NEWS

Last Wednesday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, announced the Australian Government’s support of 11 outstanding Australian arts and cultural organisations through the Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program (ACDGP).

We are very pleased to report that amongst the successful 2017 initiatives was the reveal that SOUNDS AUSTRALIA had received funding to lead a return Trade Mission to Latin America, in order to help Australian contemporary music acts build their export potential and form partnerships.

In partnership with BIGSOUND, SOUNDS AUSTRALIA are presenting two additional information/networking events in Sydney and Melbourne, to capitalise on the delegates’their visit.

Moderated by SOUNDS AUSTRALIA’s Executive Producer Millie Millgate, the Latin American Sessions will present critical insights and tailored intelligence inintelligence tailored to the region that is currently experiencing the highest level of recorded music growth revenue in the world.

Digital revenue in Latin America last year grew by 31.2%, driven by a surge in streaming revenue of 57.0%. The impact of streaming is especially evident throughout Latin America, where it is fueling a resurgent business.

Spotify highlights Latin America: “We’re looking at the unexpected and exceptional performance of Brazil and Mexico and the possibility of them potentially over taking the UK and Germany in terms of user numbers. They’re bigger countries of course, but whilst their infrastructure is much less developed, their smartphone adoption is escalating at a much faster rate, driving access to services like Spotify.” With such a large streaming appetite, expect Latin American audiences to increasingly shape future hits. (Source: IFPI 2017 Global Music Report )

The featured guest speakers; Adel Hattem (USA), Sylvie Piccolotto (Argentina) and Oliver Knust Restucci (Chile) will be joined in each city by a mix of members from the 2016 Trade Mission, including representatives from Chugg Music, Positive Feedback, UNIFIED Music Group, Liberation and the Sydney Festival.

We invite you to join the discussion and stay at the forefront of one of music’s most exciting frontiers.

THURSDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER

BIGSOUND
THE MUSIC REHEARSAL ROOM
Judith Wright Centre
420 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley

3.35pm – 4.35pm

FEATURING:

Adel Hattem – D Music Marketing (USA)
Jaime Gough – Native Tongue Music Publishing
Oliver Knust Restucci – Discos Rio Bueno / Fluvial (Chile)
Sylvie Piccolotto – Rock City (Argentina)
Stuart Rogers – Sydney Festival

* Entry only with a BIGSOUND Conference Badge: https://www.bigsound.org.au/tickets

MONDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER

DFAT VICTORIA STATE OFFICE
Level 14
55 Collins Street, Melbourne

6pm – 7.30pm

FEATURING:

Adel Hattem – D Music Marketing (USA)
Ashley Gay – Xelon Entertainment
Mathew Rogers – UNIFIED Music Group
Oliver Knust Restucci – Discos Rio Bueno / Fluvial (Chile)
Sylvie Piccolotto – Rock City (Argentina)
Warren Costello – Liberation Music

TUESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER

AUSTRALIAN YOUTH HOTEL
Nude bar
63 Bay St, Glebe

6pm – 7.30pm

FEATURING:

Adel Hattem – D Music Marketing (USA)
Andrew Stone – Chugg Music
Maggie Collins – BIGSOUND
Monique Rothstein – Positive Feedback
Oliver Knust Restucci – Discos Rio Bueno / Fluvial (Chile)
Sylvie Piccolotto – Rock City (Argentina)
Stuart Rogers – Sydney Festival

Entry is FREE although RSVP is essential. Email Esti Zilber: ezilber@soundsaustralia.com.au

LATIN AMERICAN GUEST SPEAKERS

ADEL HATTEM – D MUSIC MARKETING (USA)
A marketing specialist with over 20 years’ experience in the music marketing industry, Adel Hattem has brought visibility to many non-Latin artists seeking wider audiences in the Latin American region. After a successful marketing career holding senior positions with industry giants, such as Universal Music, EMI and BMG Entertainment, Adel founded DMusicMarketing in 2014. While working with the majors, Adel helped develop and set a foot print in the market for talent such as Arctic Monkeys, Placebo, Coldplay, Robbie Williams, David Guetta, Norah Jones and Katy Perry amongst others. Based in Miami, DMusicMarketing focuses on developing non-Latin talent in Latin American markets.

SYLVIE PICCOLOTTO – ROCK CITY (ARGENTINA)
Sylvie is part of Rock City Agencia, a company that develops solutions for communication and events focusing on music and arts. Their goal is to facilitate any type of cultural and artistic production and communicate it in a simple and effective way. They do live show productions (national and international), work as consultants for record labels and publishing, and work as management and bookings. Rock City Argencia promote national and international circulation of artists (with touring and events) and specialize in developing artists to domestic and foreign markets, promoting cultural exchanges to diminish differences and contribute more to the scene.

OLIVER KNUST RESTUCCI – DISCOS RIO BUENO / FLUVIAL (CHILE)
Oliver is the director and founder of Chilean record label Discos Rio Bueno and booking agency La Union. He has worked with over twenty bands in the last couple of decades, including Astro, Como Asesinar a Felipes, Pedropiedra and Los Jaivas. More recently, Oliver was the founder and president of IMICHILE (Independent Music Industry Chile) which brings together leading companies in the Chilean independent music sector. He’s also the executive director of the Fluvial Music Conference and festival.

AUSTRALIAN TRADE MISSION SPEAKERS

ANDREW STONE – CHUGG MUSIC
Andrew Stone is the Head of Chugg Music, the Record Label and Management division of Chugg Entertainment. Chugg Music is the management and Australian record label of Sheppard, Deep Sea Arcade, Hey Geronimo, The Griswolds, Lime Cordiale and The Tambourine Girls, and management for Megan Washington, Major Leagues, and New Zealand act , Avalanche City.

Chugg Music artists have achieved multiple ARIA award wins and nominations, as well as #1 records in Australia and NZ, multi-platinum international sales (including the USA), as well as extensive national and international touring. Andrew is a board member of the Australia Independent Record Label’s Association (AIR) and an Executive Member of the Australian Association of Artist Managers (AAM).

ASHLEY GAY – XELON ENTERTAINMENT
Starting his music career as a radio DJ, Ashley’s first foray into the music industry was working with key Australian dance labels Pro-DJ & Central Station Records. Specialising in A&R he worked closely with the cream of local and international dance music artists as well as compiling and producing some of the most successful compilations in the market.

The arrival of the digital revolution allowed Ashley to combine his education in IT and computer science with his A&R skills to provide precise distribution solutions for the Australian dance music scene. As Founding Director, he established Xelon Entertainment in late 2007 enabling his clients access to the world’s digital music platforms.

In less than 10 years, Xelon has grown into a key industry player representing over 250 labels in all genres from specialist labels and& independent artists to the most prominent Australian and International dance music labels.

JAIME GOUGH – NATIVE TONGUE MUSIC PUBLISHING
Jaime is General Manager at Native Tongue Music Publishing, an independent music publisher with offices in Melbourne and Auckland. Building a reputation as one of the most proactive publishers in Australasia, Native Tongue have developed an impressive local roster including The Amity Affliction, Ali Barter, Courtney Barnett, Cut Copy, Oscar Dawson, The Drones, Elk Road, Gossling, Kingswood, Alex Lahey, Oh Mercy, The Waifs & Gin Wigmore. The company also has direct agreements with Elvis Presley Enterprises, NPG Publishing (Prince), Tom Waits, Roy Orbison, Electric Guest, Neon Indian, Purity Ring, St. Lucia, The Jesus & Mary Chain, and Spandau Ballet.

Jaime spent almost 4 years based in London expanding Native Tongue’s operations in the UK, European and US markets, before returning to Melbourne in 2013. Jaime is currently on the board of the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) and the Australian Music Publishers Association (AMPAL), and has served on the board for non-profit youth music organization The Push.

MAGGIE COLLINS – BIGSOUND
Maggie Collins is a festival programmer, artist manager and radio broadcaster. She is the Executive Programmer for BIGSOUND in Brisbane, she manages multi-ARIA Award winning party-thrash duo DZ Deathrays and with her radio hat on, she was Music Director at 4ZZZ before transitioning to triple j where she was a presenter for 6 years and is now presenting and producing for various shows across triple j Unearthed and Double J.

MATTHEW ROGERS – UNIFIED MUSIC GROUP
Matthew Rogers is the General Manager of UNIFIED Music Group, one of Australia’s fastest growing independent companies. As an entertainment lawyer he represented some of the most well- known Australian labels and artists. Mat now oversees Australia’s largest artist management group, a suite of online merchandise stores, a record label group including UNFD, ONETWO, NLV Records and Hopeless Records and an award winning boutique publishing catalogue. Mat’s passion for artists, music and the independent community is stronger than ever as he works with Australian artists both locally and internationally.

MONIQUE ROTHSTEIN – POSITIVE FEEDBACK
Founder of boutique PR and artist management agency, Positive Feedback; Monique Rothstein has been managing artists and running successful local and global campaigns for artists on her roster since 2009. Her PR roster has seen her work with the likes of Alison Wonderland, Beck, Little May, Nicholas Allbrook (POND), Troye Sivan, Tourist, Porter Robinson and SAFIA, with a focus on breaking artists using management strategy and long-term career planning.

Her previous incarnation saw her as head of PR and marketing for indie label Creative Vibes, looking after labels such as Stones Throw, One Little Indian and Tru Thoughts. Monique now co-manages indie outfit Little May who have performed at sold out shows across the US, UK and Europe and whose debut critically acclaimed album was recorded in NYC with Aaron Dessner (The National).

Monique sits on the board of Australian Artist Managers (AAM) and has been invited to speak at SXSW, Primavera Pro, BIGSOUND, EMC and Face The Music as well as mentoring for the likes of The Seed Fund, Sounds Australia and Bush Bands Business.

STUART ROGERS – SYDNEY FESTIVAL
Stuart Rogers is the Music Program Manager at Sydney Festival, Australia’s largest arts festival which for three3 weeks every January presents over 150 events featuring 1000 artists across a wide range of art forms. Sydney Festival attracts over 500,000 people to its large-scale free outdoor events and 150,000 to its ticketed program. Stuart is responsible for booking all styles of music from contemporary, jazz and classical to art and avant-guarde.

Stuart brings 20 years of experience managing artists and programming music and the performing arts in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Prior to taking up his current post at Sydney Festival two years ago, Stuart spent the previous dozen years in New York City where his artist management responsibilities included exclusive worldwide representation for Beth Orton, Ólafuröf Arnalds, Sam Amidon and Xylouris White. While in NYC, he programmed extensively for Scandinavia House, the Nordic Center in America.

Upon taking up his role at Sydney Festival, Stuart focused on bringing both legendary and up-and-coming performers from around South America. As a statement of intent, for the Festival’s free Summer Sounds opening show in 2015, Stuart presented an all-Brazilian lineup featuring Australian debuts for Seu Jorge, Karol Conka and DJ Beco Dranoff to an audience of 25,000.

WARREN COSTELLO – LIBERATION MUSIC
As Managing Director and co-founder of Liberation Music, Warren Costello has witnessed many notable wins for Mushroom Group artists in the last 12 months, notably The Rubens single Hoops topping the largest publicly voted music poll in the wWorld (the triple j Hottest 100) while Vance Joy had two tracks land on the same chart on the long tail of his 2014 debut #1 album.

Formed in 1999, Liberation Music is a dynamic and independent Australian label within the Michael Gudinski run Mushroom Group dedicated to signing, nurturing and developing some of the most exciting domestic artists for markets around the globe. Liberation’s roster also includes The Temper Trap, Dan Sultan, Mansionair, Julia Jacklin, D.D Dumbo and Slum Sociable to name a few.

Additionally, the label continues to work with iconic Australian artists such as Jimmy Barnes and Archie Roach (among others) and also proudly represents the most comprehensive Australian music catalogue in the country.

Further information on the ACDGP and grant recipients is available on the ACDGP website.

Photo: Courtney Barnett at Music Wins Festival, Buenos Aires. Photo courtesy of Jen Chloher