Power 50 - #5: George Ash

Hey, we’re not alone in thinking George Ash is up the pointy end of the music business world. Industry bible Billboard named him as one of its 53 international power players in 2017 driving industry success outside of the United States. After a previous year which saw Universal expand beyond releasing music by launching an ad agency and opening a recording studio, it seemed the past 12 months was focused on the tunes.

In the last year some of Universal’s big guns have returned with new albums, with sets from the likes of Taylor Swift, U2, Drake, Shania Twain, Lorde, Jay Z, Jack Johnson, Imagine Dragons and more. Oh, and Kendrick Lamar, for whom the accolades came thick and fast, namely topping triple j’s Hottest 100 with HUMBLE. and winning four Grammys (all genre- based mind you, but the less said about Bruno Mars winning Album Of The Year, the better). Hell, Lamar even topped The Music Writers’ Poll for artist and album of the year, which is surely the rst line on his current CV, right?

On the local front, Universal had a strong year thanks to new albums from artists such as Thundamentals, The Preatures and Vera Blue. Grinspoon returned with a vengeance, releasing a 20th anniversary edition of their debut Guide To Better Living, which ended up charting higher than it did two decades ago. The McClymonts also had a strong run, recently picking up three Golden Guitar Awards in January, including Country Music Album Of The Year for Endless. Dean Lewis too made, um, waves with his Same Kind Of Waves EP.

Universal had a strong showing in ARIA’s end of year charts too. They had four of the top ten singles in 2017 (not bad considering another four were Ed Sheeran alone), and four of the top ten albums. Further highlighting their strength on the Australian front, the top three Australian singles all had Universal connections. And when Ed Sheeran wasn’t #1 on the ARIA albums chart throughout 2017, albums from Universal related acts topped the chart for ten weeks.

On the business side of things, industry deals included Universal teaming up with Melbourne-based dance music label Teamwrk and famed German label ECM (Edition Of Contemporary Music).

2018 should also keep Ash busy, with new albums expected to drop from Universal acts ScHoolboy Q, Troye Sivan, James Bay, Post Malone, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Middle Kids, Alison Wonderland and more.