Power 50 - #1: Denis Handlin

If Sony had a swan song for 2017, it’d be Gang Of Youths’ enigmatic frontman David Le’aupepe singing it.

In 2013 the Sydney band formed a vital partnership, aligning their own Mosy Recordings with the Handlin-led Sony Music Australia. Their debut album, The Positions, was tracked in New York soon after, finished in Sydney and peaked at #5 on debut on the ARIA Albums Chart. They then made the most of a relocation to the US, touring extensively before knuckling down to work on what would become Go Farther In Lightness.

What has followed has been a defining year for the group, with the album tagged by critics as everything from “phenomenal” to a “magnum opus” and relentlessly five-starred. The mammoth 75-minute outing saw Gang Of Youths and Sony secure a coveted #1 position on the ARIA Albums Chart, rack up a whopping eight ARIA Award nominations and lay claim to three slots in the Top Ten of triple j’s Hottest 100 (#2, #5 and #10).

Come ARIA Awards night Nov 28, the five-piece were making trips to the podium almost every 15 minutes, collecting Best Rock Album, Producer Of The Year, Best Group, and most prestigious of all, the Apple Music Album Of The Year.

It wasn’t just Gang Of Youths that were cleaning up for Handlin and Sony though, with Amy Shark doing her part to wrap up a huge 2017 with awards for Breakthrough Artist and Best Pop Release off the back of her Night Thinker EP, Harry Styles winning out Best International Artist and Aussie legend Daryl Braithwaite taking his rightful place in the ARIA Hall Of Fame.

Also doing their bit for the Sony team were Peking Duk, with single Stranger (feat Elliphant) grabbing the Apple Music Song Of The Year, one of only nine Aussie acts that made it into the ARIA Top 100 Singles of 2017.

Another of those lucky nine was fellow Sony artist Jessica Mauboy, celebrating a year in the spotlight following the success of her television show, The Secret Daughter and the soulful single Fallin’. A rousing shared performance on the ARIAs stage with Peking Duk showcased another exciting chapter in this reality- star-turned-success story for Handlin and his team.

This hallmark year for Handlin is not a lucky case of backing the right horse at the right time to land at #1 (on the charts and the Power 50) however; it re ects the payoff of a long-term strategy implemented over the past ve years, putting real time and resources behind grassroots acts and sculpting their existing popstars to be more than just bullseye-or-bust chart propositions. The Australian arm of Sony Music is set to become a serious global force.

In line with that approach, there was another increase in the importance of A&R for the Sony team in 2017, with a close focus on developing up-and- coming Aussie talent, including the likes of The Belligerents, Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird, ADKOB, Tim Wheatley, Cosmo’s Midnight, Jess & Matt, and PLGRMS. As well as pushing this new talent, Sony were dedicated to expanding the reach of the older established acts on their roster like Pete Murray, Peter Garrett, John Farnham, Hoodoo Gurus and the beloved Daryl Braithwaite, whose 1990 smash hit Horses has seen an enormous resurgence.

In addition to another stellar 12 months for Sony’s longest serving staffer and his star-making team, Handlin was named as an Officer In The General Division “for distinguished service to the Australian recording industry” during the annual Queen’s Birthday honours.