Executive Committee 2021-22

Anthony Ursino, Macron Music, President

Anthony Ursino is one of the youngest business owners in the Australian Music Retail Industry. After spending his early 20’s based in London, playing shows and making records with his band, he returned home with a burning desire to make music his life. Upon his return, Anthony started teaching guitar on the Central Coast of NSW, and eventually at Macron Music Erina, where he had worked as a 19 year old. He began to help out around the store and soon discovered that the shop desperately needed some reviving. After striking a deal to purchase the store in 2015, Anthony has turned Macron Music into a national force online. In 2019, he continued to grow the Macron legacy, by taking over GH Music from Garry Hyde in Flemington, Victoria – Australia’s original drum shop – and moving all online operations to the bigger space that the Victorian store provided.Anthony is equal-parts “musician” and “business operator” – he lives and breathes both at all times.

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Warrick Baker

 Warrick Baker, Kawai Australia, Vice-President

Warrick Baker first entered the Australian music industry in electronic organ retail in 1989, and has remained focused on keyboard and piano instruments ever since, working with some of the Queensland’s leading stores. After 20 years in retail, Warrick moved into wholesale, finding a fit for his experience, expertise, and enduring advocacy of music education as Kawai Australia’s Business Manager. He joined the AMA executive in 2013, and remains a proud, vocal supporter of the Australian music industry.

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Michael Jago, Link Audio, Treasurer

Michael started Link Audio in 2015 as the exclusive Australian distributor for PreSonus. With over 30 years experience in the music industry, Michael has worked in retail, wholesale, international management roles in Australia & Europe, and even product development of digital mixers. He started in retail in the mid 1980’s at Paul Haywards Music Centre, and Brashs.  He then moved into wholesale with Electric Factory, and in 1997 was appointed the GM of Music Link. In 2002, Michael launched Behringer Australia (a wholly owned subsidiary of Behringer Holdings Ltd), which led to an international management role in 2009 covering Behringer Europe and Russia. Today as the owner of Link Audio, he distributes PreSonus, Aston Microphones from the UK and German brands Waldorf and SPL.

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Alex Masso, Executive Officer
Alex has a strong background in the industry having worked for the Music Council of Australia and as a music educator at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music and privately. Alex is a respected Sydney jazz musician and a strong music education advocate. He is a board member of the Sydney Improvised Music Association and current NSW President (Musicians Section) of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance.

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Tony Burn, The Resource Corporation, VIC
Tony has only ever worked in the music industry – or at least hung around other people who did.He has worked in retail for various companies in the UK including Harrods of Knightsbridge. From there he went into wholesale for Roland UK and another spell in retail before moving to Melbourne. Whilst here he has worked for Brashs, Bernie’s Musicland and Music Junction/Billy Hydes before joining The Resource Corporation 11 years ago. TRC was formed by Tony & Jenny Hosking to take over the import Konig & Meyer stands. Since then they have added other professional lines for the music, audio and AV industries including: ARX, Eurocable, LinkOmnimount, Schill, Optogate and have distribution deals with Kramer Electronics, Sony and HH Electronics. Tony is also a member of the board of the industry’s charity Soundhouse Music Alliance

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Cameron Leitch, Soundbay Pty Ltd | Store DJ | Mannys
Cameron is the CEO and co-owner of SoundBay, Australia’s largest music retailer trading as Mannys and Store DJ. He has had a long association with SoundBay, working closely with its founder – his brother Jeremy – over the last 20 years before formally taking the reins in 2021. He brings a passion for putting musicians and creators at the centre of the business, with a focus on delivering great customer experience and using analytics to drive business improvement.Prior to his time in the music industry, Cameron was a partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company where he led the firm’s Transformation practice in Australia and New Zealand. He is also a board member of the Melbourne Business School, the University of Melbourne’s graduate school in business and economics.

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Michelle Brown, Fine Music

Michelle entered the MI industry around 20 years ago after finishing an early career as a woodwind instrumental music teacher. Her first role was assistant to Rob Walker for the AMA! Michelle currently works for Fine Music in Melbourne as the Retail Manager and has also held roles in wholesale and marketing/events for the original Billy Hyde Music Group.

Fine Music is one of the leading Music Education Suppliers in Australia servicing Educators, Schools and Institutions. As well as supporting music programs, staff and students to find the best product for their needs, Fine Music runs the Victorian School Music Festival which provides performance opportunities to 12,000 Australian students across 28 days throughout the year.

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Megan Stapleton, Hal Leonard Australia
Megan is the Sales & Marketing Manager of Hal Leonard

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Graham Hoskins, Treasurer, Concept Music, Wembley WA

Graham Hoskins has worked in the music retail since leaving school so has 43 years experience in the industry. He is the owner/operator of Concept Musical Instruments in Wembley WA which he established in 1980.Graham was one of the first retailers elected to the AMA Executive Committee when the constitution was first changed to allow retailers to sit in 1997. He served on the AMA Committee for an extended period of time and was the Chair of the AMAC Committee for many years and was also the first retailer to hold the office of President in 1999.Musically, Graham’s background is as trombone player. He played professionally after leaving school and was the resident Bass Trombone with the Opera & Arts Orchestras for some years and also played on a casual basis for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) and also as a freelance session player for many touring acts. Highlights of Graham’s playing career include playing for Dame Margot Fontaine, John Farnham, The Supremes, The Bee Gees. He no longer plays but can sometimes still be heard droning on his didgeridoo in his backyard.Concept Music is a full range store with a strong focus on electric, acoustic and bass guitars, as well as keyboards, brass and woodwind, electronic drums. He also serves on a Schools Music Trust which is involved in fundraising for several Perth Music Schools.

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  Mark Amory, Fender Music Australia
Mark Amory has been an audio and music products specialist for almost 30 years. Currently, General Manager of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in Australia, Mark held senior management positions at Yamaha Music Australia from 1997, rising to General Manager of the Music Products division a position he held for over a decade prior to his move to Fender. He represented Yamaha on the executive committee also for a number of years during the 2000’s and is a prolific collector of guitars.

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Phil Muffet, Jands Pty Ltd

With over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, Phil is a passionate leader who has built successful teams in Sales, Marketing, Strategy, Product development, and Supplier Management across multiple international businesses. In 2018, Phil found the ideal fit for his experience and passion making the move to Jands as National Sales Manager. In 2020 Phil transitioned to CEO, and Jands celebrated their 50th year as independent Australian owned business. Jands distributes some of the worlds leading Audio, Lighting and Staging brands across the retail, production and installation industries in Australia and New Zealand.

When away from the office, Phil will be found indulging his passion for restoring vintage cars or at the nearest racing circuit.

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Mat Taylor, Yamaha Music Australia

Music is not just a hobby for Mat. It is his passion. When not conducting bands Mat is principally a trumpet player but is also known in the community for his abilities on most brass instruments.
Mat studied conducting at the ABODA Victoria 2007 and 2016 conducting summer school under the guidance of Dr Rob McWilliams from the University of Wisconsin and the 2017 ABODA summer school with Craig Kirkoff.
Professionally Mat works for Yamaha Music Australia leading the Band and Orchestral and Education team. Mat spearheads Yamaha’s successful Off to a Great Start program including curating the Great Start Grant as well as implementing Yamaha’s Education Enrichment Strategy

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  Gillian Erskine, Forte Music, Committee,

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Helen Marx, Australis Music, ex-officio

As Australis Music Group’s Chief Information Officer, Helen focuses on driving operational, IT and marketing strategy across the distributors business units, as well as the largest backline hire business in Australia – BHSS.

Constantly looking for the best customer experience through implementing technology and processes that combine all facets of the business to add value to the 35 brands represented and offer a seamless customer experience.  Coming from a mixed background of software development, change management alongside sales and marketing, Helen is looking at constantly evolving trends and ensuring businesses can pivot with the evolving market.

 

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Dominic Di Sisto, Holden Hill Music ex-officio

Having successfully completed an undergraduate Bachelors Degree in Commercial Music at Flinders University in 1982 Dom taught music before establishing Holden Hill Music, which has been an established music shop now in the city of Adelaide for more than 30 years. Adjacent to the retail store is the Holden Hill Music School, which is one of the largest independent music schools in South Australia.  In the same year of 1999 he co-founded AAL  (Action Audio Logic) a Music Hire company specialising in touring artists backline supply and sound installation.Dom is a director of Recreational Music Making which manages the Weekend Warriors Music program in partnership with the Australian Music Association (AMA). Along with Young Warriors and various youth programs for the Gold Coast City Council. He was instrumental in the development of these programs in Australia. Dom returns to the committee in 2021 after being an active committee member of the AMA from 2000 to 2016 at which time I relocated to the US to further grow the Weekend Warriors Program.

 

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