The Office Space: Can you tell us about DMD and what the company does?
DMD director Mark Shaw: DMD (Digital Music Distribution) is joint venture between Universal Music Australia, Sony Music Entertainment Australia and Southern Cross Austereo. We provide digital music services direct to the public, to broadcasters and other media suppliers as well as brand partners. We offer linear, subscription and brand promotion services across a wide range of music catalogues from all the leading major and independent record labels. We currently operate the 30 linear music channels for Foxtel and we provide the music content for a large number of retail outlets . We launched our consumer facing subscription brand Songl in March 2013 which is an ad-free , on demand music subscription service. We also have an exclusive commercial deal with Nine Entertainment Co., so with the shareholders we have and the commercial partners we hav, we believe we have a very exciting and unparalleled music and entertainment DNA within the business which allows us to do many things our competitors cant. We are really proud of that.
TOS: Can you explain a little about Songl, what makes the program different to other streaming services?
MS: Songl has been designed and made in Australia with a focus on Australian music consumers. It can be accessed by web, mobile devices and multi room audio services such as Sonos, with whom we have a very close working relationship with in Australia. We are heavily focussed on our content in terms of curation. We have the DNA of music at the very hear of what we do, we work closely with the industry and artists . Being owned by the 2 largest labels in the land along with Austereo really gives us a major play in terms of being part of the industry. DMD is very much a music entertainment and music solutions business and Songl is the the consumer facing brand in this business.
TOS: Music streaming is changing the way we listen to music dramatically. Where are these services headed in the future?
MS: It is very early days, very early. Consumers are still learning about streaming and the market needs a lot of education. There will be a great deal of consolidation over the next 12 months, basically the market will sort itself out and the number of players in the space will decrease . Those services that have a key point of difference in terms of offering, and how the services are marketed will dictate how this consolidation pans out.
TOS: And what do you like about working out of The Office Space?
MS: We love it here. We actually have a large ecosystem of people working for DMD across tech, development, content, digital. We have decided to keep our Corporate HQ here and it allows us to run the ship very effectively across our various suppliers/partners. Great space, convenient and close to the labels and our shareholders and partners, and close to home. We do need to wear headphones a lot as we are in the music business, as we do not want to disturb our neighbours on Level 2 – although we did pump up the volume a few months back on a Friday afternoon after a long lunch at El Loco!
TOS: Where is your favourite Surry Hills lunch place and why?
MS: This changes a lot, so many great choices. If pushed, El Loco at The Excelsior Hotel gets the vote. I love Mexican food! www.songl.com
