MUSIC GROUPS AUSTRALASIA

Andrew Chan

CEO, GREATER CHINA, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

Vanessa Picken

CHAIR/CEO, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Kim Boshier

MANAGING DIRECTOR, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT NEW ZEALAND

Bobby Ju

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF KOREA, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

Shridhar Subramaniam PRESIDENT OF CORPORATE STRATEGY AND MARKET DEVELOPMENT FOR ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

In May, Chan launched the first Asia division of RCA Records. Under his leadership, Sony Music Entertainment Greater China has signed artists like AnQi, Nene Zheng Naixin and Ozone and partnered with Taiwanese Mandopop singer Jay Chou, who ranks at No. 9 on IFPI’s Global Top 10 Albums chart for 2022. Picken became the first female CEO of any large recording company in Australia’s history with her new role as chair/CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Australia and New Zealand. She previously was managing director of [PIAS], where she helped develop artists including triple BRIT Award winner Arlo Parks. In New Zealand, Boshier formed a joint venture with the band Six60 to launch Massive Records, and the label’s first signing, Coterie, was nominated as breakthrough artist of the year at the country’s Aotearoa Music Awards. In Korea, Ju and his team signed rapper I.M, a member of the globally successful MONSTA X, marking Sony as the first major label in Korea to sign a 360 deal with an established K-pop star, according to the company. With responsibility for two of the world’s fastest-growing music regions, Asia and the Middle East, Subramaniam in the past year opened Sony’s first Southeast Asia headquarters in Singapore and guided strategic investments, partnerships and the launch of multiple labels in the region.

Joseph Chang CEO, KAKAO ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA; EXECUTIVE VP/GLOBAL STRATEGY OFFICER, KAKAO ENTERTAINMENT; CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER, SM ENTERTAINMENT

As South Korean music companies burst beyond their borders, Chang oversees the global expansion strategy and business of Kakao Entertainment and an artist roster that includes IVE, The Boyz and MONSTA X, whose track “Deny” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart in January. The momentum is building in 2023. In March, Kakao increased to 40% its previous stake in competing K-pop stalwart SM Entertainment, Chang was named to its board of directors, and Kakao forged a partnership with Columbia Records to help promote and distribute its releases in North America.

Sony Music Latin superstar SHAKIRA teamed with Bizarrap for “BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Global 200.

Chris Gobalakrishna Jonathan Serbin CO-PRESIDENTS, WARNER MUSIC ASIA Dan Rosen

PRESIDENT, WARNER MUSIC AUSTRALASIA

Serbin and Gobalakrishna oversee Warner Music Group operations for 11 markets, and it was a record financial year in 2022 for WMG by many metrics — revenue, artists signed and number of releases, according to the company. Working with Warner’s international roster, launching new artist-development programs — and co-producing successful concerts throughout the region — the two copresidents report building momentum despite the lingering effects of the pandemic. Rosen has been president of Warner Music Australasia since 2021; achievements include ARIA Award wins for Australian acts Budjerah, LUUDE and Rüfüs Du Sol, plus the latter’s Grammy win for best dance/electronic recording for “Alive.” Among his other initiatives in the past year was the acquisition in

July of indie label Purple Phase, home to producer, singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Stevan, and the hiring in September of Alex Young as Warner’s new head of domestic marketing.

Jaime Gough

MANAGING DIRECTOR, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND Andrew Hajgato

LABEL MANAGER OF AUSTRALIA,

CONCORD LABEL GROUP

In August 2022, Concord acquired music publishing company Native Tongue and expanded to Australia and New Zealand with the launch of Concord Music Publishing ANZ. “We have integrated with Concord systems and are housing Concord’s Australian label operations,” Gough says. He adds that their recent publishing signings include Australian singer-songwriter Meg Mac; Australian EDM producer LUUDE, who won the 2022 ARIA Award for best dance/electronic release with “Down Under”; Australian electronic duo Vallis Alps; and AustraliaNew Zealand five-piece band Coterie.

Matt Gudinski CEO, MUSHROOM GROUP

Founded by its late chairman, Michael Gudinski, the Australian independent music company Mushroom Group celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Now led by Michael’s son, Matt Gudinski, the company includes the concerts division Frontier Touring. Among recent highlights are “the strong return of live music and our record-breaking Ed Sheeran Mathematics Tour, which delivered the biggest ticketed show in Australian history at the [Melbourne Cricket Ground], with close to 110,000 in attendance,” says Gudinski, “as

K-pop stars BLACKPINK are among the acts who have recently partnered for programming with YouTube Music.

well as relaunching the recorded-music division of Mushroom globally in partnership with Universal/Virgin.”

Heath Johns

PRESIDENT OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, BMG

Johns was BMG’s first employee when it launched in Australia in 2016. Last year, his team notched notable honors when Masked Wolf’s “Astronaut in the Ocean,” co-written by BMG client Tyron Hapi, amassed over 1 billion streams, becoming one of TikTok’s most popular songs worldwide. It also achieved success with Daniel Johns’ FutureNever, ARIA’s most popular Australian album release of 2022. “As a company, we’ve proved ourselves as a formidable creative force in the market, but delivering on our industry-first Indigenous scholarship initiative and becoming the first music company ever to appear on the Australian Financial Review’s Best Places to Work list shows that this is a team business,” Johns says.

Katsumi Kuroiwa CEO, AVEX

Japanese label Avex debuted the sevenmember girl group XG in 2022, after five years of development. “We are gradually realizing indications of their entry into the U.S. and global markets through their achievements,” Kuroiwa says, noting that the group appeared as the lead cover photo of Spotify’s Pop Rising playlist and was the first female Japanese act to rank on the Mediabase Top 40 Radio Airplay chart with “Left Right.” The company’s Avex USA offshoot also has publishing contracts in the works with talents such as writer Jasper Harris, a co-producer of Jack Harlow’s “First Class.”

Cussion Pang

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, TENCENT MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

Ross Liang

CEO, TENCENT MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

Although Tencent Music Entertainment Group’s 2022 revenue fell 9.3% to $4.1 billion due to a sagging social business, its surging subscription business finished the year with 88.5 million customers (up 16%) and revenue of $1.3 billion (up 19%). On the financial front, the company completed a secondary listing on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong; the share price jumped 21% in 2022 while most music stocks sank. On the busy product front, Tencent launched Dolby Surround Sound; introduced Shengbo, an audio-creation tool for podcasters; and attracted 7 million viewers to a virtual avatar rap concert sponsored by Adidas Originals. (Tencent is a partner in Billboard China.)

Calvin Wong

CEO OF SOUTHEAST ASIA/SENIOR VP OF ASIA, UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP

Naoshi Fujikura

PRESIDENT/CEO, UNIVERSAL MUSIC JAPAN

Devraj Sanyal

CHAIRMAN/CEO OF INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA/ SENIOR VP OF STRATEGY FOR AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA, UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP

Sean Warner

PRESIDENT, UNIVERSAL MUSIC AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

New partnerships and ventures are driving growth for UMG in Southeast Asia under Wong’s leadership. In July, Universal

Music Vietnam and the multichannel network and media company METUB announced the launch of the monoX label, with singer-songwriter-influencer Wren Evans named as the venture’s first signing. Universal Music Japan, led by Fujikura, saw King & Prince’s “Life Goes On” sell over 1 million physical units to top Japan’s Billboard Hot 100 in its first week in March. The million-unit threshold for first-week CD sales hadn’t been surpassed since March 2020. Universal Music Japan also joined with Capitol Music Group to sign popular boy band Travis Japan, from the talent management agency Johnny & Associates. Sanyal, in an expanded role that includes overseeing UMG’s strategy for Africa, the Middle East and Asia, continues as chairman/CEO of India and South Asia. In February 2022, he oversaw the launch of Def Jam India and, in April 2022, Universal Music India released the first global single from Indian superstar Badshah, a collaboration with J Balvin that helped him reach audiences in 173 countries. In December, Warner was named president of Universal Music Australia & New Zealand, succeeding George Ash, who had previously announced his retirement. Warner brings a 15-year history with UMG in the region to his new role, including launching Bravado’s merchandise and licensing operations in Australia and New Zealand, and developing Universal Music Australia’s e-commerce business.