Warner Music Australia bolsters marketing team with 3 new hires

Warner Music Australia has appointed Christina Erskine as the senior vice president marketing and promotions Australasia.

She replaces Beth Appleton who left the duel roles of general manager and senior vice president marketing of marketing at Warner Music in May, to join music crediting database Jaxsta as  chief marketing officer.

Appleton previously served as senior vice president of global marketing at Warner Music Group in the UK, and has formerly held roles with Universal Music Group and V2 Music.

(L-R) Rich Wiles head of audience, Christina Erskine senior vice president of marketing and promotions Australasia and Cathy Rate head of marketing

With more than 17 years of experience in the entertainment industry across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, Erskine most recently acted in the role of director of engagement at the Sydney Opera House where she led the internal marketing, communications, and strategic events teams.

Erskine held a number of senior roles across her eight-year tenure at the Opera House, including general manager of marketing, where she worked closely with producers across contemporary and classical music, commercial performing arts works, kids and families programming, talks and ideas, First Nations works and digital programming. During her time there, Erskine led her team as they jointly won awards such as the Mumbrella 2017 Australian Marketing Team of the Year, a Gold and Bronze Lion at the Cannes Festival of Creativity and most recently TimeOut’s Time In Award for the Opera House’s Digital Programming in 2020.

Earlier in her career she helped shape the marketing, communications and brand agenda within some of the world’s most recognisable entertainment brands such as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production company (Cats, The Phantom of the Opera) and the events company for IMG/BBC (Top Gear Festival).

Of joining the Warner Music Australasia team, Erskine said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Warner Music Group at a time of exciting evolution. Joining forces with a new team of marcomms professionals is an opportunity to champion Australian and global creativity with diverse audiences at a dynamic time for the music sector. I look forward to cultivating passion and expertise to grow opportunities for our immensely talented artists and creatives in new and compelling ways”.

Alongside the appointment of Erskine ,Warner Music has appointed Cathy Oates as the new head of marketing – Australian Artists. Warner Music have hired Oates to oversee the domestic and international Australian artist marketing strategy in the company.

Oates  brings with a wealth of experience in the Australian music industry, as an artist manager and music marketing consultant through her company Original Matters (Kira Puru, Megan Washington and Alex the Astronaut) and in the record label business, having previously spent six years at EMI Music Australia, with her last role there being the Head of Capitol Records, and prior to that at Sony Music Australia.

Oates said: “My main passion has always been developing and breaking Australian artists around the world. I now very much look forward to joining Warner Music and becoming part of the new team driving their inspiring roster of Australian artists. We are currently facing a challenging but exciting time within the Australian Music Industry, which is all the more reason to return to my record company roots, bringing my experience after a lengthy and eventful stint in management and marketing consultancy”.

And finally, Rich Wiles has been appointed as Warner Music’s head of audience. With over 15 years’ experience working at the intersection of technology and content for global media brands in the entertainment industry, Wiles is a highly experienced digital leader. In his most recent position as head of digital for BBC Studios ANZ, he was responsible for the digital content and marketing strategy across multiple channels, developing highly engaged audiences through compelling content and driving digital transformation across the business.

Prior to that, Wiles led the digital strategy for Disney Media Networks in ANZ and was responsible for establishing Disney’s digital footprint by developing market-leading products and award-winning editorial content across multiple platforms.

“It’s an honour to be joining the Warner Music family. I’m looking forward to working with the talented local team, alongside an incredible roster of local and global artists in driving the growth and future success of WMA’s activities in the digital space that resonates with and engages passionate fans,” Wiles said.

Of the new hires, Dan Rosen, president of Warner Music Australasia said: “This is a key milestone in the evolution of our team at WM Australasia. Cathy, Chris and Rich bring a diversity of experience and thinking to the company and are all enormously respected figures throughout the music business and the wider entertainment sector. They recognise the important role that music plays in shaping culture and the responsibilities that come with that. Together, we are going to work with our artists to take their music to the world and connect with fans in ever more new and innovative ways”.

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Emma Shepherd

Emma Shepherd was the acting deputy editor at Mumbrella who has over seven years of print and digital experience in the industry and has previously worked as a reporter for media outlets Bauer Media (now Are Media), Yahoo Australia, and a content strategist and writer for various independent marketing agencies.

topics Cathy Oates Christina Erskine Dan Rosen head of audience head of marketing president Rich Wiles senior vice president of marketing and promotions Australasia Warner Music Australia

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