A2IM: American Association of Independent Music

Posted in News, Press Releases by A2IM

The who’s who of the worldwide Independent music community will come together June 18-20 in New York for A2IM’s 8^th Anniversary Indie Week, an international conference and networking event aimed at maximizing the global impact of Independent music. All Worldwide Independent Network (“WIN”) and A2IM members are welcome to attend, the full latest agenda is HERE.

A2IM’s Press Release, which was serviced today, is below.

A2IM Talks Business w/ 8^th Anniversary Indie Week in NYC

Press Release
May 15, 2013

The who’s who of the Independent music community will come together June 18-20 in New York for A2IM’s 8^th Anniversary Indie Week, an international conference and networking event aimed at maximizing the global impact of Independent music.

The three-day members-only conference will assemble more than 500 executives from around the world (including Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, New Zealand, etc.) for interactive panels, a think tank and one-on-one discussions; including full trade mission delegations from members of AIM (A2IM’s sister organization in the UK) and AIR (A2IM’s sister organization in Australia) funded by Sounds Australia.

Beginning Tuesday, June 18, A2IM members will have access to full day sessions at the Tribeca Grand Hotel (2 Ave of the Americas), culminating in A2IM’s 2^nd Annual Libera Awards recognizing the year’s achievements by Independent artists and labels at the Highline Ballroom, Thursday, June 20.

Tuesday, June 18  – Licensing & Publishing Day

1:00PM – 2:00PM: Video Monetization – A look into publisher-related issues from a label perspective including premium content vs. user-generated content (UGC), backend data management, and content ID. Moderated by Alisa Coleman (ABKCO Music & Records), the panel will include: Rell Lafargue (Reservoir Media), Barry Daffurn (GoDigital) and Scott Sellwood (YouTube)

2:00PM – 2:30PM: “International Performance Royalties” – Panel discussion with Charlie Phillips of WIN,  Mathew Reiffe of Razor & Tie, and Ryan Lehning of SoundExchange

2:30PM – 3:15PM: Music in Sports Panel – Moderated by Phil Cialdella (Wonderlous Music), the panel will include: Aaron Matusow (WWE), Stephanie Scarpulla (MLB) and Kevin Wilson (ESPN)

3:15PM – 4:00PM: Brands & Bands Panel – Moderated by Brooke Primont (Razor & Tie), the panel will include: Jack Bradley (Hifi Project), Jonathan Hecht (Tribal Brands) and Lori Hon (Gray V)

4:00PM – 6:00PM: Executive One-on-One Meetings with Music

Supervisors and Licensing service providers, as well as one-on-one meetings with the Australian trade mission delegates (10 x 10 min meetings)

6:00PM – 9:00PM: A2IM’s 8^th Anniversary Reception at Santos Party House (96 Lafayette Street, NYC)

Wednesday, June 19 – Digital Media & Emerging Technologies

1:00PM – 1:30PM: “Digital Change: Show Me the Money. The End of

National Borders” – Presentation by Charles Caldas (Merlin)

1:30PM – 2:45PM: “Future of Monetizing Digital” – Panel investigating streaming services, social engagement, music discovery, and the surrounding revenue models. Moderated by Jaclyn Ranere (The Orchard), the panel will include: Oke Goettlich (finetunes), Jason Lekberg (Eleven Seven), Lisa Levy (Robbins Entertainment) and Chris Welz (Dead Oceans / Jagjaguwar / Secretly Canadian / SC Distribution)

2:45PM – 4:00PM: Video Monetization (cont.) – A look into content creation, maximizing revenue streams, developing exciting channels, and fan engagement. Moderated by Amy Dietz (INgrooves Fontana), the panel will include: Jamar Chess (Sunflower Entertainment), Dan Ghosh-Roy (Ultra Music) and Ben Lister (Base79)

4:00PM – 6:00PM: Executive One-on-One Meetings with Digital Revenue, Digital Marketing, Data Management, & Video Monetization service providers (10 x 10 min meetings)

Thursday, June 20

10:00AM – 12:30PM: Think Tank – Members gather in a roundtable breakout session to reflect and strategize on topics discussed over the previous two days. Conclusions of which are then are presented to the membership as a whole.

12:30PM – 2:00PM: Lunch Break

2:00PM – 5:00PM: State of the A2IM Union featuring Rich Bengloff of A2IM, Alison Wenham of AIM/WIN, Nick O’Byrne of AIR, Helen Smith of Impala, and Charles Caldas of Merlin. More TBA.

7:00PM – 11:00PM: 2^nd Annual Libera Awards (The “LIBBYs”) at NYC’s Highline Ballroom (431 W 16th St. NYC). Co-presented by Caroline, The LIBBYs are an award show for Independent artists and labels, nominated and voted on by Independent artists and labels. Tickets are available now and can be purchased for $30 by A2IM members only HERE.

Indie Week is co-sponsored by Consolidated Independent; Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP; Nielsen Entertainment; Rdio; Section 101 and Sounds Australia.

Posted in News by A2IM

2013 marked another strong showing for A2IM members at MIDEM, with over 250 U.S. independent music representatives holding court at A2IM’s American Independents Pavilion. A2IM’s presence in its eighth year attending the international conference was bolstered by the U.S. ITA MDCP grant to support independent music exports, which helped eligible independents cover up to 50% of the expenses needed to make the trip.

Highlights from A2IM’s activities this week included two cocktail mixers, one hosted by SoundExchange and one hosted by Counterpoint Systems, and a press conference to discuss the MDCP grant, counting among its guests the U.S. Commerce Department ITA’s Nicole Lamb-Hale, assistant secretary for manufacturing and services at the United States Department of Commerce’s International Trade Adminstration and Andrea DaSilva MDCP’s Project Leader and Senior Media and Entertainment Analyst. Read the International Trade Administration’s Blog Post HERE.

As reported previously Midem was A2IM’s first MDCP funding initiative and our second trip after the Asia Mission.

Take a look at the nearly 200 pictures below.

Thanks To Our Sponsors

Posted in News, Press Releases by A2IM

SoundExchange announced record distributions for 2012 as digital performance royalties continued to grow. Record labels receive 50% of SoundExchange distributions and Independents share from the reporting services, which include Pandora and Sirius/XM, are strong as these services give greater access to Indie music. The full press statement is here.

Posted in News by A2IM

Independent music labels and their artists continued to move forward in 2012, repeatedly proving the value we bring to the music industry and fans. As we look back, our 2012 State of the A2IM Indie Community highlights many promotional & financial success stories:

• As reported by Billboard, Independent market share of recorded music sales based upon label ownership rose to 32.57%, we thank our good friends at Billboard for their reporting perspective! By our computations we also note that digital album share has risen to over 39% of market, significantly underscoring that our Independent community sells a body of work, not just singles.
• The increased market share is not a surprise as Independents controlled the top slot on the charts for seven consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 with Glassnote’s Mumford & Sons’ ‘Babel,’ Broken Bow’s Jason Aldean’s ‘Night Train,’ and Big Machine’s Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ [October-November 2012].  During the Fall period diverse acts such as All Time Low- Hopeless, DJ Drama-eOne, Papa Roach- Eleven Seven, Deadmau5- Ultra, Lumineers- Dualtone, Grizzly Bear-Warp, The xx-Beggars/XL, Animal Collective- Domino, Cat Power-Beggars/Matador, Punk Goes Pop-Fearless, The Sword & All That Remains- Razor & Tie and the Nashville Soundtrack-Big Machine all made the Billboard Top 20.
• On the digital performance front, payouts to Independents by our SoundExchange advocates continue to soar! Pandora estimates that Independent music plays represent almost 40% of their steams and Sirius reports Independents are 30-35% of their programming. We thank our friends at Pandora for answering our requests by giving Independent labels an improved portal to submit music and other informational support during the past year, and thank Sirius for providing our diverse programming to their audiences.
• Independents are even seeing improved success at terrestrial radio and we thank Clear Channel for including Independents in their bi-annual programmer label presentations and look forward to increasing the Independent label community’s radio access and share of plays with Clear Channel and other radio groups in 2013.
• A2IM’s export funding initiatives came to fruition this year with the first government funded trade mission to Asia in September, and the MDCP funding grant. We thank the U.S. Department of Commerce ITA, U.S. SBA, NY State, Tennessee and our legislative champions like Congressman Jerry Nadler for making this happen. The Recording Academy support of our export funding initiatives was vital.
• We thank the Recording Academy for their support on many fronts. Critical recognition of Independents included the share of Independent Grammy nominations crossing the 50% level and our community’s 34 wins included major categories like Best New Artist, as well as many best album categories.  Our successes were across the board at many award shows; our members even swept all of the awards at the 11^th annual Americana Music Awards.
• A2IM held its first Libera Awards, where Independents honored fellow Independents, during Indie Week in NYC last June. The event was a sold-out success and received critical acclaim as A2IM members claimed their Libby’s and we honored Beggars’ Martin Mills with a Lifetime Achievement Award! Libera means freedom in Latin; Independents are free and not confined in the mainstream, not dependent, get it? The A2IM “Libby’s” celebrated that freedom and how our community is not limited by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas and open to new ideas.
• Indie Week 2012 continued to grow, with over 500 executives and staff gathering in NYC to discuss issues and learn from each other. In 2012, the focus was on garnering greater publicity access, optimizing YouTube monetization practices, reflecting on digital case studies, and discussing Pan European licensing, among other topics. The schedule was packed with one-on-one networking meetings, panels and roundtables, which led to the fourth annual Indie Roadmap discussion and white paper. We thank our speakers who included Pandora’s Tim Westergren, Free Ride author Rob Levine and keynoter U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel.
• We geared up for the launch of the non-invasive Copyrights Alerts program, which aims to reduce unlicensed music acquisition and we thank our colleagues at the RIAA for our inclusion.
• A2IM continued to stay in touch with Washington D.C. to advocate our positions and file on issues ranging from International trade to Copyright regulations. Many of the filings were made at the request of U.S. Government Agencies who approached us for the Independent views. We also practiced advocacy on legislation like IRFA, which we oppose, and as a member of the World Independent Network (WIN) issued the Indie Manifesto.
• We continued to educate our members so they can make informed choices based on understanding all sides of an issue via the weekly Round-up newsletter, committees like DMET and the Licensing & Publishing white papers and meet-ups.  This included a joint event with our AIMP brothers and sisters and networking events around the country at local chapters and during conferences such as SXSW, CMJ, NARM, and Midem (2012 had our largest-ever presence at MIDEM ever (more than 300 members from 135 companies)

As your extra employee, with pride, your A2IM staff takes dozens of calls from its members every week and in this time of need and continued financial challenges it is the pleasure, no honor, of the A2IM staff to support and represent you all, the greatest privilege of our careers. Your A2IM elected board does the same, meeting monthly, annually setting our priorities on your behalf, always all hands on deck.

Independent music labels are diverse in label sizes with hands-on management, allowing for entrepreneurial speed and based upon genre and geographic diversity provide music with cultural diversity. We thank all of our supporters, especially our associate members who understand the Independent vitality, who increased our access for both marketing & promotion and monetization as we move forward! We thank our publicists at Shore Fire for the fabulous press coverage at all mediums that has increased the A2IM press profile to new heights. We thank you all for your continued financial support of A2IM’s mission, we know it is not easy and we appreciate it.

The A2IM Board and Staff

Posted in Events, News by A2IM

The A2IM Nashville chapter welcomes SoundExchange president Michael Huppe on Friday, November 16^th from 11:30a to 2p for a luncheon and discussion at Savarino’s Cucina (2121 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, TN |MAP).

The restaurant needs a head count so PLEASE RSVP TO jim.mahoney@a2im.org asap.

SoundExchange is the non-profit organization designated by law to collect and distribute royalties for featured artists and sound recording copyright owners when their creative contributions are streamed on a non-interactive digital source (internet radio, satellite radio, cable music channels). The organization is committed to moving the music industry forward and works with other groups worldwide to ensure that artists and record labels who are members of SoundExchange can maximize their revenue stream.

The day’s discussion will focus on SoundExchange’s importance in the music industry and how the organization is continually working towards a brighter future for artists and labels to continue their creative work and play on.

Complimentary lunch will be served during this event.  A2IM thanks the event’s sponsor SoundExchange.

Posted in Events, Member Services, Members Only, News by A2IM

A2IM will be celebrating our 8th Anniversary from June 18-20, 2013 at Tribeca Grand, 2 Avenue of the Americas, NYC, map with our annual member-only A2IM Indie Week conference and related festivities focusing on education and engagement within our community.

View a list of current RSVPs here.

RSVP is now closed. Please email jen@a2im.org if you would like to attend and are not currently on the list above.

In addition to these panels, presentations, and networking sessions, we will also be celebrating independents with the 2^nd annual A2IM Libera Awards (aka the LIBBYs) on Thursday, June 20 at 7PM at Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16^th Street, NYC, map.

Members of AIM (A2IM’s sister organization in the UK) and AIR (A2IM’s sister organization in Australia) will be sending delegates to participate in Indie Week 2013.

As always, these events are FREE to attend but you MUST be a member of A2IM and RSVP for each event. You will receive a confirmation email once your RSVP is received noting each event in which you are confirmed to participate.

Big thanks to our co-sponsors, Consolidated Independent; Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP; Nielsen Entertainment; Rdio; Section 101 and Sounds Australia!

AGENDA

Tuesday, June 18: Licensing & Publishing

1:00PM – 2:00PM             Video Monetization – A look into publisher-related issues from a label perspective including premium content vs user-generated content (UGC), backend data management, & content ID. Moderator: Alisa Coleman (ABKCO Music & Records) Panelists: Barry Daffurn (GoDigital), Ian Harrison (Hopeless Records), Rich Scott DePerto (Reservoir Media), & Scott Sellwood (YouTube)

2:00PM – 2:30PM             “International Performance Royalties”- The value of revenues from performance rights has increased steadily in recent years, and shows no sign of declining. In the US, these rights are managed by SoundExchange, while overseas the options are more complex. What if your track is getting airplay in the UK or Europe, Australia, Japan or elsewhere? This session will introduce the main things a US indie label needs to know. Two specialists in this area will give a very brief overview of what the rights are and how they work, and some starting points for how US indies can best manage these rights, both in the US and internationally. Charlie Phillips (Head of Legal and Commercial Affairs, Worldwide Independent Network) and Ryan Lehning (Director of International, Soundexchange) will present the session, with additional input from Mathew Reiffe (VP, Digital and New Business, Razor and Tie).

2:30PM – 3:15PM             Music in Sports Panel.
Moderator: Phil Cialdella (Wonderlous Music) Panelists: Aaron Matusow (WWE), Stephanie Scarpulla (MLB), & Kevin Wilson (ESPN)

3:15PM – 4:00PM              Brands & Bands Panel.
Moderator: Brooke Primont (Razor & Tie) Panelists: Jack Bradley (Hifi Project), Ryan Fitch (Saatchi & Saatchi), Jonathan Hecht (Tribal Brands), & Lori Hon (Gray V)

4:00PM – 6:00PM             Executive One-on-One Meetings with Music Supervisors and Licensing service providers, as well as one-on-one meetings with the Australian trade mission delegates (10 x 10 min meetings)

6:00PM – 9:00PM             A2IM’s 8^th Anniversary Reception at Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette St., NYC map.

Wednesday, June 19: Digital Media & Emerging Technologies

1:00PM – 1:30PM             “Digital Change: Show Me the Money. The End of National Borders” – Presentation by Charles Caldas (Merlin); review Merlin members survey results HERE in advance of this event.

1:30PM – 2:45PM             “Future of Monetizing Digital” – Panel investigating streaming services, social engagement, music discovery, and the surrounding revenue models. Moderator: Jaclyn Ranere (The Orchard) Panelists: Oke Goettlich (finetunes), Jason Lekberg (Eleven Seven), Lisa Levy (Robbins Entertainment), & Chris Welz (Dead Oceans / Jagjaguwar / Secretly Canadian / SC Distribution)

2:45PM – 4:00PM             Video Monetization & Audience Development – A look into content creation, maximizing revenue streams, developing exciting channels, and fan engagement. Please review the YouTube Playbook HERE in advance of this panel. Moderator: Amy Dietz (INgrooves Fontana) Panelists: Jamar Chess (Sunflower Entertainment), Dan Ghosh-Roy (Ultra Music), Jane Hu (Next Lab, YouTube) & Jamie Searle (Base79)

4:00PM – 6:00PM             Executive One-on-One Meetings with Digital Revenue, Digital Marketing, Data Management, & Video Monetization service providers (10 x 10 min. meetings)

Thursday, June 20

10:00AM – 12:30PM        Think Tank – Peer-to-peer roundtable discussion focusing on sharing success, struggles, and strategies for video monetization and performance royalties, the discussion outline is here.

12:30PM – 2:00PM          Lunch Break

2:00PM – 5:00PM             State of the A2IM Union featuring Rich Bengloff of A2IM, Alison Wenham of AIM/WIN, Nick O’Byrne of AIR, Helen Smith of Impala, and Charles Caldas of Merlin. The Keynote Speaker is Karyn Temple Claggett the Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Policy & International Affairs. Ms Claggett’s Keynote Address will give us the Copyright Office’s perspective on the key issues affecting our community. Additional speakers TBA.

We hope you will join us at the 2^nd annual A2IM Libera Awards at Highline Ballroom @ 7PM. Info HERE.