IMPALA ELECTS A NEW BOARD AT ITS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AT THE REEPERBAHN FESTIVAL
Brussels, 26 September 2017
At its Annual General Meeting in Hamburg at the Reeperbahn Festival on September 22nd, IMPALA elected a new Board. The 27 members will serve for a mandate of two years and include three new Board Members: Lampshade Media, Kobalt Music Recordings, and Sugar Music.
Mark Kitcatt of Everlasting Records in Spain was elected as the new Chair. The President is Kees van Weijen, representing Dutch association STOMP. Geert De Blaere, as representative of Belgian association BIMA, was re-elected for a new mandate as Treasurer. Helen Smith will continue in her role as Executive Chair.
In addition two Board members were elected to join the organisation’s management board which is responsible for managing the organisation in between Board meetings, subject to the authority of the full Board. Noemí Planas representing Spanish association UFI and Jörg Heidemann for German association VUT will join the management board, serving alongside the newly elected President, Chair and Treasurer as well as continuing management board members Francesca Trainini, Martin Mills and Michel Lambot.
Top of IMPALA’s agenda is addressing the value gap, working closely with artists on a strategic level, fostering new investment and ensuring fair competition between small and large players, particularly in the digital market. IMPALA’s overall aim is to promote the role of independents as leaders and pioneers in the music sector.
The full list of IMPALA members elected to the Board is (in alphabetical order):
!K7 (represented by Horst Weidenmüller)
8Ball Music (represented by Floris Janssen)
AIM (represented by Paul Pacifico)
AMAEI (represented by Nuno Saraiva)
Beggars Group (represented by Martin Mills)
BIMA (represented by Geert de Blaere)
Cooking Vinyl (represented by Martin Goldschmidt)
Cosmos Music Group (represented by Fredrik Ekander)
DUP (represented by Kasper Find)
Edel (represented by Jonas Sjöström)
Epitaph (represented by Roger Dorresteijn)
Everlasting Records (represented by Mark Kitcatt)
FONO (represented by Larry Bringsjord)
IndieCo (represented by Tapio Korjus)
IndieSuisse (represented by Andreas Ryser)
Kobalt Music Recordings (represented by Paul Hitchman)
Lampshade Media (represented by Nikola Jovanovic)
[PIAS] Music Group (represented by Michel Lambot)
Playground Music Scandinavia (represented by Jonas Sjöström)
PMI (represented by Francesca Trainini)
SOM (represented by Anders Engström)
STOMP (represented by Kees van Weijen)
Sugar Music (represented by Andrea Cotromano)
UFI (represented by Noemi Planas)
UPFI (represented by Jérôme Roger)
VUT (represented by Jörg Heidemann)
Wagram Music (represented by Stephan Bourdoiseau)
For more information on the structure of IMPALA, click here
About IMPALA
IMPALA was established in April 2000 to represent independent music companies. 99% of Europe’s music companies are SMEs. 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 (for more information, see the features of independents). IMPALA’s mission is to grow the independent music sector, return more value to artists, promote cultural diversity and entrepreneurship, improve political access and modernise perceptions of the music sector. See the organisation’s key achievements in IMPALA’s first 15 years in milestones. IMPALA has its own award schemes which highlight the artistic contribution of independent music. IMPALA award winning artists include Agnes Obel who was voted winner of the last Album of the Year Award, Caribou, José Gonzáles, Guadalupe Plata, The xx, Armin van Buuren, Caro Emerald, Adele, M83, Mogwai, Metronomy, Arctic Monkeys, Justice, Soap & Skin, The White Stripes, Royksopp and Andrea Bocelli. IMPALA’s Digital Action Plan published in 2015 is a key reference for growing the digital market.