Fanny Lumsden, Hau Lātūkefu Join Sound NSW Advisory Board For Contemporary Music

Fanny Lumsden and Hau Lātūkefu are two of the newest members of the Sound NSW Advisory Board, fulfilling a Minns government initiative to have two artists on the contemporary music board.

Lumsden, an ARIA, AIR, and CMAA Award-winning artist, is one of Australia’s biggest names in country music. In August 2023, she released her fourth album, Hey Dawn, which hit #10 on the Australian Albums Chart and won her second ARIA Award for Best Country Album. She tours consistently, playing to hometown audiences and Glastonbury alike.

Lātūkefu is perhaps just as busy as Lumsden. Not only a hip-hop icon, he’s a radio host, Director of the record label Forever Ever, which hosts Becca Hatch, Kenzie From Welly, BIRDZ and Fred Leone, and others, and an author.

The pair make exciting choices for the Board and may just meet Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy, John Graham’s request to see “more denim jackets and less suit jackets in board rooms.”

Lumsden and Lātūkefu join the Sound NSW Advisory Board and share positions with leaders of ARIA, PPCA, and APRA AMCOS, festival directors, and more. After holding its first meeting this year, the Board will meet four times across the year and continue to deliver targeted support for the music industry.

The twelve new Board members are:

• Adelle Robinson (Chair), Managing Director, Fuzzy Operations (Listen Out, Field Day)

• Jess Keeley (Deputy Chair), Director of Artist Management, Wonderlick Entertainment

• Annabelle Herd, CEO ARIA and PPCA

• Dean Ormston, Chief Executive APRA AMCOS 

• Tyla Dombroski, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Crowbar 

• Jane Slingo, Director, Electronic Music Conference

• Joe Muller, Managing Director, MusicNSW

• Fanny Lumsden, artist and independent label owner

• Hau Lātūkefu, artist, radio broadcaster and label owner

• Adam Smith, Co-Founder, Yours and Owls festival

• Karla Ranby, Diversity & Inclusion Lead for the ABC's music networks

• Ramona Blaquiere, risk professional and singer-songwriter

The Sound NSW Advisory Board will work to install numerous initiatives, such as Michael’s Rule, increasing the concert cap at Allianz Stadium and the SCG, increasing the amount of live music venues registered to receive extended trading hours and reduced licensing costs, ending the shutting down of live music venues due to complaints, supporting music festivals with the Contemporary Music Festival Viability Fund, establishing a new review mechanism to decrease government agency costs for music festivals, supporting over 800 NSW artists, and install Australia’s first-ever Minister for Music.

Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy, John Graham, commented: “I want to see more denim jackets and less suit jackets in board rooms. It is crucial we tap the experience of actual musicians, given it’s their livelihoods we’re fighting to protect. 

“Thanks to legislation we passed in March, it’s now the law to have at least two artists on this board. This legislation safeguards this board against any future government that tries to back away from supporting the music industry.  

“Australian music is in a fight for survival, which is why we’ve delivered a series of support measures, including Michael’s Rule, touring grants, and a financial lifeline for music festivals. This board will help us continue to deliver targeted support that gets good bang for buck.” 

Head of Sound NSW, Emily Collins, added: “The knowledge, lived experience and creative vision that each of these members bring to the table is extraordinary. 

“Their guidance will strengthen our ability to deliver real outcomes for artists and audiences right across the state, from grassroots to global stages. 

“I look forward to their insight as they help us turn up the dial on what’s working, rethink what’s not, and keep NSW centre stage in the national and global music conversation.”