Matt Gudinski, Vanessa Picken & Nathan McLay Among Aussies In Billboard’s 2024 International Power Players

Billboard have published the 2024 edition of their annual International Power Players list, celebrating the music industry executives (as nominated by their firms and peers) who had a notable impact on the landscape over the past year – and as always, this year’s edition features some familiar faces.

Immediately standing out is Mushroom Group chair and CEO Matt Gudinski, who appears fresh off the back of a whirlwind year leading the company – which of course celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. Gudinski told Billboard that Mushroom “saw success across our entire group” last year, highlighting Ed Sheeran’s record-breaking Melbourne (Naarm) shows, which drew in some 112,000 punters, as a particular standout.

Gudinski is joined on the list by some of his close colleagues, such as Frontier Touring’s Dion Brant (CEO) and Susan Heymann (COO). The former said of Frontier’s continued successes: “Our approach is different from other promoters. Our priorities are the artist, the fans and the show, ahead of the net profit or the quarterly market update.”

Another notable Aussie to make the cut is Nathan McLay – the founder of Future Classic, managing director of Virgin Music Group ANZ and Music Australia council member – who shares space with the local leaders for the “big three” in label land: Dan Rosen (president of Warner Music Australia), Sean Warner (president for Universal Music’s Australian and New Zealand division) and Vanessa Picken (chair and CEO of Sony Music’s local arm).

Over on the publishing side of the fence, two icons from Concord Music were honoured by Billboard: Kim Frankiewicz, the executive vice-president of worldwide A&R for Concord Music Publishing, and Jaime Gough, the managing director for Concord’s bespoke Australian and New Zealand division.

Also given shoutouts were some more of Australia’s most notable figures in the live music space, such as Peter Loxton (COO of commercial for ASM Global), Brett Murrihy (WME’s partner and head of music for the Asia-Pacific region) and two heavyweights from Live Nation’s local divisions, Mark Kneebone (VP of talent for Live Nation Australasia and managing director for Live Nation New Zealand) and Wenona Lok (promotor for Live Nation Australasia).

Head here to see the full list for yourself.