ARIA Innovator is ARIA’s new initiative to inspire and cultivate innovation and entrepreneurship within the Australian music industry. With rapid technological advances and shifting global music consumption, ARIA Innovator provides industry professionals with access to cutting-edge insights, tools, and strategies that drive growth and success in the changing world.
Through its programs, ARIA Innovator will empower artists, managers, and labels to develop innovative business models and marketing strategies that enhance discoverability and deepen audience engagement in both domestic and international markets.
Our first initiative, made possible through support from Sound NSW funding via Create NSW, was the inaugural ARIA Innovator conference and Accelerate Strategy Workshop held on Gadigal Country in NSW in March 2025.
The conference covered some of the most pressing shifts facing the industry, including the cultural strategies that drive consumption, the future of music marketing, sustainable creative entrepreneurship, and the real implications of artificial intelligence in music.
ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said: “The diversity of the turnout was exactly what we’d hoped for: artists, managers, executives, founders, and thinkers all coming together to talk seriously about the future of Australian music. What made it special was that the conversations didn’t end when the sessions did. The most valuable part of events like this is what happens in between, when ideas get exchanged, connections get made, and the next thing starts to take shape.”
Learning Outcomes
Panos Panay, President, The Recording Academy - Keynote: Music people are natural entrepreneurs
Gabi Lopes, Senior VP Global Insights, Universal Music Group – New ways of marketing
Dr Nici Sweaney – Data Scientist, AI Expert & Founder of AIHerWay - AI The Right Way
Dr. Marcus Collins, Bestselling Author, Marketing Professor, Award-Winning Marketer - Culture and Digital Strategy (In conversation with Zara Seidler)
Solai Valliappan (Tech Advisor and Investor) & Ricky & Natalie Kradolfer (Amplify Music) - Creative entrepreneurship – how to make it pay
Catch up on all the insights and ideas here:
Panos Panay, President, The Recording Academy - Keynote: Music people are natural entrepreneurs
Dr. Marcus Collins, Bestselling Author, Marketing Professor, Award-Winning Marketer - Culture and Digital Strategy (In conversation with Zara Seidler)
Gabi Lopes, Senior VP Global Insights, Universal Music Group – New ways of marketing
Dr Nici Sweaney – Data Scientist, AI Expert & Founder of AIHerWay - AI The Right Way
Solai Valliappan (Tech Advisor and Investor) & Ricky & Natalie Kradolfer (Amplify Music) - Creative entrepreneurship – how to make it pay
This half-day strategy invitation only workshop for selected NSW-based music professionals focused on practical strategy and growth planning.
Run by business strategy expert Megan Brownlow and working collaboratively with industry peers, participants left the workshop with an individual Strategic Action Plan and a date for a one-on-one check-in session following the workshop.
Image: ARIA Innovator Accelerate 2025 cohort with ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd and Megan Brownlow
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