This week CIMA will be conducting our third incoming mission, this time targeting Australia and the Australian market. CIMA, in partnership with Sounds Australia & the ECMA’s, will be flying in 8 Australian business delegates from various sectors of the music industry in Australia. The purpose of the mission is for the export-ready Canadian music industry to learn about the Australian market.
The mission will run from May 2-5, 2019 in Charlottetown, PEI and will be in partnership with the ECMA’s. The Australian delegation will participate in the programming during the ECMA’s and will meet with Canadian delegates for the renowned Export Buyers Program.
Delegates will also participate in:
– Live from Australia – Touring Down Under! presented by CIMA and Sounds Australia
– Live from America – Touring Beyond the WALL! presented by CIMA
– Live from Europe – Touring Across the Pond! presented by CIMA
– Export Training Pitching Workshop presented by CIMA
CIMA would like to thank Global Affairs Canada for their support through their CanExport – Association program as well as our partners Sounds Australia and the ECMA’s.
Get to know the Australian delegation:
ASHLEY GAY – XELON ENTERTAINMENT
xelonentertainment.com
Starting his music career over 20 years ago, Ashley’s first foray into the music industry was working with key Australian dance labels Pro-DJ & Central Station Records working closely with the cream of local and international dance music artists & compiling/producing some of the most successful compilations in various territories. As Founding Director, he established Xelon Entertainment in late 2007 to enable clients access to the world’s digital music platforms. 10 years on, Xelon has grown into a key industry player representing over 300 labels in all genres from specialist labels & independent artists to the most prominent Australian and International dance music labels.
EMILY ULMAN – BRUNSWICK MUSIC FESTIVAL/ CHANGES
Brunswickmusicfestival.com.au
changes.melbourne
Emily Ulman is a talented venue booker, producer, publicist, entertainment manager, musician, radio presenter, podcast enthusiast, AFL Western Bulldogs fanatic and highly respected contributor to the local music community of Melbourne, Australia. For over 18 years Ulman has curated stages and shows at venues across Melbourne, notably The Prince Bandroom, The Gasometer Hotel, The Toff in Town, Boney, The Kelvin Club and The Post Office Hotel. She has also produced special events including the first ever-live music program for White Night Melbourne in 2013 and The Fitz Ritz in 2017. She is currently the programmer for the Brunswick Music Festival and is the newly appointed programmer for CHANGES summit to be held on 3rd and 4th July 2019 at The Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne, Australia.
GRAHAM “ASHO” ASHTON – FOOTSTOMP MUSIC / HOTA HOME OF THE ARTS
Footstompmusic.com
Asho left home and school at an early age to sing in punk rock bands and quickly realized that it was better for everybody that he stayed on the other side of the stage. In the 90’s he managed bands and started up the indie label Emily Records. Asho annoyed everyone in the Brisbane music scene for a few years before getting a start in the call centre at Polygram Records in 1991. He spent the next two decades working at independent and major record labels in Brisbane and Sydney and has held positions in A&R, Marketing, Promotions, Publicity, International Licensing and Sales. 2010 started with Footstomp Music launching as a music services company specializing in artist, project and event management, label services and artist development. Footstomp currently manage BUSBY MAROU, TIA GOSTELOW, EDEN MULHOLLAND and COLIN LILLIE. Footstomp have also been proudly taking care of the booking, marketing and publicity for Brisbane’s number one venue The Triffid since it opened in 2014. Footstomp also take care of the publicity for their favourite labels Nonesuch and Park The Van for Australia and New Zealand. Asho scored the great coup as Executive Programmer for BIGSOUND and was part of the team that delivered the most successful events in BIGSOUNDS 12 year history. He has since found himself speaking at events such as SXSW, CMJ, Canadian Music Week and the New Zealand Global Music Summit and takes great pleasure in sharing his passion for music.
Asho is proud to have worked closely with hundreds of artists including the likes of MUMFORD & SONS, AMY SHARK, ROBBIE WILLIAMS, POWDERFINGER, THE LIVING END, PAUL KELLY and THE GO-BETWEENS. He is getting more obsessed about music with age.
LARRY HEATH – HEATH MEDIA / EMBASSY MUSIC PUBLISHING
heathmedia.com.au
embassy-music-publishing
Larry Heath is the Director of Heath Media, an Australian publishing and events company who run the National Live Music Awards in Australia, curate a series of live music events and foundedthe AU review in 2008. Having recently celebrated their 10th Birthday, the website is one of Australia’s most popular and longest running music & lifestyle publications. In addition, Larry is the A&R Manager for Australia & New Zealand of Music Sales / Embassy Music Publishing, signing and working with an international roster of songwriters.
JESSICA NICHOLLS – METROPOLITAN GROOVE MERCHANTS
thegroovemerchants.com
Jessica Nicholls is general manager at Metropolitan Groove Merchants (MGM). With offices in both Nashville (USA) and Sydney (Australia), MGM is a full-service, global independent distribution and artist management company. After graduating from Sydney Institute in 2010, Jess began working with media partnerships company Peer Group Media before transitioning into a 5 year stint as an artist manager at Parallel Management. Her position at Parallel saw Jess have a heavy focus in the dance music world working closely with ARIA Award winning duo The Presets. During this time Parallel also operated an imprint label Fine Time Records (Ingrid Michaelson, High Highs) under Sony Music. Jess also worked sporadically throughout this period with Penny Drop Touring (Grimes, Dirty Projectors, First Aid Kit). Her work saw her jump on tour throughout North America with artists, which resulted in her decision to uproot and relocate to Nashville in 2015. It is at this point that Jess accepted her current position with MGM, maintaining her artist management work by bringing her client The Vines to the company and continuing to pick up new development artists in this territory to work with globally. At MGM, Jess also has a heavy focus on independent music distribution (both physical and digital) and label services, implementing a hands on approach and nurturing relationships with managers and also self-managed artists – an ethos on which the company was built over 20 years ago. Not only is MGM the largest distributor of Australian music, they are now excited to expand globally bringing in genre-spanning catalog from all over the world.
MATTHEW THOMSON– NICHE PRODUCTIONS
nicheproductions.com.au
Matt Thomson is a Promoter and Booking Agent at Niche Productions based in Sydney, Australia. Operating for over 15 years, Niche Productions’ artist roster includes Fat Freddy’s Drop, Hiatus Kaiyote, SAFIA, Winston Surfshirt and more, as well as touring international artists such as Jon Hopkins, Badbadnotgood, Bonobo and FKJ to name a few. Passionate about fostering emerging talent, Matt has been instrumental in guiding the careers of not only Australian artists such as CXLOE, REMI and Winston Surfshirt, but also promoting international artists in Australia and New Zealand. In 2017 Matt was also Lead Programmer for Sydney’s Electronic Music Conference that included panelists and artists like Andrew Weatherall, Dr. Adam Winstock, Amsterdam’s Night Mayor,Mirik Milan.
NATASHA HADDAD – SECRET SOUNDS
Secretsounds.com
A Senior Promoter with Secret Sounds Australia, Natasha Haddad has 15 years global experience in touring and festival programming across the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and USA.Secret Sounds is the producer of festivals such as Splendour in the Grass, The Falls Music and Arts Festivals and Download Australia. It is also proud to present a host a wide range of artist tours including George Ezra, The 1975, Mumford and Sons, Jungle, Father John Misty, Lana Del Rey, Maribou State, Jungle, Interpol, Khalid, Bob Moses, The Streets, SZA, Tyco, Anna Calvi, Ben Howard and many more.
TOM LARKIN – VVV MGMT / SHIHAD / BIGSOUND / HOMESURGERY RECORDINGS
vvvmgmt.com
homesurgeryrecordings.com
shihad.com
New Zealand Born but now Australian based, Tom Larkin has been a career musician for the past 30 years, as the founding member of the NZ rock band Shihad.
Shihad have
· Sold over 330,000 Records worldwide
· Secured 2 x Gold albums and 6 x ARIA award nominations in Australia
· In New Zealand have 9 x Platinum albums and hold the outright record for most chart hits (44), the most Number #1 albums (5), the most NZ music Award nominations and wins
· The band have toured with acts like Black Sabbath, Faith No More, Guns & Roses, Metallica, Korn, Tool and in December 2015 played to over 70,000 people as part of their fourth tour with AC/DC since 1991
Having established a base in Melbourne since 2003, Tom is the founder of the newly minted VVV MGMT – a artist management company formed with 123 Agency Director Damian Costin within the 123 MEG Group. VVV MGMT are responsible for overseeing the careers of Dear Seattle, Kingswood, Devin Abrams (Writer / Producer) The VANNS, , Eliza & The Delusionals, Between You & Me, Woodlock, Villainy, City Of Souls & Decades. Over the last decade, Tom has carved out a niche as an artist developer with his work as a producer and owner of HOMESURGERY RECORDINGS, A project studio with a fearsome reputation based in the inner city suburb of Brunswick, and in 2018 was recently been appointed as the Conference Programmer for BIGSOUND – now the largest and most significant music conference in Australia. Based in Brisbane for the past 16 years and produced by Q Music, it currently attracts over 160 performing acts and 1,500 delegates and key industry buyers from UK, USA, South Korea, Mexico, China, Norway and France alongside a significant New Zealand and Australian contingent.
