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Alison Wenham to leave AIM

By | Published on Thursday 5 May 2016

AIM

Alison Wenham has announced that she is leaving her roles as CEO and Chair of the UK’s Association Of Independent Music after seventeen years in the job, in order to become Chief Executive of the World Independent Network.

WIN, the global grouping for indie labels, has to date been a loose group administered by AIM, but it will now spin off to become its own trade body to represent independent music companies worldwide. Wenham will make the move to become full time WIN boss once a successor has been found for AIM.

“As the music marketplace becomes ever more global it is time for the worldwide independent music community to focus its collective attention on the big issues affecting all of us”, says Wenham.

“I am extraordinarily proud of our achievements at AIM, which I know will continue to effectively represent and help the UK’s independent music companies, but I am relishing the challenge of taking on this new position at WIN and representing our sector on a global level. The music industry continues to evolve at a pace and it is vital that our membership has a voice and a place at the top table when decisions affecting the livelihoods of independent music companies and the artists they represent are being decided”.

One of AIM’s co-founders, Beggars Group chief Martin Mills adds: “Alison has been a force of nature in the growth of AIM, to the extent that it is impossible to imagine the UK record industry without it. However, we live in a global business, and her guidance is now needed on a broader canvas. Happily, AIM has grown to the point where, with the identification of a new Chief Executive and the continuing work of its experienced and skilled management and staff, we can be confident in its continuing success and growth as a core member of WIN”.

WIN made its biggest mark to date in the battle with YouTube over threats to block indie labels and musicians from its platform if they did not sign up to the then in development Music Key service. This in part led to the launch of WIN’s Fair Deals Declaration.



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