NARM And Digitalmusic.org Rebrand As The Music Business Association

MARLTON, NJ (Hypebot) – NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers) and its digital sister digitalmusic.org will now collectively known as the Music Business Association (MusicBiz.org), the music industry trade group announced today. The organization will continue to be headed by President Jim Donio and his team in Marlton, NJ.

In 2009, with the music industry in full post-Napster meltdown, NARM began the transition to this inevitable name change, hiring of Bill Wilson. Whatever his title, Wilson's mandate was always to keep the trade group and its members ahead of an increasingly sharp digital curve. In 2011, Wilson spearheaded the formation of sister organization digitalmusic.org as a home for this burgeoning sector.

"We always knew we were going to need to take a more dramatic move to go beyond categories like ‘physical’ and ‘digital’ and redefine the organization as a whole,” said Rachelle Friedman, Music Business Association Chairman of the Board and CEO of J&R Music & Computer World.

Six Sectors

In addition to the name change, The Music Business Association has established six sectors that reflect its diverse membership: Digital, Information Technology, Physical, Knowledge (events, education); Artists, Management, Touring and Legal & Business Affairs.

“The sector concept builds on the structure we created with the digitalmusic.org Work Groups, with members getting actively involved in the issues that are important to them and drive their bottom line,” said Wilson, Music Biz's VP of Digital Strategy and Business Development,

Six New Board Members

The current members of the Board of Directors will remain in place, and six new seats have been added. Four of those new directors come from the former NARM Music Industry Advisory Council members. They are:

Brad Navin, The Orchard
Darren Stupak, Sony Music Entertainment
Matt Signore, Warner Music Group
Jim Urie, Universal Music Group

They join:

Rachelle Friedman, J&R Music World – Chairman
Brent Muhle, iTunes – Vice Chairman
John Trickett, immergent – Treasurer
Christina Calio, Microsoft
Len Cosimano, Director-at-Large
Mike Fratt, Homer’s
Steve Harkins, Baker & Taylor
Anthony Montenegro, Nokia
Bruce Ogilvie, Super D/Alliance Entertainment
Dilyn Radakovitz, Dimple Records
Ryan Redington, Amazon
Steve Savoca, Spotify

Two more directors representing music content companies are expected to be appointed by the end of the year.

“More segments of the business than ever before now play an active role in the commerce side of the business, so the name National Association of Recording Merchandisers no longer reflected everyone who can participate in the organization," said president Donio in a statement. "The Music Business Association makes it crystal clear – and for the first time in the organization’s history, the ‘M’ stands for music.”