Mark Kitcatt, co-owner of Everlasting Records and Popstock Distribuciones, has outlined how independence and cross-sector collaboration can shape the digital music market in the latest instalment of IMPALA (Independent Music Companies Association)’s “Faces of the Independent Sector” series. The interview, published as part of the European Union co-funded series marking IMPALA’s 25th anniversary, is the eighth in the storytelling project.
Roles and digital market recommendations
Kitcatt co-owns and directs Everlasting Records and Popstock Distribuciones, Spanish music companies established in 1991. The companies handle recording, publishing, marketing, promotion, and physical and digital distribution. They represent artists and labels from around the world in Portugal and Spain, and they sign and record Spanish-language artists for global representation.
Kitcatt also chairs WIN (Worldwide Independent Network) and co-chairs IMPALA’s streaming working group. IMPALA has issued three streaming plans since 2021; its latest Digital Music Plan recommendations cover the entire digital market.
Entry into music and the meaning of independence
Kitcatt began his career at age 21 in the Rough Trade warehouse in London in the mid-1980s after leaving university. He described himself as a “music nut” whose formative labels included Stiff, Small Wonder, Beggars Banquet, Factory and Rough Trade.
“I moved from London to Spain in 1990 and set up the companies serving said community over the next few years.”
“Being independent is about making your own calls and decisions successively, probably various times, daily, and doing it with artists, creators, collaborators and colleagues who are all in the same boat, with the same inclination.”
He added that artists need space and support, and that managers and other figures can deliver most when they team up with a “simpático” label partner.
Opportunities and challenges in the independent sector
Asked about opportunities, Kitcatt said the independent sector attracts “bright and fidgety people, agitators” and that its strength is community. He noted that the WIN board adds new creative cohorts from new countries and continents each year.
“Our opportunity is that community, it’s a spirit that all the fencers-in and definers and dominators never will be able to snuff out. Our opportunity is just to keep listening.”
On challenges, he said recorded music, especially longer-form work, needs to recover economic value and occupy a more central place. He described concentration at distribution, platform and live circuit levels as “lethal” and said the digital market is central to both issues.
When IMPALA adopted its new recommendations early this summer, Kitcatt said:
“Collaborating on these proposals from the independent sector will stimulate new investment in groundbreaking new music and support for the artists who create it.”
Desired change and advice
Kitcatt said he would like the music industry to acknowledge that it serves something bigger than individual companies or profits. He described music as a universal language that nobody owns.
His advice for newcomers: “Your whole career is going to be about trying to listen better, start now.”
Upcoming projects
Over the next 12 months, Kitcatt highlighted new album projects from:
- Le Parody
- Cryymm
- Guadalupe Plata
- Vacaciones Permanentes
- Xenia Rubinos
