Here’s the outcome from the cultural change discussion for the Australian industry

Representatives from the Australian music industry gathered at Sydney’s Australian Institute of Music (AIM) yesterday to discuss cultural change amid the #MeToo movement.

The initial conversation touched on how exactly the local sector would start the process to drive cultural change with an immediate focus on sexual harm, harassment and systemic discrimination in Australian music.

The gathering consisted of a range of industry experts with a mix of professional and lived experience and was facilitated by an independent consultant.

Among the over 30 people present on the day was ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd, APRA AMCOS’ Milly Petriella and Dean Ormston, News Corp music journalist Kathy McCabe, Rachel Kelly from Downtown Publishing, Sony Music’s Sophie Paterson and Sony ATV’s Maree Hamblion.

A temporary working group of volunteers was formed to drive a wider consultation process. The group’s immediate actions are to engage independent expert(s) and facilitators, establish a national consultation strategy, share the recommendations and rollout process, and complete the consultation process within a six-week timeframe.

The temporary working group consists of:

• Deena Lynch, a.k.a. Jaguar Jones
• Emily Collins, MusicNSW
• Julia Robinson, Australian Festivals Association Inc
• Larissa Ryan, Hutch Collective
• Sarah Woolcott, BMG
• Sophie Paterson, Sony Music Australia
• Mardi Caught, The Annex

In the temporary group’s statement to announce the wider consultation process, they said “any further actions will be informed by the above process” and that “there is a lot of work to be done and it requires an industry-wide commitment.”

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The attendees at Monday’s meeting in Sydney were:

Annabelle Herd, ARIA/PPCA

Anne Jacobs, Support Act

Arwen Hunt, Universal Publishing Australia

Briese Abbott, Kobalt

Cerissa Grant, Support Act
Cath Haridy, Association of Artist Managers

Dean Ormstom, APRA AMCOS

Debbie Teale

Deena Lynch, Jaguar Jonze

Emily Collins, MusicNSW

Gillian Dunn, APRA AMCOS

Gladys Namokoyi, Kween G

Julia Robinson, Australian Festivals Association

Karen Don, Universal Music Australia

Kathy McCabe, NewsCorp

Kirti Jacobs, APRA AMCOS

Larissa Ryan, Hutch Collective

Leah Flanagan, APRA AMCOS

Libby Blakey, Warner Music Australia

Linda Bosidis, Mushroom Music Publishing

LJ Loch, Alpha Consulting

Lynne Small, ARIA/PPCA

Maree Hamblion, Sony ATV

Mardi Caught, The Annex

Maria Amato, Australian Independent Record Labels Association

Marianna Annas, Universal Publishing Australia

Meg Williams, A New Approach

Milly Petriella, APRA AMCOS

Poppy Reid, The Industry Observer/The Brag

Rachel Kelly, Downtown Publishing

Sarah Woolcott, BMG Rights Management (Australia)

Sophie McArthur, Sony Music Australia

Sophie Paterson, Sony Music Australia

Susan Heymann, Chugg Entertainment

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This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.