Impala - Independent Music Companies Association

Startpagina
België
Brussels
Impala - Independent Music Companies Association

IMPALA - levelling the playing field for independent music companies and their artists across Europe

See our news & resources
https://linktr.ee/IMPALA_music

10/06/2026

🇬🇷 🤝 🇪🇺 Big news for Greece’s independent music sector! IMPALA welcomes Hermes - Hellenic Music Companies Association as its newest association member, giving Greece’s independent music companies a stronger voice both nationally and across Europe.

🔸 HERMES was pre-launched during Athens Music Week, bringing together independent labels, music professionals, creators and industry stakeholders from across the Greek independent music community.

🔸 As Greece’s official independent music companies association, HERMES will serve as a collective voice for Greek independent music companies and support collaboration, professional development, and closer engagement with the European independent music sector.

🔸 Read comments from HERMES President Manos Dedevesis, IMPALA Executive Chair Helen Smith, IMPALA Chair Dario Draštata and IMPALA board member Kees van Weijen above 👆

Read the official statement here – https://tinyurl.com/4jrcph2b

09/06/2026

🙏 A group of independent music companies and record labels have come together to back music app start-up Cantilever. The package includes £250,000 in investment from twenty investors, made up of independent record labels and individuals working within those labels, all supporters of the Organization For Recorded Culture and Arts (ORCA), such as !K7, Because, City Slang, Domino, Everlasting, Exceleration, Hopeless, Ninja Tune, Partisan, Playground, Secret City, Secretly Group,

Check out Orca's reports underlining the importance of the independent sector:

🔸 Setting the Stage: How Music Works: https://tinyurl.com/4nhsknaf

🔸 The Economic and Social Impact of Independent Record Labels: https://tinyurl.com/3y6kmvxp

Read the announcement 👉 https://tinyurl.com/2e3prj6h

As Patrick Clifton, ORCA Executive Director said: "Cantilever's proposition allows for immersion in the musicians art in a way that's atypical in today's environment of content overload. ORCA's supporters were united in their desire to see it succeed."

Helen Smith, IMPALA Executive Chair added: "this is a great example of innovation in the digital sector supported by forward thinking, independent labels who believe in a digital future driven by diversity, culture, fairness and new models ready to support art."

08/06/2026

🌎 Norway Climate Clinic 🇳🇴

In collaboration with FONO, led by Julie's Bicycle and co-funded by the EU, IMPALA invites you to a Norway focused Climate Clinic webinar on Thursday, 11 June at 3:00 PM CET. The webinar is free and open to all FONO members.

Registration is required 👉 https://tinyurl.com/44nxxsx5

Once you have registered, you will receive an email with practical information and a link to the webinar. We hope as many of you as possible have the opportunity to join!

08/06/2026

🤝 As part of the European Commission's conditions for approving Universal Music Group's acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, Curve Royalty Systems had to be sold and news in today is that UMG has agreed a sale with Merlin and Matt Spetzler's Jamen Capital, ensuring the royalty platform returns to independent ownership.

💬 As Merlin CEO Charlie Lexton put it: "Curve provides an essential service to independent music businesses around the world and has earned enormous trust through the quality of its service and relationships." He added: "Merlin is here to enable our members’ independence, and to be truly independent our sector needs its own infrastructure. Curve is central to that. That’s why ensuring its future independence and neutrality was vital to us and it’s why we stepped up to make this acquisition. We are delighted to support the next stage of Curve‘s growth while ensuring it remains a part of the community it serves."

💬 Helen Smith, IMPALA Executive Chair adds: “Restoring Curve to independent ownership is great news for the independent ecosystem and we look forward to the EC approving. A detailed phase two investigation was carried out by the EC and we thank them for taking that on and securing this divestment - the only phase two decision in 2025 that resulted in remedies. The report Powering an Independent and Culturally Diverse European Music Ecosystem by analyst Dan Fowler earlier this year underlines the importance of diversity and independence for the whole ecosystem.

Powering an Independent and Culturally Diverse European Music Ecosystem by Dan Fowler.
🔸 Full report - https://tinyurl.com/wrwxttc8
🔸 Infographic - https://tinyurl.com/yhfzywzw

08/06/2026

🗽 Indie Week 2026 gets under way today in New York 🔈

Here is where you can catch IMPALA members and Friends this week and get some news from Europe 👇

2026 Libera Awards Presented by Merlin
🗓️ Monday, June 8, 2026 - 6 PM ET
📍 Gotham Hall

Keynote: Charlie Lexton (Merlin)
🗓️ Tuesday, June 9, 2026 - 11:00 AM to 11:45 AM ET
📍 Gotham I

A2IM Annual General Meeting (AGM)
🗓️ Tuesday, June 9, 2026 - 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET
📍 Gotham I

🎳 WINHUB x Indie Week Bowling Party in New York City in partnership with Bandcamp and SonoSuite
🗓️ Tuesday, June 9, 2026 - 5 PM to 7 PM ET
📍 Frames Bowling Lounge
Register here [email protected]

And check out our annual Postcard from Europe 👉 https://tinyurl.com/fntw2bnp

05/06/2026

🚨 At Pro Primavera now, Association of Independent Music (AIM) CEO Gee Davy joins Music Ally Paul Brindley to discuss the Universal Music Group–Downtown acquisition and what it means for the future of the independent music sector.

Curated by UNISON & Too Young Ltd.

🕦 Today, 11:30–12:30
📍 Auditori
👉https://lnkd.in/enXJNsgY

03/06/2026

📢 Policy strategist Dan Fowler’s report “Powering an Independent and Culturally Diverse European Music Ecosystem” is now available in 6 languages.

Thanks to WIN Worldwide Independent Network, the Executive Summary of our report is accessible in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean so that trade associations and their members worldwide can use it to advocate for targeted regulation and sector collaboration.

The report makes the case for independence as an economic asset and cultural diversity as a counterweight to excessive market concentration. Although based on a European assessment, the issues the report tackles, from financing independent companies and independently owned infrastructure to fair market access and digital regulation, resonate globally.

🇪🇺 The translations are part of IMPALA and WIN's broader collaboration, launched in 2025 under IMPALA’s programme of work co-funded by the EU, to strengthen cross-border cooperation between the global and European independent music sectors.

Download the translations and the full report in English: https://tinyurl.com/2j29zktx

03/06/2026

During ECSA - European Composer & Songwriter Alliance's conference on “Authors’ Rights and Music Streaming in the Age of AI”, IMPALA Executive Chair Helen Smith took part in a panel discussing AI, transparency, and fairness in today's music streaming ecosystem with Nathalie Birocheau (CEO and Co-founder, Ircam Amplify) and Tobias Stenkjaer (Chair of Danish Pop Auteurs, ECSA Board Member).

⚖️ Helen highlighted the opportunity for Europe to take the lead in ethical AI, "where artists are consenting, there are no limits to creative uses of AI". She underlined that this depends on proper rights and no copyright exception can cover what is happening currently. Ethical models are being hampered by this as they have to compete with unlicensed models trained unlawfully. Helen also noted that diversity and discoverability must be prioritised, as well as collaboration on labelling and fraud.

03/06/2026

🇪🇺 Yesterday, during the ECSA - European Composer & Songwriter Alliance's conference on “Authors’ Rights and Music Streaming in the Age of AI”, Members of the European Parliament spoke about the various intersections between culture and AI.

Emma Rafowicz spoke about her work as co-rapporteur on the legislative proposal for the AgoraEU programme 2028-2034. She believes "culture is the backbone of democracy, our first line of defence" and supports an ambitious EU budget for culture, with a dedicated strand for music in her report on AgoraEU. She also underlined the importance of independence, diversity and tackling concentration.

Read the report here: https://tinyurl.com/tmw5sc74

Axel Voss spoke as rapporteur on the European Parliament resolution “Copyright and generative artificial intelligence – opportunities and challenges”. He suggested promoting licensing options and making sure they are as simple as possible.

Hélder Sousa Silva, rapporteur on the upcoming European Parliament resolution “Cultural and creative sectors in the age of AI”, highlighted the need for stronger copyright, greater accountability for platforms on market distortions such as fraud, protection for cultural diversity including improved discoverability and transparency of algorithms, ensuring EU funding supports only human creation and also an overall strategic approach to culture.

03/06/2026

🎥 Coming up: Our next Digital Forward webinar with IMPALA x Complete Music Update, co-funded by the European Union.

🎙️ Topic: Campaign effectiveness for digital marketing
📅 18 June 2026
🕓 16:00 CET

Join CMU’s Sam Taylor to wrap up our first Digital Forward stand focus, which has been looking at how independent labels should approach marketing.

Having taken a look at off-platform marketing, on-platform marketing, and campaign planning, strategy and ex*****on, this webinar examines best practices for using data to monitor marketing effectiveness, and how labels should think about what metrics matter – and which ones are just noise. Sam will be joined by a range of expert speakers to give their insights on the topic and – as always – the webinar will be followed by a written report pulling together key insights and best practices.

This webinar feeds into Part 3 of the Digital Forward guidance on Digital Marketing for Independent Labels, which focuses on campaign planning and campaign effectiveness. The full report will incorporate insights from the webinar and will be shared afterwards alongside the recording.

📧 Contact your national association to access the webinar.

Adres

37-39 Rue Des Deux Eglises
Brussels
1000

Website

http://www.impalamusic.org/

Meldingen

Wees de eerste die het weet en laat ons u een e-mail sturen wanneer Impala - Independent Music Companies Association nieuws en promoties plaatst. Uw e-mailadres wordt niet voor andere doeleinden gebruikt en u kunt zich op elk gewenst moment afmelden.