Ralph W. Peer has been named Managing Director, peermusic Australia, expanding his role within the world’s premier independent music publishing firm to oversee creative and administrative operations for the company in the Australasia region.
Peer will be based out of the Sydney offices and will report jointly to Kathy Spanberger, peermusic’s President of the region, and to Bill Gorjance, peermusic’s worldwide Chief Financial Officer. Ralph W. Peer will also continue directing peermusic initiatives as their Vice President of peermusic’s African and Middle East operations.
“I’m confident that Ralph will be a driving force in the continued development of the company’s Australasian operations, working to maintain high standards for the peermusic song catalog as well as to sign and develop contemporary repertoire,” said Kathy Spanberger.
“I’m confident that Ralph will be a driving force in the continued development of the company’s Australasian operations, working to maintain high standards for the peermusic song catalog as well as to sign and develop contemporary repertoire.”
– Kathy Spanberger, peermusic
The move marks an increased focus by the global publishing firm in the region. According to the ARIA, the Australian music market, a Top 10 music market globally, hit a 15-year high in 2021 accounting for $565.8 million wholesale sales, with music streaming accounting for 86% of this.
In his new role, Peer will be expanding his responsibilities to oversee all creative and administrative operations in Australia, Fiji, New Guinea & New Zealand. The company is also setting the standard for international publishing administration and represents many clients for sub-publishing in the region, including Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd; Sugar Music; Big Machine Music LLC (which recently yielded the global hit with GAYLE’s “abcdefu”); Soundgarden; Modern Works; and St. Nicolas Music with income collected across its sub-publishing clients growing 12% year-over-year.
In addition to creative and administrative operations, Ralph W. Peer will be working to expand peermusic’s Film/TV business in the region with a focus on offering music supervision/scoring packages to local production companies in Australia and New Zealand.
Ralph W. Peer joined peermusic full-time in August 2019 working in Business Affairs in the London office while also assuming responsibilities for the company’s African and Middle East operations. In 2022, Peer was appointed managing director of the company’s South Africa office. Peer holds a masters of law (LLM) from Columbia Law School as well as a graduate diploma in law from City University of London Law School and an MSc in Finance and Financial Law from SOAS University.
