The very first report of IMPALA’s new One Step Ahead project is out, and it’s all about playlists in the music streaming market, with a webinar on 11 December at 3pm CET for IMPALA members.

Nine months after the start of the Covid-19 crisis, with most of Europe at varying stages of second wave lockdown and gradual deconfinement expected, IMPALA’s Covid-19 Task Force has issued a new call for action.

The music sector supports two million jobs and contributes €81.9 billion annually to the economy across the 27 EU Member States and the UK (EU28), according to The Economic Impact of Music in Europe, an in-depth study by Oxford Economics that was commissioned by IFPI.

Earlier today, EU institutions reached a preliminary political agreement on the future EU budget 2021-2027, ending months of deadlock.

If confirmed, the agreement represents very welcome news for the cultural sector, as Creative Europe – the only EU programme fully dedicated to culture – would see its budget increase to €2.2bn, up from the current €1.46bn for the 2014-2020 programme.

IMPALA has teamed up with music business consultancy CMU Insights to launch One Step Ahead, a new digital intelligence facility to enable independent music companies across Europe to navigate and identify trends, developments, challenges and opportunities in the digital music market.

110 organisations from across the cultural and creative sector have published a joint call on the EU and its Members States to place culture at the core of each and every recovery plan.

IMPALA has adopted a Diversity and Inclusion Charter setting out a series of twelve commitments for the organisation, which it will report on annually.

Today, 21 organisations from across the cultural and creative sector wrote to members of the European Parliament to ask them to support a number of amendments tabled on the draft Report on a Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Today, 26 organisations from across Europe’s cultural and creative sectors wrote to European Commissioners Thierry Breton (Internal Market) and Paolo Gentiloni (Economy) regarding the EU’s flagship investment programme InvestEU.

Tonight, the nominees for the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards were announced at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany in presence of the European Commissioner for Culture, Mariya Gabriel.

As the European Commission consultation on article 17 guidance closes later today, IMPALA joins a wide-ranging group of rightholder organisations in expressing serious concerns with the Commission’s direction of travel.

Performance artist Marina Abramović, singer-songwriters Björk and MØ, dance choreographer Anne-Teresa De Keersmaeker, film directors Agnieszka Holland, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, electronic music pionneer Jean-Michel Jarre, theatre director Ivo Van Hove, conceptual visual artist Daniel Buren, film music composer Alberto Iglesias and writer Nina George are among the many acclaimed names behind this call.

Earlier this week, Music Declares Emergency and IMPALA had a video meeting with Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner responsible for culture, innovation, research, education and youth.

On 19 June, EU leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss the Commission’s proposed recovery fund and EU long-term budget.

Ahead of this meeting, 94 organisations representing the whole spectrum of Europe’s cultural and creative sector have issued a joint call for strong and systemic support measures at EU and national level to recover from the crisis.

In support of #BlackOutTuesday IMPALA is pausing all normal business and postponing its members and board meeting scheduled for 2 June.

As the EU’s Ministers of Culture prepare to meet tomorrow to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on cultural and creative sectors, IMPALA reiterates its call for an ambitious 5-year recovery strategy for this sector.

IMPALA proposes a timeline with ten steps designed to sync with the EU’s own recovery planning. This roadmap forms the basis of a 5-year recovery strategy focussing on one of Europe’s key industries, and one of the first and hardest hit by the current crisis – the cultural and creative sectors.

IMPALA proposes a timeline with ten steps designed to sync with the EU’s own recovery planning. This roadmap forms the basis of a 5-year recovery strategy focussing on one of Europe’s key industries, and one of the first and hardest hit by the current crisis – the cultural and creative sectors.

Merlin, the digital licensing hub for the world’s independent music sector, has today announced the promotion of Charlie Lexton to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Promoting the #LoveRecordStores campaign, independent music companies see supporting local record shops as a vital part of getting through the current crisis.

Following the adoption of IMPALA’s ten point crisis plan, the organisation’s Covid-19 task force has launched a mapping tool to measure results for the independent music sector in Europe.

This open letter signed by nearly 40 pan-European music organisations from across the spectrum was sent today to EU institutions and member states.

IMPALA’s Covid-19 Task Force has published a package of ten recommendations seeking urgent action at EU, national and sector level. The aim is to try and secure a co-ordinated approach across Europe to minimise the impact of Covid-19 on the independent music sector.

IMPALA, the European independent music companies association, has set up a Covid-19 Task Force to help address the effects of the current crisis on the independent sector in Europe.

The 10th edition of IMPALA’s Album of the Year award goes to German artist Apparat, for “LP5”, released on British independent label Mute. Apparat fought off stiff competition from a shortlist of 22 albums from across Europe.

As EU leaders meet in Brussels to try and agree the EU’s long-term budget 2021-2027, IMPALA urges leaders to take a stance on culture in the negotiations.

Today, the European Commission presented its new strategy to shape Europe’s digital future. This includes a review of competition policy and other key policy areas to deliver a fair and competitive economy.

On Friday, Music Declares Emergency and IMPALA met with Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s executive vice president in charge of the EU’s fight against climate change.

Today marks the official start of Brexit. The UK and the EU will now negotiate the exact terms upon which they part company.

2019 has been an incredible year for European independents, with 22 nominees for this 10th edition of our album of the year award. Once again, this shortlist showcases how Europe’s independent music sector is thriving in diversity.

The European copyright directive brings clear benefits for creators, citizens and of course start-ups. It was years in the making and should also be available in the UK.

IMPALA’s Helen Smith on how Brexit will impact the indie sector. With just days to go until Brexit at 11pm on Friday, January 31, there’s still uncertainty surrounding key areas for the music industry.

Merlin, the digital licensing hub for the world’s independent music sector, has entered into a multi-territory partnership with TikTok, the world’s leading destination for short-form mobile video with a mission to inspire creativity and bring joy.

The Worldwide Independent Network (WIN) has announced its newly elected board of directors. Five new directors join the WIN Board: Francesca Trainini (PMI), Garry West (Compass Records), Jörg Heidemann (VUT), Lisa Levy (Robbins Entertainment), and Zena White (Partisan Records).

Helen Smith’s name almost certainly draws curses in Shenzhen, China (the headquarters of Tencent Holdings), and with highfliers in the boardrooms of media, streaming, label, and music publishing giants around the world.

Merlin, the global digital rights agency for the world’s independent label sector, has today announced the appointment of Jeremy Sirota as the organisation’s new CEO.

For its first edition, Digital Music Days ended with a special closure ceremony. Helen Smith, Executive Chair of IMPALA and Carmo Cruz, Director of AMAEI, congratulated Charles Caldas for a decade of defending and promoting local and international independent music across the globe.

This year, IMPALA’s Outstanding Contribution Award goes to Music Declares Emergency, the UK organisation formed by a collection of artists, music professionals, individuals and members of leading environmental charity for the creative industries, Julie’s Bicycle, in 2019.

Joint letter in support of a sectorial focus on music in Creative Europe (2021-2027)

IMPALA is to formally oppose the strategic partnership between Tencent Holdings and Universal Music Group.

IMPALA is gearing up to oppose Tencent’s buyout of a 10% stake of Universal Music Group with an option to add a further 10%. IMPALA is also concerned about who might buy the additional UMG stakes that are up for grabs.

Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027. Investing in our culture is investing in our future : Open letter to EU leaders from Europe’s cultural and creative sectors.

Below is a statement from WIN and IFPI about an essential new data exchange project. This initiative is driven by WIN on behalf of IMPALA and other organisations in the independent sector worldwide.

Today, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) jointly published the third edition of their “Intellectual property rights intensive industries (IPR) and economic performance in the European Union” study.

IMPALA held its annual general meeting at Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg this weekend. A new 32-strong board was elected for a term of two years. Six new board members were elected: E7LG – Eleven Seven Label Group (United Kingdom) and SCL/Lusitanian (Portugal), plus four national associations with HAIL (Hungary), INDIERO (Romania), RUNDA (covering all 7 ex-Yugoslavia territories as well as Albania) and VTMÖ (Austria).

Dear Member of the European Parliament. We are writing to you as a group of 26 organisations from across the music sector to ask you to support the Preparatory Action “Music Moves Europe: boosting European music diversity and talent” by adopting the corresponding amendment (CULT 5962) to the EU 2020 EU budget, and the proposed budget of €3 million.

Today, the nominees for the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards 2020 were announced at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany. This annual EU prize for popular and contemporary music celebrates emerging artists who represent the European sound of today and tomorrow.

Today, the President of the incoming European Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen unveiled her proposed team of Commissioners.

Following her confirmation earlier today as the new President of the European Commission, IMPALA wishes Ursula von der Leyen a warm welcome at the helm of the EU’s executive body and outlines its priorities for the new commission.

Today a code has been signed by a group of technology companies and music sector organisations including IMPALA to agree best practices to combat stream farms and other forms of streaming manipulation.

This interview was conducted by journalist Lars Brandle and was originally published in The Industry Observer.

Merlin, the global digital rights agency for the independent label sector, has today published its 2019 Membership Report & Survey – revealing a 63% year-on-year increase in member payments (April 2018 – March 2019) to $845m.

As part of its renewed partnership with MIDEM, IMPALA hosted and co-organised a series of panels and keynotes alongside the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), Merlin, the global digital rights agency for independents, and the Independent Music Publishers Forum (IMPF). Together, we talked about labels, new business models, young publishers, and the digital business.

On 20th and 21st May, IMPALA took part in the first of a series of meetings organised as part of a “structured dialogue” between the European Commission and the music sector.

The winner of the 9th edition of IMPALA’s Album of the Year award is VIAGRA BOYS with “Street Worms”, released on Swedish independent label YEAR0001. Viagra Boys succeeds previous winners including Gurr, Agnes Obel, The xx, Adele, Guadalupe Plata and Efterklang.

This morning, EU Member States gave the copyright directive the final green light, closing over two years of legislative process and hundreds of hours of debates.

The European trade body IMPALA held their board meeting in London yesterday, where they also met with AIM, the voice for the UK independent music sector. It was agreed that sector specific deals must be on the priority list for negotiators.

Dear Member of the European Parliament, We are writing following Tuesday’s vote in favour of the copyright directive.

Taking a stance has paid off. Earlier this week, the European parliament voted through important changes to copyright, amid intense negative PR.