John O'Donnell has worked in the Australian music industry for almost 20 years. After a period as a freelance writer, he joined Rolling Stone Magazine as Music Editor in 1988. In the early 90s he co-founded and was the original Editor of Juice Magazine. In 1994, he joined Sony Music to begin the Murmur label and went on to sign a range of acts including Silverchair, Jebediah and Something For Kate. In 2002, he joined EMI Australia and was appointed Managing Director in July of that year. More recently, he has been promoted to CEO of EMI Australasia. In addition to his duties as a Board Member of ARIA, John is also the Chairman of PPCA (Phonographic Performance Company of Australia). John is currently telling people his favourite album of all time is a split vote between Neil Young's "Tonight's The Night" and Fionn Regan's "The End Of History".
Colin Daniels started in the music industry as an international product manager for importer Mds. Moving into A&R in the early 90s, Daniels helped set up Mushroom Records UK before returning back to Australia to be GM at the rapidly growing Mds. Towards the turn of the millennium Daniels became Head of A&R for EMI Australia then moved on to become Director of A&R for EMI Europe. In August 07 Daniels joined independent music group Inertia as its Managing Director.
Philip Mortlock has been integrally involved in Australian music for close to 30years having started out designing record covers & commissioning music videos for bands like Cold Chisel, Mondo Rock and INXS. Philip worked with Australian and international artists and repertoire through close to 17 years in various roles within Warner Music before moving out in 1993 to form the ORiGiN Music Group which comprises publishing, copyright administration, project management and a record label. Artists on the ORiGiN roster now include Diana Anaid, James Morrison, Sarah McGregor, Lazaro's Dog, Smoky Dawson, Rogue Traders, Graeham Goble, Harry Vanda, Barry Humphries, Eric McCusker, Paul Grabowsky, Dorothy Porter, Jenny Morris, TELEK, Garry Frost, Zephyr, Scott Tinkler, The Basics and many more. Philip has been integrally involved in the machinations of the ARIA Awards since its inception and is also a board member of ARIA and AIR.
In the early 70’s, Sebastian Chase started in the industry as an artist manger with the Band Of Light, Dragon and Buffalo. Together with Peter Wells he founded Rose Tattoo and managed them. Around the mid 70’s, all at the same time, he found himself managing Cold Chisel, Rose Tatto and Dragon. Then The Reels. In the early 80’s, Sebastian put a stop to his management career to establish Chase Records, in partnership with CBS (Now Sony BMG). The label, as well as signing its own Australian artists – was a pioneer at offering major distribution to other independent labels such as Survival Records…. Laying the seeds of what MGM Distribution does now.
In 1988 Sebastian moved to establish rooArt Records together with Chris Murphy & Justin Van Stom. The label had offices in London, New York and Sydney – and artists such as – Ratcat, Wendy Matthews, Tall Tales & True, Sean Kelly, The Trilobites and Martha’s Vineyard.
Sebastian left rooArt at the end of the 90’s and not long after became a Partner in Phantom Records and soon had success with Def FX and The Whitlams and more currently Switchkicker & Irratic. In partnership with Tim Freidman from The Whitlams, the Black Yak label was also founded featuring Iota and Pre-Shrunk. In the late 90’s, due to the demise of Mds, Sebastian started MGM Distribution – now Australia’s most diverse distributor of Australian music and working with many indie artists including John Butler, The Waifs, The Beautiful Girls and The Panics.
Michael Chugg is considered to be a pioneer of the Australian music industry having over 40 years experience in organising and promoting international artists. Michael Chugg Entertainment was formed in 2000 and since then has promoted and toured hundreds International artists. Some of these acts include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Better Midler, Elton John, Dixie Chicks, R.E.M., Mark Knopfler, The Who, Radiohead, John Mayer, Coldplay and Robbie Williams. In the recent years, Michael Chugg has been awarded numerous accolades included Helpmann Awards for the Better Midler “Kiss My Brass Tour” and the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival two years running. In May 2005, Chugg was named the recipient of the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music at the annual APRA Awards.
In early March 2006, Michael Chugg was named the Promoter of The Year at the International Live Music Conference (ILMC) awards in London, and in June was awarded the Gentleman Jack award at the 3rd Annual Jack Awards for his service to live music in Australia.
Viv has worked in the Australian entertainment community since she left uni at age 20 where she began her career as an assistant publicist at Festival Records. She eventually became the first female NSW promotions manager at Festival before being poached to work as the manager’s assistant for The Cruel Sea. During this time she started handling national event publicity for the Big Day Out – a job she kept for 13 years.
Viv went on to form her own boutique publicity company Fantin Comes Alive which has represented major touring events such as Livid, Splendour In The Grass, Homebake and BDO in addition to handling publicity duties for a number of Australian and international touring artists which include Powderfinger, Henry Rollins, The Living End, Lou Reed, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many, many more. Viv also handles publicity for some of the biggest music award events in Australia – namely the APRA Music Awards, the ARIA Awards and the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Paul Mac is one of the leading figures in Australian electronic music.
He's a conservatorium graduate and a multi ARIA award winner for his work with underground dance pioneers Itchee & Scratchee and for his own solo work. He's scored music for films and TV and his remixes of acts like Powderfinger, Gorillaz and Silverchair have established him as this country's pre-eminent remixer.
Paul's acclaimed gold selling debut solo album "3000 Feet High" was released in August 2001. It featured the gold selling anthem "Just The Thing" (featuring vocals by Peta Morris) which was a #1 multi format hit. This was followed by the top 5 airplay smash "The Sound Of Breaking Up" (also featuring vocals by Peta Morris).
In late 2005 Paul released his much anticipated sophomore solo album. Titled PANIC ROOM the album was written and produced by Paul in his Sydney inner city home studio. This first single, "Sunshine Eyes" debuted in the national top 30 and the album's club tracks ("Panic Room" & "It's Not Me, It's You") both achieved top 10 in the national dance charts.
Paul has received many accolades and awards including "Producer of the Year" and "Outstanding Contribution to Dance" at the Australian Dance Music Awards. He was also voted "Dance Artist of the Year" in Rolling Stone's Readers Poll in 2001 and 2006. He's received 2 ARIA awards and the 2001 APRA award for "Most Performed Dance Work". To Add to this impressive list Paul's collaboration with Daniel Johns, The Dissociatives, received 6 ARIA nominations in 2004.
Damian is the Managing Director of Sony/ATV Music Publishing and a former Chairperson of Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited. (AMCOS). Damian is also a Director of Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited (AMPAL) and Australasian Performing Right Association Limited. (APRA)
After joining CBS Records in 1981, he held various positions including Local Artist Marketing Manager and National Promotions Manager. In 1990 he was appointed General Manager East West Records before returning to Sony in 1991start up Sony Music Publishing.
Keith began his music industry career as a founding member of the band Icehouse after which he managed artists, staged events and ran an indie label. He is currently co-publisher of The Music Network, Australia’s influential weekly music/record/radio/retail trade magazine and a partner in Rough Cut Music Publishing (Evermore, Kisschasy, Savage Garden, Darren Hayes, Small Mercies, The Butterfly Effect). He also operates an entertainment consultancy which provides services to entertainment enterprises wishing to gain income via their artists, products or services in the Australian market. His experience in running entertainment businesses and developing artists careers has led him to work extensively in the US, Canadian and UK markets.
Bill Cullen is the Managing Director director of One Louder Entertainment, the management home to End Of Fashion, Paul Kelly and Sarah Blasko. He is also a Director of the PPCA, and has been instrumental in the establishment of the Association of Artist Managers (AAM).
