Australian music’s biggest power brokers who turn songs and artists into global hits

Nothing gets the music industry more hyped than an artist bidding war. See who Australia’s music powerbrokers are.

Nothing gets the music industry more hyped than an artist bidding war.

Securing the next record deal for revered Australian rockers Gang of Youths has been a pitched battle among the new guard running the country’s major and indie labels.

Warner Music president Dan Rosen, who has steered an aggressive local artist acquisition campaign since he took on the role, poaching Jessica Mauboy and Illy from Sony, wanted the band.

Respected talent scout Mark Holland, the new boss at EMI, was also believed to have thrown his hat into the ring.

Vanessa Picken, who took over from industry stalwart Denis Handlin as Sony’s CEO, is rumoured to have won the fight to keep Gang of Youths and their imprint Mosy Recordings on her roster.

Every label dreamt of signing Gang of Youths when their contract came up this year. Picture: Supplied

The major global record companies and their Australian outposts may still have the bank to win the big deals but they face greater competition from independent labels, sometimes within their own organisations, who are perceived as being more artist-friendly and do the heavy lifting in developing new talent.

Rosen has taken a two-speed approach to building his Australian roster, wooing pop stars such as Mauboy and partnering with hip hop and R & B indies and hitmakers such as Matt Corby and The Rubens for new artist development.

Warner Music boss Dan Rosen poached Jessica Mauboy from Sony in late 2020. Picture: Supplied.

“Hip hop really is about culture so you need to be partnered with people who are part of the culture,” he said about his joint venture approach.

Nicole Richards, one of the new guard of executive women shaking up the industry boys’ club after her promotion as Universal’s managing director this year, celebrated huge success last week as one of her artists Baker Boy swept the 2022 ARIA Awards.

Richards points to Baker Boy’s success as demonstrating how Australian artists can cut through the noise of international releases by staying true to their own sound rather than chasing trends.

Former Island Records boss and now Universal Music Australia MD Nicole Richards. Picture: Supplied.

“Maybe ten years ago, we were still trying to convince our labels overseas that our domestic product had merit on the global stage. And now it’s different, you’ve got their ears,” Richards said.

The global success of artists from Tones and I to the Kid Laroi has talent spotters around the UK and US keeping an ear on Australian artists.

Universal’s A & R (artist and repertoire) manager Ally Cole spotted the potential in pop provocateur Peach PRC via her TikTok presence as the same time as one of her US colleagues, so they did the deal together.

Cole said gone are the days when labels could “create” artists.

Island senior A & R scout Ally Cole with Peach PRC and those plaques labels love. Picture: Supplied.

“If you don’t have a unique voice, something unique to say, if you don’t know your brand, if you aren’t willing to talk to your fans, people are probably going to go find another artist that they feel like they can connect with more,” Cole said.

Also under the Universal umbrella is the EMI team, led by artist whisperer Mark Holland who steered Troye Sivan’s entry to the pop world and guides a respected team of talent scouts including A & R lead Heather O’Brien and Helena Ho.

EMI A & R manager Helena Ho (right) with Cat and Calmell. Picture: Supplied.

Ho works with Cat & Calmell, one of the most exciting Australia pop duos to emerge since The Veronicas and said EMI maintains more of an indie philosophy to developing local talent.

“Bidding wars still happen in the industry but we’re selective with who we sign and we won’t jump in unless we’re obsessed with you and you’re obsessed with us,” she says.

But the greatest challenge which still faces Australian artists isn’t who to sign with but how to get their music heard as they continue to battle geoblocks and algorithm anxiety induced by streaming services and social media platforms.

Mushroom Group’s Chris Maund said investment in new Australian artists has been hit by the decline in streaming numbers for emerging talent as it is dominated by a handful of major pop stars and old hits.

Mia Wray is one of the priority artists for Mushroom boss Matt Gudinski. Picture: NCA.

“The very popular streaming playlists from which people stream songs and discover artists are programmed from outside of Australia and as such, it’s very hard for Australian artists to get added to those,” he says.

Wonderlick Entertainment’s co-founder Stu MacQueen, whose label with partner Gregg Donovan under the Sony umbrella features Amy Shark, Montaigne and Josh Pyke, said winning the “algorithm lottery” was a seemingly insurmountable challenge for Australian artists.

The music industry has been advocating for streaming services to be forced to introduce similar local content quotas to those legislated for radio stations in an attempt to level the playing field.

Amy Shark and manager husband Shane Billings who has launched his own indie label.

“Labels are increasingly looking to TikTok to try to bring order to the chaos of the sheer volume of music out there right now as a tool for discovering new music to sign as well as promoting the music their acts are releasing,” MacQueen says.

“But when you’ve got something as inherently unpredictable as TikTOk, it’s pretty challenging for artists to build sustainable careers.

“You see so many acts win the algorithmic lottery but then are not able to sustain that momentum.”

Australian labels are not only in competition with each other to sign the next big thing but with American scouts who have deeper pockets as was the case with The Kid Laroi, whose record deal was done out of the US where he is based.

UNIFIED boss Jaddan Comerford on the “long hard road” with Vance Joy. Picture: Supplied.

Jaddan Comerford, who set up the UNIFIED Music Group in 2011 after running his own rock label as a teenager, also helms a management division which includes Vance Joy, Illy and Boy and Bear, said the good news is more Australian artists are breaking overseas than ever.

“I remember when I first went to America in about 2003, it was all about Jet and The Vines and Wolfmother but they were few and far between in terms of Australian artists being over there and even able to talk to US labels,” he said.

“It is completely true that American and British labels have their eyes on Australia but I wouldn’t want that to cloud our view of just how much hard work there is to get to the level of Vance Joy or Tame Impala or Flume. It’s a long, long hard road and it can take 10 years.”

THE 2022 AUSTRALIAN MUSIC STAR MAKERS

The Major Starmakers

Warner

Warner president Dan Rosen embarked on an aggressive Australian artist and label acquisition strategy as soon as he got the gig in 2020, after a decade as ARIA CEO. He wooed Jess Mauboy from Sony, got Masked Wolf on the rise, backed rising soul star Budjerah and has a raft of joint ventures with grassroots hip hop labels.

Talent scouts: Paul Harris heads up a formidable team including Marcus Thaine, Larissa Ryan, Christopher Kevin Au and artist whisperer consultant Mohamed Komba.

Listen To: Budjerah, Thelma Plum, Daine, Kita Alexander.

Warner Music’s Dan Rosen and A & R head Paul Harris signed a deal with Rainbow Valley Records’ Matt Corby and Alex Henriksson (on screen). Picture: Supplied.

Universal

The management shake-up at Universal now has Nicole Richards in charge of the eclectic roster built by former MD Michael Taylor on the Island Records imprint; Island’s Baker Boy swept the 2022 ARIAs. Over at EMI, A & R guru Mark Holland was elevated to run the label he has helped to stack with awesome local musicians.

Talent scouts: Heather O’Brien heads up the EMI team which includes Helena Ho while Ally Cole is the senior A & R lead at Island records.

Listen to: Gretta Ray, Peach PRC, Cat & Calmell, Charlie Collins.

Sony

Since the departures of former CEO Denis Handlin and talent scout son Pat last year, the local Sony arm has been quiet on the A & R front. Respected music industry executive Vanessa Picken is now in charge and will no doubt be on the acquisition hunt in 2023. Their joint venture label Wonderlick enjoyed ongoing success with Amy Shark and Montaigne.

Talent scouts: Alexander Franco, Marietta Ouzas (signed Tones and I).

Listen to: May-A, Ruel, Ashwarya, Jerome Farah.

The Indie Starmakers

Mushroom

Matt Gudinski and label head Chris Maund oversee the respected Mushgroup Group collection of labels including Liberation, Bloodlines, I Oh You and Ivy League.

Talent Scout: Ivy League’s Marihuzka Cornelius is cited widely as an excellent talent spotter.

Listen to: Julia Jacklin, Mia Wray, WILSN, Andy Golledge.

Future Classic

The label that Flume built, steered by co-founder Nathan McLay, has continued to back electronic and pop artists who can do it all from writing to producing.

Talent scouts: McLay and artist manager Dan Zilber.

Listen to: Sycco, G Flip, Hayden James, Flight Facilities

Rapper, writer, actor Briggs has built one of the best First Nation artist rosters in the country. Picture: Supplied.

Bad Apples

Briggs juggles his myriad music, TV and writing projects with fostering the careers of a first class roster of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander talent signed to his Bad Apples label.

Talent scout: The rapper is driven to elevate Australia’s emerging Indigenous musicians.

Listen to: Barkaa, Kobie Dee, Alice Skye, Nooky.

ABC

As both the Head of Music and Events and first woman to chair the ARIA board, Natalie Waller is a classic artist-first label boss with a knack for bringing people and ideas together as exemplified by The Wiggles’ smash ReWiggled.

Talent Scouts: Basil Cook, Peta Chew.

Listen to: Dami Im, Little Quirks, William Crighton

UNIFIED

Jaddan Comerford set up his first indie label when he was 17 and 21 years later he helms the UNIFIED Music Group with a management roster including Vance Joy and Illy, a successful rock label and tour and merchandise offshoots.

Talent scouts: Comerford, GM Ash Hill and international artist spotters.

Listen to: Slowly Slowly, The Rions, Yours Truly, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers.

Veteran Aussie music champion Michael Chugg and country music tastemaker Dan Biddle celebrate Casey Barnes’ ARIA win last week. Picture: Getty.

Chugg Music

The legendary Aussie music legend Michael Chugg and his label head Andrew Stone are the “never take no for an answer” force for their stable of artists.

Talent Scouts: Chugg and Stone’s creative teamwork with Lime Cordiale set them up for a long career.

Artists: Casey Barnes, Mia Rodriguez, Teenage Dads.

The Behind The Scenes Starmakers

Hitmakers: Some of the leading talent developers in the business include longtime mates Andrew Klippel and Todd Wagstaff (Genesis Owusu, Royel Otis), PNAU’s Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes (Lab78), Christian Lo Russo (May-A) and Jarrad Rogers (Ashwarya, Jacotene). Shane Billings (Amy Shark’s partner) has also launched a new indie label RageMore.

Genesis Owusu with Andrew Klippel, the talent developer with the Midas touch. Picture: Instagram.

Producers: The studio gurus who write and produce the hits include Jon Hume, Dann Hume, Sarah Aarons, Pip Norman, Robby De Sa, Alex Hope and Chris Collins.

Media: TikTok, Triple J Unearthed, Spotify.

Global showcase: The first SXSW Sydney in October next year, led by A & R veteran Colin Daniels, will bring all the big international tastemakers to town to check out our artists.

Originally published as Australian music’s biggest power brokers who turn songs and artists into global hits