IFPI CEO Frances Moore has been in the job for eight years now and spoke to Billboard about the organisation’s biggest concerns (yes, the “value gap”/EU Copyright Directive is high among them) and where the next waves of growth will come from.
With the European Parliament voting last month to proceed with the Copyright Directive (effectively chiming with the wishes of the bulk of the music business), she said, “I wasn’t surprised, but I must admit I was relieved.” She also praised the Parliament for making “a decision based on facts rather than hysteria” (a reference to the pro-tech lobbying and email/phone bombardment of MEPs). She is quick to point out that it is far from a done deal and that the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament still have to thrash out the final version and, even when they do, it will be down to each member state as to how they implement it. Last week, we published a full report on what the next steps will be for the Copyright Directive.
Going beyond this singular issue, Moore spoke of new markets opening up, notably China (“there’s huge potential to do much better as we encourage people to pay for music”) and Africa, singling out Kenya and Nigeria as showing the most promise in terms of market development and export potential.
Inevitably she, when asked if labels are still viable in an age of easy distribution and direct deals with DSPs, argued the case for the record companies that her organisation represent, albeit with a few caveats. “[L]abels will have to work hard to make sure that they remain the choice of artists,” she said. “They have tools, networks, and global reach – and they’re reinvesting something like $4.5 billion a year, which is 27 percent of their revenue, in A&R and marketing.”
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Tools: Kaiber
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