APRA AMCOS is celebrating a major milestone, by gaining its 100,000th member Natsuko Yonezawa
Natsuko took part in our SongMakers program two years ago as a high school student, and has now joined APRA AMCOS while being a student at ANU
Chief Executive met Natsuko recently in Canberra to officially welcome her to APRA AMCOS
She didn’t know it then, but two years ago the Canberra teenager who would become our 100,000th member took part in our SongMakers program, the two-day intensive contemporary music workshop for high schoolers.
Natsuko Yonezawa, then a student at Narrabundah College and now enrolled at the ANU School of Music, applied for APRA AMCOS membership this year, becoming the 100,000th member in our 92 year history.
With her current focus on electronic music production and DJ-ing, Yonezawa performed her own work live for the first time in the past year, making her eligible to join.
APRA AMCOS Chief Executive Dean Ormston met Yonezawa and welcomed her to the organisation when he was attending meetings at Parliament House last week. This follows from the lively chat Ormston had last month with acclaimed composer George Dreyfus AM on the occasion of Dreyfus' 90th birthday.
“From the most established members with decades of composing and songwriting experience, to the new generation who are releasing their music digitally and playing their first gigs, APRA AMCOS is committed to supporting all of our 100,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members in impactful ways throughout their career,” remarks Ormston.
“These include being introduced to music industry opportunities at school through SongMakers, learning about song craft at the Starting Ground workshops presented by our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office, right through to collaborating with high-profile international producers at SongHubs".
In addition to these focused programs, our our national event series' presented with industry partners cover a range of topics including tax and business workshops, how to release your own music, mental health and wellness, and the Songwriter Speaks forums.
As part of a firm commitment to increasing female representation within the membership ranks, female mentoring programs have been undertaken with key partners and funded across classical, jazz, screen, and popular contemporary and heavy music genres.
With an unprecedented number of members living and traveling overseas, we have representatives onground in LA, Nashville and London and our business and creative space available in those creative hubs.