Aussies Make It To Billboard's 2025 Global Power Players List

Australian music industry heavy hitters have once again made it to the Billboard Global Power Players List.

The 2025 edition of the prestigious roundup celebrates the music industry executives (as nominated by their firms and peers) who had a notable impact on the landscape over the past year. It features numerous promoters from Australia, including some repeat talents.

In the Music Groups: Australasia category are Matt Gudinski, CEO of Mushroom Group; Sean Warner, President of Universal Music Australia and New Zealand; Vanessa Picken, Chair/CEO at Sony Music Australia and New Zealand; and Dan Rosen, President of Warner Music Group Australasia.

“Warner Music Australasia lives by its goal to take our local artists global and make our global artists local,” Rosen told the publication.

Picken and Rosen also outlined the most significant issues they see in the music industry today. Rosen commented, “As an industry, we need to harness the benefits of technology and minimise the potential harms to ensure value is returned to our artists, songwriters and rights holders.”

Picken added, “To thrive in today’s diverse and decentralised music landscape, artists and companies must adapt, embrace emerging technologies and build stronger, more direct connections with their audiences.”

Gudinski summed up the industry like so: “Competitive, but it’s an exciting time as we enter a new generation where more people than ever are immersed in music.”

Australia’s Rachel Newman, the new co-Head of Apple Music, also made the list. More Australian stars appear in the Labels & Distributors, Publishing, and Live categories.

Ben Ralph, the Managing Director of ADA – the global independent music distribution and artist services division of Warner Music Group – appears alongside Jaime Gough, the Managing Director of Concord Australia and New Zealand, and Dion Brant, the CEO of Frontier Touring.

Brant, commenting on Frontier’s successful moves at locking in Gracie Abrams, Benson Boone and Teddy Swims tours as they became major hitmakers, said: “We’re seeing artist trajectories moving faster than ever before, and our team has shown great prowess at thinking one or two steps ahead.”

However, Brant expressed concern about climate risk and its impact on live music, saying, “Climate risk is real. We need to be clever and work out how promoters, affected venues, festivals and artists can work together with the insurance industry to protect everyone in the business, because extreme weather events will continue to happen.”

Paul Dainty, CEO of TEG Dainty, also made the list alongside Mark Vaughan, Senior Vice President of Live Nation Australia and New Zealand. Dainty said the industry's most significant issue was “Exchange rates for international touring; increased costs across the board.”

You can find the complete list here.