Digital

BPI launches Innovation Panel to talk to digital types

By | Published on Tuesday 26 October 2010

UK record label trade body the BPI has pledged to directly support both new and established digital music services through the creation of a new Innovation Panel. The organisation says the new service will share consumer research, help to identify and value unfulfilled market opportunities, and provide “a unified forum for dialogue with labels on service design and market strategies”. 

Some key players in the digital music space bemoan how hard it is to work with the record companies when establishing new services, especially if you’re not in a position to write large upfront cheques. 

Because the record industry does not license music collectively in the digital domain, separate talks are required with each content owner and, while all labels have an interest in seeing the launch of viable and engaging new digital services, this often means digital companies feel they aren’t sufficiently supported by the wider industry. 

Given the BPI insisted the music business was supporting digital innovation while lobbying for the Digital Economy Act earlier this year, the new panel is presumably an effort to prove there is some collective work going on in the industry to do just that. 

Says BPI boss Geoff Taylor: “I am determined that the BPI should do everything it can to help digital services reach their potential and provide the most compelling experience possible for music fans. With this in mind, the BPI Innovation Panel has been created to offer new and existing digital music operators and record labels a forum where they can share consumer insight and drive innovation to meet the different aspirations and needs of every kind of music consumer”.



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