European independent music trade body IMPALA has released a new blueprint to overhaul the digital music market, as the global streaming sector approaches one billion subscribers.
The organization calls the milestone “something to celebrate” but also highlights the market’s significant potential to become “larger, fairer, more diverse and transparent.” IMPALA frames the moment as “a moment for ambition, experimentation and collaboration” and sets shared goals to grow the digital market “culturally, financially and sustainably,” with a focus on the entire digital ecosystem rather than streaming alone.
Five Priorities and a Call for Partnership
At the core of the plan are five priorities, developed in a spirit of partnership and aimed at joint action with digital services, labels and distributors. Among them is a push to reduce climate impact and strengthen collective innovation. The proposals were adopted by IMPALA’s board at the end of June, following a two-month review in which stakeholders contributed their own priorities.
The document outlines what engagement with IMPALA’s recommendations would mean in practice for digital music services, as well as for labels and distributors in their relationships with artists and with platforms. It builds on earlier recommendations, recent analysis by Dan Fowler on the emergence of a two-tier streaming economy and the importance of diversity and independence, and the EU’s recent report on music discoverability in Europe.
Leadership Perspectives
Mark Kitcatt, co-owner and managing director of Everlasting Popstock and co-chair of IMPALA’s working group, thanked contributors and stressed the plan’s focus on artist-fan connections.
“We thank everyone who contributed: our members of course, as well as other music organisations and platforms. Our members believe that the promise of digital music is connection between artists and fans, and our proposals aim to strengthen this. At the same time, we question the impact of certain measures on the health of the market, such as monetisation thresholds, the scope of free-tier offerings, as well as current pricing and the obligation to continue to deliver all repertoire. Collaborating on these proposals from the independent sector will stimulate new investment in groundbreaking new music and support for the artists who create it.”
Gee Davy, CEO of AIM and co-chair of the working group, described the one billion subscriber mark as evidence of a mature market capable of delivering widespread success.
“One billion subscribers indicates a mature digital music market capable of delivering widespread success. We see this as a moment for an ambitious but achievable plan to create a well-functioning market where genuine music flourishes and all attempts to game the system are stamped out. Success in a mature market requires exciting, differentiated offerings and collaboration on shared goals. We welcome new opportunities for fan engagement as well as the growing recognition that fighting fraud and fakes need industry-wide collaboration. We also believe there is an opportunity, and an urgency, to collaborate on key areas that have the potential to be transformative and drive growth, which we have set out in five clear priorities. We invite our key commercial partners in the digital space to join us in making this a reality.”
Dan Fowler, author of “Powering an Independent and Culturally Diverse European Music Ecosystem,” emphasized the need for cross-party collaboration and proactive steps on innovation and provenance.
“A healthy ecosystem for music to thrive is dependent on individual action and cross-party collaboration, requiring contribution from all sides of the market, with a focus on the importance of diversity of culture. Proactivity around innovation, provenance, and defining and defending the value of human-created music is essential as we move toward the next stage of our industry.”
Dario Draštata, Chair of IMPALA, President of regional association RUNDA Adria and Executive Director of Dallas Records, highlighted diversity as a key theme and pointed to payment boosts and discovery tool changes.
“Concrete action to boost diversity, and in all markets is a key theme of our new plan, whether cultural, genre, language, geography, equity and inclusion, etc. Our proposals include payment boosts as well as crucially needed changes in the tools used in music discovery. We support the increasing calls from some for regulation, but with this plan we suggest using them as an opportunity to improve, in order to pursue ambition, experimentation and collaboration, so that we level the playing field as much as possible and let healthy market competition grow. We will be assessing the progress in twelve months and ask our partners across the ecosystem to help us in doing this.”
Francesca Trainini, IMPALA President and board member of Italian association PMI, called for a sector-wide provenance system and a new standard approach to AI-generated content.
“Recent reports highlight what can be achieved through clear, dynamic collaboration across the industry. The opportunity for a sector wide provenance system is clear. Done right, provenance standards will become the foundation for new discovery tools, fan experiences, licensing solutions and commercial opportunities across the digital music economy. We also propose a new standard approach on how AI generated content is treated in terms of royalty pools, algorithms and recommender system, filtering, as well as uploading, as this is more than a labelling issue.”
Helen Smith, IMPALA Executive Chair, concluded with a vision of stronger fan connections and a more sustainable livelihood for artists and labels.
“As our plan concludes, if we succeed with our shared ambition, connections with fans will be stronger and more working artists and labels at different levels in the ecosystem will be able to make a living from their art. The music economy will…”
