Brussels, 8th May 2024,

Ahead of Europe Day, held every year on the 9th of May to celebrate peace and unity across the region, IMPALA welcomes its first member from Ukraine Pomitni. 

The label was created in 2007 in Kyiv, Ukraine by Iryna Gorova, who is the founder and CEO. The journey of Pomitni started as a production house with further reformatting to an open-type label in 2023. The label team works with major Ukrainian artists and young talent. It has collaborations with global brands, brings to life large-scale creative projects, and is engaged in the distribution and promotion of Ukrainian music through global music platforms.    

Pomtini’s goals and aspirations include:

• develop Ukrainian music and culture
• strengthen our expertise from international labels and publishers
• help Ukrainian artists to be recognised and achieve international exposure
• develop local publishing
• collaborate with peers across Europe, creating unique joint projects
• develop the Ukraine industry by creating a Ukrainian music association
• make Ukrainian music visible across the world

Developing the independent network across Europe and working with key players in each market in Central and Eastern Europe is a key priority for IMPALA as agreed at their AGM in September when Dario Draštata, chair of the Balkans’ association RUNDA, was elected chair of IMPALA. 

Iryna Gorova, Founder and CEO of Pomitni commented: “As Ukraine actively moves towards integration with Europe, it is important to establish international relations in all sectors. Our country should be adequately represented in various international associations, specifically music ones. Over the past two years, the Ukrainian music industry has developed significantly: the number of artists has almost tripled. And the prospects are ambitious. In order to accelerate this development and promote Ukrainian music, it is important for us to engage the experience of our European colleagues. Therefore, joining IMPALA is an important step both for the country’s music industry and for us as a leading Ukrainian label.”

Helen Smith, Executive Chair of IMPALA stated: “Think big is our motto for Europe Day. The European music market extends way beyond the EU and our members are delighted to welcome Pomitni. Playing a key role in the Ukrainian music sector and working with great artists, Pomitni will add huge value as a member of IMPALA. The inclusion of Pomitni is important in the advancement of the Central and Eastern European independent music market, a key focus area for IMPALA. This will enable us to further develop our efforts in the region and continue addressing key issues with our members.” 

Dario Draštata, President of RUNDA and Chair of IMPALA added “We look forward to working with Pomitni and continuing to develop our work all across Central and Eastern Europe. The region is an inexhaustible source of talent thriving in some of the worlds fastest growing music markets, including Ukraine. Pomitni’s experience will be very valuable in our common goal of taking the amazing diversity of the whole region to a wider audience. Alignment is also important for the EU, to support peace and stability in the region as well as addressing key issues such as restructuring and support for music and culture, improving copyright rules, expanding the horizons of digital services and cross-border collaboration.”

Find out more about Pomitni here: Instagram – LinkedIn – Facebook

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, 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.