Music News - Indie Music Group 1 Year Old
19 November 2002 - 0 Comments
Independent Music NZ (IMNZ) was first formed in August 2001 as an informal committee of independent record labels; or ‘indies’ as they are more commonly referred to. The impetus for this was provided by a music industry forum convened by Industry New Zealand which identified the independent sector as a growth area and the need for a trade association to be developed.
The committee met once a month through to April 2002 when the first AGM was held and an official non-profit organisation was formed, including the selection of nine board members (full list supplied at the end of this document). Indie associations have been tried before, and failed. IMNZ however is now over a year old and growing bigger every month. What’s different this time? Ben Howe, Arch Hill Recordings explains, "All the labels involved are determined to make IMNZ work. It is essential to the health of the local music industry for New Zealand owned record labels to continue to grow.” He also adds that “Independent labels are the main supporters of local music. Part of our role is making people aware of this fact.”
IMNZ strives to work co-operatively with existing organisations with the focus firmly on assisting the independent sector with better co-ordination, facilitation and brokering to achieve structural and attitudinal change. The existing industry representative organisations lack the skills and resources to effectively represent the full range of issues concerning independent music, and collective action would produce a superior outcome to actions by individual firms.
There is an opportunity to change industry representative structures to focus on the issues that are of importance to the future of the industry as a whole and the independent sector in particular. Bernie Griffen, Global Routes & IMNZ chairperson explains "We have the right conditions for co-operation within all industry sectors. If this goal is achieved there appears to be a bright future ahead for New Zealand music and a more open, accountable and strong industry."
Successful positioning of IMNZ will allow agencies to be in a better position to support firms to make better choices about where and how to compete and for firms to be in a better position to make informed choices about business strategies and practices to adopt. Capital providers will also have better information about sector-wide financial position and financial performance.
To assist in achieving it’s goals IMNZ has established a set of objectives. These are: to assist and guide the development and advancement of the independent recording sector of the New Zealand Music Industry; encourage and facilitate cultural expression through New Zealand music at local, national and international levels; foster and promote generally the welfare and development of the a commercially viable infrastructure of the independent recording sector of the New Zealand Music Industry; foster and promote generally the welfare and development of New Zealand musicians and other music professionals.
Membership of the association is open to independent labels and distributors where the members primary focus is the exploitation of New Zealand music and copyright, and the members company is domiciled in New Zealand with a significant portion of it being New Zealand owned. For labels there must be a minimum of three titles released, for distributors there must be a minimum of 25 titles distributed.
IMNZ has also looked to the global music market as a potential for growth. Indies have achieved some success over the past few years in accessing export markets as a response to declining domestic demand. The changing pattern of global trade offers more opportunities than it poses threats, but the need is to gear music producers and exporters in this country to exploit the tremendous opportunities that global markets offer.
Recently IMNZ became the fourth trade association to join the World Independent Network (WIN), an initiative started by the Association of Independent Music (AIM) in Britain and included IMNZ’s counterparts in Australia and Canada. The American and European associations have also signaled their intention to join.
Mark Roach, Muse Records & IMNZ Executive Officer who recently met with AIM in London regarding this and other matters says "WIN, along with our increased visibility at trade fairs such as MIDEM in Cannes, highlight the real potential of the indie labels - our flexibility, co-operative approach to business and fresh-sounding music is the country’s key to export earnings in the global music market."
The association is gratified by support received from Industry NZ, the NZ Music Industry Commission and Trade NZ, all of whom recognise the potential for growth and earnings that the independent music sector holds. This support combined with IMNZ’s increasing development means the future of NZ music has never looked brighter.
We leave the last word to one of the country’s longest serving and successful indies, Murray Cammick of Wildside Records "If one is talking about export, the future probably lies with the NZ owned indies - the local companies that are seeking to organise this trade association out of necessity; to grow strong as NZ-owned companies need to be in order be an association of exporters".
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