Brian Walker is “The Retail Doctor”. As Founder and CEO of Retail Doctor Group, which he established in 2005, Brian has steered his business to become the leading retail consulting firm specializing in taking insights driven strategy into award-winning implementation, working across omni channel retail, franchise and service sectors in every retail category. Brian is a sought after keynote speaker and media commentator.

Katie Hall MP is the Member for Footscray, before entering Parliament she worked in communications, media and community engagement. Those she worked for included Victoria Police’s media unit, the Organ Donation Service (DonateLife), and several federal politicians.

Ms Hall has been a driving force behind the VIctorian Government’s policy development to support music education.

Dr Richard Savery is a jazz musician, and developer of artificial intelligence and robotics, using music and creativity as a medium to program better interactions, understandings and models. He is the Senior Data Scientist at Jen Music (2025+) and previously a Macquarie University Research Fellow (2022-2024), developing ethically trained, high‑fidelity text‑to‑music systems and a rapping, drumming interactive robot. He now holds an ARC DECRA fellowship (2026–2028) at the University of Canberra, focusing on robots and AI for music in long‑term use and groups. His research has received $3.8 million in funding and significant industry partnerships. His work has been featured in Scientific American, BBC Radio and Disney+ with Jeff Goldblum. He completed a PhD in Music Technology (minor in Human–Computer Interaction) at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a BMus (Jazz Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium.

Alex Masso (AMA) will present the second annual State of the Industry Report. Based on feedback from the 2024 Summit, this presentation will be more in-depth and share new and comparative data on the Australian music products industry.

The Parliamentary Secretary for the Creative Industries will address the Summit and discuss the Victorian Government’s efforts to improve access to quality music education in Victorian schools.

A keynote address by the ‘Retail Doctor’, Brian Walker, covering

• The Australian retail outlook
• Category performance 
• Key trends impacting retail
• The Steps of Business Fitness
  • The building of a great business brand
  • The changing customer
  • What great leaders do

(presented by Carolynne Hamilton, Cyber Wardens)

This session brings together key lessons from the Cyber Wardens program, covering the essentials of cyber security foundations, the safe use of AI, and protecting your supply chains. It offers practical insights to help you keep your business secure, resilient, and ready for the future.

12:25-12:25pm

Presentation of the 2025 AMA Awards for Emerging Leader, Significant Contribution and Emerging Leader

Australian Music Association Annual General Meeting

All AMA members are invited to the AGM

This brief session will help frame the first discussion session, focusing on training solutions and developing a skills and capable workforce for the music products industry.

The first discussion session, broken into groups, will focus on a specific topic.

Productivity is one of the buzz words of 2025 with both the Australian government’s agenda and industry discussions about efficient, contemporary data and integration solutions. We will explore these in the context of music retailer. Panellists to be announced closer to the day.

Paul Bridge (Soundbay) | Nick Boron (Modern Musician) | Matt Walsham (Roland)

A discussion with guests from the ArtsPay Foundation & Music For All

Rob Walker (Music For All) | Alistair Webster (ArtsPay)

In this session Dr Richard Savery will bring us up to date with the capabilities and potential for music creation and production using AI, based on his research and work as a Senior Data Scientist with tech startup Jen. His research explores how the creativity and skills of expert musicians can shape the next generation of intelligent machines. Jen describes itself as a platform for ‘high-fidelity, ethically trained, AI-driven, next-jeneration music creation’, and has set a standard for copyright compliance in generative AI music.

The second and final discussion session for the day will again be topic-focused, with two topics selected based on current issues.

Closing remarks, summaries from the discussion groups and updates about key AMA activities

Delegates are invited to join us for drinks at the Birmingham Hotel, supported by Marsh.