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Ljubljana MENT conference – Panel Record Labels in the Balkans, A State of Play

Ex-Yugoslavia is seeing the rise of a new kind of music entrepreneur. These numerous and ambitious record labels operate in territories with their very own specificities, from majors being represented by local indies to limited access to streaming platforms. The challenges are numerous and treacherous, yet this new breed of music labels is marching into the future with high hopes. It’s time to discover what their day-to-day reality looks like.

Ljubljana MENT conference – Keynote Interview with IMPALA’s Helen Smith

Helen Smith is head of IMPALA, the Independent Music Companies Association, which represents over 4000 small music companies and associations. It’s her job to influence the European Union on topics such as copyright and piracy from the independents‘ perspective, as well as doing deals with big companies on behalf of smaller players.

60 MILLION TOP UP FOR EU LOAN GUARANTEE SCHEME

It was announced today that the EU is assigning an additional €60m to a key initiative for a guarantee facility to boost loans to smaller actors in the cultural sector. The announcement was made as part of the ‘Juncker Plan’, also known as the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).

CREATIVE SECTOR SHOWS UNITED FRONT TO TACKLE THE VALUE GAP

Today a wide range of organisations from across the cultural and creative sectors wrote to MEP Axel Voss, Rapporteur on the proposal for a Directive on copyright to ask him to support a meaningful legislative solution to address the value gap.

JONAS SJÖSTRÖM, FOUNDER OF PLAYGROUND MUSIC SCANDINAVIA IS AWARDED BY IMPALA FOR HIS OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO INDEPENDENT MUSIC

IMPALA’s Outstanding Contribution to Independent Music Award goes this year to Swedish national Jonas Sjöström, acknowledging his crucial role in the development of Scandinavian independent music. He joins a list of recipients including Martin Mills (Beggars Group), Mario Pacheco (founder of Nuevos Medios and the UFI), Charles Caldas (MERLIN) and Armin van Buuren (Armada Music).

CW! STATEMENT: WHAT IS ILLEGAL OFFLINE IS ALSO ILLEGAL ONLINE

Today, the European Commission published its communication on “Tackling Illegal Content Online: Towards an enhanced responsibility of online platforms”. We welcome the Commission’s stance that “what is illegal offline is also illegal online” – this is paramount to the protection of intellectual property and copyright in particular. We also agree that online platforms “carry a significant societal responsibility in terms of protecting users online and preventing criminals from exploiting their platforms.”