Music Publishers Association - AGM

The Music Publishers Association held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday 25 June and I was commissioned to cover it.

As stated on the MPAonline website “Reaching for the Stars” gave representatives of twelve different sectors of the music industry 3 minutes each to make the case for their ticket to join songwriters and artists on a shuttle heading for a new musical universe. Having listened to all speakers - see below:

Stephen Navin as Spock introduces the speakers

The audience of MPA members and invited guests voted for the six representatives who they felt had made the most compelling case for the importance of their sector in connecting songwriters and artists with music fans.

Voted on to the shuttle were the music publisher (of course), the broadcaster, promoter, educator, online service provider and record label. Left behind in the departure room were the collecting society, artist manager, trade association, tastemaker, record retailer, and the lawyer.

Whilst the votes were counted Daniel Ek, co-founder of Spotify, gave some clues as to his future plans for the service in conversation with Emmanuel Legrand (editor, Impact magazine).

Daniel praised the new streaming rates announced by PRS for Music in May as part of its new Online Music Licence and stated his opinion that “the future of the music industry is in an access model”. He also raised the prospect of a Spotify app for the iPhone. Asked to give his own thoughts on “Reaching for the Stars” Daniel responded diplomatically: “There are a lot of brilliant people in the music industry. There’s a future for all of them in different shapes and forms”.

Formal business of the AGM

Earlier in the afternoon the formal business of the AGM had included reports from Nigel Elderton (chairman, MPA), Stephen Navin (chief executive, MPA) and, in his capacity as executive director of the MPA’s subsidiary company MCPS, Steve Porter (CEO, PRS for Music) and much else besides.

A selection of the pictures appears as a gallery on the MPAonline website and others will be shown in IMPACT magazine.