More Information

Denis Handlin, AM
ARIA Board Member

Denis is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SONY BMG Music Entertainment Australia and New Zealand, having previously held a number of senior positions within Sony Music Entertainment Australia since 1971, including the CEO role since 1984.

Denis' deep involvement in the music industry is reflected in his current position as Chairman of the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), and his previous experience as Chairman of the ARIA Chart Committee. Denis has also been a Chairman of PPCA and has served on the committees of several industry associations.

In 2005, Denis was named a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division for his service to the music industry, particularly through the promotion of Australian musicians, to professional organisations, and to the community through fundraising for charitable organisations. Denis is a co-founder and a Governor of the Sony Foundation which has raised over $6 million in six years for charitable causes. In 2003, he also accepted the invitation to become a patron of Youth Off The Streets charity.

George Ash
ARIA Board Member

George Ash is the Managing Director of Universal Music Australia (UMA), a division of the Universal Music Group.

Prior to George's current position with Universal Music Australia, he held positions as Managing Director, Universal Music NZ, Managing Director, MCA Geffen NZ and held key management roles at BMG NZ. George has also held roles in Polygram Manufacturing and in the Retail sector.

George's passion for the music industry began as a musician and has spanned 25 years including holding a variety of roles in key industry bodies within the NZ Industry before relocating to Australia in his current role in 2001

    Sebastian Chase

    ARIA Board Member

   Sebastian, the newest addition to the board, is the founder MGM Distribution, now 

   Australia’s most diverse distributor of Australian music, working with many indie

   artists including John Butler, The Waifs, and The Beautiful Girls. He has played an   

   integral role in the evolution of Australian music, starting his career by managing

   legendary bands such as Rose Tattoo, Dragon and the early days of Cold Chisel.

In the 80s, Sebastian established Chase Records, a pioneer at offering major distribution (via CBS, now Sony BMG) to other independent labels such as Survival Records. From there, he established rooArt Records together with Chris Murphy & Justin Van Stom, leaving in the 90s to become a partner in Phantom Records. He later went on to found the Black Yak label in partnership with Tim Freidman from The Whitlams.

Sebastian has become a key advisor to some of Australia’s most iconic talents and his DIY model is changing the way independent artists bring their music to the fans.

John O'Donnell
ARIA Board Member

John O'Donnell has worked in the Australian music industry for over 15 years.

After a period as a freelance writer, he joined Rolling Stone Magazine as Music Editor in 1988. In the early 90s he co-founded and was the original Editor of Juice Magazine.

In 1994, he joined Sony Music, started the Murmur label and went on to sign a range of acts including Silverchair, Jebediah and Something For Kate.   In 1999, he was appointed General Manager of A&R at Sony Music Australia. In 2002, he joined EMI Music Australia and was appointed Managing Director in July of that year. In July 2007, John was promoted to CEO EMI Music Australasia, assuming responsibility for EMI New Zealand as well as Australia. In addition to his duties as a Board Member of ARIA, John is also the Chairman of the ARIA Chart and Marketing Committee.

His favourite album of all time changes regularly and is currently Pavement's "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain".

    David Vodicka
    ARIA Board Member

   David Vodicka is the owner of Rubber Records and the principal of  entertainment

   law firm Media Arts Lawyers and has had extensive  experience with over 15

   years practice representing musicians, artists,  composers, and recording  and 

   publishing entities. He has dealt in all facets of law affecting the creative

   industries, and has had considerable hands on experience in  the music recording

   and publishing fields as director of independent label, Rubber Records, and music

   publisher, Rubber Music  Publishing.

He is a passionate advocate for local music and creative industries and presently is chairman of the board of AIR (the Australian Independent Record labels association), Vice President of WIN (Worldwide Independent Network) and MIFF (Melbourne International Film Festival) and is a past board member of ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association).

He is also director of Screen Services, a company aimed at providing a conduit for non-music businesses (film, TV, advertising, gaming to access music content from Screen Services clients (copyright owners, composers).

Marcus Seal

ARIA Board Member

Marcus Seal is Chief Executive Officer of independent Shock Records.

At the conclusion of his studies at the University of Melbourne, Marcus commenced management of one of Melbourne's record shops prior to joining PolyGram where he worked in sales, promotions and marketing capacities.  More recently Marcus held the position of Marketing Director at Sony BMG Australia.