VINYL TAP - Inside the Music Industry

I first met Guven Ylimaz when he was running one of the coolest live boutique agency’s in Australia - VITA- around 2015. They were home -and in parts still are- home to acts like Peking Duk, Winston Surfshirt, BUG WETT, Club Angel, Skin On Skin and Milan ring amongst many others. Guv was the cool kid on the block and, arguably still is.  Then in 2023- in a crazy post-Covid word- Matt Gudinski...

Mary Mihelakos is a true Music Stalwart in the Australian Music Scene. Whilst she has been predominately Melbourne based, her tentacles stretch far and wide. She began her music career at 3RRR Melbourne as a fresh faced 14 year old volunteer- not for the money, but for the love. She has worked in all facets of the business- management, radio, journalism and as a venue promoter. She has also been t...

This week's special guest Roger Field is definitely no stranger when it comes to the Major Concert landscape. His expertise has and still covers all gamuts of the touring industry- ticketing, venue management, festival production and major concert promotion of course. He served as CEO of Live Nation Australia from 2014 to 2020 before was tasked with the premium role of President for Live Nation As...

It's almost a case of 'whatever happened to...' with my first guest on Season 5 in 2026. His name is Daniel Merriweather, arguably, one of this country's greatest ever soul singers, producers and writers. His career has certainly had it's fair share of up's and down's , high's and low's but in 2026 he continues to strive to produce real, uncompromising and ground-breaking music. He has tasted bona...

What a time to be alive in the music industry in 2025, particularly if you're one of the people charged with keeping the live music scene alive and prospering. As Managing Director of MusicNSW, Joe Muller has it all before him. And he's up for it and all about it! Joe comes from credible and respected music stock having had over 15 years of experience with in the industry as a festival curator, cr...

On last week's episode of Vinyl Tap, I spoke to Asian Music Industry legend Sandy Monteiro, this week it's his business partners turn. Allan Klepfisz is not from the Music Industry per se. He is an entrepreneur by nature, having worked in the restaurant and textile industries, but he has always had a penchant for tech. His new Music Tech baby Fenix 360 aims to change the e-commerce landscape for c...

Sandy Monteiro is very highly regarded in not just Asia, but throughout the world. He is a true pioneer of the digital music space and he has also had very successful stints at running both major and independent record labels. I first met Sandy when he was CEO of Universal S/E Asia some 10 years ago and was suitably impressed by his knowledge of music and, more importantly, his grasp and take on t...

Dean Ormston runs the biggest not-for-profit music organisation in the Southern Hemisphere. As CEO of APRA/AMCOS, Dean oversees the music rights management of over 130 thousand domestic songwriters and composers, as well as all of the nation's Music Publishing companies. It's a big task and undertaking for this former school music teacher, but one that he is handling with flair and aplomb. The rol...

Anyone who can spit into Johnny Lydon's (yes of Sex Pistols fame) sushi and get away with it should automatically be inducted into the Australian Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. And this is only one of many stories that Chrissie Vincent has in her arsenal of rock and roll anecdotes. There's no denying Chrissie is a trailblazer. She started her career in 1981, when the local music industry was beginnin...

Paris born, US based music entrepreneur Emmanuel Zunz has always been fiercely independent. His music roots are steeped in philanthropy. He started his very first music venture 'Verge Records' back in 2007. It was an innovative record label predicated on releasing music from artists who lived in impoverished neighbourhoods in the US to yield profits to put back into those communities. While it was...

Mardi Caught is a 'stayer' and a master at propelling artist careers. These are not mutually exclusive concepts! She cut her teeth in various major label roles both in Australia and in the UK & also at MTV in London. At the very heart and core of what she does is pure Artist Development. She thrives on it and this is beautifully demonstrated by he work with ground breaking acts like Royel Otis...

Who said Busking doesn't pay or, in fact, lead to global success? Starting his music career as a busker himself has held Regan Lethbridge in solid stead. Regan is best known as the co-manager of Tones and I and the manager of Tash Sultana, both of whom have forged strong international careers. And both of whom, like Regan, honed their craft as street performers. Today Regan is the proud and succes...

Recently, Vinyl Tap ventured out to the St Kilda Town Hall in Melbourne for a special live panel taping. Joining me on the night to discuss the LIVE Music scene were; PATRICK DONOVAN; Live Music Strategy and Development lead for the Port Phillip City Council, esteemed and widely acclaimed artist and proud local identity CASH SAVAGE, SUNSHINE TROTT; one of Melbourne's most celebrated local DJ's and...

David Vodicka has paid his dues in every way. First as an independent label owner and now as, arguably, one of the most successful and influential music lawyers in Australia. His 'Rubber Records' imprint, always cutting edge with its output, certainly delivered some of the best new artists in years gone by. Cordrazine, Even and 1200 Techniques are amongst some of my favourite Aussie acts of all ti...

Running a music industry organisation and representative body like ARIA is by no means a walk in the park in the current music climate, but this weeks guest is more than ready for the task. Annabelle Herd has the right temperament and 'can-do' mentality for navigating the domestic music industry through these challenging, but exciting times. A career in politics as an advisor in the Communications...

Karl Richter is somewhat of a chameleon in the Music Industry. Not only has he been able to successfully pivot from A&R to Music Supervision, but he now is also a major player in the Music Tech space. In this enlightening new episode of Vinyl Tap, we go back to Karl's early community radio days and his entry into the music industry per se. Starting as an A&R manager at MDS, Mushroom's Indi...

Mitch Clark is a true survivor in the music business! She started her professional career learning from the likes of pioneer promoters Michael Coppel and Zev Eizek before taking the plunge and moving to the UK in the late 80's in search of her own journey and path. Whilst there she worked her way up the ranks at the legendary Chrysalis Records label and at EMI UK where she ended up as a VP of Inte...

Simon Moor has been in the business of Artist Discovery for all of his professional career, first as an A&R manager via his stints at Sony Music & EMI and then as a creative inside SonyATV Publishing. We sure as hell had some great A&R stouch's in the 90's fighting for the same bands but Simon always had a great ear for finding new music. In 2010, his professional trajectory took a maj...

Richard 'Rash' Hussein has spent the better part of the last 20 years in Dubai helping to establish a real music industry over in the Wild East! Through his A&R stints at both EMI and Warner Middle East, not only did he amass a staggering 50 #1 records but he also helped define a blueprint for merging Arab Pop with the Western music industry. In this week's episode, we learn a lot more about t...

Maggie Collins is one of the most dynamic executives in the music business today. She cut her teeth at community radio and at Triple J before venturing into artist management, working with the likes of DZ Deathrays, Donny Benet and Odette. She also managed to programme Big Sound between 2016-2019, become a mum and now heads up the Association of Artists Managers in Australia. She is definitely up...

Harris Meitanis has been around the block and played the game for near on 30 years. He has worn many hats- Solicitor, Label owner, Studio owner, music publisher, music agent, A&R and management. Most recently, he has guided the rise and rise of one of this country's biggest and most successful comedy acts, the fabulous SOOSHI MANGO boys. These guys aren't just performing at small comedy clubs,...

I don't use the words 'one-of-a-kind' very often, but my first guest of 2025 - Scott Horscroft - is certainly worth of the mantle I've bestowed upon him. He's one of the best producers in this country, if not the world. Doesn't do things by halves and certainly doesn't professionally either. I liken him to a a method actor, only in a parallel world of music production. He has been involved in some...

Welcome to this week's special presentation of VINYL TAP. We recently held a live panel night at Collarts College in Melbourne where I assembled an esteemed array of some of the biggest thinkers in the local music scene. Please give a nod to Adam Booth (Weez) from Calibe Management and EMI A&R, Sarah Hamilton ex MD of DITTO now and Golden Hour Consultancy, Gabby Colombi Co Founder of Global PR...

MSqaured Productions are a very successful Melbourne based music production duo who have been able to seamlessly transition to and traverse between many music genres throughout their 12 year journey together. Michael De Lorenzis and Michael Paynter started out as the 'go-to' guys for mainstream pop production and artist development and over the course of the last few years have managed to cleverly...

I call Alice Ivy 'The Heiress' for good reason! She is at the forefront of modern music production, not just in Australia but she is also starting to make some serious noise on the international stage. I'd even go as far as saying that she's destined to be our next big superstar producer! Her production work has evolved so beautifully since she announced her arrival with her brilliant debut album...