Mon Jul 13, 2009
Billy Grant of 2Point9 and Simon Wills of Absolute Marketing elected to Association of Independent Music (AIM) Board

AIM's 10th anniversary Annual General Meeting took place yesterday (Monday 13th July) at The O2's IndigO2 venue, and was followed by a lively 'AIM 10' party at The British Music Experience.

The Association of Independent Music is one of the most influencial bodies in the UK music indsutry.

With over 850 member labels of all sizes and genres putting out music as diverse as Dizzee Rascal, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys and Jay Sean. AIM labels represent over 30% of the UK music market.

In accordance with AIM Board rotation rules, one fifth of the AIM Board retired at the event, and four new board members were elected by members.

The newly elected Board members are:

- Billy Grant, 2Point9 Records
- Natalie Judge, Matador Records
- Jeremy Lascelles, Chrysalis Music
- Simon Wills, Absolute Marketing and Distribution

These replace the following retiring Board Members:

• Rosie Bryant, Protest Records
• Martin Mills, Beggars Group
• Peter Quicke, Ninja Tune
• Geoff Travis, Rough Trade

The event also saw 10 members present their ‘Big Ideas', which were voted on by attendees to determine what should be part of AIM's future agenda. 

Popular ideas included AIM co-ordinating an industry wide abandonment of the CD promo, encouraging all labels to move to streaming to save costs and be green, and AIM developing a regularly updated database of media contacts for members. The winning idea, proposed by member label Full Time Hobby, was that AIM should lobby the BBC to encourage them to play a wider range of independent music on Radio 1 and Radio 2.

 

 

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