Brussels, 23rd April 2025

This week, IMPALA exchanged with European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef, for an in-depth discussion on the future of Europe’s cultural sectors and how music has a key role within it. 

Key topics included the growing impact of artificial intelligence on creators’ rights and the urgent need for fair competition, particularly in light of excessive consolidation and excess influence in the digital market. The need to ensure competitiveness and grow more European SMEs and world champions was also discussed, something we have been working on at IMPALA for a while. These are critical issues that influence Europe’s cultural diversity, competitiveness, and innovation.

We also discussed the EU’s response to the RAAP ruling, which remains a key priority for IMPALA. We believe an EU response is essential to restore legal clarity, uphold European sovereignty, and protect the interests of music creators and small and medium-sized music businesses across the EU who lose millions every year to countries which don’t have the same protections.  

As a contributor to the EU’s “Culture Compass”, IMPALA continues to advocate for a fair, dynamic, and sustainable ecosystem — one where independent labels and artists can flourish. Independents are responsible for over 80% of the sector’s new releases and jobs, and they are vital to Europe’s cultural vibrancy.

We also reaffirmed our support for the European Commission’s work on developing accessible and impactful funding programmes for the cultural and creative sectors. Ensuring that these industries can fully benefit from EU resources is essential to unlocking their full potential. IMPALA has long backed initiatives like Music Moves Europe and will continue to do so.

In addition, IMPALA welcomes the idea of a European Music Observatory. This initiative is crucial to underpin our longstanding call for a comprehensive European industrial policy for culture. A strong data and insights framework will empower European SMES and music entrepreneurs with the data and insights needed to drive innovation and growth.

About IMPALA

IMPALA was established in 2000 and now represents over 6000 independent music companies in Europe. 99% of Europe’s music companies are small, micro and medium businesses and self-releasing artists. Known as the independents, they are world leaders in terms of innovation and discovering new music and artists – they produce more than 80% of all new releases and account for 80% of the sector’s jobs. IMPALA’s mission is to grow the independent music sector sustainably, return more value to artists, promote diversity and entrepreneurship, improve political access, inspire change, and increase access to finance. IMPALA works on a range of key issues for its members and started a new co-funded work programme as an EU cultural network in 2025. IMPALA runs various award schemes and has a programme aimed at businesses who want to develop a strategic relationship with the European independent sector – Friends of IMPALA