rundgren and The Residents.

TRIPLE M’S CORBETT

Former Triple M drive host and founder of the You’ve Got To Start Somewhere podcast, Rachel Corbett, is now Director of Podcasts at Mamamia.

WIL ANDERSON TO JOIN HOT BREAKFAST TEAM

In other Triple M news, Wil Anderson has been announced as Mick Molloy’s replacement on Melbourne’s The Hot Breakfast, beginning October 23. Molloy is moving to the national drive show with Jane Kennedy as of 2018.

AXLE WHITEHEAD LANDS TV HOST ROLE

Seven Network confirmed that musician and actor Axle Whitehead will host the Australian version of the game show franchise The Wall where young couples can win millions of dollars from giant balls falling into the right cash zones.

TACTICS MANAGER AT HIT FRASER COAST

Juliette Iuculano is moving to the Fraser Coast where she is new Tactics Manager for hit 101.9 . She was previously in Lismore, as drive announcer and production assistant at ZZZ FM.

FESTIVAL GM TAKES NEW BIZ ROLE

Lindsey Schofield, GM of New Zealand’s Festival of Colour, has gone into another sector of the live music sector.

She’s joined audio, visual and lighting business Entertainment Solutions in an administrative and tour manager role … which fits in with her joining a capella group The Treble Tones.and learning to play bass guitar.

SHOW AND TELL EXTENDS TO RADIO

KIIS FM’s 3PM Pick Up’s Katie ‘Monty’ Dimond’s women’s online platform Show + Tell is going onto radio for eleven weeks in a partnership with insurance brand AAMI .

From October 7, it will broadcast from 9am Saturday mornings, with its roster of high profile women to discuss motherhood, career, love and friendship.

NEW STRATEGIST FOR M&C

As specialist sponsorship and experiential agency M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment adapts to the changing nature of the business, Peter Pippen has been brought in as a senior strategist to provide “an opportunity for brands to be a real champion of what they care about”, he says.

FORMER AUSSIE BOOKER FOR UTA JOINS LIVE NATION

Zaed Maqbool who booked acts in Australia for UTA Canada (as well as the Philippines and Singapore) landed quickly on his feet after the Toronto office closed. He told Billboard that he is moving in January to Dubai to join Live Nation as VP of Touring for South Asia and the Middle East.

FOXTEL LOSING MARK BUCKMAN

After 18 months as Foxtel’s MD of Customer and Retail, Mark Buckman is leaving in December.

Foxtel acknowledged that in the relatively short time, he “initiated significant change.

“This includes the reset of the Foxtel brand with a new identity and new positioning (Foxtel for Everyone), the successful launch of Foxtel Now, the significant boost to our data driven marketing capability and the acceleration of the digitisation of our customer processes.”