Photo credit: Universal Music Publishing Group
The publisher behind Tones and I’s new deal is getting a bigger job, and a new songwriting room and content space are coming to Sydney.
Some of the biggest songs to come out of Australia and New Zealand over the past 30 years have passed through Maree Hamblion’s hands. Now Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is giving her a bigger desk.
UMPG has promoted Hamblion to Executive Vice President, A&R and Creative, with expanded responsibilities across Australia and New Zealand. Based in Sydney, she will run creative strategy and talent development in both markets, with a focus on getting local songwriters and producers international opportunities. She continues to report to David Gray, UMPG Managing Director, UK, and Head of Global A&R.
The promotion follows a run of signings under Hamblion, most recently ARIA Award winner Tones and I. Her new role also covers UMPG’s creative spaces in the region. On top of the existing LVL 4 recording studio, UMPG plans a dedicated songwriting room and a content space, so writers and producers can work together under one roof.
Gray called Hamblion and her team “a big part of the incredible music coming out of the region.” UMPG Chairman and CEO Jody Gerson pointed to Tones and I as “a perfect example” of turning local talent into global opportunities.
“Songwriters are at the heart of everything we do,” Hamblion said. She thanked Gray, Gerson and UMPG COO Marc Cimino and said she is excited to build a creative hub that connects writers with the rest of the world.
Hamblion joined UMPG in 2024 as Senior Vice President, A&R, and has since added writers including Benny Morrell, Matthew Ifield, Esha Tewari, Rupert Bullard, Ownlife and Lach Bostock to the roster, along with several joint venture partnerships.
Before that, she spent more than a decade at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, where she became Senior Vice President, A&R, in 2015. There she signed Sarah Aarons, Alex Hope, Jarryd James, Gretta Ray and Tina Arena in Australia, and Joel Little, Stan Walker and Jawsh 685 in New Zealand.
She started at EMI Music Publishing in Sydney in 1995 and spent more than 17 years there, working with Divinyls, Jimmy Barnes, PNAU, Ladyhawke, Savage Garden and The Veronicas.
If you’ve ever sung along to an Australian pop song, chances are she had something to do with it.
Sources: The Music Network
About the Author
