AMID Power 50: The Ones To Watch

Michael Gudinski was yesterday acknowledged as the most powerful person in the Australian music industry in the AMID Power 50, available in the Australasian Music Industry Directory (out now) — but not everyone can make the 50.

Veterans such as Gudinski and including Michael Chugg and Denis Handlin have built careers over decades, but there are newcomers with fresh approaches and innovations.

Those who are established can have quiet years, great initiatives that are just not quite yet proven, or the exceptional achievements of others can often keep someone out off the top 50.

There's a lot of talent in the music industry — and this list could be exceptionally long — but here's a selection of names from the current Australasian Music Industry Directory that we think are worth noting:

Ones To watch

Jesse Barbera: Adopted Queenslander adds The Blurst Of Times festival to his venue and management portfolio.

Dave Batty: Runs the Melbourne office of the Artist Voice agency after merging in his own Custom Made.

George Brandis: Has the ability to revolutionise the copyright climate if he chooses to.

Greg Carey/Joel Connolly: Have The Rubens and Jane Tyrrell on their management roster, who could both have big 2015s.

Damo Costin: Building a young but productive roster of artists after setting up his own shop with the 123 Agency.

Tom Huggett/Lee Danilewitz/Vichara Edirisinghe: Astral People is moving from strength-to-strength, its management roster bolstered by the OutsideIn festival.

Gregg Donovan/Stu MacQueen: Big international year for their Wonderlick management clients Boy & Bear, and Holy Holy are signed to their label joint venture with Sony. A slew of promising young signings to both divisions as well.

Nick Findlay: Working closely with Richard Kingsmill as Assistant Music Director at triple j.

Travis Grech: Shaping one of Sydney’s top clubs Marquee, young DJs are desperate to get on his radar.

Sharlene Harris: Entertainment Manager at the ALH Group of venues is helping bring live music back to the suburbs.

Tom Harris: One of the top accountants in the music business with a client list anyone would be proud of.

Julian Hewitt: Emerging as one of the country’s most trusted legal minds for creatives.

Mark Holland: Pulled off one of the finest piece of A&R-ing in recent times with the sly signing of Troye Sivan to EMI.

Kathryn Holloway: Helping maintain Groovin The Moo as the success it is and rolling out other Cattleyard programs.

Adam Lewis: Booked one of Sydney’s best venues in GoodGod (is now at Opera Bar) and has built the Secret Garden festival into a cult essential.

Luke Logemann: An integral part of the formidable Unified operation.

Woody McDonald: The music director behind the much loved Meredith and Golden Plains festivals.

Evelyn Morris: Emerged as an important voice for the advocacy of females in the music industry.

Chris Murray: His business background has done Falcona well, with the company now boasting DMA’s, Alison Wonderland on their management roster – alongside their other interests.

Alex Paioff/Luke Whelan: The WA Pilerats blog, magazine, label and more is going the same way of their successful peers on the east coast

Mark Poston: Was well and truly in the running until he left his post as head of Parlophone at Warner.

Aaron Rutter/Paul Fletcher: JumpClimb is part of the ‘next wave’ of Perth industry and the event promoters and bookers are making a solid niche for themselves

Dan Sant: Won the race to be Lorde’s agent and is playing a large role in shaping the Harbour Agency moving forward.

Andrew Stone: One of the key drivers behind Chugg Music, has done a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to managing Sheppard and others.

Ben Thompson: The restructure of Corner Presents has given him the start of a really impressive east coast booking path.

Damien Trotter: Still a major player in the publishing game, edged out by others who had exceptional years.

Kate Vale: Spotify is starting to make an impact as other streaming services fall by the wayside.

Stephen Wade: One of the consistent booking agents in the country with his Select Music company.

John Watson: One of the country’s top managers, doing it again with Dustin Tebbutt’s steady build.

Nick Yates: Brought Violent Soho to the fore of the Australian scene, has picked up new management clients as well.