Sony Music unveils new appointments and promotions

Denis Handlin AM, Chairman & CEO Australia & New Zealand and President, Asia has announced a number of promotions within the Australian company and Asia region.

Wayne Ringrow has been appointed as Head of the Australian Artists Marketing division in his role of Senior Director, Australian Artists Marketing, reporting to Denis Handlin. Wingrow celebrates his 20th year at Sony Music this month; he has held a number of senior marketing and sales positions including Sales Representative, Promotions Manager, Director Marketing, Head of Sales and Senior Director, Australian Artists Marketing. Ringrow will be responsible for directing the marketing of Sony Music's local artists through managing the division, as well as overseeing the studio.

Tim Pithouse, Director, Marketing & Artist Development has been promoted to the role of Senior Director, Marketing & Artist Development. Reporting to Denis Handlin, Pithouse will drive international artists marketing and maximise the success of track priorities and frontline releases. He will continue to work closely with the A&R division to discover and develop new local artists and manage the international Sony Music affiliate releases of Australian artists. Since joining Sony Music in 2006, Pithouse has also held the roles of Account Manager, Digital Services, Director, Digital Services & Marketing.

Continuing in his role as Director, Content Integration Dan Nitschke will now also be responsible for directing the advertising and media buying strategy of the company. Nitschke will report to Denis Handlin on advertising and continue to report to Gavin Parry for business development and licensing. Nitschke joined Sony in his current role in April 2013; prior to that, he held the role of Entertainment Business Director – EMU for Southern Cross Austereo from 2011. He has also held the roles of Director, Marketing & Sponsorship for WIN Corporation.

Andrew Smith has been given the new title EVP & CFO, Asia Pacific to reflect the key role he plays across the Asia Pacific region. Still based in Sydney, Smith will use his 26-years of industry experience to oversee finance and operations for Australia, New Zealand and Asia; he continues to Denis Handlin.

Ariel Fung, a highly experienced executive with over 24 years service at Sony Music has added to his current roles as MD Hong Kong and Deputy MD Greater China. Under his new title Managing Director, Hong Kong & Deputy Managing Director, Greater China and Executive Vice President, Marketing, Asia, Fung will be responsible for directing the marketing of Sony Music’s international and regional artists in Asia.Fung will report to Denis Handlin for his Asia marketing responsibilities and continue to report to Tim Xu, CEO Greater China, in regards to his Greater China and Hong Kong roles.

Fung joined Sony Music Hong Kong in 1991 as Marketing Manager, International Repertoire and in 1996 was promoted to General Manager. He transferred to Sony Music Australia in 1997 as Marketing Executive, International Marketing, before returning to Hong Kong in 1999 to run the Hong Kong company as Managing Director. In 2010, Fung was promoted to Deputy MD Greater China. In 2014, Fung was appointed to oversee the day-to-day operations of the Hong Kong ARO office.

Roslyn Pineda has been promoted to Vice President, Marketing, Asia. Pineda will report to Ariel Fung and continues to be based in the Sony Music Hong Kong Regional office.

Pineda’s responsibilities are expanded in planning and implementing marketing initiatives and campaigns for both frontline and catalogue releases. In 2001, she joined Sony Music Philippines as Marketing Manager. In 2006, she was promoted to the ARO marketing team in Hong Kong taking up the position of Marketing Directorand was promoted to Senior Marketing Director in 2011.

Jay Jung began his appointment asManaging Director, South Korea on February 2. Jung reportsto Denis Handlin.

Jung has worked in the Korean music industry since 1989, including roles as Senior Marketing Manager at Warner Music and Senior Marketing Director at Universal Music in Korea. Jung also previously operated his own label and artists management company, Bounce Entertainment, which featured award-winning Korean artist duo MOT.

2015 has so far seen Sony Music add to its 2014 successes on the ARIA charts. Recent #1 singles include this week’s #1 with Omi’s Cheerleader, Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk – which held the #1 chart position for six weeks and took #1 on the TMN Hot 100 – Hozier’s Take Me To Church (which also topped the TMN Hot 100) and Megan Trainor’s two hits All About That Bass and Lips Are Movin’.Trainer also took #1 on the Albums chart when she released her debut LP Title.

While the local concert business is usually subdued over the initial months of the year as the festival market fires up, Sony Music and Nine Live’s major stadium tour for One Direction kicked off in Sydney on Saturday night, performing to over 35,000 zealousfans.