The Power 50: Marion Briand

Marion Briand got her start interning as a junior account manager at Ogilvy & Mather in Paris before joining Atos Origin. In 2011, Briand joined Google in Ireland working as a media consultant for finance and travel clients, moving to Sydney to take on the role of Key Account Manager for consumer package goods clients (beauty, luxe, food) in 2014. Briand was promoted to her Music Manager role with YouTube Music in July 2017. 

YouTube Music is growing worldwide and the Australian market - led by Marion Briand - is no different. The streaming giant saw a 60% growth in paid subscribers globally in 2019, resulting in a total 20 million memberships to the music platform. What does that mean for Australian artists? A whole lot if you look at some of the artists Briand worked with over the year. Briand works to showcase Australian talent around the world, which in 2019 saw her working on a campaign for Tame Impala’s then forthcoming album, The Slow Rush, resulting in billboards in New York and Los Angeles, social media support and playlisting through YouTube Music. 

The most significant example of what can happen with Briand and YouTube Music’s support is Tones & I and her incredible 2019. Briand threw her support behind the Melbourne via Byron Bay artist early on which led to Tones & I being selected as the first Australian artist for the global Artist On The Rise initiative. Within 12 months, Tones & I had gone from 1,000 YouTube channel subscribers to 2.5M, while her single Dance Monkey has amassed 965M+ views.  

YouTube Music’s commitment to Australian talent was highlighted again when they sponsored the ARIA Awards for the first time, resulting in the event being live streamed internationally and more than 30 years of ARIA Awards highlights uploaded to the platform.  

"I’m in this role because I have a passion for music. When I come across an artist like Tones & I, and I hear that voice, it gives me full body chills, and I want to do everything possible to help her maximise her trajectory and succeed. YouTube and YouTube Music are two platforms that are complementary and a perfect combo to support Tones and her music reach the world! We’ve supported (and will continue to support) Tones with: a global playlisting strategy, an Artist On The Rise package including billboards in NY and LA, media to amplify her reach, and also great content for her YouTube channel - but you’ll have to watch this space, that's coming soon!

"I will always remember Tones’ face when she came into her greenroom at Laneway Festival in Sydney and saw that we had decked it out in the style of her EP The Kids Are Coming art, with help from the artist behind the original design, Giulia Giannini McGauran. It was here I had the privilege of presenting her with her YouTube Creator Award for reaching one million subscribers on her channel - you can see her reaction here. A testament to the true talent that she is, by the time this happened, Tones had already gained another million subscribers bringing her channel to two million subs!"