Power 50 - #5: Tom Mee & Alicia Sbrugnera

BACKGROUND CHECK

Armed with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Auckland University Of Technology and two years experience in the music industry in New Zealand, Tom Mee accepted a digital marketing position at Warner Music Australia in 2012 before moving to Universal Music Australia in 2014 to become Strategic Repertoire Manager. He started working at Spotify in the role of Manager, Artist & Label Services in 2016, while undertaking an MBA at Macquarie Graduate School Of Management (MGSM).

Alicia Sbrugnera graduated from SAE Institute Sydney with a Diploma In Audio Engineering before getting her start in the music industry in 2006 as Radio & Chart Manager at The Music Network. After working various programming jobs at Mood Media, MTV Networks Australia/NZ, Fox International and Foxtel's music channels, Sbrugnera accepted a Senior Editor position at Spotify in 2015.

THE YEAR THAT WAS

Thanks to an increasing focus on educating artists and managers on how they can use Spotify to connect with fans and leverage data, it's now widely accepted that the streaming platform can play a vital role in breaking artists on a global scale. The Artist & Label Marketing team sit at the centre of an artist's campaign on Spotify, with Mee leading the charge in Australia/NZ. 2018 saw Mee and his colleagues working closely with 5 Seconds Of Summer, and their team, to develop a global marketing campaign that saw the band's Youngblood album debut at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart. Last year also saw Spotify's largest ever investment in local off-platform marketing initiatives for artists at all stages of their careers such as Ruel, Tash Sultana, Paul Kelly and Troye Sivan.

As Head Of Shows & Editorial last year, Sbrugnera spearheaded Spotify Australia's first playlist live event, Front Left Live, which was attended by more than 1000 music-lovers. In terms of local artist success stories, Spotify Australia/NZ have been big supporters of Dean Lewis since he released his debut EP in 2017 and last year Lewis' Be Alright single reached #1 on multiple Spotify charts. 2018 triple j Unearthed High winner KIAN has also been on Spotify Australia/NZ's radar since 2016, when he was unsigned. Initially supported through Spotify's New Music Friday playlist, KIAN's track Waiting - sitting at 28 million streams at the time of writing - was added globally and is now growing steadily in the US and German markets. 

2018'S CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT?

Mee: "With numerous success stories ranging from 5 Seconds Of Summer reaching #2 on our Australian 2018 Wrapped [Most Streamed Tracks] list to RUFUS DU SOL becoming a major global electronic act, we fostered success for Australian/NZ artists locally and internationally. We did this by working closely with our industry partners and our global Spotify network on marketing campaigns and artist development."

Sbrugnera: "Front Left Live. I am proud that we were able to showcase a progressive line-up, unique collaborations from local artists on stage for the first time and bring international headliner King Princess to our shores for her first Australian show."