IMPALA SHINES THE SPOTLIGHT ON MERLIN’S SHRINA PATEL AS IT KICKS OFF ‘FACES OF THE INDEPENDENT SECTOR’ STORYTELLING SERIES

As part of IMPALA’s Faces of the Independent Sector storytelling campaign celebrating our 25th anniversary, and co-funded by the European Union, we are pleased to publish the first interview in the series with Shrina Patel, Senior Director, Business & Legal Affairs at Merlin.

BRIDGE LATAM: BACK IN VALDIVIA FOR THE FLUVIAL CONFERENCE

WIN returned to Valdivia, Chile, for Fluvial, one of Latin America’s most beloved music industry conferences, with a delegation including Cecilia Crespo (ASIAr, Argentina), Felippe Llerena (Nikita Music / ABMI, Brazil), Fran Sandoval and Oliver Knust (IMICHILE, Chile), Mark Kitcatt (Everlasting Records / IMPALA, Spain), Mark Meyer (Random Sounds / AMI-PY, Paraguay) and Nerea Serrano (WIN).

BRIDGE WANA: A WEEK IN RIYADH

WIN traveled to Saudi Arabia from December 4 to 13 to participate in a week of activities at Riyadh Music Week. Through meetings, discussions, and networking, the trip helped lay the groundwork for future collaboration between WANA record labels and the global independent music community.

INDEPENDENT MUSIC LABLES RETURN A THIRD OF REVENUE TO ARTISTS, REVEALS NEW REPORT FROM ORCA

Commissioned by ORCA and written by the Center For Music Ecosystems, the report analyses financial data from nine leading independent labels. It shows that in 2023, these labels invested $134 million that supported 569 artists across different genres and geographies, generating a combined revenue of $239 million.

MERLIN AND SINGA INK PARTNERSHIP TO BRING THOUSANDS OF ORIGINAL RECORDINGS TO KARAOKE

Merlin, the digital music licensing partner for the world’s leading independent labels and distributors, has partnered with Singa, the leading karaoke technology company, to make thousands of original master recordings available on the platform.

IMPALA WELCOMES THE EC’S FINDINGS SO FAR THAT UMG’S PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF DOWNTOWN HAS RISKS FOR EUROPE’S DIGITAL MARKET – ISSUES REMINDER THAT CONCERNS GO BEYOND DATA

In response to today’s press release from the European Commission, IMPALA has issued the following statement:

WIN BOARD IN TORONTO: CELEBRATING CIMA’s 50th ANNIVERSARY AT MAKE IT MUSIC

The WIN board and secretariat traveled to Toronto from November 3-5 to hold an in-person meeting and take part in a series of activities hosted around Make It Music and the celebration of CIMA’s 50th anniversary.

IMPALA’S STRATEGIC PRIMER #9 (BANDCAMP) Q&A SESSION (03/12)

IMPALA’s Strategic Primers’ project with Music Ally (supported by Merlin) is all about maximising streaming opportunities for independents. Our Primer #9 on Bandcamp is now out. Join us on 3rd December for a Q&A session with Music Ally.

IMPALA RESPONDS TO NEWS THAT THE EC WILL ISSUE A FORMAL OBJECTION TO UMG’S PROPOSED DOWNTOWN ACQUISITION

Today, IMPALA issued a short statement below in response to the news that the European Commission will proceed to the next step in its investigation of UMG’s proposed acquisition of Downtown by issuing a set of formal objections:

AI – MAKE SURE YOUR RIGHTS ARE RESERVED!

We want to stress again the importance for all IMPALA members of making sure their rights are reserved in the context of AI training/machine learning.