The Power 50: Jaime Gough & Matt Tanner

Jaime Gough got his start at Mayday Management in the early 2000s, working with artists like The Go-Betweens, Renee Geyer and more. In 2002, Gough joined Mana Music Publishing - which was founded by his dad Chris ahead of founding Native Tongue Music Publishing - which saw him take on the role of Assistant Music Supervisor. In 2004, Gough joined Native Tongue working his way from Copyright & Royalties Manager to Managing Director. 

Matt Tanner worked as a tour manager in Japan in the early ‘90s before returning to Australia and starting Milefire Management in 1999 and then Casadeldisco Records in 2002. Tanner joined Native Tongue in 2010 as Creative & A&R Director, being promoted to Head Of Creative Services in 2017. 

Native Tongue - led by Jaime Gough and Matt Tanner - saw another impressive year. The publishing company grew its roster with the addition of writers like Dan Luscombe, Hollow Coves, Laura Jane Lowther (Kučka), Gab Strum (Japanese Wallpaper), JessB and more. Ben Stewart (Slowly Slowly, CONGRATS) announced his deal with the group in August, saying at the time that, “I love the people at Native Tongue and their ethos to songwriting. It’s a community I am proud to be a part of and I feel they care about my development as an artist - not just my output.”

Native Tongue also extended deals with Concord Music (which includes artists like George Harrison, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Marilyn Manson), as well as Roy Orbison Music and Barton Music (Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin). 

Releases from Native Tongue artists in 2019 included Alex Lahey, Ali Barter, Dyson Stringer Cloher, Hayley Mary, Robert Forster and more, while songwriter Stuart Crichton celebrated a US #1 album for his work on Backstreet Boys’ DNA - their first Billboard #1 in nearly 20 years. 

Native Tongue expanded their team with two new additions in September, including Denise Sharp who joined to expand the company’s sync services. 

"For us, 2019 was a great year that saw Stuart Crichton continuing to cement himself as a powerhouse writer/producer, co-writing & producing a US #1 album with Backstreet Boys, along with hits for Kesha, Robin Schulz, The Chainsmokers and Oliver Heldens. Kon Kersting riding a wave of incredible writing and production with the likes of Mallrat and Tones & I, saw him working all over the world, and we also saw the emergence of Tim Tan as a writing force in the K-pop world.

"We saw amazing local releases from the likes of Courtney Barnett, Alex Lahey, Robert Forster, Tia Gostelow, Aldous Harding and JessB to name a few, and we welcomed some incredible new writers to the roster including Kučka, Ben Stewart (Slowly Slowly), Tim Tan, Marc Hunter (Dragon), Gab Strum (Japanese Wallpaper) and NZ’s hip hop phenom, JessB."